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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...

You can install a new lens, but it's a bit risky due to the loose specs around M12 lenses. M12 lenses focus by screwing them in and out, and some lens designs need to be screwed in further than others, which can make them hit the IR filter housing. It's hard to tell if this will be a problem...

H264+ is a Hik-only (I believe) encoding scheme to reduce bandwidth and storage size. Based on their white paper, they're ignoring small changes in the background image and doing predictive analysis and active adjustment of bit rate requirements vs long term time frames. Sounds like there's...

I've also had good luck with self sealing tape. Another useful item is dielectric grease. There are lots of brands available; here's one that is designed to be high-frequency friendly: http://www.amazon.com/Skywalker-Stuf-Dielectric-Waterproof-Grease/dp/B00NMS8EEG

Yes, this is the difference between base 2 (used for bandwidth and native data calculations) and base 10 (used for HD marketing, because it's bigger and sounds like more space), and I mixed the two. 500 GB (base 10) is about 465 GiB (base 2), and both are the same amount of data. Using GiB...

What you need is to set a maximum exposure time of 1/30 sec. The frame rate doesn't matter in this case. 1/30 sec will avoid motion blur for walkers, but runners will still blur. 1/60 sec reduces it even more, but Hiks get pretty noisy at 1/60 in low light, and many people use 1/30 as the...

You should increase the quality setting as well. Image quality on Hiks is a struggle in low light anyway, so you should always go for the best image quality when using VBR.

Here's how much time you can store at 4096 kbps constant recording, fixed bit rate: 4096 kbps (bits) = 512 kBps (bytes) 512 kBps x 60 = 31 MB per minute 31 MBps x 60 = 1.8 GB per hour So, 500 GB will record 278 hour, or 11.5 days. If you've got your OS on the same HD, use the free space to...

I just installed a MyCloud EX2 (8TB) yesterday, and it lets you set both group and user quotas. I haven't done this, as it's just set up as a simple share and is still in testing, but the device help has info on setting it up. It may depend on what version of firmware you're running and how...

With 1/12 sec exposure, your frame rates will drop to 12 fps when the light is low enough for the exposure to drop that low. 30 fps can only be sustained at 1/30 sec or above in low light. When it's bright enough, it doesn't matter, but the frame rate can never be higher than the inverse of...

Typically, it matters in 2 areas that mostly have to do with 50 Hz vs 60 Hz: - Maximum frame rate is usually 25 for 50 Hz, 30 for 60 Hz. This may change as firmware evolves, but that's the way it is on my current cams. - Anti-flicker for use with fluorescents or LEDs. You get light/dark...

Lol! Thanks! I've been swamped, and have been reading but not posting. This is where all the action is these days, it seems! Yes, BLC doesn't really increase noise any more than the baseline exposure does; it just applies it to a smaller area. WDR will be noisier. I'd recommend going out...

Re: Anyway to backup camera configuration settings? Lost power last night............ It'll depend on how much power you draw. If you measure it with a Kill A Watt or similar, you can calculate it based on the spec for the UPS. They usually have power graphs that make it easy to figure...

What you're seeing is dropped p-frames. The p-frames are what overwrites the changed pixels from the last frame, so if they get lost, you end up with parts of the image that don't get replaced when they change. When the next i-frame comes along, it overwrites everything and starts fresh. The...

WDR is usually better when there's likely to be a lot of variation in the lighting across the field of view, as it takes the entire image into account when it does the corrections. BLC uses a smaller area for exposure control, so changes outside that area won't affect it. Typically, BLC is...