Toaster

There's no way to intergrate an IP camera in to this system I have now with the analog cameras and dvr right? The IP would just be separate and wouldn't record on the dvr? (seriously - I'm asking a question)

That you should seek professional help? I tried... 1) I can't afford good quality help, and 2) the budget doctors I've seen tell me I'm fine.

+1 get yourself a good quality camera and put your money saved from buying a ptz to a good motion sencing just like this and have fun at the same time http://www.paintballsentry.com/Videos.htm OMG Why did you show me that!? I need that setup INSIDE the store after we close, one on the roof line to guard the parking lot, and at least 3 at my house - just to piss off the neighbors cat!

Pretty big difference. Did you lower the location of the camera? How high up would you say that camera was mounted? That's a problem I seem to have, my cameras are so high up its hard to see faces and stuff--- and I dont want to mount them eye level, would be to easy to damage them - or even STEAL THEM! That would suck!

I'm not a professional or anything, I'm a simple guy who own's a store and wanted video surveillance security camera setup at my store on the cheap. A little searching online found many options in the $300 price range, with camera's. While I'm sure these systems are not up to par with what professionals use and install, that is not this products bundle target audience either. I actually bought this Q-see bundle, and a Clover bundle. I'm going to write my opinion and review of the dvr bundles - this is the kind of information I would have liked to read before actually buying. I'm lucky in the sense I had the ability to buy, try and return or exchange as needed - and since I needed (wanted) 2 systems (one for home and one for business) I bought 1 of each to compare. The basics of both systems are this: They come with 500gb HDD, 4 channel DVR's and 4 night vision camera's with mounts. Q-see QC444 DVR with 500GB hard drive (and the bundle came with 4x 40ft 27ir led's night vision cameras, cables, power supplies, 1 4x splitter for cameras, cat5 internet cable, usb mouse and remote control, manuals and some software) Recording is flexible, allows you to choose each channel recording quality, resolution, schedule, motion, continuous, etc... Also allow's you to choose the quality of remote viewing stream for mobile smartphone's (iphone, blackberry, etc). It will record D1 (max) at 7FPS across each of the 4 channels, and claims it will record D1 on CH1 at 30FPS and CIF on chan 2, 3 & 4 at 30FPS - but I choose D1 across all channels. Initially I didn't like 7FPS at D1 - I wanted 30FPS at D1, after reading on this forum I realized 7FPS for security purposes is fine, as someone mentioned to me "You're not making a movie, you're recording security footage". The included 500GB hdd seems to record about 10 to 14 days, which is plenty to me. They are upgradable to 1tb drives which are cheap - but I don't think I need more than 10+ days of surveillance. The unit will email you on notification of motion on a channel(s), even if you're set to record continuously, and you can set time frame for motion which is great for businesses! I only want to know if there's motion when I'm closed. Its viewable from web browser but Internet Explorer ONLY (claims other browsers too (chrome, firefox), but that doesn't seem to work for me as it requires activex controls and weblets - I think that was a typo or maybe left over in the manual, specs and brochure from another q-see product?), you can view from Windows using software and Mac OSX using software (both free and downloadable from the q-see site). Internet explorer setup does require you to manually disable some activex security options - which I don't like... but after it does work, and you can log in, view, search and remote backup and even configure the options of the dvr.. Configuring on the PC using a real monitor, mouse and keyboard is fantastic compared to using a TV (in my case) and the on screen display and mouse of the DVR it self... The software that Q-see gives you for Windows/Mac is VERY COMPLICATED. I guess if you're in the industry it make's sense, but to the rest of us - ITS JUST PLAIN COMPLICATED. The web version is more intuitive (and its a little complicated!) again, YMMV. Give's you control to overlay timestamp, channel # or custom tag on each video stream - and you can adjust the position of time stamp or custom tag. Email setup does support SSL so a GMAIL account will work. This seems to be an issue in other DVR's - I may be wrong? The video quality seems ok. I don't have much to compare it against - but I've got it set for D1 at 7FPS on all 4 channels, and it seems ok... Again, I'm no pro - so I don't have much to compare it against security camera wise. I personally think its just OK... Adequate and I doubt for $300 complete its going to get much better, considering I've seen single camera's sell for $300 each. It has LOTS of configurable options. Using the remote control is possible but difficult. The mouse makes it so much easier. And you can configure it on your local network using a PC, which is nice. Smartphone viewing is done through a free application that must be downloaded and installed on your phone. iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Android.. You have to setup a DDNS server, which is free and