Differences to be aware of with rebranded cameras?

[jasauders]

Hello friends. I'm currently shopping around for my in-laws who are interested in a few cameras for their house. They liked the setup I have, which has a mixture of Vivotek and Hikvision coupled with a Linux server running Bluecherry for the NVR. It's worked out very well for me. Once they asked me to help them with getting something similar set up, I started looking around but at the moment I'm hesitating at a slight hold up.

I didn't see EyeSurv on the list of supported devices with Bluecherry. This is a first given there's 2,000-or-so cameras on that list. On a hunch I started looking at some other well known NVR solutions, and in each instance I didn't see EyeSurv listed as a compatible camera. I understand EyeSurv (minus the Ion) is a rebranded Dahua. Does that sound right?

I got to wondering if I could "trust" that the EyeSurv cameras would operate/work just like their corresponding Dahuas would, given there's a ton of Dahuas on Bluecherry's list of supported devices. I'm sure there's UI differences and whatnot, but I was thinking more along the lines of the RTSP path and the way all of that fun stuff works. Bluecherry does allow for manually putting in RTSP streams of cameras, though EyeSurv is uncharted territory for me, so it's difficult for me to gain confidence in recommending them to family without having used them. They're attractive though given they have a warranty through Nelly, and the price is right (perhaps too good to be true, which I can't help but wonder myself... 3MP POE Dome with warranty for 110???)

Any insight would be appreciated!

 

[CoreyX64]

Personally I'm not a Dahua guy, but working with Hikvision almost exclusively I can tell you that rebranded Hikvision devices (such as those supplied by LTS for example) work exactly in the same manner as original Hikvisions under the hood. The software is the same, firmware is slightly modified for rebranding purposes, models and serials different, but otherwise the core functionality is the same, uses the same protocols and everything. I would assume Dahua to be the same.


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[jasauders]

Personally I'm not a Dahua guy, but working with Hikvision almost exclusively I can tell you that rebranded Hikvision devices (such as those supplied by LTS for example) work exactly in the same manner as original Hikvisions under the hood. The software is the same, firmware is slightly modified for rebranding purposes, models and serials different, but otherwise the core functionality is the same, uses the same protocols and everything. I would assume Dahua to be the same.


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Thanks a lot for your insight. I greatly appreciate it. Since I'm still in browsing mode, would you be able to elaborate on this LTS source? If everything meshes up I might be interested in considering them...

 

[nayr]

If your positive the upstream OEM is Dahua, then its a Dahua under the hood.. the only thing they do is slap there logo on it.

most of my dahua's are unbranded, they dont say dahua on them anywhere.. not in UI, help, packaging, nothing.. but its a dahua, works with all my dahua software and recorders and the UI's all share the same layout and feel.

Practically no retail stores make there own cameras, they just buy a white box OEM and re-brand it.. its common business practice.

 

[CoreyX64]

http://www.ltsecurityinc.com/
I've never purchased from LTS, I import direct from China so I don't have (or need) the extra support/warranty, but if you have no idea what you're getting into, places like LTS or Nelly's security are the way to go. It's ultimately the same product underneath but they're great when you have issues. I've personally used Nelly's in the past and they're spectacular.
Http://nellyssecurity.com/


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[jasauders]

If your positive the upstream OEM is Dahua, then its a Dahua under the hood.. the only thing they do is slap there logo on it.

most of my dahua's are unbranded, they dont say dahua on them anywhere.. not in UI, help, packaging, nothing.. but its a dahua, works with all my dahua software and recorders and the UI's all share the same layout and feel.

Practically no retail stores make there own cameras, they just buy a white box OEM and re-brand it.. its common business practice.

Thanks for your insight. I'm pretty confident that it's just a rebranded unit after Nelly's response just a few minutes ago. These EyeSurvs are from Nelly's Security and they told me via email:

"As far as EYEsurv and Dahua, you are correct, EYEsurv is simply rebranded Dahua equipment."

