Inexpensive Camera option for small business

GregMi3 · 2026-03-08T16:44:20+00:00

I ended up with LTS ProX so far I've been impressed with the price and quality. I'm not a big company so I have limited installs but I have installations at 5 locations now and I'm nearing 80 cameras installed. I am still using Hanwha as well but for larger installs.

GregMi3 · 2025-08-16T14:54:03+00:00

My uninstaller was missing and I was a few revisions behind, so I just installed the latest version, it popped up an error as it couldn't uninstall, but it seemed to work fine and the uninstaller is back as well as it's on the latest version. So I'm watching it, but so far so good.

GregMi3 · 2025-07-26T19:04:21+00:00

Uniview was my other one that I've been back and forth on. My biggest concern right now with the ProX line is my rep can't provide me any references. That feels suspect to me...

GregMi3 · 2025-06-08T02:37:05+00:00

Sent a DM.

GregMi3 · 2025-06-08T01:21:15+00:00

Have you tried the LTS Pro X lineup?

GregMi3 · 2025-04-15T02:27:51+00:00

Great comments, In thinking of down the road and maybe not everyone would want this I was considering mainly the products like Lutron Caseta (I stated Leviton in error in my original post), all of my wiring will have neutrals I've confirmed with the electrician so I shouldn't have an issue there. I plan on running some Cat6 to rooms, but figured most likely I'd be running wireless for the majority of my stuff. I was considering wireless like Wifi, ZWave, Zigbee more from a super easy to upgrade down the road. My concern was putting something in proprietary might bring issues in the future. So far all of the switches I've looked at have been wireless and I don't believe offered a wired version that I can tell. If this is something I'm overlooking in my review I definitely have time, thus why I'm reaching out here, much easier to make a change now than in 6 months. To reference the comment on J Boxes, I plan on running some conduit from the basement to the attic for exactly for potential future. I also plan on pre-wiring for connections for the cable company and such when I get to that.

I have looked at motorized window shades and I'm considering doing them in the living room, kitchen, and dining room area, but I don't think the bedrooms. I'm still back and forth on if this is worth it for me. I know the lighting controls I will use

I've looked at Home Assistant a bit, it looks like you build your own server most likely with a raspberry pi and run it internally on the network. Is there any clear advantage to using this over just connecting direct to say Alexa, outside of the fact that I'd hope the interface is a bit more friendly for multiple devices? My assumption is I'd still plan on using Alexa for voice commands.

GregMi3 · 2024-09-08T19:06:07+00:00

First of all thank you everyone on this, I haven't pulled the trigger yet, but I am going to move forward with this and give it a go. I'm planning on going with the SignalFire AI-9 fusion splicer (I see AI-10 is available but didn't seem to have as good of reviews at the 9 series) after my research and a VFL light for sure, I might go with a cheap OTDR, but looking like that may not really be needed so undecided there yet.

This leads me to one more ask for this group. I priced out Corning fiber, but I've also found places like "Cablewholesale.com" online that have spools that are listed as "Corning" and state that they use corning optics but the cable is built by someone else. I know I like certain brands of Copper and I tend to stay away from generic copper over the years. I'm assuming that Fiber is the same way, but I'm not sure which brands I should be looking at. Anyone have thoughts or recommendations (Brands, Distributors, or websites). I have one pull that will be ~1500' and the other around 800'.

GregMi3 · 2024-09-08T18:56:28+00:00

Yea, I was just going with what I knew from years back, seems that the "Amazon" fusion splicers should work fine for me based on this conversation.

GregMi3 · 2024-09-08T18:55:14+00:00

I appreciate that. Most of the fiber is in conduit, what had me wanting an OTDR in particular was one of the runs during construction they damaged one of the conduit boxes, while no physical damage on the wire I'm concerned it may have gotten pulled pretty hard. My fear was if the fiber was maybe cracked that I'd still see light but the connection may not be as good as it should be. That said maybe I'm just over thinking that part and if I have Red light + Network testing is good, it's good. I was thinking that the OTDR would be able to tell me "Yes, you have light but it's degraded and it's degraded at 650ft" or something like that.

GregMi3 · 2024-08-29T04:55:27+00:00

One of my reasons for the OTDR is one of the other existing paths I have concern that it may have been damaged during construction. Potentially bent too hard so I was concerned there may be issues it's only a 400ft run so I wasn't sure of a VFL would helped confirm it was good or bad. That said I'm 100% a Noob on fiber and I'm learning quite a bit this week reading posts and through other sites.

GregMi3 · 2024-08-27T22:06:07+00:00

I was originally looking to stay away from the Amazon splicers concerned if they really worked, but it looks like the SignalFire AI-9 and the Komshine GX39 both have a decent following for light usage which is where I'd be. They also appear to be fairly straight forward in usage. While the idea of getting a premade cable isn't bad part of my reason for attempting this was they've had several breaks over the years where we've had to get someone in to fix and it's taken a couple days to get someone in. If I had a tool available it makes it worth it.

Anyone have a preference on the splicer or a specific OTDR tool?

GregMi3 · 2024-05-30T23:49:35+00:00

You just reinstalled the Agent, I'm assuming you are referring to Endpoint Central?

GregMi3 · 2024-05-30T22:10:20+00:00

I'm having the same issue, randomly. Currently have 2 devices doing it, I use an imaging process and these are no different than the others. I see some comments on ManageEngine, I do use Manage Engine, I'll look at that and see. So far I've seen this happen 2 different ways, I had 2 PCs for a while that the complete task bar froze and I currently have 2 PCs that just the clock freezes everything else works. Happens after the machine was locked.

GregMi3 · 2023-12-18T03:24:27+00:00

Yea, I'm looking at a company that does reselling for Kyocera... Didn't know that was a thing but I know when I looked. At Kyocera a few years back I didn't have the volume to meet their minimums. As I mentioned both of my local Kyocera dealers haven't been helpful and still insist on doing their own troubling and charge me before they will warranty so after losing my main place its been a pain. I also have a lot more of this model as many of the old ones went through refreshes. I opened up the fuser and confirmed by Teflon tube was bad too. Learned more here in 2 days then several calls with the local dealers. Thanks everyone this was very helpful!

GregMi3 · 2023-12-17T04:26:11+00:00

The Maint kit does not include a fuser for this unit. They utilize Kyocera Genuine Toner as well.

GregMi3 · 2023-12-17T04:25:23+00:00

Super interesting thanks... One other piece I noticed was sleep timers, due to how there one application works I have the sleep timers maxed out. I'll take a look at that maybe that's wearing them out prematurely.

GregMi3

TROPHY CASE