Soundy

And even then, those calculations are a rough guess at best.

Even 0.05 lux is not very dark. You might get a good picture of someone directly under a street light at that. Based only on the specs, those cameras are overpriced at $68, IMO.

It's kind of a meaningless spec to quantify on the NVR side, because it will vary with the camera, the framerate, the frame size, the compression type, the compression level, whether or not motion, analytics, or alarm-triggered recording is used, how finely-tuned the motion detection or analytics are, the scene being recorded, the amount of movement being recorded... etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

(Cue rory here recommending a minimum 14" CRT...)

You could use an IP encoder and wireless router, then view that via the smartphone's browser, although it would get pretty convoluted, and you'd need either an encoder that can send a stream without requiring ActiveX, or a smartphone that supports ActiveX. It would also be a bulky setup with a bunch of cables and you'd have to power everything. For far less than the cost of that setup, you could just get a portable DVD player for <$100 and be done with it. My coworker and I each picked up one of these recently: DVD player, TV, A/V input, SD-card reader and USB host to read video files off flash media (I loaded up an SD card with test pattern JPGs and short video clips). Built-in battery, and the thing is super-lightweight. On sale for $50 too!

Looks like the main difference is, the E model is slightly higher resolution, and half the low-light sensitivity of the D. Other than that, the specs look pretty much identical. Both appear to be low-end stuff, probably worth about $20.

I would guess, nothing that's going to be cost-effective... you'll probably find it cheaper just to get an equivalent IP cam, and that will certainly be far less hassle.

Bugs and small animals won't set off PIR-activated lights, LED or otherwise. That's another benefit to using motion-triggered white lights rather than always-on IR: bugs flitting in front of the IR, whether built-in or not, will still usually trigger the DVR's motion recording. With PIR-activated white light, once the light goes out, the bugs become "invisble" to the camera and will no longer trigger recording.

You MIGHT be able to get eight cameras fitting this description for under $2000... but that's JUST the cameras, not including the recorder...

These cameras have a name? And how do you get a DVR to record video that maxes out at 30fps, at 120fps?

Everyone has a preference for which is easier to install and work with... which is more available... which may have measurable (if not visible) quality differences... etc. etc. One thing is indisputable, though: UTP gives you far more options, but at the time of install, and in the future.

Ah, Gator, good catch! You're right, of course: cheap IR color cameras don't have the standard IR cut filter that color cameras normally need for proper color reproduction, so an IR-blocking window is just like adding that filter in.

Lotta guys do this when they flash a router with DD-WRT or some other firmware that lets you crank the WiFi power. There are some really ghetto mods... and some that are really, really clean:

Funny, I've had the same cable modem for probably ten years (Motorola Surfboard 5110), no problems. Just offhand, can't think of anyone else who's had a cable modem die. DSL modems, on the other hand... I've replaced two or three for customers in just the last three years.

What sort of audio device, and what is it sending signal to?

I've seen plenty of routers flake out, both mine and friends'/customers'. The hardware can fail, especially if they run hot a lot... sometimes settings get muddled and you need to do a hard reset and then reprogram everything. If it's a DD-WRT-capable router, you could always try flashing it with that firmware (or check for support for other third-party firmwares, like Tomato or OpenWRT), and see if that breathes new life into it. Sometimes they just die and need to be $#!tcanned.

Could you give a little more detail as to what you're trying to do, and why the GV software isn't sufficient? Your question is extremely vague...

When people ask why they should pay thousands for a DVR when they can get cheap systems like this for a couple hundred... this is one example why. You get what you pay for, you really do.

If the DVR has a web SDK, you could create a custom website (probably have to run on its own webserver) where you could define custom user access rules, including possibly giving some users more time than others, or access to different cameras, etc. Other than that... I don't know of any DVRs that will give a user remote access for a set time and then kick them off, at least not in the way you're looking for. At the very least you're looking at some custom work, and possibly looking at a new DVR that will support it. Best bet might be to pull some huge number out of your arse and give that to the client as the cost of implementing this, in hopes that he'll find it too expensive and drop the idea.

Realistically cat5e is good for 300', rg59u for 700'. Anything over that, and you're buying media converters and going on fiber. Let's clarify here, in context of the thread: ETHERNET is good for 300'. Cat5e can be good to thousands of meters, depending on what you're running over it. Analog video over Cat5e can far outreach RG59 even with just passive baluns; one or two active units can extend it beyond that at relatively minimal cost. And as common as ethernet is, it's not the only transport you can run IP over - at a previous IT employer, most of our sites used token-ring, which could happily run hundreds of feet over Cat3, and worked far more efficiently than ethernet (most desktop apps ran from a network drive, and even over 4Mbit T-R, they loaded faster than over ethernet). You're talking analog vs. IP here, not coax vs. UTP. Even for a small setup, UTP is generally cheaper, mainly since the cable itself is cheaper, and you don't need to pull an extra power run.

We've been setting up one major client with 3xLogic Vigil PC-based systems for a few years now, using four- and eight-bay QNAP or Enhance Tech external RAID arrays (capacity depending on the site requirements) for additional storage. Sites typically have anywhere from 16 to 30 cameras, some including anywhere from two to six megapixel IP cams (those ranging from 1.3 to 5MP models). With 2TB drives, we can set up an 8-bay unit as RAID6 for ~12TB available, most cameras recording on motion at 4-6fps, and easily achieve or surpass their 90-day retention requirement. Recently, as the arrays have more than enough storage on their own, we've started using the array as THE primary storage destination, relegating the DVR's internal drive(s) as "backup" destinations, used only if the array is offline. This has two benefits: if the RAID goes down, the system can record internally until we get it back online; and if the DVR fails, we can swap in a loaner or a replacement, and all the footage stays on-site to be accessed by the new system.

Hey Birdman, can you calculate that again with these values? 30fps, 24/7, D1 resolution at 1 month of storage please? Or let me know the formula that so i can check and not bother you with these silly questions. Divide by 6 months, then double the results (15->30fps)... or about 1/3 the results he got there. Estimating an average of his 16-20TB result, which would be 18TB, you'd be looking at around 6TB. Do keep in mind that there's almost no visible difference between 15fps and 30fps unless you're dealing with fast-moving objects - see here for examples: http://www.panasonic.com/business/security/demos/PSS-recording-rates.html

http://www.honeywellvideo.com/products/ias/da/pr/125775.html

I know a lot of the traffic cams around here, when they go offline, display a "PelcoNET" logo... you might try asking Pelco about a migration path (I assume it's all or mostly Pelco gear now)?

Vigil supports these cameras as well as panoramic dewarping. Not terribly cheap, tho - probably be looking at around $1200-$1500 for a 4-channel MVR model (just a guess, mind you, I don't recall the MSRP offhand).