jrmymllr

Not sure how you get 1080P on an analog camera...

Anyone who's read these forums long enough to see at least a few of your posts know you're full of misinformation. The one thing that really bothers me is how you promote analog cameras like they're superior to anything else. This just boggles my mind. I hope nobody has taken your advice because it's practically all wrong.

What VMS are you using? I know different VMSs have different CPU requirements. For example, I found Zoneminder to be a bit of a hog, while Xeoma is pretty easy on the CPU. I'm running 3 cameras similar to yours, full resolution record at 3Mb/s but motion detect at 640x480 and with a G1840 CPU I'm seeing only about a 15% load. I also put 8GB of RAM in the thing but it's way, way more than I needed. Yes IP cameras with PoE need one cable only, and since there's not much point in streaming over 4Mb/s, a 100 Mb switch is plenty. I have a little writeup about my setup. It might help you some. http://wirehead.net76.net/xeoma/xeoma.html

1080p and analog don't go together. As I mentioned in my previous post, analog has a limit on resolution that will never change. No such problem with IP ("digital") cameras.

"Analog is better for redundancy and reliability." Reliability, *maybe*. Redundancy? I don't know where you got that. "Digital cameras are good. But mostly rely on wireless communications." Then don't buy a crappy Wifi camera. Buy one that uses Ethernet. "Ive had issues with playback from digital cameras in the form of missing frames." Yes this can happen, but can be mitigated. "Analog cannot go wrong." Unless you want high resolution. Analog cameras are constrained by the nearly 70 year old NTSC standard. I have a multiple IP camera installation in my residence, powered by PoE, using a standard computer that runs a VMS and would never trade it for an analog system.

I think that each camera locking up only once, on different days, is definitely coincidence if the camera is assumed to not be at fault! Spikes on mains is likely not a problem at the camera end. This is a dedicated circuit to the breaker box, and besides, between the camera and outlet is a UPS and the midspan. Also powered from the same UPS output is a DSL modem, WiFi router, Gb switch, and rack computer, and no issues with those. 7 days since last lockup, so this really is looking like camera firmware issues.

Your question isn't very clear. What kind of "encoder" are you talking about?

That thought did occur to me. The only item I purchased used was a midspan since my switch isn't PoE, but it's a high-end (albeit used) unit I got very cheaply; midspans seem to have no resale. However, that doesn't explain why each one locked up only once over the course of less than a week, unless it's simply coincidence.

An update to this: I'm not sure how random this occurrence was. A day later, another camera did the same. 3 days later, the last camera locked up. Maybe a bug related to uptime? They had been continuously powered for about 4 months.

Good luck. No prior research will result in a 90% chance of disappointment later.

You can send power down the phone line, and especially by using a high voltage, say 48V which is what telephone runs at anyway, the current would be low, meaning less voltage loss. What you do with it then is up to you. 48V is what PoE uses which is convenient. But you still need data communications. I've seen DSL modems that can be connected to both ends of a twisted pair and ta da, you have a data link, but I don't know what speed you'd get or what this costs.

I feel using a solar panel is going to cause problems. Sure it can be done, but you won't know exactly how large of one you need, how the batteries will do in the cold (don't know where you live), and what happens if you have many cloudy days. You could get this working with a lot of experimentation and testing, something you might not want to do.

This may be a bit "out there" idea, but since you need 2 cameras 600 feet away and have no power, let's assume you'll be trenching in power. How about running fiber along with the power cable, then at the ends put a ethernet-to-fiber converter (something like TP-LINK MC200CM). You'd need some sort of junction box for this stuff, so in there put a PoE switch and use direct bury ethernet to the cameras. It might not be the cheapest, but it shouldn't be horrible and you can use any IP camera you want. And won't be using unreliable wireless.

There is no point in using these hybrid drives in NVR/DVR's.... Larger SSD now have incredibly long life, but the price and size limitation make them inefficient for recorders. Depends on how much space you need. I have a 240GB for mine. It gets me 2 weeks easily on motion detect, which is fine for my use.

Are you trying to say a HDD will spin for 114 years continuously, because that's what 1M hours is. It's doubtful the bearings will last that long.

Not quite an accurate comparison. The MTBF isn't taking into account the limited amount of data that can be written, which is large, but still a HDD is primarily worn by simply running, while an SSD is primarily worn by writing. The MTBF numbers for even HDDs is misleading, since no drive will ever last what they claim. They're not lying, it's just that MTBF doesn't quite mean what most think.

Without reading how you got to the point of not using an IP camera, my answer is: use an IP camera with PoE. But that's just my opinion. IP cameras are so much more versatile.