again, very simple. Network setup was pretty easy, but I had to manually enter DNS settings - even during DHCP connections. And you'll need to be able to setup port forwarding on your router in order to remote access the dvr. Make sure you understand what that is, means and how to do it before hand and you'll save yourself a lot of headache. The quality of video on smartphones is pretty good - its CIF at 7FPS or QCIF at 30FPS, and this is selectable on the DVR (not on the phone darn it! Would've been nice to switch on the fly). The iPhone app (the only one I've used) does also go FULL SCREEN VIDEO when you rotate the phone landscape, or back to smaller size when in portrait with all the options and controls. The app says it will control PTZ cameras, but I don't have any so I can't comment on that. Backing up the video, and in fact searching the video is NOT INTUITIVE (at least not to me). The output video is a proprietary .dav format, and you have to download and install a windows player that will also convert to .avi. Conversion is pretty quick, but I think that's a stupid design flaw - it should record and store in a more standard format! IMO the only time to extract video from the dvr is for playback on a pc or other system, so it should NOT be in a proprietary format! I don't like this. Searching for video is cumbersome, you have to select channel, time, date, etc - then search the "block" its recorded in (which is adjustable but...) If I know I want to see what happened at 9:32pm I want to see ONLY THAT - I don't want to download or view from 9:00 to 10:00 or whatever block size you have set. And while you can review all 4 channels at the same time, if you're highlighting a single channel - that's the only one you'll forward or reverse. NOT ALL 4. Again, bad design. It too easy to mistakenly search 1 channel accidentally - I think it would be nicer to search/ffw/rev all channels by default - and force it to search one channel separately... But this might be just me.. Time sync requires a PC on the local network, setup to deliver the time to the DVR - Not sure why exactly? I don't understand why I can't set it up to sync the time with one of the MANY time servers on the internet? The DVR has a single LAN wire port, and must be connected directly to your router, switch, hub, etc... NO WIFI. The quick on the camera's: I think the camera's are just OK. They are indoor/outdoor 1/4 sony CCD night vision camera's. 420TVL of resolution. They have 27 IR LED's and claim 40ft night vision, which they do - maybe more! All aluminum body, shade hood, and mount with hidden cabling as option. two of them were 3.6mm wide angle, and two were 6mm narrow angle. The wire hides in the center of the mount, so you have the option of completely hiding the cable in the wall or ceiling or whatever hallow mounting surface. And of course it has a gap in one spot for exterior cable routing. So mounting options are flexible, and once you set them - you can lock everything in place... mounting options are good imo. The night vision is B/W and the camera's lens glow RED in the dark from the IR LEDs. I see good and bad in this. Good that one can visually see them in the dark and know there are camera's on... Bad that you can visually see them in the dark and know WHERE the camera's are in the dark. The range is easily what they claim, maybe further. Objects closer to the camera's in the dark get white washed out by the bright IR light. And reflective objects show pure white. I'm sure this is the case with all camera's? And this may be fixable in adjusting the DVR. The daytime video is pretty good, the only bad thing (in my opinion) is when there are shadow area's and bright sun area's on the screen at the same time - the shadow area is almost completely black and not viewable. Closing thoughts: At the $300 price range, I think this is a more than acceptable system. The narrow view camera's have an extremely limited viewing angle! The wide angle is not very wide to me, so you can imagine how narrow the narrow ones are! The setup is not super easy, but I think anyone with basic computer knowledge should be able to set this up pretty easily. Tech support is very hard to get on the phone and basically useless once you get them. After waiting for +1 hour for them on hold, they tried to shuffle me off the phone in under a minute - I got upset and explained I had waited for an hour to talk with them, and would appreciate 5 uninterrupted minutes of conversation and support instead of simple 1 word replies and efforts to hang up (ie: Will that be all sir?) VERY LOUSY TECH SUPPORT. The manual is ok, but you need to be somewhat tech savvy to understand what its saying and even then its not 100% clear at all times. CONS: Proprietary .DAV format for backing up video. Slow FPS for D1 resolution. Little complicated to setup (little). Doesn't sync time automatically with free time servers online. Requires separate application for mobile phone viewing. Search and backup of video is complicated. NON EXISTENT TECHNICAL SUPPORT - VERY DISAPPOINTING. PROS: Cheap and complete. Very flexible recording options PER CHANNEL. Decent quality video. Supports Gmail/SSL email accounts for notifications. Very flexible configurations and recording options. Can cater to just about any environment. Silent operation. Mobile viewing on multiple smart phone platforms, all the most popular.

