Hi from the Great Nanny State

[awsum140]

I'm in southern NJ, farm country not refinery country. I've been running Blue Iris for about four years and recently found this forum. I've learned more in two weeks than I learned in those four years. I am sort of a maverick because I run other programs on my BI server, folding@home to be specific.

I think the most important thing I've learned here, so far, is to use quality cameras instead of the normal stuff found on Amazon or FleaBay and buy them from known dealers. My current system is only four cameras. Three of them are sort of "no name" and one is a GrandStream. I'll be buying strictly Dahua in the future to expand the system and replace the "no name" stuff.

 

[gwminor48]

Hello, welcome to the forum.

 

[mat200]

I'm in southern NJ, farm country not refinery country. I've been running Blue Iris for about four years and recently found this forum. I've learned more in two weeks than I learned in those four years. I am sort of a maverick because I run other programs on my BI server, folding@home to be specific.

I think the most important thing I've learned here, so far, is to use quality cameras instead of the normal stuff found on Amazon or FleaBay and buy them from known dealers. My current system is only four cameras. Three of them are sort of "no name" and one is a GrandStream. I'll be buying strictly Dahua in the future to expand the system and replace the "no name" stuff.

Welcome Awsum140,

Thanks for joining the conversation, hope to see you share your experiences here.

btw - in case you have not yet seen these
It's easy to get swamped with information here, so I wanted to share some notes with you

Please check out @giomania 's notes:
Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)

I have also made notes which are a summary of a lot of the reading I've been doing here,:
Looking for some advice and direction!

Have fun joining us here.

 

[awsum140]

Everybody talks about the turret cameras. I've been using fixed bullets. Three of them are varifocal and one of them is actually motorized but only works in its own software, plus the auto focus is terrible (cheap no-name camera). The views I want are really suited for fixed cameras, remote zoom might be handy at times though. Problem with turrets is I can't sit there and actually make use of them, easier to put up another camera pointed where I want to watch. I suppose I could setup presets for it, but then I worry about triggers for it...are they valid or not and if they aren't am I missing something else important?

 

[fenderman]

Everybody talks about the turret cameras. I've been using fixed bullets. Three of them are varifocal and one of them is actually motorized but only works in its own software, plus the auto focus is terrible (cheap no-name camera). The views I want are really suited for fixed cameras, remote zoom might be handy at times though. Problem with turrets is I can't sit there and actually make use of them, easier to put up another camera pointed where I want to watch. I suppose I could setup presets for it, but then I worry about triggers for it...are they valid or not and if they aren't am I missing something else important?

you are confusing turrets with motorized PTZ...
turrets are superior to bullets in every way..most impropriety way less spider web IR reflection..some turrets are varifocal but most are simply fixed lens...

 

[awsum140]

Yeah, old age is catching me. To me a turret is a camera that is actually a PTZ. I've had the spider problems, as every bullet camera user has, but I don't mind a nightly trip with a dust mop to do "spider patrol". This time of year it isn't much of a problem at all, summer time is a different story though. I also worry about mounting turret styles. I have cameras in trees which are tough enough with a small bullet base, let alone a six or ten inch turret.

 

[fenderman]

I also worry about mounting turret styles. I have cameras in trees which are tough enough with a small bullet base, let alone a six or ten inch turret.

well then you are the first to not mind the nightly trip...never seen a 10 inch turret...the bases are about 4-5 inches max...using a junction box it would be easy to mount to a tree...

 

[awsum140]

I'll look into them. Thanks for the advice. I don't mind spider patrol, but if it could be eliminated so much the better. I've also though about seperate IR illuminators, away from the cameras. I already have a few to improve night vision on the cameras I have but they're so cheap I can;t shut off the internal IR sources. Lesson learned, cheap or good, no in between.

One question, and I just looked at the Dahua site, can they be mounted in a vertical rather than overhead, horizontal, orientation? The specs don't show what the rotation limits of the camera are, at least I didn't see anything.

 

[fenderman]

I'll look into them. Thanks for the advice. I don't mind spider patrol, but if it could be eliminated so much the better. I've also though about seperate IR illuminators, away from the cameras. I already have a few to improve night vision on the cameras I have but they're so cheap I can;t shut off the internal IR sources. Lesson learned, cheap or good, no in between.

One question, and I just looked at the Dahua site, can they be mounted in a vertical rather than overhead, horizontal, orientation? The specs don't show what the rotation limits of the camera are, at least I didn't see anything.

they have 3 axis rotation..you can mount them any way you want..

 

[awsum140]

Wonder why they don't mention that in the specs? I see that they can be electronically rotated as well so they'd only need 45 degrees or so to compensate for stranger angles. Looking at the size, according to the specs, it's just a tad over 4" at the base. Maybe I'll give one a try and, hopefully, start reducing my spider patrol duties. Thanks again for taking the time and clarifying.

 

[fenderman]

Wonder why they don't mention that in the specs? I see that they can be electronically rotated as well so they'd only need 45 degrees or so to compensate for stranger angles. Looking at the size, according to the specs, it's just a tad over 4" at the base. Maybe I'll give one a try and, hopefully, start reducing my spider patrol duties. Thanks again for taking the time and clarifying.

Get Starlight camera that performs well in low-light and you won't need additional ir

 

[awsum140]

That's what I am hoping for. The backyard is kind of "deep", though and I like to keep an eye on the back fence about 230 feet from the house and 250 feet long. Long range, wide field of view plus there's sheds about 150 feet out but I can zoom in on them, smaller target area.