oh man.  It came in today and of course I had to install it right away.  It's 10 times better than the toshiba.  It looks like i'm recording in HD. (i may be actually).  Even the Acti doesn't compare.  I may be replacing all my cameras with the Hikvisions.  They are that good.  I'm interested to see what it looks like at night.

You need Hikvision tools:  Link

Or you could check the DHCP server logs on your router.  

Or you could do a ping sweep in DOS to find it on your local subnet.  

What subnet are you using?  Type "ipconfig" at a DOS prompt on your computer and post the results.  You can get a DOS prompt by windows-button ---> All programs -->  Accessores -->  Command Prompt

If you're not on a 192.168.0.x subnet, you won't be able to access the camera.  If you're on a 192.168.1.x subnet, you'll need to use the Hikvision Tools to give it an IP address on your subnet (192.168.1.64 would work)

The uber-inexpensive option is Blue Iris.  I've used Luxriot, and Milestone for most of my installations.  I've also used a Qnap network appliance (you have to buy camera licenses for it, but they will record).

Major cost difference... but Milestone is actually a long-time, polished commercial product.

I have luxriot on graymans suggestion. It's very good and robust.  It's also very stable and had good support and updates.

I can't post screenshots of my cameras as it would be pretty easy to show where I live. Of all  cameras though, the hikvision has by FAR the best picture.

I think I paid 270$ for my 4 channel luxriot.  You pay on how many cameras you have. One time fee.

The 16-channel is the best deal.  License plate recognition is VERY spendy, and not needed IMHO.

The Trendnet stuff is rebranded Hikvision.  

I like the Hikvision cameras.  They're Chicom, but they've really hit a home-run on the quality-for-price-point matrix.   I've installed several, and am planning on using them in some future projects.

PM sent

Some of the Hikvision NVRs have built-in PoE.

And you can disable the IR LEDs in software.

OK.  Here's a copy-n-paste from the big CCTV thread in the SF.  

So I'm liking these Hikvision cameras more and more.  I'm not usually a great fan of Chicom stuff, but the Hikvision cameras are really a bargain for the money.

I just got my hands on a IR Mini Dome network camera:





It's not a conventional dome... it's more in line with some of the specialty "mobile application" cameras made by companies like Axis:






Here is the Hikvision, and it literally fits in the palm of your hand:






The main unit is pretty well-sealed, and connections are made via several dongles, rather than within the body of the camera:






The outer cover comes off the camera with four little security Torx screws (Hikvision supplies a little wrench to remove them).  Note the outer cover is fully gasketed all the way around, so this should be a good weatherproof camera.  






There is a base that the camera mounts to, and a handy drill template to help set your holes correctly.  






Here is the camera next to a 30-round magazine, just for a size comparison.  This thing is really quite small.




OK... so let's get this installation party started.  First we need to figure out how big a hole saw we need to ceiling mount this camera (it's going on sheetrock, and is light enough that hitting a stud isn't going to be a requirement).  

The red one looks just about right (that's the same size hole-saw you'd use to put in a deadbolt)






Forgot to mention... this camera also does internal storage, via a micro-SD card.  The slot is on the back of the camera, and circled in red







And if you get any fingerprints or smudges on the lens or cover while installing the camera, nothing works better to remove them than a good ole-fashioned Lenspen.





Hikvision includes a nice gasketed cable connection with the camera.  I've assembled the component parts (in roughly the order they fit together) here:





The round rubber cylinder (left arrow) has been inserted into the toothed end of that middle section (you'll see how it works in a minute), while the regular rubber gasket goes around the base of the camera dongle (right arrow)




And the pieces screw right together.  As you screw the left-sided end-cap on, the rubber cylinder inside gets compressed, allowing you to adapt it almost any diameter of cable:

Leave it mostly unscrewed for a larger opening:







Or tighten it down for a smaller cable:







This model also has alarm and/or sensor I/O via four screw-down terminals.  It also has audio-out for a speaker (if you want to speak to whoever you're seeing.  The camera already has a built-in microphone, so listening is a breeze)






Here is our template (and base) applied to the ceiling.  I recommend taking a nail and making small intentions through the paper and into the sheetrock wherever the screw-holes are marked on the paper.  This allows you to set the paper aside and still see your holes:





That red hole-saw makes quick work of the gypsum board:





I held a shop-vac up to the edge of the hole as I was drilling it.  This allowed me to make almost zero mess on my buddy's floor






The hole, with wires inserted up into the attic space (I made loops on the ends of the wires, and taped them back to the main cable, in order to make hooking them that much easier.  We're close to the edge of a low roofline here, and crawling out there to grab them by hand may be impossible):






Gah... I hate this part... particularly in the South... in friggin' August...  





Here we go... base has been attached to the ceiling:





Always remember to thread your cable through the gasket fitting BEFORE crimping the RJ-45 end onto it.  Even I still forget this sometimes





All hooked up (the alarm I/O is for an occupancy sensor the homeowner wants to use)






Everything fits easily through that hole:






And we are mounted:







And now the other end of that cable.  It will be attached to a standard keystone jack, and into a regular wall-plate:







Always remember to put the blade-side of the punch-down tool (red arrow) to the OUTSIDE of the jack (where you see the loose ends sticking out).  You don't want to cut the wires on the INSIDE of that jack.







BTW, Hikvision includes a little aiming tool to help adjust the camera lens.  The two prongs you see sticking out of that ring I'm holding (it fits over the lens) go into two little holes in that plastic gimbal (holes marked with red arrows).  You can't see them very well, but they are there.  This tool really helps aim the camera.