Yes that makes sense... and now I understand. (sorry for any confusion I might have injected) I just happened to want mine setup the way it was possible, which was to record 24/7 and only sense motion and send emails during closed hours - so that was easy. I suppose that would be nice to track motion during the day too...

Well the subject says it all... is BIGGER better? What is the accepted standard for CCTV? D1 at 7fps or CIF at 30fps? Obviously my mind tells me D1 should be better - always better to have a bigger image - even if you get fewer of them. But the fluid playback of 30fps looks good too. What is the accepted standard or most commonly used setting for security video?

I'm curious, what camera (and specs) did you replace with the new Super HAD CCD camera? Can you list the specs for your other camera's (or make, model, etc). I've been looking at different cameras online, and while the paper specs seem similar or the same, prices range from $40 to $400..... Any additional details would be greatly appreciated (by me!)

That's what I figured. Guy's, this whole CCTV stuff has become my new TOY. I've been eating, drinking and sleeping this stuff for weeks now. ITS NEARLY 3AM LOCALLY AND I'M UP IN BED - ONLINE - READING AND POSTING ON THIS FORUM!!!! What's that tell you!? I was originally only going to buy 1 system for the store... Right now I own 4 setups! I'm addicted...... And this ranks as one of my more expensive habbits. I'm actually looking at these multi-hundred dollar cameras. The only thing stopping me right now is Christmas is around the corner, and my wife will SHOOT ME!! (off camera of course).

wait this is not the same DVR now right? Could be different then. I'm now using the Q-see QT428 8CH dvr which is by TVT... I think it was said its KOREAN -- I don't know....?

Were they cute?? They were OK... I'm still new at this, so watching almost felt "naughty"

I really like the MERCEDES vs FORD comparison. LOL.... " title="Applause" />

Ok, I just looked at the pdf manual from the q-see web site for the qc444 dvr, and on page 32 of the q-see qc444 manual, it shows a menu where you can manually select the motion detect time, day of week, etc.. and explains how to make the dvr send a snap shot on a motion event. Is this NOT what you are asking about? (forgive me if I'm wrong, as I've stated many times - I'm no pro- I'm an average guy who's very new to this whole scene) So after reading your question, and since I'm sure you've seen this option - I'm thinking I either don't fully understand the question or is there something specific about ch#4? Are you trying to get motion detection 24/7 and only trying to get emailed pics during closed hours or your unit won't do it only on ch4?

Oh wait, so you're talking about this other model in the thread regarding encoding etc? That would be different then as its a totally different brand um yeah... I realize I'm making this thread confusing - I'll stop referring to the "other" dvr in this thread. HOWEVER I still think I saw that option to schedule motion detection during a period..? Because I remember thinking that was perfect for doing exactly that - sending email motion notifications during closed hours. I will hook up the QC444 tomorrow and search the menu's.

