Recent content by MaxIcon

I've been chasing rodent problems for the last year or so - some getting in the attic through a vent, and some in a citrus tree that they get to over a phone wire from a pergola. Because it's easy to miss them on motion detect, I set up a continuous recording full resolution clone that I...

This is what I do as well. Same reasons - long retention and quick scans of activity on the motion detect system, with the ability to check out anything that didn't trigger the MD on the 24x7 system. I don't use the 24x7 often,but when I need it, it's been very useful. It does require running...

Not only is the camera more expensive, they also use expensive 1/2" C/CS mount MP lenses, as LaurentR noted. Then, you need a mount, and an enclosure if you want to use it outdoors. You're probably looking at $1000 by the time it's up and mounted, and that's with no IR. This is what you need...

These specs from vendors are notoriously inaccurate, and there's really only one way to be sure - measure them yourself (or use someone else's actual measurements). The easiest way is to measure the width of a full-screen item and the distance to the item measured. I have a post over at cam-it...

I'd recommend against NexStar, specifically their current gen MX box, which has eSata/USB3 and RAID capability. I have an older NexStar MX USB2 box that's been very reliable for years running RAID1. Based on this, I bought a couple of their newer eSata/USB3 NST-400MX-S3R boxes for work, put...

I haven't heard much about the TPLink switches failing, but you may have a bad one. If you keep having problems, that would be the next step.

A lot depends on how dead they are. Are they still responding to pings, or talking to the switch? It's possible your switch is killing them due to POE problems - rare, but not unheard of. Also, they could be from the same production run with a batch of bad components that are failing early...

If you know what kind of CPU you're going to use, you can check with what usage others have seen with similar setups. Those are the anecdotal postings, though. The only way to be sure it to test it. Hard drive space is easy for continuous recording with a fixed bit rate. Take the bit rate...

I have a few in use, and got them on ebay. It looks like prices are through the ceiling - $40-50 each! People are listing the Alert 750e cameras for $600 and up - crazy! Here's the info I found when I was hunting for them - you may already know this: NA200 powerline adapters - network only...

Too much sharpening can increase noise levels as well, if that's been adjusted.

Most of these cams will see 940nm, no problem. However, the sensors are a lot less sensitive to 940nm, and there's less energy in the 940nm spectrum as well, so it takes a good bit more IR power to get the same illumination as you would with 850nm.

Variable can save bandwidth and recording space when there's little motion and/or simple scenes. If the scenes are detailed or with a lot of motion, it may not make a big difference. Low light images can cause high bit rates with VBR if there's a lot of noise, or if sharpening is set high so...

Yes, more i-frames will make smoother video. By the time you get to i-frame=1, you're running in MJPEG mode, essentially, which requires a higher bit rate for good quality, but every frame is good if your bit rate is high enough. Running fewer i-frames has the benefit of having the glitch...

This is caused by the i-frame setting. At 30 fps and an i-frame of 30, you get a new complete image once a second. All the other frames are updates to the original. When the new full frame updates, it's enough different from the previous one that it looks like a glitch or jerk. Some cams are...

I'd guess that they ran into the Chinese supply chain problem - the initial lens went out of stock, and they ordered more, either from a new vendor or from the same one. Either way, the lens was made by someone different to different specs (same focal length, though), the back focus distance is...