I'm currently comparing the two worlds of getting EyeSurv's from Nelly's or purchasing USA Hikvisions from a 'reputable' seller on Amazon. Given Nelly's comes with their own warranty and, from what I've read, has a decent reputation, I'm inclined to recommend the EyeSurv's for my in-laws. I can take a no-warranty hit since I know what I'm getting into, but that's a harder card for me to play when I'm the "go to" guy in the family having to make a recommendation.

The price of Amazon+Dahua vs Nelly's+EyeSurv is good. Further comparing Nelly's+EyeSurv vs that of Amazon+Hikvision, Nelly's is even a bit cheaper (though about equal if it turns out I need the mounting bracket for the dome model, which I suspect I do). Granted, maybe the Hikvisions have some +1's over the EyeSurv/Dahua models, but they seem to each stack up rather well. I might have to do some hair splitting...

The only thing worth mentioning is I simply have not used Dahua. I read good things, I hear good things, but there's something about recommending something I haven't used that makes me a wee bit hesitant. I'm pretty confident that'll turn into a non-issue though given all of the talk about Dahua here and elsewhere that I've come across.

 

[nayr]

I am one of the few on here who firmly believe Dahua > Hicks.. for 2 very important reasons:

1. Dahua does not region lock cameras, ive got a mixed setup with Retail American, European and Asian cameras.. all english but a mixture of PAL/NTSC and they all work great and play nicely together.

2. Dahua has MacOSX Support, SmartPSS and other tools to view/playback cameras and nvr's are available for OSX.. Hik has browser plugins, but thats the extent of the OSX Support.

and slightly less important is Dahua is the king of the PTZ field, they set the bar by which all other PTZ's are judged.. even Hik's.. Hik's had an advantage with fixed camera form factors, but now even Dahua offers turret/wedge/pinhole/fisheye/cube style cameras.. not as many as Hik but they exist.

Flir System's visible spectrum cameras are also re-branded Dahua's, so even big name brands trust Dahua.

 

[jasauders]

Gotcha. Thanks for the insight. I'm mostly concerned about reliability, clarity, and the other arsenal of typical specs one looks at when deciding between cameras. I run Linux pretty much full time, and given the continued reliance of specific camera plugins (ActiveX and such), I ended up spinning up a Windows laptop specifically for camera tweaks that otherwise sits on the shelf. Given I work in IT I can trip over a spare rig in my basement if I'm not careful, so... setting up an old limited use laptop was easily do-able. It also comes in handy when my wife wants to do her couponing with sites that require some sort of virtual printer (Windows only) to be installed to verify each coupon and whatnot...

Realistically speaking, I log in to the cameras extremely rarely. I log in to set them up, add a user, configure time and whatever other settings, and then that's pretty much it. The NVR itself does everything beyond that.

I've been a longtime user of ZoneMinder, and more recently, Bluecherry, which is a Linux based server NVR with a cross platform front-end. This is immensely appealing to me for obvious reasons, as any system I'm on, there's a client for it. Not only that but I can't imagine not running a Linux home server with everything my box does, so... The other side is, it takes the web browser support/plugins/etc out of the mix, which depending on how you look at things has its own benefits. Of course this requires the client to be done well, but in Bluecherry's case I'm very happy with it**. Given the fact my in-laws NAS is starting to kick the bucket, doing a new build for them and adding a second drive for backup purposes (one drive for backups, one drive for Bluecherry feeds) seems like a two birds/one stone thing. I do it currently in my own setup (albeit with a lot more complexity, services, and drives) and it works well. Bluecherry is something I can sit in front of them and they'd get it. As much as I love ZoneMinder, it requires leaning on that IT guy in the family quite a bit to get moving...

**Do any other solutions come with their own client? I was so used to ZoneMinder's web interface that when I tinkered with Bluecherry I remember feeling a little "huh, interesting" after seeing a dedicated client. I understand Milestone has a Windows-only client as well. What about NVRs? Are they often client based or do they usually rely on a web browser?

Thanks for the continued insight, folks. I'm feeling more and more confident about grabbing some EyeSurv's from Nelly's and packaging up this setup as my recommendation for them.

 

[CoreyX64]

If your positive the upstream OEM is Dahua, then its a Dahua under the hood.. the only thing they do is slap there logo on it.

most of my dahua's are unbranded, they dont say dahua on them anywhere.. not in UI, help, packaging, nothing.. but its a dahua, works with all my dahua software and recorders and the UI's all share the same layout and feel.