I got the 8ch QT428 for the sme price as the 4ch QC444. So for the same money I gained 4 more ch's. That's the only reason. Otherwise I was happy with the QC444. It did everything I needed. But I will admit the QT428 seems impressive to me.and fits our needs completely at this point. I will write my review soon

Wow are you on the wrong forum. It's the resolution of the camera on your phone. VGA is 640x480

Well then I'm screwed already. Because out of the box the quality setting (which you can not change in CBR) was set to HIGH (not higher or highest) so I changed to VBR to change it to highest, then changed them all back to CBR. Right now at 15FPS D1 files are about 9-10mb a minute. Is that high? with CBR the quality setting is already highest. As far as I know. I too went that route to VBR and the quality settings but it only made it worse! Like streaming video over websites where it has artifacts. So whats the deal? I have it set for CBR now, but I did have it at VBR... am I stuck?

The default, out of the box, was CIF @ 30FPS across all 8CH's at 1024k or 1536k (something like that). I maxed the bitrate out at 2048k which is the highest it will go. the network stream is set to CIF @ 7FPS at 768k - which is also the max. And when viewing a single channel online it looks really good, very fluid motion, when viewing in 2x2 (4 panes) its pretty "jerky" but you can for sure see whats going on. One of the cool things about the activex control (web applet) for this QT428 DVR is you can change from viewing the sub-stream (cif network stream) to main stream by right clicking and choosing which stream it should send. The FPS drops immediately when I switch to the main stream (obviously) but its very nice to be able to choose. I need to play around with the settings like you said.... and at least see whats the differences (if any).. right now I'm in the mode - I want the biggest, most detailed images possible WHO CARES ABOUT THE HDD!!!! Muhahahaha

I do not have the QC444 hooked up anymore, I've switched to the QT428 - and I know for a FACT it does that, because I have that set at my store, to track motion and send email pictures during motion events only while we are closed. I sure thought the 444 did it too? NOT SURE - SORRY. FWIW, I really liked the QC444. I liked the ability to get D1@30fps one CH1 and 7fps on the others was really nice too.

I see this listed alot, "will require some setup time" ... what specifically did you have trouble with. I consider myself pretty computer and tech savvy... Once I figured out what all the terms meant, and the basic concept of how these dvr's work - I think I got it now... The hardest part IMO is getting the port forwarding setup, but I personally set my DVR's up on a static IP which is the same for home/work, and just allow that IP to forward port "so-n-so". After I got that working, its pretty basic after that. (I think?) I'd like to know what needed setup, and are you comparing that setup to something else --- was the task at hand easier on another dvr or software? Please explain. (I'm just curious)

So you think the PC cards to build a DVR are better than a stand alone dedicated DVR?

Well then I'm screwed already. Because out of the box the quality setting (which you can not change in CBR) was set to HIGH (not higher or highest) so I changed to VBR to change it to highest, then changed them all back to CBR. Right now at 15FPS D1 files are about 9-10mb a minute. Is that high?

This latest DVR I'm using (which is most likely the one I'm keeping) is a 8CH Q-see but manufactured by TVT. And it give me complete control of the 8CH recording options. At D1 I have 60FPS to use as I want, so I can adjust each channel individually... Right now since I only have 4 cameras, I'm getting 15fps D1 on 4CH and the other 4CH are not recording. The other night someone pulled in front of the store, and checked out the store for about 3-4 minutes, happened around 1am, I got the email alert of motion in the parking lot, I was awake, so I "tuned in" and watched live online - over the internet I only get CIF at 7FPS, so after it was over and they left I downloaded (backed up) those couple of minutes of video over the net, took me about 7 minutes give/take (slow DSL at the store)... anyway, the local video plays AWESOME, smooth and fluid.... Thank god it was innocent, these girls had no bad intentions, they were just scoping out the window, noticed the camera - even waved at it. But in all honesty - I couldn't identify them, or make out a plate number because of the headlight glare. I was able to make out the jeep, the color of the jeep, etc... I'm sure the camera is the weak link... But that's why I asked the question Oh, am I right about CBR vs VBR?

Does having a higher frame rate at D1 sacrifice quality? In other words, would you get 7 clearer pictures a second at D1 vs 15 fps? The bit rate is set to Constant (CBR) at 2048k - there is a VBR option, but that sounds like it would make the files smaller, but you would loose some quality...?

Yeah - those are nice, but a quick google search and see some of the prices!? WHOA. That's expensive (IMO)