Cameras - Deal or No Deal

[Earl Weiss]

http://www.amazon.com/Surveillance-...do+600TVL+Outdoor+Home+Security+Camera+System

Bought it for the Cameras. $229 for 8 600L cameras. We will see how they work. No hard drive in DVR. MAy use it later. Typicaly it's a drop in install.

 

[MEP001]

I'll buy the DVR from you if you don't need it. I need to replace the one in service now, it keeps crapping out at random.

Edit: Never mind, I just ordered one.

 

[Earl Weiss]

I am going to throw in a hard drive and keep it as a spare for the time when I need one.

 

[Greg Pack]

Things have certainly got cheap. I bought the QSEE system from costco the other day. 8 cams and a 1TB DVR for 399.00. I just installed them and am pretty pleased with the performance- Much better than systems that would have cost several thousand dollars ten years ago.

 

[MEP001]

The DVR we have in place now cost $3600, has a 60 GB hard drive, came with no cameras and records at lower resolution than the ZMODO Earl posted.

 

[Earl Weiss]

FWIW tried camwera today. Nice picture. Time will tell if there are any durability issues.

DVR accepts 2 HArd drives up to 1 TB each. I will install and keep as a spare.

 

[MEP001]

DVR accepts 2 HArd drives up to 1 TB each. I will install and keep as a spare.

Well damn, I already ordered a 2 TB hard drive for mine because the documentation said that's what it takes. I guess it meant 2 TB total.

 

[cwguy.com]

I purchased one of those bundles also from EZoomTek..... that company seems like they switch cameras around. The camera boxes had the correct model number on them.... but didn't have the manufacturers name on them? When I purchased another dvr directly from amazon.... the zmodo camera boxes had there logo on them?

EZoomTek also said my order was on back-order and they needed to send me "white" cameras (which were better).... I said to cancel my order and they somehow shipped "black" cameras within 10 minutes!

I don't know if this story is worth telling?! LOL I kept everything though.... because I thought it was a good price. I also needed a dvr asap!

 

[Earl Weiss]

Have purchased cameras over the years from various sites. Seems more common than not that the boxes have no info as to company that made them.

 

[cwguy.com]

I have never had a problem purchasing a DVR. They are always branded and have company logos on the box. That is the first time with cameras.... From that seller. I didn't call the manufacturer to verify.... I really didn't care either. My others boxes from amazon had there logo and name. Just FYI....

 

[Earl Weiss]

Just read the instructions and it says to avoid problesms HDD should be "special for DVR."

Thoughts?

 

[cwguy.com]

They might be referring to using a high cache hard drive? You should not be using a solid state hard drive though.... but that would be not enough space and expensive.

I used whatever I grabbed first.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Googled the Av HArd drive issue. Seems AV Rated drives are supposedly more durable for continuous use. . They are about $10.00 more so it's cheap insurance.

 

[cwguy.com]

Googled the Av HArd drive issue. Seems AV Rated drives are supposedly more durable for continuous use. . They are about $10.00 more so it's cheap insurance.

Yes that makes since.... I didn't even think of purchasing a drive that skips the error correction portion of the write process. The os on the dvr is embedded so the hd really doesn't matter. I am use to being concerned with your data you write.

 

[M7T]

Great! But for $299 now in Home Depot you can get a Qsee 8 channel 1TB Hard Drive HDMI port and 4 Cams 700TVL, and the very best tech support from QSee. Only problem is that even with a 700TLV you won't be able to see a nice face o tag number unless is in straight line within 20Ft, and that's the reason for a camera right? Who wants to see only a car or nice body shape or head when you need to identify who cause the damage??? Also, if you get the Tag number, their insurance should cover all the repairs needed!!.

 

[cwguy.com]

I would be more concerned with the recording resolution. You can get tags with less but probably not with packaged cameras? It's more of a science I think? Angles, sun and stuff but I haven't messed with it in a long time.

 

[2Biz]

Too often these camera/dvr packages get a bad wrap because they do not come with max resolution set as default. This is something you have to manually set up.

I have a Qsee 1TB drive DVR and 620tv line cameras that I've used several times to track somebody down. It has never let me down when a plate or face is in view. I get 30 days of recording with 16 cameras set to motion detection.

 

[cwguy.com]

No that is not what I am talking about. I have seen all the cameras 700 when the dvr is d1 on 2 channels. Just trying to help out and really no one know what he purchased? It's good advice when purchasing anything?

BTW 2biz what model dvr do you have? Thanks

 

[cwguy.com]

Just random old info: (In the past I worried about lens and good cameras.... now I would just purchase a box of stuff and did! )

I did a quick search on home depot and I believe I found your unit.
It says: NTSC: Full D1: Real Time: 240 FPS (30 FPS Per Channel) (I would assume all channels?)

BTW: NTSC is 480 (I believe?) also tvl is tv lines which is subjective from the manufacturer.

So in theory the 700 tv line is the horizontal count and ntsc is 480 horizontal. So the camera number really doesn't matter.... because you are convert the 700 to 480. But the problem comes in with the optics and type of sensors. Just like real cameras.... some are better then others.

You are going from digital to analog to digital. Pretty much always bad and thus the drop in res. If you go ip or some other digital connection it would be higher.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Q-SEE-Pr...d-100-ft-Night-Vision-QT5680-452-1/203932378#

 

[MEP001]

NTSC is the old TV standard and refers mainly to the video aspect ratio, although it includes the 29.97 FPS. It has nothing at all to do with the video lines, which is a rating for video quality for a camera.