Could someone make a "PTZ for Noobs" tutorial?

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My neighbor had some punks steal some things from his garage a few nights ago. They actually rode the stolen scooters down the sidewalk in front of my house just after midnight. Of course, my video from 2 cams was not real helpful with 2.8 lenses at 35 feet or so moving fast at night. (pic below is a 1/1.8 sensor @ 1/100th shutter. They stole the $200 scooters from the back garage door of the house across the street with the lights on-- where they also pounded and rang the doorbell before leaving)

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As a result, I am going to add my first PTZ to my system. It just feels like the functionality of a PTZ adds an exponential layer of complexity to setup. It is intimidating.

In searching, I couldn't find anything in the WIKI.... In the forum there are lots and lots of individual posts and tons of semi-conflicting info & opinions... soooooo....

A PTZ Wiki that would cover the essentials of setup and BI use for typical install & lighting scenarios would be awesome from a few of our PTZ veterans...
jus' sayin'... that would be:

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Warptrooper

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What cams are those ?

A thought, for the price of a PTZ you could place 2-3 more cams in strategic locations with a decent zoom (6mm or varifocal). Could cover both approaches from sidewalks that way.
 
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What cams are those ?

A thought, for the price of a PTZ you could place 2-3 more cams in strategic locations with a decent zoom (6mm or varifocal). Could cover both approaches from sidewalks that way.
Both dahua--- one is a 4mp 1/1.8 sensor model, and the other is a 4mp 1/2.7 sensor model--- that one struggles in that lighting. I could use both cams to act as triggers though. I am expecting a steep learning curve.... I ordered a SD49225XA-HNR 2mp auto-tracking ptz from @EMPIRETECANDY tonight.... :)
 
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BTW--- the mom across the street posted in a facebook group yesterday asking parents of teens to see if a scooter showed up at their house (she posted pics of the scooters) and that they had been stolen from her house. Two moms messaged her saying they each had one of the scooters. There is still hope for humanity.
 
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Which one is the 1/2.7?
this one is from Andy off his Amazon store...

The slightly cropped view from that cam of the second little thief...

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another view from that cam-- those two kids in the street earlier just before riding past my house....

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Warptrooper

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@sdkid 2431 is 1/3" btw not 1/2.7" (if only lol)

Did you go 2.8 or 3.6? I went 3.6 on both 2431 and 5442 and have another 2431 3.6 on the way from Andy.

Are you planning on adding 3rd and more cams ? I want to move the 5442 down and replace it with a 4K (or maybe a PTZ autotrack in future but expensive). Most likely leaning towards 4K tho. This would leave me with 2x 2431 for the 2 doors (both have porch lights), 5442 for cars and a 4K for higher up overview which will cover some street and sidewalk view. All with some overlap.
 
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@sdkid 2431 is 1/3" btw not 1/2.7" (if only lol)

Did you go 2.8 or 3.6? I went 3.6 on both 2431 and 5442 and have another 2431 3.6 on the way from Andy.

Are you planning on adding 3rd and more cams ? I want to move the 5442 down and replace it with a 4K (or maybe a PTZ autotrack in future but expensive). Most likely leaning towards 4K tho. This would leave me with 2x 2431 for the 2 doors (both have porch lights), 5442 for cars and a 4K for higher up overview which will cover some street and sidewalk view. All with some overlap.
I have other cams in other spots around my house-- a few have been running for over 7 years. All of these have been cheap cams. Both of these front cams are 2.8 lenses. From what I am reading, I'd stay away from the 4K cams because other than the very high end, the cams are pulling that resolution from comparatively small sensors which hurts light performance. That 1/1.8 sensor in 4mp is the sweet spot. I will have to re-examine my whole setup to decide how to provide trigger cam coverage (and which cams to use) for the PTZ I ordered.
 
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