buellwinkle

It's about time they made an NVR with 8 PoE ports, sort of weird before when they had 8 channels but only 4 PoE.

Seems typical of varifocal cameras where the IR LEDs don't cover well when set to the max wide angle setting. On the Hikivision, I find it best to set noise reduction to 100%, doesn't seem to be a penalty for doing so. WDR does add noise, but I find about 6-10% setting to be a good compromise for me.

Also worth considering is Milestone XProtect. Their Go version is free with limits like 8 cameras and 5 days recording but it works well, lower CPU use than BlueIris, works with Hikvision and has very good smartphone apps that are free and has a decent web interface.

I run my 3MP ACTi at 15fps rather than 1080P at 30fps.

Less IR LEDs doesn't always mean less light as they can be brighter, more powerful ones. Would be cool to see if the SD card works because it's built in playback feature works well on the mini-domes.

Also, to add to that, most cameras have two streams so you can set a high resolution stream for viewing and recording at home and a separate lower resolution, lower frame rate stream, higher compression for remote viewing to reduce bandwidth use at home and on your remote connection like from a smartphone.

Thanks, looks like when I first put the Dahua IPC-HFW2100 next to the IPC-HFW3200C. You don't realize how small the little cameras can be. The mounts they put on these makes them look bigger than they are. The same with ACTi where they have the old style bullets that seem normal to me and then they have the ones with the integrated mounts that are huge.

Not asking to you change your mind but I discussed the prices the competition is charging and Wrightwood (my daughter's business) lowered their prices on all ACTi. What happens sometimes is prices are lowered by the manufacturer or distributor but they don't alert the resellers so sometimes it's good to get feedback from people like you so corrections can me be made, so thank you and best of luck with your new cameras. ACTi to me has always represented the best all around value.

If you get a chance, can you take a picture of the mini dome or bullets next to the varifocal versions, curious to see the size difference. Also, can you see now if it has 16 PoE ports.

Has anyone reached out to Dahua to see if they can sell the lenses separately, just saying.

No, that would be a violation of their distributor agreement. I'm trying to get setup but it's a tedious process as my current distributors do not carry their full line.

It does come with the adapter for the Ethernet side that screws on for a weather tight seal, but you have to crimp the rj45 plug after you slip this on. The advantage is that it's much smaller than ACTi's solution, hence a smaller hole needed, but with ACTi's you can slip it over a existing cable with the plug already on it. Tradeoffs, can't say one way is better than the other. People have been getting a mixed bag from Lorex, so impossible to say. Order a few kits and return the ones you don't want.

You can try loading the most current Hikvision firmware on the Lorex and see if that helps.

The Hikvision I have take DST into consideration, you have select which week to switch.

Sounds like a bug. You should open a support case on ACTi's website.

Didn't even see a Swann NVR only deal at Costco, so did you got this straight from Swann?

Wow, you get 27" of rain in one month? We get that total in 3 years, but I may be exaggerating, maybe closer to 4 years. This year I think we hit 5" for the entire year. We once had lighting, but I was wrong, it was just a kid with a flash camera So with salt corrosion and harsh climate, is it better to get cameras made out of plastic vs. aluminum. For example, we use mostly Mobotix and their cameras are all plastic so you think it's cheap, but probably a more resilient material than what most camera companies make using aluminum. Certainly less of a lightning attraction. I sold an Axis camera I did a review on, a pricey $4,000 one, got a direct hit by lightning. Axis actually replaced it under warranty, was very impressed.

Why does Florida climate's affect your camera decisions? Are they gator proof, shark proof? After seeing Sharknado I can understand these concerns.

It's basically a Linux operating system so products that run on Linux may run, but the caveat is the CPU which is typically an Atom processor. For example, Zoneminder runs on Linux but is very CPU intensive, so one camera may work, beyond that not sure.

You know what they say, if it's too good to be true, it's not. BTW, ACTi only sells to distributors. Even when they send me a camera to do a review on, if I decide I want to keep it, I have to buy it from a distributor, so not sure they would have a list of reseller partners like say ACTi or Mobotix do.

Just changing it up a little, had to throw in another brand so the world doesn't think it's all about Dahua, LOL. I do admire your work, you've done some very nice installs. Daniel, its' 320x240 or 352x240 or 704x480 for the sub stream.

I watch my ACTi E32 camera via Synology's app with my Android phone without a problem both live and recordings. I have an iPhone for work, but have not tried the app on it because it's slow, 3G (I'm waiting for the 5s next month to upgrade). Also, for what it's worth, moved my cameras from Synology to Milestone Essential, about the same price and it's been better all around and pretty stingy with CPU use.

Yes, and they do make a 1.3MP version, but my distributor doesn't carry it. You can always provide a second stream for remote viewing and record 3MP. For example, when I use IP Cam Viewer on my phone, it picks up the sub stream and I get pretty nice fluid motion, like at the lake, I can see boats and water skiers gliding across the lake. I'll put a review together soon. I have it mounted so it will record something interesting day/night over the next 2 days. Then I'll mount it this weekend for what I originally got it for, the view of our boat dock and the lake, it will be more interesting than viewing my driveway, or not. So instead of seeing where I park my car, you'll see where I park my boat, LOL. But to keep you from getting too anxious, this is my backyard, complete darkness, taken from their 3MP mini IR dome with a 12mm lens, so the fence is 50' away from the camera. Pretty nice illumination. This is a new design and we're waiting to get them in bulk with wide angle lenses (I got this one-of direct from Hikvision, took a while). BTW, as always in my images, 1/30th max exposure time.

I like the neighborhood, lived there for just over 30 years. That's 3MP and $169. At night it's also awesome. I put it in my backyard at 50' away and it lit it up like a wide angle camera at half the distance. I'm gathering images and videos for when I do a review. I have Dahua too but I get better color accuracy from Hikvision, better manufacturer support, the IR LEDs can be turned off, intelligent IR, I don't get the grass looking blotchy like it can with Dahua, better wdr and decent noise control. Overall I'm impressed, the problem is they sell out so fast. They are the same size/shape as the ipc-hfw2100. I like that you don't need tools to adjust the camera, it has a hand adjustable collar you tighten when you get it's pointed the way you like.