Practically no retail stores make there own cameras, they just buy a white box OEM and re-brand it.. its common business practice.

I think Dahua's policy is actually to not sell their brand in the US and that's almost entirely due to the issue of support. They have no intention of supporting products in the US, so they dump that into the various rebranded vendors (such as EyeSurv which is supported by Nelly's). Hikvision's approach is different. They rebrand them and those respective brands are responsible for being intermediary support between the consumer and Hikvision, and original branded equipment which is sold through specific authorized vendors and generally targeted towards installers and not direct to consumer.

Anymore the sales channel tells all.

 

[nayr]

Dahua comes with SmartPSS for Windows/OSX and gDMSS for iOS/Android.

BlueCherry looks extremely nice, but I bought my 16ch Dahua NVR for less than a 16ch bluecherry license.. and I get IVS Features like line cross/facial detection/intrusion detection/audio detection/etc all in a package that consumes less than 15w of power.

Dahua should work pretty well on Linux, I bet you could get the SmartPSS loaded in Wine without much trouble.. seems to be the case with most software that also works on OSX.

OEM's rarely provide end user support, go buy a bunch of OEM computer components and then try to get support from the manufacturer.. the'll tell you the same thing, contact your retail seller for warranty and support. Dahua offers no retail products in the US, so yeah.. your completely right, they wont help you at all.. but Nelly's, WrightWood or any other retailer will if you need that level of service.

 

[jasauders]

Dahua comes with SmartPSS for Windows/OSX and gDMSS for iOS/Android.

BlueCherry looks extremely nice, but I bought my 16ch Dahua NVR for less than a 16ch bluecherry license.. and I get IVS Features like line cross/facial detection/intrusion detection/audio detection/etc..

Dahua should work pretty well on Linux, I bet you could get the SmartPSS loaded in Wine without much trouble.. seems to be the case with most software that also works on OSX.

Hey, if that NVR is doing the job for you, who can argue? I've always had more of a server-side approach to these things I guess. I eyed up a dedicated NVR for them, but they didn't move me that much. The price of the system I spec'd out comes within a few dollars of the 8 port POE NVR from Dahua on Nelly's. That plus the idea of being able to run NAS-related services on a second drive was appealing. For me personally, I like the extensibility of adding whatever I want to the network and it flowing where it needs to go. The same isn't quite the same with dedicated NVRs (if I max out on ports, I need to simply get a bigger NVR), but in the case of my in-laws this may serve as a nice secondary quote for them. i.e. "Here's one with Bluecherry, here's one with a dedicated Dahua/EyeSurv NVR. These are the prices for each, here's the pros/cons for each. Your call." I'll dig into this a bit more. My goal is to offer them two solid options and let them flip their own coin.

BlueCherry looks extremely nice...

I'm sure there are things missing from it that some of the higher scale systems enjoy, but for what it does and how well it works with the included features, I'm happy with it. I have to say, the developers are downright awesome as well. I was asking some questions with them and found out that the guy emailing me was actually the founder, who hooked me up with two developers until the conversation was over. This was over the course of just a few hours. I remember shutting down my laptop that night thinking very highly of that experience.

Another important thing to me is the video exports are in a common format (in this case mkv), which about made me do a double backflip when I saw that. One of my biggest annoyances is exporting feeds only to have to deal with a proprietary video type that plays exactly no where except with one designated program. This annoyance is clearly shared between myself and law enforcement, as indicated by a conversation about a year ago with a detective. "Hang on, run that by me again. I need to install... what application? From where? Just to view this?" An entirely separate yet similar conversation took place at my former employer with a B&E when I worked with law enforcement there. Come to think of it... I seem to recall Dahua exporting to a unique format... meh.

(just my 2c)

Anyways, I think the PC NVR side of the equation is settled in regard to the EyeSurv cams. In fact I think I may eye up EyeSurv in both of my recommendations (PC NVR and dedicated NVR) after having this discussion. We'll see how this shakes out in the end with what the in-laws decide. Thanks again everyone!

