I've been robbed, need a video camera asap

[Razer]

So far my hikvision cameras have been more reliable than my Axis cameras but maybe that's just me? I have had to reboot an Axis 4 channel encoder about monthly to keep it alive and my Axis hemispheric camera quits working randomly and then looses it preset views all the dang time. I like them okay, but they are not worth the cost in my experience anyway.

 

[icerabbit]

IPCAM Cloud recording :sick:
Marketing departments love pushing the cloud.

But, with the average starved US internet bandwidth capacity? :nuts:


A 2MP camera compressed h264 feed with average settings requires a net 500KB/s ethernet and recording capacity to the hard drive. (Higher quality settings, FPS etc make it jump to 1MB/s)
Times 2-3-4-5-etc cameras which may record simultaneously due to group triggering/motion/weather/... or sequentially but overlapping due to settings like pre- and after- record.
So now we're talking net 1-2-3MB/sec recording.

All while the average basic US broadband connection allows one to send about 100KB/s net upstream, give or take 25KB/s + or -, 75-125KB/s.

So, you're already well out of range for a single camera stream to be recorded to the cloud (500 <> 100).

And, if you're doing something else online, you don't even have the full capacity of the line.

Even if a single camera were 75-100KB/s and one records at a time, every time there's motion, your internet connection goes bye bye.

Next idea, please

 

[bp2008]

IPCAM Cloud recording :sick:
Marketing departments love pushing the cloud.

But, with the average starved US internet bandwidth capacity? :nuts:
...
Next idea, please

Yup. You can actually get a decent 2MP video from 250 KB/s, and with low enough frame rate and appropriate i-frame intervals, you can even do okay with 125 KB/s, also known as 1 Mbps as most ISPs will label it. But you really want 4 Mbps (500 KB/s) or better for these cams, so you have the best quality!

Also, as you've pointed out, a lot of ISPs are stuck on ADSL technology and the < 1 Mbps upload speed limit that comes with it. I am lucky, and as of one week ago I have pair bonded VDSL2 which provides 45 Mbps down and 18 or 19 Mbps up (sold as 50x20). My ISP doesn't even have monthly bandwidth caps or targetted service blocking/throttling or anything of that sort... yet. Either they don't need/want data caps, or they just haven't figured out how to implement caps yet.

 

[croft.arthur]

Strange, I have never had a problem with their support, they always answered me almost immediately or next day maximally. But who knows where is the problem.

 

[croft.arthur]

So far my hikvision cameras have been more reliable than my Axis cameras but maybe that's just me? I have had to reboot an Axis 4 channel encoder about monthly to keep it alive and my Axis hemispheric camera quits working randomly and then looses it preset views all the dang time. I like them okay, but they are not worth the cost in my experience anyway.

Interesting! What type of camera do you have? I could give a try.

 

[LittleBrother]

If you need semi-cloud recording that's free, you can set up a gmail account (just for this purpose) and have the cameras send the capture photos via email, then you'll have it for your record in the email.

This is a good idea, but will gmail limit the activity for this? If you're sending, say, hundreds of emails a day with an account I wonder about hitting a ceiling with gmail.

----

Well, I decided to google. There is indeed a limit: https://support.google.com/a/answer/166852?hl=en But it's very high, much higher than I would have thought. A reasonable setup is not going to hit that limit. Another option could be dropbox, but I've not used it enough to note whether it has a limit and/or an excessive delay in uploading (in my limited experience it tries to sync right away, so that's good). A free account has a small amount of room, though, so you'd need to manage hitting its limit. You could also record vid locally and only send up images taken every second or so, if your setup allows it.

I do think it's incumbent that a home setup has either a cloud backup or a NAS hidden away somewhere. The cloud storage is one of the big benefits of Dropcam, though it's a paid service with lower quality cams than current value-line IP cameras (I have two dropcams now and am moving away from them soon).

I always thought about putting my NVR inside an old VCR case.

Hide it within some hollowed out textbooks. Not many burglars into reading.

The plug I was using for the PoE injector is linked to the light...

I once paid an AC guy to come out and fix our AC. He fixed it by flicking a switch I had unflicked during a storm for some reason. Easiest repair ever for him.

nayrWhat camera are you using? ​That PTZ video looked seriously sharp.

 

[jimmyt]

Vin - I hope you catch that sh*%head!

I have been trying to follow what you ended up doing. Seems like you are running the hikvision pcnvr software of a mac laptop? whats your thoughts on it? I am where you were a month ago.. not ready for the full nvr - just want to get a few cameras installed and then take it from there. How are you liking the camera?

thanks!

 

[nayr]

nayr What camera are you using? ​That PTZ video looked seriously sharp.

Dahua DH-SD59212S-HN

 

[LittleBrother]

Dahua DH-SD59212S-HN

/jealous. What an awesome toy, a bit rich for me though

 

[Vin Tekiel]

Hi Jimmyt,

I love it. My setup is very simple. Just one camera (well, the second one just arrived but is not set up yet). I'm using the video camera setting to upload videos in the cloud when there is some motion that has been detected. It's working great, the best setup for me since I did not want anything in the house (nvr, dvr, ....). It's just to bad that the hikvision software has a very specific way to handle the mp4. I'm still trying to understand how it works to manage it myself.

Vin