smasumur wrote:*sarcasm mode on*
What? We can't zoom in with perfect clarity like this:
http://comixed.memebase.com/2011/09/13/koma-comic-strip-csi-seems-legit/
*sarcasm mode off*

Yes you can!

All cameras manufactured today !must! have a "Government Mode" built in AND required by law! It's in the firmware and can only be activated by law enforcement (or Hollywood). All security cameras are capable of true HD resolution but are "de-tuned" at the factory for retail sales to the "consumer" public.

If you don't believe me, just pull one of your teeth and put it under your pillow tonight and see what happens.

Oops... I forgot to turn sarcasm mode on (hope that doesn't hurt too much).

I READ IT COMES WITH NO HARD DRIVE!

i order three but it would only let me order one help

I remembered that Woot offered something similar to this several months ago, except that that one had a hard drive built into it. But, this one is still a good offer!

Zetabee wrote:I'm tempted to put one outside my house just to see what would happen. WHAT WOULD I SEE? Most likely nothing, but WHAT IF I did see something? That would freak me the hell out! Do I want to know about murderous ghosts and supervillains lurking out there in my yard when I'm not watching, or do I want to live my life in bliss not knowing?

If your murderous ghosts ain't stealin your stuff, or if they don't pose a threat to your well being, then get a #3 tin tub, fill it with sand, and bury your head in it. For me, I've had a storage building broken into, a chainsaw stolen, a garden cart stolen, kids powerwheel cars stolen, a Yamaha 80 stolen, some other tools I probably haven't looked for yet...all by kids in surrounding neighborhoods. I would like to know who these ghosts are next time they visit.

It's obviously not an HD system and I will have to goog some reviews before I buy, but for the $, doesn't seem like much to loose. The resolution should be sufficient to tell if it's someone that needs shooting. Also need a camera on my front porch to keep my wife from telling me..."Don't shoot thru the door till you see who it is!".

I can't seem to find out if it will record in the D1 resolution and at what frame rate. There is a lot of conflicting FPS numbers on the Woot page.

[quote postid="4697284" user="Ringo4422"]I did this for a living up until a few years ago and feel I pretty much know everything on this subject. This is a toy but it will get the job done cheaply. Very low res cameras, 30/15fps recorder, no motion detection, consumer entry level stuff.

Regarding no motion detection on this model, would you care to elucidate?

John1000 wrote:[quote postid="4697284" user="Ringo4422"]I did this for a living up until a few years ago and feel I pretty much know everything on this subject. This is a toy but it will get the job done cheaply. Very low res cameras, 30/15fps recorder, no motion detection, consumer entry level stuff.

Regarding no motion detection on this model, would you care to elucidate?[/quote]


Woot Description:

Record Mode options include Continuous, Time Schedule, and Motion Detection

alankhatoonian wrote:i order three but it would only let me order one help

To attempt to change an order-in-progress, or to resolve initial post-receipt issues (other than straight return requests):
service@woot.com

Good luck!

John1000 wrote:[quote postid="4697284" user="Ringo4422"]I did this for a living up until a few years ago and feel I pretty much know everything on this subject. This is a toy but it will get the job done cheaply. Very low res cameras, 30/15fps recorder, no motion detection, consumer entry level stuff.

Regarding no motion detection on this model, would you care to elucidate?

Ummm, I was hasty about that. It does do motion detection recording. My bad.

sshott wrote:Yes you can!

All cameras manufactured today !must! have a "Government Mode" built in AND required by law! It's in the firmware and can only be activated by law enforcement (or Hollywood). All security cameras are capable of true HD resolution but are "de-tuned" at the factory for retail sales to the "consumer" public.

If you don't believe me, just pull one of your teeth and put it under your pillow tonight and see what happens.


Oops... I forgot to turn sarcasm mode on (hope that doesn't hurt too much).

Wow I read the first paragraph of this and was getting angry until I saw the last line. Hilarious You'd be surprised how many people though see CSI and think all cameras, even low-resolution cheap Chinese analog cameras like these can do just as you described.

As a Product Manager for security cameras for the last 10 years, I want to give you some warnings. First as others have said, these are NOT high quality cameras. They may be "good enough" for many installations, but you get what you pay for.

That said, keep in mind if you want the kind of video where you can identify faces or read license plates, keep in mind your Field of View width must be about 16' (3 meters) or less or else there's just not enough resolution on these little cameras to see anything. If you try and use one of these outside to look at your street or the parking lot in front of your business, you'll end up with horrible resolution because you're just trying to look at too much area.

Now if you just want to see THAT a person was in front of your house or business, not WHO that person was, well then you can go to a wider Field of View. Just keep it in mind that at the end of the day, resolution = camera resolution divided by the width of the Field of View and whether it's a cheap 320 TVL camera or the latest 5 MP IP cameras, that law is still true.

sshott wrote:Yes you can!