 

[CoreyX64]

Hikvision does have iVMS for OSX, Windows on the desktop platform, mobile they have iVMS for iOS/android, and even Windows phone which surprised me. Web browser plugin is for Windows, Mac, and there is a Linux one too.

From experience, Dahua playback has been a bit troublesome for me, at least with finding stuff. Hikvision is way easier with the colored timeline. However, Dahua is much better at exporting. (Continuous clips vs Hikvision separate clips) However, Dahua (at least they used to) exports as a DAV file that must be converted to avi or MP4 to where's it's playable. That requires their Smart player or SmartPSS software to accomplish that. To be honest, I don't like either iVMS desktop client or SmartPSS. neither work anywhere near as well as their web interface counterparts. On the Mobile side, iVMS 4500 for iOS/android/windows phone is spectacular and very easy to use and find things. Their iPad version is a little outdated but it's workable. Dahua just updated their mobile app and it has a lot of improvements but mostly a new coat of paint/layout.

Hikvision exports directly as MP4. Sometimes it doesn't directly play with certain media players but it always plays with VLC which Is a great all-around media player. It plays almost anything. No plugins or special software required.


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[nayr]

I hear yeh, I've been using linux since the 90's pretty much exclusively... banned Microsoft products from my house after WindowsME heh.. my Mac is actually a hackintosh, I am not an apple fanboy.. Ive actually never given a dollar to Apple.. but the Linux Desktop failed miserably, I love me some OSX.. all the unix I need, plus it has all the video support I could ever ask for... proprietary video formats dont slow me down a bit, nor does editing HD video with decent software, playing back video w/hardware acceleration... oah and it just works, always.. like all my linux servers.. Updating my linux desktop at work often resulted in me spending 2-3 days fixing things, so when they offered me a MacBook Pro I took it and first dual booted.. then eventually just gave up on linux desktop because I was spending more time in OSX than Linux.

Since I have such a heavy unix background I am very much entrenched in the school of throughout: one very good tool to do one job very well.. Ive got a NAS for my NAS, my NVR for my NVR and I would never want the two machines to overlap.. why? well because my NAS is important data, my NVR not so much.. if my NAS has a problem, i'll take it down and its not coming back up until all data integrity is verified and backups made/restored.. uptime is far less important than the data it contains.. where as my NVR is the exact opposite, if it has a problem I want it back online ASAP.. if that means pulling the drive out and going at half capacity until the drive is replaced by warranty.. so be it.. I doubt i'll make any attempts to recover the data on it, if it had anything important I backed them up to my NAS right away.

Dedicated NVR's do a great job recording the video to file, I record 24/7/365 with no other crap.. I actually use the linecross/intrusion detection for triggering home automation and security responses, not video recording.. that was being saved regardless.. the price from an 8ch to a 16ch is like $30, so always oversize so you dont find your self having to buy another NVR because you wanted to add a handfull more cameras.

I ran ZoneMinder for a good long time back when I had analouge cameras, ditched it when I upgraded to h264 cameras and then ran just a simple FTP NVR for a good while.. while missing alot fo the nice features.. I just recently got the Dahua NVR when I needed more storage space than my CuBox i4 could provide via its single eSata port.

If BlueCherry was FOSS I'd be running it already, but its not and that really bums me out.. I'd hack the shit out of it and contribute all sorts of code, but I cant.. so that dont put it much higher in my regard than say this linux powered Dahua NVR that I also dont have any of the code for and cant hack easily.

 

[jasauders]

@ nayr,

I hear you on many fronts there. I was skeptical about Bluecherry at first given their closed source nature, but I found out some things about them that made me ease up a bit. For starters, it's their server that's closed source, whereas their client and nearly everything else about them is open source. They were even a solid contributor to some capture card drivers that flowed upstream and into the mainline kernel. The nature of their open source client is actually how I was able to help out recently with that conversation with the devs I referenced above. Long story short, reading the open code lead me to an idea that I shared, and they thanked me in return and said they would prioritize it towards the top for inclusion in the next release. I'm not a developer so I couldn't make much sense of the code (in terms of writing/fixing it, anyway), but it doesn't detract from the fact that the code being open was a direct contributor to this story.

