GrouchoBoucho

all the switches i listed above have separate uplink ports, include mini-gbic slots where you can install fiber transceivers. the eight-port models are eight poe ports, *plus* two uplink combo ports (combo meaning each can be either copper or fiber). same with the 24-port models: both have 24 poe ports plus at least two uplink ports. there are lots of ways to work it, but there's no point getting into discussing actual network topology at this point. no. this means you run a client app on your smartphone that connects via internet to the nas. see the picture i posted above.

here's the live demo of the synology system: http://www.synology.com/products/dsm_livedemo.php?lang=us

wow, thanks. it seems good, but how does it work? it's just a storage unit or more? to set the cameras to where and when to record i still need a PC and the management software. or it can be set on the cameras via the web interfcace and then i do not need a server? how can i see the live feed then? only camera by camera? if i want to see the feed of 3-4 cameras simultaneously i still need a server with management software, aren't i? many thanks the unit is linux-based and is essentially running its own linux-based nvr application. it records, indexes, and allows you to search and playback video. you can access it via its own web interface, or via a mobile client app. pretty sure synology has a live demo of it on their site. others like qnap make similar nas boxes as well. from a user's perspective they aren't much different from a dedicated pc-based nvr. no, poe does not work over fiber... but then, 250m is an extremely long run for a home-run power cable as well. you'd have to power those cameras locally no matter what. if you have two cameras at that distance, you're probably better off to put a switch like the eight-port cisco in there, connect the cameras to that, then connect the fiber back via the appropriate module in one of the mini-gbic ports. missed this one before: d-link cameras are toys. i've used a couple of better vivotek models (in the $800+ range) but what i've seen of their low-end stuff has been toy-like as well. there are lots of better cameras out there, it's hard to recommend anything specific without knowing the exact requirements and budget. our latest job is using a mix of dahua, hikvision and axis cameras; others recently have use these as well as iqeye, arecont, and the aforementioned higher-grade vivoteks. one thing that comes to mind is that if you're using fiber, you're obviously not cheaping out on things, so i don't know why you'd want to cheap out on the switches and cameras.

cisco has always been one of the *big* names in networking (cisco network certification used to be one of the *the* certifications companies looked for their techs to have, long before mcse came to mean anything). linksys used to be troublesome - in fact, there was a time if a customer had a linksys router, i'd recommend replacing it right away because they were so flaky - but they've improved a lot since being bought by cisco. i used to use d-link exclusively, and their 5- and 8-port desktop switches are okay for a few lower-res cameras... but these days their quality has plummeted. on some subcontract work recently, we were provided eight-port (four poe, four non-poe) d-link switches to handle two or three 2mp cameras per site... of a dozen or so installs, four of those switches have had to be swapped out later because of problems; another three were doa and had to be replaced before the site could go online. i used an 8poe+2 d-link switch on another site with eight 1080p cameras and had it choking constantly on the traffic; when they wanted to add more cameras, i replaced it with a 24poe+2 trendnet switch that's been running flawlessly. suffice to say, i don't trust d-link anymore for anything more than a basic home network. been burned on customer sites too many times. meanwhile, i've now used versions of the cisco 8poe+2 switches (as various model lines have been discontinued/replaced) on sites for almost five years now, and every one of them has been rock solid. one site has eight cameras ranging from 1.3mp to 5mp and the switch hasn't even broken a sweat. our latest site has 50-60 cameras (final number yet to be determined), a mix of analog and ip, spread over four floors; i spec'd three cisco sg200-26p switches (24 gigabit poe ports, two gbe uplinks and two mini-gbic slots) for it. on a job worth well into the five-figure range, i wouldn't do that if i didn't trust them to handle it. then look at the sg200-26p and have room to grow for a long time. there's also the sf300-24p which has 24 10/100 poe ports instead, but that only saves about $100 over the all-gig model. unfortunately there seems to be very little out there for poe switches between 8 and 24 ports; lots of times i wish for a 12 or 16. have it your way. poe is the way to go - even if you already have power to your existing camera locations, it makes it far, far easier if you're adding more cameras later. it also allows you to remote-power-cycle the cameras from the switch's management interface. just keep in mind that easily half the d-link poe switches i've used recently have had issues, either with the power or with handling the heavier network traffic, or both. meantime out of at least a couple dozen ciscos in use (including some sites with up to 15 cameras) i've never had one fail. this is easy with a smartphone - you just run a mobile client for your nvr. fire it up on your phone and view whatever cameras you want. some also support playback of recorded video. as for mms... many nvrs have the ability to send alerts by email and sms/mms, but i'm not aware of any that will do it on a user-initiated remote signal (eg. sending the nvr a text message saying 'send me a picture'). even *if* you rigged up something to allow the nvr to respond to a trigger text (maybe a cheap phone wired into an alarm input) this would potentially be highly unreliable as i've seen it take several seconds to several hours for a text message to be delivered. if you need to see what's happening *right now*, a smartphone with client app is the way to go. this is a screenshot of the synology app for android:

sorry you had to waste your money on those crap systems for such a meaningful purpose. the fact is, no package system camera is going to give you a picture where the deer appears as anything more than a speck at that range. to view a 25-foot-wide area at 150', you need on the order of a 30mm lens for a 1/3" camera, few if any of these types of cameras will come with more an an 8mm lens, and your view at that distance will be 90' wide. your best solution is an outdoor housing holding a box camera with an appropriate lens (something in a 3-33mm or 5-50mm varifocal would be ideal). that could plug directly into a video input on the tv and give a big, clear picture of what's going on at the stump. no need to record it, no need for a bunch of extra cameras.

