Monitor Your Assets

Hi Christopher, The 0.1 lux at 1/60 is applicable for any camera with a night lens, for the M12 series, at least. I don't have access to a M12D-Sec, but here is an image that may help you. I have added some variables to each image - at the top, you'll find the shutter speed used and the lux used at the time. In this sample, only street lights and the car's headlights were present - my house lights were off. In experimenting (remotely), 1/60 (used here) seems to be the sweet spot as it delivers a non-blurred image with acceptable noise. I'm going to experiment with the settings a bit more with targets walking around the porch (video motion box 2,3) because that is what matters most to me. With sunny skies right now, the day lens reads 4686 lux and it's using a shutter speed of 1/477.

If I were buying a home, it would influence my decision. My home was broken into a while back. Some irreplaceable things were taken, it was vandalized and they messed with my dog (boxer). An alarm system may have prevented it, but a security camera would have given me what I really want - a picture of the people who did the crime. A picture is something that can be acted upon. Sirens, noises or a phone call after the fact is not as useful. I'm with Sawbones - I have a system in place for piece of mind. Another advantage that CCTV has over an alarm system is that the buyer does not to subscribe to a monthly monitoring fee.

Curious - will you be using the Axis unit going forward?

With only one exception: The M12M-Web-D43 which has a day only megapixel resolution (2048x1536). It is a stripper model that does not include several features such as internal DVR/storage, 2 way audio, telephony, external storage on Samba/NFS and video motion. It's more suited as a "web cam".

You bet! I am a Mobotix dealer and want to learn as much as I could - best way is to use one. I thought I'd start with a model that has a full feature set (built in DVR, especially), two lenses and the "worst case" images - VGA. PM me for more details as I do not wish to violate any forum policies! Here is a pic of the camera mounted above my garage door (top left), which keeps the camera out of the elements, but not the cold. Temperatures have dipped to -20c (-4f) with zero effect on the camera. The camera records the average hourly internal temperature over the last few days, which is interesting. Last night, the internal temperature dipped to -4c with an outside temperature of -18c. amirm: excellent analysis of sawbones' picture! Similar to his grass, some detail is lost in my snow, but I think that's just a matter of dialing it in. Great thread guys! In reviewing my post, I realize it's time for me to take my Christmas wreaths down!

Nice comparison of the two cameras Christopher - you know your stuff! Here is a sample taken from the day lens - VGA provides enough detail to *just* recognize the license plate of the Impala in my driveway (first 4 characters blurred on purpose), but not plates on the road. Not bad from that angle, IMHO. In this picture, the Impala and Nissan are parked - the black Toyota is moving and is what triggered the PIR dectector (indicated by the colored "PI" at the bottom left). I'm happy with the quality, especially being VGA and I hope to dial it in further. Aesthetically, the M12 blends in nicely above my garage door. If I disabled the LEDs, few would notice it. I've had a lot of fun with the two way audio too! I don't recall the shutter speeds that were used for either picture, but am now experimenting with adding variables to each image (very easy) so that I can make comparisons and tweak it further.

Hi Christopher, I know it's not exactly what you're after, but attached is a sample of the M12D I'm evaluating which has the same lens - the 43mm. Specifically, it is a M12D-IT-DNight with dual L43 lenses - 640x480 only. The SUV driving by triggered the PIR sensor which took this shot. I'm playing around with the variables so that each image/video recorded will include the illumination and exposure settings so that I can dial it in. Hope it helps!

I agree with you that motion sensors can nicely compliment video motion detection. Some Mobotix cameras have PiR sensors built in and I have found it very useful. Could you not hookup a PiR sensor to an alarm interface so that could trigger recording? I'm not familiar with PC based cards, only the appliances, most of which do have alarm inputs. Does the recording software allow for other PC based triggers such as serial or USB input?

Sorry, just noted that this was posted in the "DVR" section. While Mobotix cameras are not DVRs, they do contain a full DVR feature set. And then some.

Mobotix has paid attention to this and their web server works well with Safari, Firefox, Safari iPhone and others (it's even well documented). It support 4 modes: server push, jscript, java or ActiveX. ActiveX (IE) is required for only two special features: two way audio & viewing MxPEG, their proprietary video compression format. The only other alternative is to use their free software (Windows only). I have found that a series of JPG images is extremely useful as it can easily be viewed as an email or in any browser (I seldom use Windows). With a VGA Mobotix camera, each still image is ~100KB in size which provides adequate detail (for home monitoring, at least). You can configure how many frames to capture and how many seconds pre/post event. If I need more information, I can use a PC to view the recorded MxPEG video that also includes audio. The live viewing via an iPhone works very well too - both over WiFi and 3G. I use it often. You can set the frame rate you wish to view with. The Mobotix websever also has special PDA sized screens available. Just append /pda to the camera URL and you can view optimized screens in three sizes - 160x120, 320x240 or 640x480. If you really need two way audio, you can install a SIP client on your iPhone and connect to a Mobotix camera. It can also call your SIP phone when an event is detected, but now we're getting fancy... -- Marc

