Soundy

It might help to know the exact make AND MODEL of ALL the equipment involved...

Both of these methods will do that. No... most commonly, the data input of the SmartPit is connected to an RS-232 port on the register. The register is then configured to send data to that port; often it will be an option for a "Polewatcher" device (that's the little stalk-mounted one- or two-line display that shows the customer what's being rung through), or some other option that sends plain text (some have specific options for output to DVRs). The SmartPit then has video in and out ports - the camera connects to the video in, the SmartPit overlays the text on the video, and the output then goes to an input on the DVR. SmartPit also has a pass-through port, so the data can ALSO be sent to the DVR unaltered, as well as a "filtered" output, so it can remove formatting codes and whatnot and output the "cleaned" data as well. As far as the data-logging option, I can only speak specifically about the way Vigil handles it... but even in the remote client, the data can be searched, and displays alongside the video window. If you select an item in the data display, the video will jump to the matching instant in time (if there are multiple cameras on multiple registers, it will also let you associate the appropriate camera with each register, and will switch to the relevant camera view). As you play the video, relevant lines in the data display will be highlighted as well. It doesn't look as "hi-tech" as having the text on the video, but it's far more powerful to be able to search the data.

I don't know if it's unrealistic, you didn't answer the question: is it for the NVR alone, or for the entire system? Your subject asks if an NVR is possible for $1000, and the short answer, as demonstrated, is yes. Whether an entire system can be done for a $1000-$1500 budget depends on how many cameras you're looking at, and exactly what your needs are. IP cameras can be had ranging from $150 to $15,000. BTW, don't even consider using your wireless network. Wireless is too slow and unreliable for running security video, unless you're willing to get into purpose-designed systems such as those from Ubiquiti... and even then, wireless should be implemented only as a last resort, if there's no other (cost-effective) way to get the signal there.

Is this the budget for the whole system, or JUST the NVR? You could get into a ready-to-go NVR from QNAP, based on their network storage systems - http://www.qnapsecurity.com - the NVP104P, for example, can be found for around $500. Just add hard drive(s) and cameras!

None of those low-light images appear to contain motion, though... one of the biggest issues with MP cameras and low light is that most of them deal with it by using a slow shutter, which makes for clear pictures but nasty motion blur. How about one that shows someone walking through the scene?

All the cameras on that site are cheap junk - they don't even have brand names. Instead of looking for a large number of cheap cameras, you should consider a smaller number of higher-quality cameras. Instead of just tossing a whole bunch of cameras in your lobby, for example, consider what coverage is REALLY needed and concentrate on that. As an example: many reception areas will make do with a single camera for wide, overall coverage, and a single camera focused tightly on the entrance door(s) to get clear ID shots of people entering.

Are these cheap IR cameras? If so, the washout is being caused by the IR; there's not much to do about it other than moving the camera farther away.

If you insist on text overlay, something like this will work: http://www.honeywellvideo.com/products/ias/da/pr/125775.html We've used older versions of these extensively, and the newest model once. Honeywell support was outstanding in helping get it configured for a Squirrel POS system. A preferable method, in my books, is a DVR that logs the POS data to its database - this makes it fully searchable, which video-overlaid information is not. As to what POS to use, best place to start is probably to look at the "supported devices" list for whatever interface or DVR you choose. Some will communicate over the network; others send it out as plain text via a serial port, for the TVS/DVR to capture.

I gather the laptops are currently already using DHCP, but pulling addresses in a different subnet than the DVR is using. Simple solution: change the DVR and AP to IPs in the same subnet as your DHCP server is passing out to the laptops: if the DHCP server is using 192.168.0.* IPs, then just change your DVR and AP to 192.168.0.150, .151, etc. (or other addresses that are outside the DHCP range).

Skip the IR and add a couple motion-activated floodlights. The white light will give you better image than IR (in color, too), and a bright light snapping on, if not enough to scare an intruder away, will usually at least entice him to look for the source of the light (a natural reaction), which if it's fairly near the camera, means you should get clearer facial shots.

