Should I return this CCTV unit? Bad light vision

[james121515 0]

I need you professional opinion on whether or not I should return this unit. My first CCTV system was an SDR3100, brand new from Sam's, for my small business, which works flawlessly. I liked it so much I wanted to get something similar for my home, so I purchased a refurbished SDE3000 from a local dealer. One of the big selling points for me was they are powered via CAT5.

But now, after two weeks playing with it (I haven't officially done a full installation yet out because I wanted to evaluate it first), I am starting to have some buyer's remorse.

The night vision on these has gotten bad. The picture quality is so grainy you can't make out anything while in the dark. I attached a screenshot from the mobile app of both from my business, which has the SDR3100 that still works very well, and my new SDE unit for my home.

One thing I notice is that on the unit at work, when lights go out, you can clearly see the infrared lights come on on the camera. On the CAT5 cameras, you can barely see it. So this might have something to do with it.

I have already tried tweaking with the brightness/contrast settings for the cameras via the DVR, and this is the best I could do.

I suspect, but don't know, that this is the price you pay for the convenience of CAT5: quality. And also perhaps for trying to save $100 by buying a refurbished unit. Should I just return this and buy the same SDR3100 model that I know works well?

 

The first image is from my small business, the SDR3100, which as you can see below, the night vision is fantastic! And this is from the mobile app, it looks even better viewing from the DVR. The second photo is this new SDE unit, which you can see doesn't come close in terms of night vision quality.

 

 

[Kawboy12R 0]

I wouldn't blame the cat 5 for your problems. You just ended up with cameras with lousy night vision that happen to use cat 5. There are lots of lousy cameras that use other cables.

[aibudo 0]

Yep, cheap camera's. Not enough IR led's and/or improperly focused (aligned) for the depth of field, which gives your the "flashlight effect"!

[jazzgtrl4 0]

Yep, cheap camera's. Not enough IR led's and/or improperly focused (aligned) for the depth of field, which gives your the "flashlight effect"!

 

 

ya how do you fix that flash light effect?

[aibudo 0]

Replace the camera. The LED's are fixed in the design of the camera.

[james121515 0]

So I just returned the unit to my dealer. I told him about the horrible night vision quality and the flash light effect, and he tried to make some preposterous argument about how "Well it's night vision, you are literally seeing in the dark, you can't expect to have the sharpest image in the world buddy". I told him I already owned another unit at work, and showed him the pictures to prove the difference in quality, and he relented. I then went to Sam's and purchased another SDR3100 for my home. You can see the difference in quality below. (again this is from the iPhone app streaming, it's even better on the DVR)