Hey all, hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving for those in the U.S. and that all of you are looking forward to taking some time with family and friends as we get closer to Christmas and the end of year holidays globally.
I wanted to give a quick update on what I’ve been working on in the past few weeks. I’ve been busy meeting a ton of new and legacy forum members through DM’s including people’s requests for help with their system, specifically assisting in camera and system selections + the critical dialing in of members systems which as I say all the time, is of utmost importance to getting your system truly performing. This has taken a LOT of time as there have been a ton of DM’s but also external emails, Skypes, YouTube questions etc. I’m pleased to say I am about 95%+ of the way through my inbox now. This has been a great opportunity to catch up with forum members new and old, domestic and global, directly but unfortunately has meant my eye has not been on threads. The video’s also take a ton of time to produce and so unfortunately they have had to take a back step in the last few months, but don't worry, videos are planned and will return soon.
As I’m now getting to the top of the pile I intend to re-focus back on the threads and also looking forward to some future reviews I have planned, maybe some walk through / guide video’s etc. On the new HW front, unfortunately Dahua & Hik have not had their usual pace of releases that we all look forward to introducing new and improved tech. This has meant there hasn’t been as much to test as we would like. With demand shifting down in 2023, focus by a number of manufacturers is iterative releases (not even 2.0 type in some cases) and mainly with existing tech or new releases in lower portfolio lines (different target audience to most on this forum). Hoping we see more products (both improvements to existing as in true V2.0 + new additions to the portfolio) as we enter 2024.
I’ve also been working with Dahua Dev on a number of FW issues I’ve raised this year, both legacy and new from turret and bullet cam to issues I’ve raised on PTZ’s and NVR’s (also trying to ensure EOL’d HW gets some love too). This too has taken a lot of time with a ton of testing, sample video captures across multiple cams, scenarios etc, code work (pointing to where an issue exists or might be best trapped) I’ve been doing to highlight how and where to fix issues. This is important for all of us here of course but again at times can take many many days to replicate, get the right people to look at the right things and then walking them through where and why an issue exists, its importance and priority, and then how to fix. In some cases this has led to some great updates for us that has been evidenced in recent releases (and some hopefully upcoming such as the work on Smart IR again !
, in others this has been tougher as dev teams globally are being pushed to move on to newer, products, faster, so having to find ways to ’motivate’ more and more, focusing on the critical issues only (instead of some of the needed QOL type issues) and trying to push for quick fixes.
So with that said, expect to see more from me again here now as I get back to forum threads. As always, if you need anything from me, just tag me in a thread/post OR reach out via DM or the other platforms (YouTube etc). On that note, I’ve been asked by many if I’ve considered or would consider offering 1:1 consultancy to forum members. TBH I never considered it until this year where I had this question asked repeatedly across multiple platforms. If it’s something people feel I could assist or add value in, let me know. Either way, my goal has always just been to try and bring knowledge, guidance and hopefully assistance, Wildcat style, to the wider forum here.
I’ve also been honored again with the task of picking winners in the latest EmpireTek lottery, so looking forward to seeing who is going to win this time around.
Been a CRAZY BUSY 2023 as I’m sure it has for a lot of us here, but the holidays are ahead and we should all (myself included) ensure we strive to reach a balance in working, relaxing and critically, taking some time to spend with family and friends.
Apologies for the radio silence in open forum and longer response times than I would have liked. My goal is to prioritize time better in 2024 where I can, to ensure DM, threads, videos requests/comments & critical questions across platforms, get addressed as quickly as I can while like all of us, striving for a balance
WC
I wanted to give a quick update on what I’ve been working on in the past few weeks. I’ve been busy meeting a ton of new and legacy forum members through DM’s including people’s requests for help with their system, specifically assisting in camera and system selections + the critical dialing in of members systems which as I say all the time, is of utmost importance to getting your system truly performing. This has taken a LOT of time as there have been a ton of DM’s but also external emails, Skypes, YouTube questions etc. I’m pleased to say I am about 95%+ of the way through my inbox now. This has been a great opportunity to catch up with forum members new and old, domestic and global, directly but unfortunately has meant my eye has not been on threads. The video’s also take a ton of time to produce and so unfortunately they have had to take a back step in the last few months, but don't worry, videos are planned and will return soon.
As I’m now getting to the top of the pile I intend to re-focus back on the threads and also looking forward to some future reviews I have planned, maybe some walk through / guide video’s etc. On the new HW front, unfortunately Dahua & Hik have not had their usual pace of releases that we all look forward to introducing new and improved tech. This has meant there hasn’t been as much to test as we would like. With demand shifting down in 2023, focus by a number of manufacturers is iterative releases (not even 2.0 type in some cases) and mainly with existing tech or new releases in lower portfolio lines (different target audience to most on this forum). Hoping we see more products (both improvements to existing as in true V2.0 + new additions to the portfolio) as we enter 2024.
I’ve also been working with Dahua Dev on a number of FW issues I’ve raised this year, both legacy and new from turret and bullet cam to issues I’ve raised on PTZ’s and NVR’s (also trying to ensure EOL’d HW gets some love too). This too has taken a lot of time with a ton of testing, sample video captures across multiple cams, scenarios etc, code work (pointing to where an issue exists or might be best trapped) I’ve been doing to highlight how and where to fix issues. This is important for all of us here of course but again at times can take many many days to replicate, get the right people to look at the right things and then walking them through where and why an issue exists, its importance and priority, and then how to fix. In some cases this has led to some great updates for us that has been evidenced in recent releases (and some hopefully upcoming such as the work on Smart IR again !
, in others this has been tougher as dev teams globally are being pushed to move on to newer, products, faster, so having to find ways to ’motivate’ more and more, focusing on the critical issues only (instead of some of the needed QOL type issues) and trying to push for quick fixes.So with that said, expect to see more from me again here now as I get back to forum threads. As always, if you need anything from me, just tag me in a thread/post OR reach out via DM or the other platforms (YouTube etc). On that note, I’ve been asked by many if I’ve considered or would consider offering 1:1 consultancy to forum members. TBH I never considered it until this year where I had this question asked repeatedly across multiple platforms. If it’s something people feel I could assist or add value in, let me know. Either way, my goal has always just been to try and bring knowledge, guidance and hopefully assistance, Wildcat style, to the wider forum here.
I’ve also been honored again with the task of picking winners in the latest EmpireTek lottery, so looking forward to seeing who is going to win this time around.
Been a CRAZY BUSY 2023 as I’m sure it has for a lot of us here, but the holidays are ahead and we should all (myself included) ensure we strive to reach a balance in working, relaxing and critically, taking some time to spend with family and friends.
Apologies for the radio silence in open forum and longer response times than I would have liked. My goal is to prioritize time better in 2024 where I can, to ensure DM, threads, videos requests/comments & critical questions across platforms, get addressed as quickly as I can while like all of us, striving for a balance
WC
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