Non-ebay Kodicom clone

[ver0776]

http://www.raidentech.com/kodvr18chdiv.html

This card looks much different than my eBay clone, but it still includes DigiNet software. I would think they would get in real trouble for that unless Kodicomm gave up and started licensing it...

What do you all think? I don't even see FPS claims on it, but the price is super cheap, even just to get the software.

Vaughn

 

[upstatemike]

Interesting. What do you think about that 903CH camera on the same page?

 

[upstatemike]

Also curious... would you dedicate a PC to the camera system or run their software in conjuction with a media server and/or automation server and/or web server. (I'm trying to get a handle on how many PCs are required to have a full PC based sytem in your house).

If you are doing lots of cameras and recording, then I assume a dedicated box is required?

 

[dscline]

Indeed, their camera pricing looks good too. But a little searching turns up this:

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller4678.html

Lots of reports of orders being placed, and products never being received. In fact, I don't think I EVER remember seeing any store rated that low at resellerratings, so I think in in this case, there might be something to the "if it appears too good to be true..." saying.

 

[upstatemike]

Indeed, their camera pricing looks good too. But a little searching turns up this:

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller4678.html

Lots of reports of orders being placed, and products never being received. In fact, I don't think I EVER remember seeing any store rated that low at resellerratings, so I think in in this case, there might be something to the "if it appears too good to be true..." saying.

WOW, thanks for the warning! I probably would have gotten suckered by these guys too!

 

[IVB]

btw, i got a kodicomm clone from a non-eBay seller. I can hunt down the dude's contact info if you want. Card works fine.

 

[upstatemike]

Would a kodicom clone in an old PC be more economical than a hardware quad splitter plus security monitor? I'm finding lots of sources for cameras but not so many for quad display splitters and security monitor displays.

 

[IVB]

I honestly know nothing about quad splitters, but the word sounds like you'd record to a VCR type device. Would you put a TV display/modulate so you could do the monitoring? I have no idea what functionality a hardware splitter has above & beyond basic combining of 4 signals into one screen.

In the 45 minutes of experience I have with Diginet (read: take this with a grain of salt), it looks pretty robust in terms of it's functionality. I've noticed:
- Variety of recording capaability: Scheduled, (ie only these hours), on motion, on sensor trip, continuous
- Random access to any date/time you want, so you don't have to move through analog VCR tape
- Automated backup to a different machine
- Web Server, so you can pull up on any PC, or TV if it's hooked up to your TVs.
- There's other stuff, I can try and screencap the diginet screen tonight if that would help you.

 

[upstatemike]

I don't need to do any recording. I just want to take the inputs from 4 cameras and display them on one screen divided into 4 quadrants (which is what a quad splitter does). Some quad splitters have multiple outputs including composite video, s-video, and vga. I would probably use on of these so can use a cheap LCD computer display instead of a bulky tube-based CCTV monitor.

 

[dscline]

Also curious... would you dedicate a PC to the camera system or run their software in conjuction with a media server and/or automation server and/or web server. (I'm trying to get a handle on how many PCs are required to have a full PC based sytem in your house).

If you are doing lots of cameras and recording, then I assume a dedicated box is required?

While a bit OT, I'd like to know this too. I'd like to get a few cameras going... something that could be triggered to log video, either by motion sensed in the image, or by motion sensed from my security sensors. I have an M1G, and plan to install some touchscreens with MainLobby, and also plan a PC running Homeseer. I'd like video either on demand, from any touchscreen or computer, and also automatically archived for security purposes on motion. From what I've read, people sometimes have CPU load issues with kodicom type solutions, suggesting that perhaps a dedicated PC may be needed. Add in another 24/7 PC for homeseer and ML serving, and an HTPC server, and the roughly $10/month/PC for electricity starts to add up, not to mention hardware cost and finding places to stuff all of them in a small house.

Is a PVR card still the best solution, or is perhaps an IP based camera(s) a better solution, where all the compression is done at the camera? What is a good/affordable way to implement a few cameras when you want to access their video from several different services?

 

[ver0776]

If you are not recording, a quad-splitter will make your setup a lot more reliable and simple. If you want to use a PC, you could get a DVR card for under $50, and that would give you web/remote monitoring, and PDA too. If web access is not an issue, it would not hurt to have a quad splitter. With property the size of yours, you will always find a use for the splitter even if you upgrade to DVR for this application.

Vaughn

 

[upstatemike]

If you are not recording, a quad-splitter will make your setup a lot more reliable and simple. If you want to use a PC, you could get a DVR card for under $50, and that would give you web/remote monitoring, and PDA too. If web access is not an issue, it would not hurt to have a quad splitter. With property the size of yours, you will always find a use for the splitter even if you upgrade to DVR for this application.

Vaughn

I have been looking at quad splitters and not really finding many to choose from. Do you have a suggestion for a cheap but good unit and a source to get it from?

I am also trying to decide what to do about a security monitor. Are most folks who use a quad splitter feeding it to a tube CCTV monitor? LCD monitor? TV? PC monitor?

I need to figure this out and get them ordered ASAP!

 

[TonyNo]

As mentioned in another post, I run the video from my cams through a 9-channel "quad" mux (Ultrak KX0910CN) and then into a USB video dongle. This input is used by WebCam2000, which I can pull up locally or remotely. I also grab frames at opportune times and save them. The quad also has motion detection and a relay output, but I have not dug into that yet.

I saw these on ebay just before I picked this one up locally for $100.

 

[ver0776]

Here is Lorex's

http://www.audio-direct.com/item_large.asp...18-9df187147af5

Swann has a couple too, but the widely available one is only B&W in quad mode and color in FS. The fact that so many of these "Auction" sites sell Swann scares me, but they are also in major retail stores like Microcenter, so it's hard to say. Swann's full color model is not in any major retailer yet.

Most places with the Lorex are not listing prices, so I am wondering how new/available it is. You can read more about the models on Swann and Lorex's home pages.

If I find more during my surfing I will post links...

Vaughn

 

[JurisPrudence]

http://www.raidentech.com/kodvr18chdiv.html

This card looks much different than my eBay clone, but it still includes DigiNet software. I would think they would get in real trouble for that unless Kodicomm gave up and started licensing it...

What do you all think? I don't even see FPS claims on it, but the price is super cheap, even just to get the software.

Vaughn

Actually, China's intellectual property laws are nearly non-existent compared to the US. So, that's why you proablby see tyhe software being copied by all the cloners out there.

Anyhow, I was wondering if the diginet software you are talking about is the same as my Digital Video Witness (DVW) software that came with my Kodicom dvr card!? I've noticed the software named "Diginet" has a slightly different gui than that of "DVW", but much of the functionality seems to be the same and derived from the same source code. Either way, I'd like to get my hands on the latest copy of the "Diginet" software if anyonw has it?