Sam228

Loose connectors? Insufficient amperage? Ground loop? Interference? If it's only happening at night, I imagine it likely has something to do with the IR or the extra power requirement. I don't know if I'd spend any time worrying about your cable, but bringing it indoors and testing it with a separate cable might be a place to start. That will at least tell you if it's environmental or a more direct problem with the hardware. Edit: I just saw you're using Cat6 cable. This is where I tell you that TVI, like CVI, is supposed to use solid copper RG59. That being said, someone is about to have a fit and tell me all about how Hikvision "says" you can use Cat6 cable. I've tried it. It didn't work consistently under any circumstances for me. That's all I'm saying.

Any IP camera that comes with software to support recording and an access point to make it wireless. Dahua and Hikvision are always popular unless you want something more fancy.

In that case, I would tell it's proprietary like many of them and you're going to have to find the right one based on the manufacturer of the DVR. It says MP4 but it's either some demented version of it or it's corrupt.

The DVR looks like Dahua. It's all analog though, so everything you see that's also analog will likely be compatible.

Not to be a smartass, and maybe I missed something, but if the file is in MP4 formart, is there a reason you haven't tried an an MP4 player? Most of what you tried is proprietary or not intended for MP4 to begin with.

That doesn't look nasty enough for me to be a ground loop. The ground loop isolators may be helping to correct the issue, and I've seen that before when a ground loop wasn't at fault, but I think you have another problem. Like the toss said, try removing the UPS first. I think there's a halfway decent chance that that's your problem.

I'd like to see pictures before making guesses. Ground loops look different from other power issues on the screen but are usually described the same way. "Someone posted at one point UPS' could cause ground loop problems by their psuedo sine wave." I don't know about the reasoning, but yah, some UPS units just don't play nicely with these systems. I wouldn't rule it out and it might be the easiest thing to check at this point.

Try the link again. Their site isn't always working, but it is at this moment.

He gave you the answer you needed. The 940nm wavelength is where IR becomes invisible to the human eye. You are looking for a camera with the 940nm feature. They aren't common, because most people don't share your opinion. That being said, they are unjustifiably higher in price as they offer no benefit as the vast majority of the market sees it.

This is my guess if they're IP cameras: http://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/nvr440844164432-676.html Posting pictures would help.

Your time log shows a very obvious problem. Lines 72 and 64. Login from "user: default" directly from the GUI. In this case the GUI means whoever logged in was standing in front of the DVR and had the username and the password. After logging in, they made several modifications which then required that the DVR reboot in order to make those changes. Then they did it again. If you're telling us that you weren't home at this date and time, then someone else was standing at DVR making changes to it. Not outside messing with power cable, not aliens...just breaking and entering...and then tampering.

+1 Don't start trying to fix a problem you haven't identified yet. You have your suspicions and they're probably right, but what if they aren't? I was going to suggest a trail camera personally. They aren't thought of as concealable, but there's a hundred ways to them, especially around a home.

The NVR will likely only give you the video files separately. This means you'll have to view them separately one at a time. The microphone will be paired with one of the cameras on the NVR so that audio will play with whatever cameras feed you have it slaved to. A little video editing software and some effort will let you compile/convert those videos and audio any which way you want. As it stand though, the NVR will likely not give you what you're after on its own.

They exist. It's all about wavelength. It has a relatively short letter/number identifier but I forgot what it is. I'm sure someone here knows. You need to know that "invisible" IR is also weaker IR in many cases, meaning it won't reach as great a distance as the alternative and may also be dimmer.

The settings are going to be on the DVR. Any manual you find for the DVR is going to be a nightmare; don't waste your time. Try searching for articles or videos about what you need by the make and model number of the DVR.

Are you recording the feed? If so, what is it recording to; standalone NVR, computer+software...? How are you able to interface with the camera?

If it was lighting, everything is probably affected in some way. That being said, and if was in fact lightning, you need to just replace it. I've never known a standalone DVR/NVR to have replacement parts readily available for it no matter how much you spent. Let me rephrase that slightly. I've never known them to have replacement parts outside of the country that they're manufactured in. That being said, if you actually manage to find the part(s) you need, it may take a very long time to get them, and the shipping rates might be ugly.

