Security Cameras advice

[mrfixit]

Possibly a seperate box being shipped? I'm sure you'll get it straightened out soon.

Lorex shipping info -

"We cannot guarantee that your order will ship in a single box. Products may ship from multiple warehouses to facilitate a faster delivery. The recipient is the importer of record and must comply with all local laws and regulations of the destination country.
"

They have multiple warehouses. Ran out at one and had to ship remaining from the other maybe.

 

[soapy]

I thought possible a second box also but packing slip on this box said all were inside this box. For Gobuckeyes my quick install guide says video format is NTSC (LEV2712 camera) or PAL (LEV2712P camera

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

Soapy, mine arrived yesterday in 2 boxes.

 

[pgrzes]

my system was also 2 boxes.

 

[GCAS]

Thanks for the advicengents. I found a Lorex 1080p with 20 IP camera system. Got a really good discount (20%) on Cyber Monday. I'm installing it on my new wash. Will keep you posted.

 

[mrfixit]

Sounds like an awesome system, and congrats on your new wash!

 

[soapy]

Still looking for my remaining 6 cameras. I have emailed Lorex twice and submitted a claim. The website gives me a number and promises to get back to me within 48 hours. No response from them at all and it has been 5 days. I called this morning and the wait was over 30 minutes so they took my number and indicated they would call back within 30 minutes. 8 hours later I have still not been contacted. I hope they get back to me soon.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

I installed 9 of my 14 cameras over the last few days. Images look pretty good, but not quite what I had hoped for. A zillion times better than what I had before though. (Which was no cameras )

I dont know much at all about cameras, so I have some reading to do so I can get the settings right.
Have any of you tweaked the settings to maximize viewing resolution, recorded resolution, # of days you can record, etc?

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

I installed 9 of my 14 cameras over the last few days. Images look pretty good, but not quite what I had hoped for. A zillion times better than what I had before though. (Which was no cameras )

I dont know much at all about cameras, so I have some reading to do so I can get the settings right.
Have any of you tweaked the settings to maximize viewing resolution, recorded resolution, # of days you can record, etc?

Don't remember what you paid for your system, but this one for $1299 at Costco would've been a great system. You can't even compare the 2 systems.

http://www.costco.com/Q-See-16-Chan...with-100'-Night-Vision.product.100213199.html

 

[MEP001]

Have any of you tweaked the settings to maximize viewing resolution, recorded resolution, # of days you can record, etc?

I always tweak the record settings to record at a low framerate until motion is detected, and some have a "pre-event" setting that lets it step up the framerate before the motion event is triggered. To maximize stored video I set only the event recording to high resolution and the non-motion at lower. You can probably set it up along with an alarm to turn on all cameras at full resolution/framerate with an alarm event.

 

[soapy]

paulLovesJamie, Check to make sure the system is set on full HD and not just 720 pixel. I think you have your choice. 720 pixel for more recording time but less resolution. Costco system has fewer cameras but higher resolution and double the price. I am still waiting for any kind of response from Lorex on my missing cameras. I filed 2 internet inquiry's and left 2 phone messages with them and have not had any response back from them. I finally put a stop payment on the credit card hoping that will get some response from Lorex.

 

[mrfixit]

That's weird I called them twice and had no problem getting in touch. First was before I received to make sure they got my payment, the second one was to see if they had stickers instead of window decals.

I will definitely be calling them tomorrow to let them know I'm not happy they they let down one of my friends. They ought to do something considering I kinda helped them sell a number of their systems.

I guess thing things do happen.

(if you want to pm me the name they have I can let them know who)

 

[mrfixit]

I installed 9 of my 14 cameras over the last few days. Images look pretty good, but not quite what I had hoped for. A zillion times better than what I had before though. (Which was no cameras )

I dont know much at all about cameras, so I have some reading to do so I can get the settings right.
Have any of you tweaked the settings to maximize viewing resolution, recorded resolution, # of days you can record, etc?

Well you saw my 720p pics, if your 1080 they should be way better. As Soapy said you may need to adjust settings. The quality on the monitor or remote viewing?

There a chance you expected the world, like NFL football coverage type quality, which they are not.

If their not varifolcal the placement is important.

There's many other reasons with installation that could cause poor quality too. Like kinking the cables, running the video wires by electrical or over florescent lights.

 

[soapy]

Do you have a HD monitor? If you do not have it hooked to a HD monitor or TV you might not be getting the true picture quality. I bought a 24 inch HD 1080P TV to use as my monitor for my Swann system. Sometimes you have to set the HD monitor up for 1080 as they default to 720.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

Thanks for the replies, here are a few things I'm seeing/thinking.
- I grabbed a 43" LED HD tv 1080p for $250, using that for a monitor. I think the settings on that are right, but good point I'll doublecheck.
- The 6 varfocal cameras have 2 video bnc plugs on them, labeled MPX and Analog. Since the Analog one was the same color (yellow) as the other cameras, I guessed and used that one. Apparently incorrect, MPX should give me better quality and allow me to pick 1080p resolution. Changed it on 1 of them this morning, big difference.
- Have to choose 15 fps (or fewer) to get 1080p. I reduced most cameras to 15 fps, some to 5. Need to fine tune that.
- changed all cameras to record on motion detection
- I changed the bit rate from constant to variable. I'm not certain that is best, we'll see.
- default compression is H.264 for this system, I may drop that back to mpeg4, not sure yet.


My expectations were not sky high, I know this is HD over analog, not the latest tech. I did/do expect to get clear make/model & license plate ids. Well, I should say I'm expecting "clear enough" to get an id.
In general the pic's are a lot better, its getting close. But I still need to experiment and tweak. And get the rest of the cameras installed

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

Heres a pic taken from my cell phone of the monitor, bay3 with my truck in it. (I havent tried to take a snapshot off the recorder yet.) YEs I could easily read the plate. Ignore all the junk in the back of the truck.
View attachment 815

 

[Ghetto Wash]

I've got about half of my cams up and can't read plates, but the picture quality is much better than what I had. I was hoping for license plates, but am pleased with the improvement over my old system. I'm close to getting plates and I think I would get them if I moved my cameral lower on the bay wall, however I like them up high enough that they can't get smacked with a foam brush handle.

I've got outdoor rated cable on order for the rest of the cams and will finish the install when it arrives.

Overall it was worth doing even without plate capture.

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

I've got about half of my cams up and can't read plates, but the picture quality is much better than what I had. I was hoping for license plates, but am pleased with the improvement over my old system. I'm close to getting plates and I think I would get them if I moved my cameral lower on the bay wall, however I like them up high enough that they can't get smacked with a foam brush handle.

I've got outdoor rated cable on order for the rest of the cams and will finish the install when it arrives.

Overall it was worth doing even without plate capture.

You might be better off setting up a dedicated plate camera at the entrance/exit to pick plates as people enter & leave.

 

[mrfixit]

I pick up plates clearly on every one of my cameras. 720p only.

Placement is key. It's too high the angle gets sharp. If you cant read it clearly from the spot the camera won't either

Don't mount higher than 10ft for plate reading. It's the angle that's the problem. Tuck it in the corner and bring it down a few feet till the plate comes into view.

Ill measure mine and let you know how high they are. Also the smaller the bay the higher the angle will be at the back so it will need to be lower.

Pro tip-
Use the remote viewing on your smart phone to place and adjust the cameras perfectly.
.

 

[MEP001]

- I changed the bit rate from constant to variable. I'm not certain that is best, we'll see.

Variable bitrate is usually best - it will increase storage capacity and will only affect the quality of static images (And that should be negligible).