And on the topic of aiming, it deserves mention that this is NOT your typical dome camera.  It's designed to look forward or down, but in one direction (+/- about 30 degrees to either side).  If you mount it backwards, or expect to be able to rotate that lens 90-degrees to the right or left, you will NOT be able to do so.  This camera seems designed for longer, narrow areas (like busses, or trains).   Take this into consideration when planning on where to mount it.  You really need to mount that base in roughly the direction you want the camera to look... this one was mounted square to that crown molding for aesthetic reasons, but there almost wasn't enough play in that lens gimbal to get the correct view.  We were just lucky it worked.

Here is the night view (pitch-black).  I'd guess this room is roughly 20x30 feet.  





Pretty grainy with just the built-in IR LEDs.  Still, they have a respectable throw for such a small camera.  Also, camera-integrated IR LEDs are something that I don't generally favor, but an exception can be made for indoor cameras, due to the absence of bugs/spiders.  

This camera has very respectable IR sensitivity.  In fact, it's better than some more-expensive cameras I could mention (*cough* Acti *cough*).  Here's what the addition of a single 12V IR dome illuminator (sitting on that counter, just out of view) makes to the scene (still pitch-black to the naked eye):




An extra illuminator can make all the difference in the world to a camera's performance, and that goes for indoors as well as outdoors.  I did something very similar in my own kitchen (I've mentioned it in this thread before, but it's shown again below).  You can't see it, but there's an IR illuminator just out of the frame to the right, sitting on top of the bookcase (illuminators should never be in the direct view of the camera... just out-of-frame for a bit of indirect lighting is ideal).  At night, the illuminator lights up the kitchen for a black-and-white mobotix dome mounted on the ceiling.  Works like a charm.  I'm going to recommend the above homeowner do the same.





Conclusion:

I'm very struck by how high the quality is on these newer Hikvision cameras, particularly when you consider their bargain price-point.  This one was $229 at Nelly's... a serious bargain for the performance and features in this 3MP IP camera.  You literally were paying double or triple for the same kind of performance/feature-set just a few years ago.  Longevity is still an open question, and as far as warranty, Hikvision does the Acti/Vivotek/etc buy-from-our-distributors-or-we-won't-honor-the-warranty stuff.  Nelly's is an "unauthorized" distributor, so you're on your own if it craps out, but at that price, you can afford to replace the occasional one that blows.  The same can't be said for a $1600 Mobotix camera.  

So we're replacing an Acti box camera, which we'd previously mounted under an eave.






There's a large IR panel illuminator mounted about five feet above the camera that provides area lighting at night.  Unfortunately, the Acti camera is appallingly IR-insensitive (even though it's a proper day/night camera with an IR-cut filter).  That panel puts out 60 Watts of illumination, pulling slightly more than 4 Amps at 13VDC.  It's a ferocious light source... even the Axis/Raytec/Raymax panel illuminators only put out 10 Watts-per-panel.  






Unfortunately, here's what that Acti camera gives you at night, with it's SLOWEST shutter speed (which should significantly brighten the image, at the cost of blurring moving objects):





It's quite good during the daytime, with a lot of quality optical zoom (35x) to bring distant objects close.  It's capable of reading a license plate at nearly 100 meters.   The zoom was used to cover the end of a residential driveway:

We removed the old camera and took down the wall-mount.  We used a couple of the old holes to mount the Hikvision junction box to the brick:






There's a handy white gasket that helps mate the camera base to that mounting box, with holes for all the cables:







We'll clean up and loom the cabling later, but that's what it looks like mounted:






The field of view isn't quite as tight as the Acti camera (it's hard to compete with that fantastic 35x optical zoom), but it should be adequate.  That sidewalk is 60 feet away from the camera (measured with my Leupold laser rangefinder), and I'd estimate the FOV to be 30-feet across.  Using the Pelco Lens Calculator puts the FOV at 32-feet across, so I was pretty close.  

That puts 1920 pixels (across) to cover a 30-foot-wide area, so roughly 60 pixels-per-foot.  That should be enough to read a license plate.

And it is (this is cropped from the full-size image):






That image actually helps validate the Pixels-per-foot chart shown at the beginning of this thread... it's pretty close:







Note that the colors on the Hikvision camera look a little better and more realistic.  The Acti's colors look a little washed-out by comparison

So let us move on to the night image:





Quite an improvement, and that's with the same shutter-speed as the Acti camera.  

Unfortunately, the light output is so great that it washes out the reflective surface of the license plate, and we lose the definition of the digits.  No amount of monkeying with the shutter-speed, WDR, or Smart-IR settings would provide sufficient contrast to show definition of those plate numbers at night.   Part of the problem may be that huge honking illuminator blasting out IR light all over that area.  The "Smart IR" setting allows the camera to modulate its own IR settings, but it cannot control the IR output of the panel illuminator.  Sometimes you have to make trade-offs, and this is one the homeowner will have to live with.  

Another recommendation for the Hikvision camera.

So you did get them up... nice pic, and good placement.  

What did you ever decide to do about the far corner of that garage, and the driveway-into-parking-area entry?  

If you told me, I don't remember.

If you have a Hikvision chinese camera (not the US version, but the Chinese version, look at your label on your camera) do NOT upgrade firmware to the US version.  It will brick your camera.  

You can get it unbricked, but it's a pain in the ass.  Typically, the chinese cams will come in brown boxes while the US versions will be in red/white boxes.