Linux desktop has had some issues, surely, but truth be told -- everything has its quirks. If Linux desktop was still a train wreck, quite frankly, we wouldn't be running nearly 4,000 Ubuntu laptops in a 1:1 program at my place of work: public school district. Don't get me wrong... there's things that come up and quirks here and there, but oh my gosh, things work very well overall. Fun fact: A few short years ago we were 99% Mac.

I understand, and actually, agree with you in regard to splitting off different servers to do different things. I probably used the term "NAS" for my in-laws a bit incorrectly. It's not so much a NAS with centrally stored data. It's really just a samba share that's always live so when the backup schedule kicks in (upon each log-in of the laptop) it does a quick file sync of everything. 99% of the time, nothing changes. It's really just there in case the laptop drive takes a massive nose-dive, at which point I can slap a new one in, deploy the backup image I took day 1 when they received it, update it, sling the recently synced data back from the (if I may) "NAS", and call it a day. It's very different from my NAS/Bluecherry box where it does CCTV to a 2TB Purple *and* hosts centrally stored data on a 6TB RAID. But I accept whatever "central points of failure" that exist since I have the capability to fix it in a short amount of time, plus I'm a frugal sunovagun with my electric bill and like consolidating things that use power.

 

[CoreyX64]

@ nayr,

I hear you on many fronts there. I was skeptical about Bluecherry at first given their closed source nature, but I found out some things about them that made me ease up a bit. For starters, it's their server that's closed source, whereas their client and nearly everything else about them is open source. They were even a solid contributor to some capture card drivers that flowed upstream and into the mainline kernel. The nature of their open source client is actually how I was able to help out recently with that conversation with the devs I referenced above. Long story short, reading the open code lead me to an idea that I shared, and they thanked me in return and said they would prioritize it towards the top for inclusion in the next release. I'm not a developer so I couldn't make much sense of the code (in terms of writing/fixing it, anyway), but it doesn't detract from the fact that the code being open was a direct contributor to this story.

Linux desktop has had some issues, surely, but truth be told -- everything has its quirks. If Linux desktop was still a train wreck, quite frankly, we wouldn't be running nearly 4,000 Ubuntu laptops in a 1:1 program at my place of work: public school district. Don't get me wrong... there's things that come up and quirks here and there, but oh my gosh, things work very well overall. Fun fact: A few short years ago we were 99% Mac.

I understand, and actually, agree with you in regard to splitting off different servers to do different things. I probably used the term "NAS" for my in-laws a bit incorrectly. It's not so much a NAS with centrally stored data. It's really just a samba share that's always live so when the backup schedule kicks in (upon each log-in of the laptop) it does a quick file sync of everything. 99% of the time, nothing changes. It's really just there in case the laptop drive takes a massive nose-dive, at which point I can slap a new one in, deploy the backup image I took day 1 when they received it, update it, sling the recently synced data back from the (if I may) "NAS", and call it a day. It's very different from my NAS/Bluecherry box where it does CCTV to a 2TB Purple *and* hosts centrally stored data on a 6TB RAID. But I accept whatever "central points of failure" that exist since I have the capability to fix it in a short amount of time, plus I'm a frugal sunovagun with my electric bill and like consolidating things that use power.

While it might not be a dedicated NAS, think of it this way:

NAS = network attached storage

- is it data storage? Yes
- is it attached to the network? Yes.

I'd say it counts, in a roundabout sort of way.

 

[nayr]

oh yeah, if i had to manage other people's desktops, I'd take just about anything but OSX haha.. its enterprise support is severely lacking.. plus apple end users suck worse than windows end users lol.