There are typically two types of POS interfaces used with DVRs. One overlays the text on the video itself (using hardware like a Honeywell SmartPit box or similar), and the video is recorded that way; the other captures the text to a database on the DVR that allows it to be searched, usually allowing playback linked to the video. Either way, the text is generated by the POS itself, usually just plain ASCII with maybe some basic formatting codes. It's common to use an output designed for a "Polewatcher" display. All the DVR interface does it capture that text and process it. You could conceivably do what you want, but the alarm would have to generate a plain text output for the DVR to capture.

I googled "RAS916LS" and the first hit led me to a PDF manual on American Dynamics' website. Pages 15, 22 and 38 of the manual contain connection info for using RS-485 with the camera.

https://chrome.google.com/extensions/search?itemlang=&hl=en&q=ietab

I tried to look up your DVR but got many different hits on different brands and models. More information would help, such as specific brand or model names, part numbers, or even photos of the unit.

I don't know about FIRST choice.... I've had mixed results. I have an IQ511 looking out at my street and it looks really good at night in color... but does it with a slow shutter, so there's some motion blur. Not TOO terrible, mind you; I've certainly seen a lot worse. I've put a couple day/night versions of the IQA11 domes, and wasn't too impressed... particularly with the fact that I couldn't set a threshold for the day/night switch. On the other hand, I've put in a few IQ753 day/night box cams that were outstanding at night. I have seen a Hikvision dome on one site that had amazing low-light performance... it was looking at a parking lot, while there was a day/night Arecont at the other end of the lot, and the Hik looked better, with less motion blur, in color, than the Arecont did in B&W. I'd love to get ahold of another to test, but haven't had the chance.

You don't demo stuff before you buy it?? My experience, most DVRs/NVRs have some sort of online demo (http://qnapsecurity.com/liveDemo.asp for example), and some even offer loaner systems for you to try. No problem, everyone has systems they like and prefer to use... just suggesting some options based on your particular situation. A NAS/NVR type unit has some specific benefits, such as built-in RAID support, hot-swappable drive bays, lower power consumption than a PC NVR (so it'll run longer on a smaller UPS), and fully remote operation, so it can be hidden anywhere. Plus, because it's based on a NAS, it can ALSO be used as remote storage for a DVR. We use mostly IQEye, Arecont, and Hikvision cameras. IQ are nice picture with lots of built-in features and configuration options, but they're a little more on the pricey side. Areconts are good picture at fairly low cost, but they're a PITA to install and configure and we've had some serious QA issues with their assembly. Hikvision are good for the price, but the ones I've used have NO low-light capability at all (granted, that's only been a couple models).

The first one was 24VAC, but it's not a matter of timing - the image was still blank when I came back four days later with a replacement camera. The second was 12VDC as it was a drop-in replacement for a cheapie IR bullet. And voltage difference wouldn't account for the image being intermittent when I pushed on the internal wiring. Baluns with cheap 12V cameras will tend to introduce ground loops once you start adding two or more cameras, because the cameras have a shared ground between the video and power and you end up with multiple different-length ground paths... but that shouldn't be an issue with dual-voltage cameras.

Something like that. I think we're mixing two discussions, though... if you're wanting to use hidden remote storage for security reasons (concern about the DVR being taken), it makes more sense to me to make that the primary storage, and just be done with it - KISS principle! Units like the QNAPs handle all the RAID internally, and it's very easily managed through the machine's web interface. However, this isn't limited to an NVR; the unit simply looks like another drive letter to Windows, so you simply point your DVR/NVR software at it. My NVR suggestion was that, if you're going with IP cameras, you use one of QNAP's "Surveillance Station" models: the cameras record directly to the unit, rather than going through a separate PC, and all the management, viewing and playback is done through the unit's web interface. The NVRs are essentially the same core storage unit, but instead of features like UPnP/Bonjour, filesharing, etc. intended for home use, they're designed primarily for recording IP video streams. You eliminate the need for the NVR PC altogether.