By "automatic" pattern, do you mean it was hooked up to power ans just started doing its thing, or did someone actually program that pattern? I assume like in any other case I can think of, you just need to find the appropriate section of the menu related to PTZ settings. Depending on what you having it running to, the settings might be contained within the recording device or the camera itself. I'm not 100% familiar with the Bosch line.

You know what's an even bigger risk to your network than an IP camera system? A computer. I don't see people flying off the handle every time a computer is plugged in, so why does it happen when people start talking about IP cameras? The general impression I get is that people think they know how to make computers safe to use, but their own ignorance of IP camera security gets the better of them because they can't put "the McAfee" on them. Also, someone point me in the direction of the posts with people claiming to have there home network personally targeted. I'm up for more induced paranoia.

I'm under the impression that when you link your cameras to your NVR, you ultimately turn control of those cameras over to the NVR. Meaning most of the time (I think), the NVR dictates the cameras actions based on NVR settings and not necessarily what the cameras are set to. At the very least, I've found this to be the case a lot of the time when it comes to standalone recorders. On another note, if you don't like all of the false positives you're getting during motion detection, why not lower the sensitivity settings or shade out the problem areas...or have you?

Your assumptions are pretty much dead on, but I'd like to know the extent of the system before I give you an answer. How many cameras are you talking about having, and are they recording to something? I assume there's internet access on site? Where are the cameras running back to, or what are they drawing power from? There's always a possibility of something being rigged to make it work (safely).

Look for a camera advertising at least 200ft of IR. From what I'm able to pull up, this one does "about 50m" which is your exact distance. Don't expect it to reach that far, and if it does, expect it to be dim. Overall, and if you want my opinion, this does not look like a nice camera. I would shop around a little more and find some third party reviews of what you find. When it comes down to whether or not you're going to get everything else you need, you haven't really specified what that is. It's purpose is to watch that car, but what amount of detail are you needing assuming someone takes a bat to it? If you need to be able to ID an individual, you got problems. Standard definition analog isn't known for it's high resolution or by the crazy amount of detail it provides. This is going to require something at the highest resolution offered with a lens that has enough zoom to pull details out from that distance. The camera you chose, and from the site I'm looking at, has an 8mm lens; that's not gonna do it. If you actually do need to ID someone, I think the problem you'll run into is that you won't be able to find a typical analog security camera out there that has a lens big enough. With the system you have, a PTZ camera (pan tilt zoom) will likely be the only thing with both the zoom and IR that you need. If this car is parked under an infallible and bright street light, you might be able to get away with a box camera, big lens, and enclosure with no IR. I'm unaware of an enclosure with enough IR to meet your needs. PTZ cameras aren't cheap. If you find one that's comparable in price to what you picked out already, there's something wrong with it. A PTZ camera is also going to require that you run an additional cable for data. Without it, your camera won't pan tilt or zoom. In other words you won't be able to control it and that's the whole reason for having one.

+1 for the Starlight models. I don't know that you can do any better in low light.

When comparing that camera to it's competition, I personally would have made the same choice (DH-IPC-HDW4300S). Hikvision offers a nearly identical line of products at a similar price, so that's where I would start comparing. As the previous comments should have showed you, each brand or manufacturer has an array of products and not all of them are good but they don't all need to suck either. Re-branding is fairly popular so don't necessarily rule out camera because of the name on it. Find out who the actual manufacturer is first, and what their model number is. Your best bet to determine if you're making a good choice is to find full write-ups or reviews, and preferably ones that show video samples so you can actual see what you're about to get for your money. A lot of people seem to get locked in on certain things when shopping around, but one of them usually isn't the longevity of the hardware. That's something I would pay a little attention to when it comes to comparing certain brands and the quality of the components they use. If it comes down to Dahua vs. Hikvision, and you're comparing comparable models, you can safely put longevity on the back burner as they're practically one in the same.

Regardless of your decision, I think you have the right idea either way. It's really a matter of opinion and preference whether to hide or armor. The decoy route is an idea I like and not one that many people use. I particularly like it for this application. On that note, your sacrificial DVR (if you go this route) may be able to be very cheaply purchased from any number eCommerce companies you can find with old or completely bricked DVRs that I bet they'd love to offload for whatever they can get.