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photys

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Posts posted by photys

  3. Posted

    Collin, that clarified the situation a bit

     

    The sens-up is an amazing yet useless function in this cam.

    It lets you up the exposure time by degrees.

     

    I pointed the camera in a very dark area where I couldn't see a thing.

    Full sens-up + AGC showed the area in almost daylight conditions but with extreme noise and 1 frame per 3 seconds.

     

    Sens-up is exposure time.

    Can be used to dodge the noise high AGC adds to an image.

     

    Heres where it works:

    Set the camera on low AGC to keep a low signal noise and add a slightly longer exposure.

    Gives 15 fps, minimal noise and a bright picture.

  5. Posted

    Hi outrun.

    I used to help a couple of CCTV guys install the computer side of their systems.

     

    They used 12V OEM cameras. They all looked great on day one.

     

    Over the past three years:

    10 of the 30 cameras have died.

    4 are about to die

    2 have lost their IR capability.

     

    50% failure rate over 3 years.

    I think all but 4 lasted a year.

    In the short term no brand cams are fine.

    In the long term they are bloody expensive.

     

    Brandname cameras bring 3 things,

    mysterious buttons to fiddle with,

    power options (12V DC, 24V AC, 120V AC, 240V AC)

    and warranty's........ A nice long warranty is great.

  6. Posted

    Cheers CollinR,

    I always appreciate when yourself and other knowledgeable members take the time to answer my mundane questions

    Yes, your right, Sens-up is only available with AGC.

     

     

    Ok, so in general, brandname company's sell their cameras by lux level at max gain?

    But gain causes a deterioration of signal which demands yet another digital process which can blur an image (low pass filter or some signal noise reduction).

  7. Posted

    I have a brandname camera that states 0.3lux @f1.2

    (also up to 0.002lux using Sens-up but disregard that for this post)

    An f0.95 lens.

    AGC has options of off/low/medium/high

     

    When I use AGC im very happy with its low light capabilities.

     

    However, if I turn AGC off, it appears to be more like a 3 - 5 lux camera.

    I pretty much have to hold a candle an inch from my face to get an image.

     

     

    To my question......

    If AGC is digital post processing, how can they say it is a 0.3lux camera?

    Or is that 0.3 lux rating the best it can achieve using AGC only?

  9. Posted

    This may be a better example.

    Record with a Geovision system at D1 no de-interlace.

    No jaggys, crisp image, Almost DVD quality.

    Thats the minimum quality im looking for.

    Cant though.....cos thieves move

     

    Rory,

    I hear you regarding H.264.

    I agree its a marketing tool, not a mark of quality.

    PC based live video wont be the same as when you plug it into a TV, however, the stand alones should be.

    The Avermedia 1304net standalone shows a drop in quality, but I suppose thats to be expected at the budget price.

     

    If you are looking at those stand alones on a VGA monitor then you are not seeing the true quality.

    Sorry mate, im not clear on this.

    The only standalone I have used has a TV / VGE switch for output.

    Do you mean stand-alones are designed for TV / CCTV monitor output?

    Therefore, VGA output will show more compression and pixelation?

     

    CollinR,

    After tweaking, the only quality Im happy with from my geo systems is D1 no de-interlace, recording quality 5, Mpeg.

    A static scene looks great.

    Not great for catching pesky thieves who tend not to stand still for a photo.

     

    Im happy using VGA output, I think my TV analogy confused the issue.

  10. Posted · Edited by Guest

    I want an DVR (not IP) that records the kind of quality you see when you directly plug a CCTV camera into a TV or monitor.

     

    For example:

    I plug in a Samsung Techwin 530 line cam into a standard TV and the image I see is almost broadcast quality.

     

    Plug it into a budget DVR, the quality becomes pixelated or compressed.

     

    I have tried the Geovision 250's to 1240's and the Avermedia 1304net standalone.

    I am happy with Axis 207 quality, but I dont want an IP solution at the moment.

     

    From low to mid quality I see it as:

    AVTech standalones.

    Avermedia standalones.

    Avemedia PC cards.

    Geovision PC cards.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Whats next up the ladder?

     

    Thanks guys.

  11. Posted

    Sorry to hear that Scruit.

    They try to force Vista on the home user but give the business user options.

     

    Dell was the first major brandname to start offering XP again due to customer complaints.

    Dell went all Vista in Febuary. Come April they had options for XP.

     

    Right now Dell offers around 20% of its models with the XP option. This raises to 100% if you have a Premium or Small business account.

     

    If you dont have the above accounts, Im told you can call in your order and they will give you the XP option.

     

    Or follow the upgrade path to XP.

  13. Posted

    I agree with your Avermedia points Scruit.

    Upgrading the firmware sorts out some speed issues.

     

    However,

    You're aware you can only buy Vista new these days, right? Nobody is buying XP or 2000 any more.

     

    By clients request, I have bought more copies of XP this year than previous years combined.

     

    Major computer brandnames now offer an XP option on previously Vista only computers.

     

    A free Vista to XP upgrade path exists using the same phone line you use to activate your OS.

    Only OEM Business and Ultimate. Still pushing for OEM home and premium.

     

    Check out this .DOC file from Microsoft

    http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/2/3/d23b9533-169d-4996-b198-7b9d3fe15611/downgrade_chart.doc

  16. Posted

    Getting following error with a 150kb JPG attachment:

    Could not access ftp directory: 'attachments/thumbs'. Please check your FTP Settings.

     

    So words will have to do for the moment.

     

     

    Recordings are slightly more compressed than a Geovision GV-800 V2 recording with MPEG4.

     

    Not even close to DVD quality.

    Although, I thought it was untill I recorded from the DVD out, then switched between Avermedia playback and DVD playback.

     

    This is a unit you would connect to a TV in a home environment.

    Pretty much same quality as the camera directly connected to the TV, but I will try this again to confirm.

     

    When you start viewing full screen on a monitor you start to see the compression and jaggies.

     

    It records at near GV-800 V2 quality and has effective remote playback.

    Nothing in the price range comes close as far as I have seen

     

    I need to check out this unit in more detail.

    I will post the results

  20. Posted

    Hi markb.

    Sorry we didnt reply before you bought the equipment.

     

    To find out whether the weakest link in the chain is the camera or the DVR, try plugging the output of a DVD player into a camera socket.

    Record some DVD quality footage and play it back.

    That will give you the best quality the DVR can record.

     

    If your happy with the results, buy some brandname cameras. (Samsung techwin, bosh, panasonic), or even some 600 TVL Black and white cameras.

    If not, then replace the DVR and the cameras.

  21. Posted

    Anyone used a good generic Codec Uninstaller?

     

    Background:

    Since playing with a few online demos and installing Avermedia and Geovision systems to my local box, im having audio and video issues.

    Mainly movies and TV shows.

    Both using VLC and Windows Media Player.

     

    Sometimes half of the video screen has a purple colour cast.

    Sometimes my audio fades in and out, or sounds underwater.

     

    I have reinstalled the major video codecs, AC3 and Xvid.

     

    Time to strip out all but the essencial codecs.

  25. Posted

    Power source was an off-the shelf 12v power supply rated for 1.2 amps.

     

    Power supply supplied with the EB1304net is 4amp.

     

    Your camera would have drawn 0.3amp leaving 0.9amp for the unit.

     

    Whoever gave you the info that 1.2amps would be enough could be to blame.

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