All cameras manufactured today !must! have a "Government Mode" built in AND required by law! It's in the firmware and can only be activated by law enforcement (or Hollywood). All security cameras are capable of true HD resolution but are "de-tuned" at the factory for retail sales to the "consumer" public.

If you don't believe me, just pull one of your teeth and put it under your pillow tonight and see what happens.

Oops... I forgot to turn sarcasm mode on (hope that doesn't hurt too much).

This comment deserves a "Quality Post" acknowledgement.

jspielfogel wrote:Wow I read the first paragraph of this and was getting angry until I saw the last line. Hilarious You'd be surprised how many people though see CSI and think all cameras, even low-resolution cheap Chinese analog cameras like these can do just as you described.

Hey. Isn't everything on TV or the Internet for REAL.

I wonder how many think it (still) is? Giving away my age... I grew up, or maybe I should say "through", both of them when they WERE real.

Ringo4422 wrote:This comment deserves a "Quality Post" acknowledgement.

Thanks... but the devil made me do it.

chgo wrote:I'd like a good wireless system. Don't like all the cables.

They don't exist, not yet anyway. There must always be at least one cord to deliver power to the camera. They can transmit wireless signals but they still need a power source.

kjrehberg wrote:Notice that it records only at HALF the resolution of the cameras: CIF 352x240 resolution. This is very common in this price class of DVR system.

You can set it to capture at 480 lines. However, it reduces to 15 frames per second.

tedster wrote:I bought a house already wired up for this (even has cameras installed, just no DVR), but the cables terminate in a bedroom where my kid sleeps.

Does anybody know how noisy these things are? I assume there is a fan and if I add the hard drive...

No fan in mine. The only noise is from the hard drive.

slotter wrote:I don't get it... why are these systems so popular. Guess it's because I live in rural flyover country? Cannot see wanting this.

psychomuse wrote:The cameras can be directed upwards in order to see what's flying over you.

Zactly! Especially since aliens seem to have a penchant for visiting rural folks! You might be be one woot! away from being the next Roswell!

ljygiuy wrote:Even better, you can use this:
Monoprice-6878
and extend power and video via ethernet cable.

Yep. Those work extremely well. The idea of using an ethernet cable is in use for many many extensions of lots of data formats from video to data (duh), to audio , to usb to other formats. It requires a bit more than just connecting the network wire..the wiring is 50 ohm which means a matching transformer is needed.. those are included and are the bits of larger area in the dongle.

The transformer converts video signal 75 ohm into 50 ohm network signal with the advantage of long distances being able to be connected. Up to 1000 feet, or more, I'm quite sure.
USB , mouse, keyboard, KVM (keyboard, mouse, video) all are able to be extended using this method. At one time it cost $100 or more per side (you need 2) but that was due to ignorance.

The transformer is simply a ferrite (a kind of pressed metal) coil with wire wrapped around it which allows the transformation of one signal level to another. One can make these by hand if you can tie your shoe.

Best way is to buy a cheap pair , tear them apart, and measure the wire size, coil size, and wire length. Just like a normal transformer the number of turns and wire size determines how well it works.

The prices are good for this if all else is OK. Amazon sells H.264 dvr for over 300 not including cameras.

My only concern, for myself, is to put it together as I need it rather than expecting to do it all at once.

Some places may never have a break-in. Others should have had a break in and never have. And do a neighbor a gift and point a camera at his property and do , or don't tell him. And listen for problems. If there is a problem he may be glad to know there's a recording of a problem.

Last point of concern: Cameras aren't good enough normally. They really should be of a quality that allows for license plate ID.. otherwise how are you going to get a positive ID? And orienting the camera for license plate ID is important .. ie..no glare in Winter sun ..

When all else fails a fair camera shot closeup is good. So figure out a way to get your camera close to the area you want to ID. If you have to sacrafie a garden gnome by putting cams in his eyes I suppose that's smart ..

how will you feel if after $300 you didn't get 'the shot' ?

Th0r wrote:You can set it to capture at 480 lines. However, it reduces to 15 frames per second.

15FPS is fine if the image is decent.
My cameras all record at D1, 7FPS (not this dvr unit) and any recordings I have are more than sufficient.

tirk wrote:I was about to order one then saw this:

DVR-H8114UV DVR (HD is not included)


No Hard drive? Is that correct?


isnt a 500gb standard in these systems? How the hell do you record.

--
when in Hell you don't record.. that's the hell of it.

You need a ticket to heaven to record.

That line (over there)

Just hours left.. but

if I want to record high resolution video.. so I CAN catch the guy stealing my mail (via his car license plate) what do I have to buy in order to get that kind of resolution?

I think I can up the IR signal using the nice IR filters over a bright lamp (even if it's only coming on with motion detectors)..

But without good resolution what's the point?