Ive always had a passion for video, I like producing and editing my own lil home tapes.. and Ive done a few volunteer gigs for non profits I been involved with... When work gave me a mac and I installed some basic video editing software I think that pretty much spelt the end for my Linux Desktop days.. I had been mostly using command line tools for clipping, merging, re-encoding and suddenly was given a real editing suite with transitions, graphics, audio and video remastering and it was like what the fuck was I doing on linux all this time haha.

that and back then flash video was the dominate force on the internet, having a flashplugin that played back hd video without crashing or sucking up every single resource on my desktop just reassured me I had made the correct decision.. the year of the Linux Desktop was never going to come, despite a decade of waiting

iirc it was about 2006-2007 when I switched to OSX, wow its been a decade now.. im still running the same early i7 I built way back when and dont think ive ever reinstalled.. heck im still on osx 10.9.5 because I am afraid of breakage.. i'll update when apps stop working because this has been rock solid and its even overclocked to 4Ghz

 

[jasauders]

oh yeah, if i had to manage other people's desktops, I'd take just about anything but OSX haha.. its enterprise support is severely lacking.. plus apple end users suck worse than windows end users lol.

Ive always had a passion for video, I like producing and editing my own lil home tapes.. and Ive done a few volunteer gigs for non profits I been involved with... When work gave me a mac and I installed some basic video editing software I think that pretty much spelt the end for my Linux Desktop days.. I had been mostly using command line tools for clipping, merging, re-encoding and suddenly was given a real editing suite with transitions, graphics, audio and video remastering and it was like what the fuck was I doing on linux all this time haha.

that and back then flash video was the dominate force on the internet, having a flashplugin that played back hd video without crashing or sucking up every single resource on my desktop just reassured me I had made the correct decision.. the year of the Linux Desktop was never going to come, despite a decade of waiting

iirc it was about 2006-2007 when I switched to OSX, wow its been a decade now.

We seem to have a lot in common, nayr. I too do some video work on the side. Nothing elaborate, but I know what I want to do when I get into a project. I've done a few videos promoting a local start-up bicycle shop that evolved into more than I originally anticipated (which is nice given I dig bikes), along with the usual roll of family videos and such. I have young kids and that's kind of my "thing" to do. If it's been 10 years, you might be surprised at what all is possible now-a-days.

At the moment I'm getting ready for one of the bigger tear-jerker videos I've taken on: the story of a young mom who lost her mobility thanks to a continued misdiagnosis of countless doctors until the condition heavily flirted with the point of no return. She's improving a little at a time, but awareness with how rare this thing is is key. Her story is pretty incredible and she has a voice that she'll make sure is heard, so it's a volunteer task I'm taking on with a ton of responsibility that I intend to fulfil.

...betcha can't guess what I'm using for all of the above.

(I wonder if it's against the rules to derail a thread if the original poster is primarily at fault... Maybe we should order some wings and get the fire pit out back going)

 

[CoreyX64]

oh yeah, if i had to manage other people's desktops, I'd take just about anything but OSX haha.. its enterprise support is severely lacking.. plus apple end users suck worse than windows end users lol.

Ive always had a passion for video, I like producing and editing my own lil home tapes.. and Ive done a few volunteer gigs for non profits I been involved with... When work gave me a mac and I installed some basic video editing software I think that pretty much spelt the end for my Linux Desktop days.. I had been mostly using command line tools for clipping, merging, re-encoding and suddenly was given a real editing suite with transitions, graphics, audio and video remastering and it was like what the fuck was I doing on linux all this time haha.

that and back then flash video was the dominate force on the internet, having a flashplugin that played back hd video without crashing or sucking up every single resource on my desktop just reassured me I had made the correct decision.. the year of the Linux Desktop was never going to come, despite a decade of waiting

iirc it was about 2006-2007 when I switched to OSX, wow its been a decade now.

The irony is while OS X is the clear and final cut winner (see, I'm punny), the GPUs in them is and for many years has always been their weak point. Failures left and right. However you mentioned yours is a Hackintosh so you took control of the hardware your money was buying vs. having Apple hand it to you after n million percent markup. +1

I have a mid-2010 Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro (2nd gen of unibody Macs) (I call it my FatBook Pro), a mid-2012 Retina MacBook Pro (first gen retina), and 2 Late-2012 Mac Mini servers. The retina was the only one I ever purchased, the rest was freebies. I can tell you I would take the FatBook Pro any day over the retina. While it might be older, thicker, and display not as good, but it has been infinitely more reliable. The retina has gone through a display panel, 2 logic boards (both under recall), about 3 MagSafes, and at some point one of the fans began to overheat and grind (more irony). While I absolutely love the Retina and the whole ecosystem integration that Apple offers, I would never consider it reliable by any means. However, I feel that this is more of an early-adopter problem because it was a first-gen design. I bet any Mid-2015 retinas would not have the issues I did.

