Kiwi

I'm able to read licence plates at the entrance to my driveway which is 90' away with a lens focal length that just encompasses the approaching vehicle. Aside from the lens (about 70mm) the biggest issue is night time illumination. Even with the camera elevated to about 30' the headlights overwhelm the camera's dynamic range. A potential solution is to place a reflective surface at a strategic place to bounce some light back to the licence plate. In my case the iron gate provides enough reflection back when closed, but a white sign may work just as well. I used a JVC box camera and a Computar 8-80 electric zoom inside a home made weatherproof enclosure.

I had one of these Swann USB DVR's about a year ago and it installed and worked perfectly under WinXP Pro on two different computers. I sold it after testing but wish I'd kept it as the video quality was quite good. Where does the problem show up, during the DVR install or when the two remote applications are installed using IE/active-X? I used the driver pcdvr5.4.0.3.exe available here: http://www.swann.com.au/s/products/view/?product=497#download This is most likely to be a result of having PC Tools or Norton present rather than a direct fault of the Swann software. You also haven't mentioned what OS you are running, or what the computer hardware is. I assume you have USB 2.0 ports and WinXP. Vista is not acceptable according to the Swann site, and I believe I tried it myself on a laptop and it failed.

You can view the DVR IP via the menus on a connected monitor, look under "static." If you provide more information you will get better answers! That includes how you have wired the router and cable modem together.

Shouldn't need high end graphics. I've used a USB DVR with on-board intel video. Why not try out a cheap video card in the server if you are having problems?

I have no idea how to stream an Arecont into a webpage, I only pull a static JPG off the camera each time the page is refreshed using http://ip:port/img.jpg But I would be willing to try something. The only example given in the manual is: GET /mjpeg?res=half&x0=0&y0=0&x1=1600&y1=1200&quality=12&doublescan=0 HTTP/1.1\r\n Host: 192.168.1.11\r\n \r\n Is that what you are talking about? If so how is it used?

Well, google told you wrong! Why not just use the composite input on a TV set?

yeah, it sounds like the video inputs at the card are not terminated correctly. It there a jumper, switch or software setting on the card regarding loopthrough? Should be on 75 or "off." If not, return the card for one that works.

Normally you would want to get the cameras fairly close to the action, to minimize overall cost of the camera hardware incl wiring, and get the best picture. However, given your constraints you will need every bit of a 22x zoom plus likely a remote control, and so the cameras will cost a lot more. I don't know specific brands or models but there are cameras made from standard Sony modules that have a remote controlled lens and other parameters, incl night mode. I've only had limited experience with these myself but they are quite impressive. Perhaps someone else can indicate a suitable model. Once your boss sees the price he or she may be more inclined to just run a longer wire and make do with the existing cameras. Hopefully you are not expecting to identify faces or license plate numbers, that's another step. Just to scare people off, if you are in an isolated area away from homes you could hook up an outdoor alarm to the DVR alarm output, to be triggered on motion, and on a timer to operate outside of business hours.

On first glance it appears that the cameras are much too far away from the items needing surveillance. Can the cameras be placed at the far end of the building?

Same cameras but since the vendor is responsible for support, you should purchase it from someone you trust will provide that, like Ganz.

I've considered similar installations of electrical hardware in my crawl space. My only personal rule is that it be entirely enclosed in a steel cabinet, which this seems to be. I have no idea what our local code would say about this (probably nothing) nor any local US codes. I did notice in my house in San Diego that the doorbell transformer was located in a closet when it could have been more easily located in the crawl space. Perhaps it has something to do with access by firemen and/or visibility by the home owner so that you can see if there is a problem. But here, all my 12V halogen ceiling lights have built-in transformers which extend into the crawl space. It may make a difference if the power supply is plugged in to an outlet v.s. being hardwired. An electrician could install an outlet for you in the crawl space and you install the box and just plug it in. If the code is too difficult to interpret you could ask a local alarm company since their equipment is very similar.

that question is over 2 months old now and I think the author has disappeared into the ether ....

Is that an FTP site that might have other firmware? My 3130 is still buggy and I'm wary of contacting the factory yet again without a specific fault, plus I'm outside of the warranty now.

A video server is normally not very cost-effective if you are starting from scratch. Your camera choice should be based on the resolution and frame rate you need, less so on having suitable cable available!

This one is an IQEye http://taranakivista.gotdns.com/still.html?ds=2?width=1216?height=640?mode=1?from=appletvid.html StarDot is another IP camera vendor. How are you planning to recover the images?

"frame" (not CIF) and "best" are where it should be.

BTW, does anyone else get a message from Avast antivirus re VSE? Same with 1.0.6.6 off Scorpion's site when I try to download it. I'm sure it's a mistake but wondered if anyone else has seen this?

Be aware that the camera resolutions you have mentioned refer to the horizontal direction and are "line pairs" of discernible resolution not pixels. With the DVR capable of digitizing the analog signal to 720 pixels, any of those cameras can be taken full advantage of. But in the vertical direction you have provided conflicting numbers. 480 is the fixed number of actual lines provided by any NTSC camera, so the DVR is either compromising by "averaging" them down to 240 (quite common,) or there is a misprint and it's actually 480. In either case the 576 number is for the full number of PAL lines vertically and (for NTSC countries) is not relevant. The reason the spec is quoted the way it is, with three numbers, is that 720 is sufficiently high for either NTSC or PAL.

If you are located in the States and your 12-ch video card can be configured for NTSC you might be best to do that and replace your two original cameras too. It will give you many more options and save $$ in the end.

Firefox can't find the server at www.amcanproduction.com I have one of those USB DVR devices with PC software (Swann) and it will only do 30 fps total at best over the 4 cameras. Canon (for one) have a range of flash memory video cameras, four of the cheapest ones will likely give you a far better result than you would get with CCTV cameras and a security DVR for the same money. But if size is a problem here is a recorder that might work, one per channel: http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/04/sandisks-v-mate-records-video-to-what-else-flash-memory-cards/

Maybe camcorders with solid-state recording media. Hard disks and tape might suffer from interruptions.

Can't answer your question but am fascinated to learn that this unit has finally been upgraded to 100% MPEG-4, plus the network video is MPEG-4 too - an improvement over the other models which use MJPEG. Plus, notice the GPL (open source) statement on AVtech's site. I want one! http://www.avtech.com.tw/image/product_pic/doc/mpeg4.pdf

As soon as sun hits the glass window it's going to wash out. Make a longer shade and/or point the camera down a bit. I had to make a 6" long sunshade for my north-facing outdoor camera. It looks ridiculous but the image is perfect throughout the day.

Send them the MAC addresses and they should send back license files for the three cameras, they are (at least "were") free. Not that the Arecont SW is anything special. The pics look fine to me, as mentioned depth of focus could be improved with a slight iris stopdown, but I don't get any better pics out of my 3130. They are not even close to the quality of a consumer point-and-shoot digital camera. But what you do get is a camera you can leave on 24 hrs a day and it should last for years. Don't get too carried away with increasing the camera's sharpness parameter. When the picture gets noisy (at night) it may be better without too much.

These sorts of rumors, whether true or not, could easily get out of hand and become folklore, and significantly devalue the company. Yet I was not able to find any explanation on their help and FAQ pages for this disk activity, something I've noted others have complained about. I found a link to German company that has apparently recompiled the open-source Chrome in a less-invasive form and called it "Iron." I haven't tried this so can't vouch for it, but did note the installation program is in German - hopefully the resulting browser install is not. http://is.gd/3cl0