A detective would say.. a. we can't see the license plate so there's no one to complain about

2. We can't see the face so there's no crimminal to complain about. and so on.

So please, give me some hopeful ideas of what to look at so I can do some shopping and keep the mail stealers from grabbing mail, keep the vandals from throwing paint on the sidewalk and keep theft of my neighbor's transmission from occurring (seriously.. they stole his transmission twice he said).

We need help and willing pay for it but not sure where to look and what to buy. Articles aren't very well written.

Thank you!

Andre in California , the land of the lost stuff from thieves.

mirrorz wrote:I grabbed one for my brother's place sine he's had quite a bit of theft recently. I have tons of old harddrives laying around so that's a non-issue.

My current setup is 8 cameras piped into a cheaper ebay purchased card in an old Win XP machine I had laying around. KVM switch to tie everything together and I'm solid.

Seriously the amount of theft is literally 1 in 1 household in my city.

MY rental house had the door knobs stolen and copper wire..

I blame my neighbors as much as the thieves.. when I worked in Switzerland and China there was no doubt that ppl would call up police and report you if you didn't act just right. I felt safe and often left my camera kit laying around without worry. In Japan I lost my wallet with 2,000.00 and it was returned to me within 20 minutes. It had worked up and out of my coat due to my camera strap pushing it up and out.

Some places pride themselves on civic duty, personal pride and responsibility ..and in America we're accepting the worst from ppl and excusing it .. as one woman said in a TV interview.. 'they're so desperate"..

She had no clue what desperate is..

I'm assuming that she thinks that if someone has no cable TV they're desperate. She like the ppl she speaks of need a brain transplant from the mind of a plant to that of a whatever she calls herself today (an Estee Lauder woman?)

Am I bitter? Yeah. When what my neighbors 'feed me' is bile and sickness from what should be cast into the sewer I am bitter. What I hear isn't fit to hear , be told, or be repeated.

It's interesting what's happened to some parts of America .. and I suspect other parts, of America and doing very well.. OR wait. that's Iceland.

But it will be able to show that yes, my sister is coming into my house when I'm at work.

In for one.

chgo wrote:I'd like a good wireless system. Don't like all the cables.

You still need cables for the power!

I bought this a few months back for scare footage for my Halloween display and for security. Anyway I want to transfer the recordings from my hard drive to my computer, so I can create a video. I tried using the USB port to see if I can transfer video, but it didn't work? Does anyone have any suggestions please? Oh and by the way the quality was pretty good and with the storm we just had I didn't have any issues with the cameras. Thanks in advance for anyone that can help me.

can i still purchase one of these units...from woot....i cant find the link...iam a new "wooter" thanx

tony4thgen wrote:can i still purchase one of these units...from woot....i cant find the link...iam a new "wooter" thanx

One deal per day, so you missed it. But if you want to spend a little more, you can still get the sister site's 8 camera system at http://deals.woot.com/deals/details/b1213cb4-f1fc-4cd8-81bd-8d1aa4330740/zmodo-16-channel-surveillance-system-8-weatherproof-ir-cameras#9

drummer425 wrote:If you know your electronics, you could have a trickle charger keeping a car battery going and buy or devise a 12V adapter for the car battery to the system. It'd be a poor man's battery backup system.

But you wouldn't want to run the battery straight into the DVR system. The voltage would be unreliable.

Be much easier to buy a battery backup. UPS for computers. It would plug right in.

andrelook wrote: "Yep. Those work extremely well."

These are great for running high quality Cat5e or Cat6 around the house. There are a number of sellers that have CCTV baluns available in the States, as noted here on ebay.

When the heck are they going to ship? Bought it on the 4th..

mstory wrote:When the heck are they going to ship? Bought it on the 4th..

ditto

cyberey66 wrote:ditto

no news here either yet hope they ship soon

Still waiting here to usually the wait is not this long.

No shipping details. Whats going on?

Not shipped?
refund will work...
or, you could just post a progress report

To be fair, ordered on a Friday, and says will ship within five business days. That gives them till tomorrow to still ship within the stated window.

crowbite wrote:Do you expect magic invisible wires for $109? You run the wires the way you run any wires.

Probably the simplest solution is to put the recorder upstairs, run the wires through the attic, mount the cameras under your soffit (where they will be out of reach of vandals). Obviously some familiarity with hand tools is required unless you want to do it all with duct tape.

Anyone lacking the basic skill to run a wire from point A to point B should get help.

I second this. As an installer, I'm not intimidated. I just bought 2 of these systems to put around the perimeter of my home. I have already ran 700' of siamese cable (paired rg59 video coax and 2 conductor for power/ground) through the attic down through a wall into the basement ceiling and over to my office desk. Ready for cameras!

Anybody have this installed in temps lower than -10 C or 14 F? I live in NH and temps frequently dip below 14F in January-February. I would prefer to have these installed outside on my farmers porch, but I don't want to ruin the cameras. Thanks for any input