i don't use mine for my cameras, no - i've only done some minimal testing with a couple of dahua and iqeye cameras. if you want to use the write-to-nas feature in the camera, it wouldn't cost you a license, but the camera would need to support that feature (not all do), and the camera would have to provide a way to playback the video, or you'd need to play it back directly off the disk with player software and probably no search capability. the per-camera fee is for using the surveillance station application, which pulls streams from supported cameras, stores them, and allows you to search them and play them back (among other things). a per-camera fee is common on most nvrs that support a variety of cameras. the price you pay for the development it takes to add support for new cameras amongst everything else. many camera manufacturers provide their own free nvr software, but the catch is, it almost always *only* works with that brand of camera.

i have the ds-412+, it's a nice system. make sure you're updated to the latest version of diskstation manager (dsm 4.1) as well as the latest build of the 'surveillance station' package. as buell says, mixing brands is not a problem if they're all supported by your recorder (assuming you use surveillance station). if you use the axis software, it will only work with the axis cameras... but it also requires a dedicated pc (you *could* use another computer that used for everyday things, but it's never recommended - a surveillance recorder should always have its own machine).

if you want to simplify, get a nas that has nvr capabilities itself, rather a separate dedicated pc. http://www.synology.com/surveillance/index.php?lang=us

this is possible, such adapters do exist, but i'd suggest 'homeplug' adapters instead, that run ethernet over your power lines. they come as two modules; just plug them into an outlet at both ends and plug the network in. http://dx.com/s/powerline+ethernet for example

that's how the dvr knows the port forwarding has been successful. it tells the router, 'open these ports'. then it connects out to 'home base' to say, 'hey, i'm here can you see me?'. then 'home base' tries to connect back to it on those ports. if it works, then it reports to the dvr, 'yes, i can see you, the ports are set up correctly.'

the difference between 23 and 24 gauge isn't *that* great. this makes no sense. a poe injector just passes the ethernet straight through while "injecting" power on the run (hence the name) - it's not an ethernet extender; the entire segment still has to be under 100m *total* for the ethernet to work. you could *get* a combined ethernet extender/poe injector, although a basic poe switch would probably be cheaper while providing the same function. so, your ethernet segment still has to be under 100m... poe nominally runs around 44vdc at up to 15.4w (about 350ma) over two pairs... so for max draw at max length, you're looking at about 1.2v loss over 24ga., or 1.0v over 23ga. 802.3af specifies that the end device should be able to operate on anything from 37 to 57 vdc. in short: it's not possible for 24ga. to drop the voltage enough over 100m for a poe device to not work, and poe considerations have *zero* to do with choosing 23 vs 24ga. the same math applies to 802.3at which specs up to 34.2w - these are *designed to work over cat5e at its maximum length*.

did the capture adapter not come with software? that's what you should be using - it likely won't work with any other software but its own.

first, ditch the d-link switch for your cameras. i've used similar models on a couple sites now and had no end of problems with them. second, you want a switch with poe, so you don't have to power the cameras separately. i've used cisco's "small business" line of managed switches on numerous sites and always been happy with them. the sg300-10p is a great little unit - 8 poe ports for cameras and two uplink ports, all gigabit. third, your setup should work, *if* you're running an smtp server or some sort of smtp forwarding on your recorder. i've done this in the past on sites with a similar network layout: ran a small smtp service on the nvr and then pointed the nas and cameras to that for their alert emails. fourth, do yourself a favor and *don't* set the cameras to email/mms on motion detection. fifth, i wouldn't use vivotek or d-link cameras if my life depended on them.

you're kidding, right? their regular use for cctv may be recent, but the concept of baluns has been around for decades - we were using them to convert ota tv signals between 300-ohm antenna twinlead and 50-ohm coax... oh, at least 35 years ago (and I know they've been around for a lot longer than that).

The novelty wore off on me a long time ago, I only ever search the footage when an event is known to have happened then I just search the time-frame during which an event could have happened. I sometimes get asked by neighbours or a couple of time by police so I search their time-frame and let them have any interesting stuff. Mainly if I were to come home and find someone had vandalized my garden or porch area I would search for the event from the time I went away to the time I returned..... Thats it, .... CCTV does not take over my life but it does remove the frustration I feel at not knowing what happened. All the local kids know I have CCTV by now and they stay well away. You and I agree on this. Rather than writing my own, I'll just use yours. seconded. so far, the most useful my system has been *for me* is identifying other dog owners who let their dogs crap in my yard and don't pick it up.

have you rtfm'd (read the f---- manual)? that's the best place to find out *if* it will even do what you need. and that assumes your isp hasn't locked it down to deny you access. whole buncha info here on modifying them: http://hackingbtbusinesshub.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/outside-and-inside-the-2wire-3801hgv/ the manual can be downloaded here: https://apps.fcc.gov/eas/GetApplicationAttachment.html?id=1233843 - there's nothing in it that mentions upnp; however, port forwarding is covered starting on page 103 of the booklet (page 111 of the pdf) ultimately, your dvr isn't the boat anchor (well, pretty near, but not because of this)... the router is, as it looks like an old, obsoleted model. you should check with at&t about an upgrade. btw, lots of discussion of these things on at&t's forums as well: http://forums.att.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?filter=location&location=forum-board%3Agateway&q=3801

fully agree with this!

full make and model info on the router would help

remember if they're megapixel cameras, the decoder will still only output d1 at best, so you're losing the higher resolution.

the one he linked is a switching-mode supply; the design's output is inherently regulated.

that should work nicely.

that will depend on the cameras and their actual power requirements, but even basic ir cameras tend to max out around 500ma, meaning a 2a supply should be sufficient. i'd look at a 3a or better just to be safe.

pretty sure this question has come up here before...

street light + pellet gun = problem solved.

i took a training course for kantech systems recently, it's a pretty nice system. the base software is free, as well.