Command-line video editing? Now that's interesting. I would love to watch how that works. For deep system-level and other intricate stuff, Terminal is your best friend (I'm thinking along the lines of Cisco IOS). But some things were just naturally meant for GUI. How long would it take you to process things and about how long were your clips? Just curious.

Ah yes, good old flash. I remember when the iPad 1 came out, and that's all people complained about is demanding that Apple support flash on it. Whining left and right. They wouldn't due to the resources it consumed and that not all flash applications were touch-oriented, so Apple had no way to control how flash apps were presented to the user (and probably many other reasons as well). They didn't budge on the issue, stuck to their guns, and now, you don't here anyone harping on that issue anymore. HTML5 took over, filled the void, and the problem naturally fixed itself. The only loser in that game was Adobe (kinda), which even if they dropped flash, Creative Suite is still the dominant media suite out there, although there are definitely some cheaper yet still very good alternatives out there. They have plenty to keep them afloat.

 

[nayr]

we derail threads here all the time, you wont get in trouble.. I completely hijacked another person's thread for my ALPR Camera project haha.

there was some very basic editing tools at the time in linux, they had just made an appearance and were nothing to impressive... but im sure they have came a long way in a decade.. i'd check it out but you know how work flows go.. once your set your not keen on just uprooting for a new one, takes enough time to learn video editing software to use it like its intended.

producing emotionally wrenching videos are some of the trickiest, after watching the same clips a thousand times its hard to accurately judge the effect its going to have on ppl.. sounds like a nice project thats gona push your abilities.. those are the best.

it took forever to do things all via command line, would play back in VLC and get timestamps for all the clips I wanted.. then used tools to cut up the source into the clips.. then I'd extract the multi-channel audio streams, grab the center channel that was always my wireless mic, play with encoding settings until I got that at the audio level I wanted then merge it back into the multi channel.. then merge all the clips together, and re-encode it back together with the audio streams and hope for the best.. i was not doing it the easy way that's for sure, but I had one of the first cameras that encoded in 1080p h264 format so really nobody had anything tha'd work with it.. so I just figured it out on my own.. even Final Cut Pro at the time couldn't do anything with the format and I had to transcode it all back to MPEG2 externally while extracting the audio channels by hand so they didnt get squished into stereo.

Basically I was using ffmpeg a whole lot to break it into a bunch of files I could then edit with standard tools then putting it all back together with ffmpeg by hand.. was shooting with a Sony HandyCam w/internal 120GB HDD, and 5.1 audio support.. such an awesome camera, still have it.. it was so bleeding edge at the time it was difficult to work with.. multi channel audio for a consumer camera? good luck working with that.. The GoPro was still a dream.

 

[wcrowder]

oh yeah, if i had to manage other people's desktops, I'd take just about anything but OSX haha.. its enterprise support is severely lacking.. plus apple end users suck worse than windows end users lol.

iirc it was about 2006-2007 when I switched to OSX, wow its been a decade now.. im still running the same early i7 I built way back when and dont think ive ever reinstalled.. heck im still on osx 10.9.5 because I am afraid of breakage.. i'll update when apps stop working because this has been rock solid and its even overclocked to 4Ghz

Yep, I agree with everything you said. I swore of Microsoft back around '95. OS/2 was for me. Well, it was cool, was actually better then Dos/Windows...But was useless in business, or development, OSX sorta works for content creation. Damn' near cried when the cancelled OS/2.

I like the "PC is dead", mobile rules... Yea well, mobile apps are built on PC's, the ad's for those phones and tablets are built on PC's, the infrastructure works on PC's... Apple, Microsoft, BSD, Linux. If it has a monitor and a keyboard with a mouse. It's a PC... Well, until you try that with a phone... LMAO at MS... Still I run Windows 10 and Free BSD at home... Linux is a mess. If you haven't figured it out yet. I'm old... LOL...