Hi shotgun cable .... Has video and power together or use cat5 Great, thanks. I wasn't sure you could use cat5 with it. On the site, for connector it lists: Connectors 1 HD-TVI BNC http://www.supercircuits.com/alibi-megapixel-1080p-ir-dome-security-camera-ali-cd1080e I'm new with these camera systems obviously, but how can you tell from the description and specs in the link that it accepts PoE cat5? Here's a pic of the back of the camera. Not sure where a cat5 would go: You may be able to use a balun like what is used on analog composite cameras. It's a cheap little adapter that essentially allows the signal to go over one pair in the cat5 cable. In the past I've purchased several thru eBay; they are probably $2 a pair, but whether it'll work with TVI I don't know.

Hi shotgun cable .... Has video and power together or use cat5 I vote for cat 5 if it works for whatever you're using. It's the most versatile cabling.

Either that, or a computer with HDMI out. I'm a fan of standard hardware and would lean towards the computer, but it depends on your primary use for the system. I have seen some fairly cheap IP DVRs and I believe most have HDMI out. If not, DVI can be converted to HDMI with a simply really cheap adapter.

Just to be clear, we are dealing with two different IPs on the same camera, Internet Protocol and Ingress Protection, one referring to the camera interface type and the other how "weatherproof" it is. Not sure if I misled. The Firestick plugs right into the TV's HDMI port, and from the little I found online, it appears you can get an app for it to view CCTV cameras. Beyond that, this is the first I've heard of this. Since the Firestick is Wifi only, you can still use it. The camera simply needs to go to a standard Wifi router/access point's Ethernet port (something you probably already have), and the Firestick can talk to the router over Wifi. The router will allow Wifi and Ethernet devices to communicate.

I see you've encountered the person I warned you about in an earlier post, the one that loves to push analog cameras. Stick with IP. Anyway, between waterproof and weatherproof, I'm not really sure. What really matters is the the IP rating (a different IP than when we say "IP camera; which is Internet Protocol"). This IP means "ingress protection", and it's a standardized specification. The Hikvision you referenced is IP66 which is about as good as you're going to get for a product like this. The first 6 means dust tight, and the 2nd 6 means it'll withstand powerful water jets without leakage. So in a general sense, it's quite capable of withstanding Midwest weather. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code Firesticks appear to be Wifi only. The only connection they have is HDMI and probably USB for power. I can't answer much more about the Firestick because I didn't even know these were used for CCTV! As for SD card, I don't like the idea because I prefer to simply stream video off the camera and handle it from there. Bullet vs turret: I'm no expert, but the bullet has that sun shield sticking out the front, which the turret doesn't. However I have two Hikvision turrets on the soffit underside pointed to the west, but since they are pointed in a slight downward direction, and there are houses in view, I don't have much problem with the evening sun. The bullet isn't going to care if you point it straight down, however. One advantage of turrets is they are more difficult to knock out of alignment.

The main advantage of IP cameras is higher resolution. Analog cameras are cheaper but limited to about what you got with the old analog TV system. Another advantage of IP cameras is the ability to configure them with your web browser, and not needing special hardware if you use a computer as a DVR. It's very convenient to configure mine simply by going to their build-in webpage. The main items you'd be configuring are things related to image quality, day/night behavior, and on-screen text such as current date and time. If you use an analog camera, you'll need a capture card. There's one particular person on this forum that preaches analog cameras, but most everyone else disagrees for new installations. The only real advantage of analog cameras is price, and you know where that usually leads to. With an IP camera, video can be streamed from it. Something as simple as VLC player for Windows will work just to test the camera out. Hikvision, for example, distributes their own free VMS, which is simply the program that streams video from the camera(s), detects motion and records, etc. I know my Hikvision cameras have the ability to do their own motion detection and save to a network drive, but I don't use that. Otherwise, I'd recommend trying Xeoma which is what I use, and is extremely easy to set up. It even finds the cameras for you. If you have a webcam, you can try out Xeoma with that right now just to see how it works.

Right, just a DVR and camera. If you get an IP camera (preferable) be sure to get an IP DVR. I don't know a lot about DVRs since mine is PC based, but I've read good stuff on here about Hikvision and Dahua. If you get a DVR made by the same company as the camera, you should have no problems. Just a hint, a good, low-priced IP cam is about $100 alone, which doesn't leave much for the DVR and possible separate hard drive you'll have to get. That's why I suggested using a computer initially to see how things go.

There is no specific system to recommend. Sounds like you simply need an outdoor camera and DVR. The part about watching live on TV is not as straightforward, unless the DVR or PC has an output that can be connected to a TV, such as HDMI. This shouldn't be all that difficult with the proliferation of HDMI devices. I really hate wireless devices unless there's no other way, but if the camera is within very close range of the access point, it might not be so bad. However, most commercial grade outdoor IP cameras are not wireless, they're hard-wired. Re-think the wireless thing. Let's say you decide wired is ok. To start out, you could get an IP camera (Dahua and Hikvision seem to be favorites) and use your existing computer as the DVR for now. I have experience with a VMS called Xeoma, which you may be able to get by with in Free mode. It's super easy to set up and runs on many different operating systems. Run this setup for awhile and see how things go. Add more cameras later, or get a dedicated DVR later if you wish.