Are you asking which Axis camera works at 0c or which IP cameras work at 0c? -- Marc

Mobotix cameras fit the bill. Upon motion detection (PiR or multiple video motion zones), the camera can record (audio and video), send you an email (or VoIP you) and play a sound file of your choice through the camera speaker. If you're online, you could converse with the buggers in real time. How wide is the area that is 20m away? This will help you select the best lens. -- Marc

"Outdoor camera" does not necessarily mean that a heater/blower is included. Can you provide the model number of your Panasonic camera so that I can look at the specifications? Thanks, -- Marc

Hi Zyrius, This is one of the best sites on the Internet to learn about CCTV - there some smart experienced people here on the forum. For your application, consider Mobotix IP cameras. They have no moving parts and consume only 3 watts of power which eliminates the need for a fan. They are IP65 rated and are fine up to 60°C. -- Marc

Do the customers need to see live video or would high resolution snapshots suffice? The reason I ask is that you could have an IP camera / NVR / DVR update a webserver every X seconds where X is a good compromise for bandwidth consumption. The customers could login to the website and see snapshots taken over time. They could see thumbnails of Foofoo over time to see how they slept the night before or see what he's up to now. Click on the thumbnails for a full size view. -- Marc

Mobotix does offer at least 3 flavors for most models. For example, the D22 dome camera is available in 4 flavors: D22MI-Basic - VGA (640x480) (no internal DVR on this) D22M-IT - VGA (640x480) D22M-Sec - 3mp (2048x1536) D22M-Sec-Night - 1mp (1280x960) It is true that 3MP is only available in 10fps. If you want 30fps, a lower resolution is required, but this is *independent* of capturing 3MP at 10fps. So, you could store 3MP@10fps on the internal dvr and watch 800x600@30fps via their free software and watch 800x600@10fps via your favorite web browser - all at the same time, with audio. -- Marc

I'm a big fan of Mobotix cameras which can withstand harsh environments. -- Marc

Hey Samba, PM sent. -- Marc

I have an alarm clock from Oregon Scientific. It has the following features: indoor & outdoor temperature and humidity; atomic clock; backlight LCD (turns on automatically when it gets dark); battery backup. If you have a spare channel on your DVR, you could have a solution for a few hundred dollars. No more than $100 for clock radio and maybe a another $200 for an entry level camera. A more elegant solution is to use a home automation controller such as a JDS Stargate or HAI OmniLT. Using that, you could remotely log in to check and control the temperature, control your sprinklers & lights, open the garage door, monitor gates, doors, water sensors, motion sensors, write schedules... You can even have it email you when the temperature (or anything else) reaches whatever threshold you desire so that you don't have to proactively watch your cameras. Cost of admission is about $1,000 depending on how fancy you want to get. Interesting how we're pushing security cameras / video recording units to monitor environments (not easy or elegant). It may be best to use a more suitable tool for the task, though I do love reading about Scorpion's ideas! -- Marc

How about placing a thermometer with a nice large LED display in a camera's field of view? If you have any spare cameras, you could point one directly at it and also get humidity levels which is also important in some regions. -- Marc

Given the alternatives (none?), creating a timer of some sort may be the most cost effective solution. I would imagine that a small board, perhaps the size of a matchbox, could be created to do just that for less than $50. Along with DC inputs, it could have 1 or 2 alarm outputs that could be triggered based on DIP switch settings that could be used to set the trigger interval (minutes, hours, days...). That could have useful applications for remote installations where customers want to see regular updates without depending on motion. For example: how much snow is on the roof of my cottage? How high is the water in the lake? Is my boat sinking? -- Marc

I have two Channel Plus 2514a splitter/combiners that I am using with a modulator to watch a DVR over household television. When using the combiner, the picture quality for all channels degrades noticeably. The combiner's input is a cable TV feed and a DVR feed that is set to channel 120. The output goes to the second 2514 which simply splits the feed to 4 separate cable runs. I tried swapping the two units with the same results. I also tried omit the DVR feed (combiner with only one input - cable television) with the same results - a slightly snowy picture. I also tried grounding both units too. Cables are fine too. If I remove the combiner and just use one unit as a splitter, the picture quality is great, but no CCTV. Does anyone have any troubleshooting ideas? Since both seem to work well as a splitter, can anyone recommend a combiner from another manufacturer? TIA, -- Marc

I have a customer that streams their DVR from a remote location to their office (lobby) plasma TV. I suspect that you could add some logic that would open the stream (http get) only once authentication has taken place. Will you have multiple users per DVR? Could a single user monitor multiple DVRs? -- Marc

Are there any available web based products that could manage/present these images? There could be great benefit that could leverage the ftp/email alert features that are common with just about every network enabled DVR. -- Marc

Hi Jordan, I'm in the Toronto area and have a couple of Canadian suppliers. Feel free to PM me and I'd be happy to steer you in the right direction. Regards, -- Marc