The what, now? There is no such thing as an "iPod Touch 3G" - adding 3G to a Touch would turn it into an iPhone.

RAID1 *is* mirroring. The "mirror" function in Windows 7 is just implementing RAID1 in software. And why would you use the Windows 7 mirroring on the QNAP? The whole point of a device like that is that it handles the RAID internally and lets you hot-swap drives if one dies... all you have to do in Windows is install the iSCSI initiator and point it at the array. First thing you want to do is look at the compatibility list for whatever NVR or software you're using - there would be no point in anyone recommending a camera if it's not going to work with the system you're using to record it.

Sure. We currently use mainly QNAP (http://www.qnap.com); we've also used Synology and Enhance Technologies arrays. Correct. Actually, a common setup for one of our customers (a chain of up-scale restaurants) uses a Cisco SFE1000P switch (eight 10/100 PoE ports, two GbE/miniGBIC ports), putting the cameras (4-6, depending on the site) on the PoE ports, the DVR on one GbE port, and the NAS on the other GbE port. Works great! If you're going to go all-IP, take a look at a dedicated NVR/NAS system like these: http://www.qnapsecurity.com

The first time I ran into this issue, the camera just showed black as soon as I fired it up. Got signal, the DVR didn't show signal loss, there was just no picture. Suspected a bad iris drive, but again, haven't had the chance to investigate further; just swapped it out to get the site online. The second one, I just ran into last night - it had picture at first, but then lost it. Nudging the bundle of wires on the back of the camera module caused the picture to come and go, along with the sort of noise and broken images you'd expect to see with a lose wire.

iSCSI does map as a physical drive letter, and the OS should have no idea that it's NOT a physically-attached drive (Windows doesn't, at least). Vigil has the same issue; it specifically won't allow you to use a SAMBA share as a data drive, as the developers found too many problems with network drive mappings dropping off and/or not being reconnected properly after a reboot. We've been using iSCSI with a number of different NAS arrays now and found it very reliable. I've actually had far more issues with external USB drives dropping out, requiring the drive to be unplugged and reconnected to be recognized again. A potential problem I see with your plan, is that someone yanking the DVR out could see the wires going to your hidden storage, follow them, and take that as well - your power cable might be inconspicuous, but an eSATA cable will start to look suspicious. And what happens if their ripping the machine out yanks on the cable, tips the external drive over or in some other way presents a physical shock to it, and causes a head crash? If you want to be REALLY certain, just put the whole DVR machine somewhere secure and access it remotely from a desktop/laptop, or use a KVM-over-UTP extender - there are several examples here: http://www.aten.com/KVM-Extender.htm (we've used these before, as well as Belkin models). You could even combine the extender with a KVM switch, so the DVR can be controlled using the same keyboard/mouse/monitor as your desktop machine.

Depends on the cameras. Some will do full 30fps at 2-3MP; others max out at 15fps at 1.3MP, or even lower. In most cases, it's a moot point - most people won't even notice the difference between 30fps and 15fps, and even 7-10fps gives fairly smooth motion for anything but fast-moving objects. Yes: check out this demo: http://www.panasonic.com/business/security/demos/PSS-recording-rates.html ...and don't get too hung up on fps numbers. As noted above, the difference between 15 and 30 will barely be noticeable in most cases, and 15fps will use approximately have the space of 30. 7.5fps will use half again the space, and again, will still look smooth in most instances.

I could build you an NVR on a $30 used P4, too... I mean, come on, you could play the price game all day if you keep stripping away features and functionality. Still doesn't make a valid comparison. FWIW, we have Vigil systems in the field, several years old, still running just fine on their original P4 system, using essentially the same software as the current systems. There's no reason an old, used, slow-by-today's-standards system can't work just fine. Edit: oh yeah, I have a "portable test/demo NVR" running Vigil on an old Acer laptop (Celeron M)... the laptop itself was free. So unless someone is paying you to take a standalone DVR... I win