Subscriber Discussion

Hacking A Dome To Make It A Covert Camera?

FM
Frantz Mathias
Jun 04, 2015

Hi

We are on a project and it has a serious cost constraints. The cameras must be "covert" or made as discrete as possible. Requirement is 1080p or better. H.264 and SD card. There are some covert cameras with those specs. They fall out of our budget.

I noticed the construction of a Hikvision DS-2D2132 dome camera and I could remove the lens/CCD pick up assembly from the rest of the camera. The cable (a ribbon) is too short. I wanted to know if someone has done this, i-e replace the original ribbon (less than 4 inches) with something longer. I know this would void the warranty but it may be worth trying it in this instance. I would like to know if anyone has hacked a camera to fit a purpose and what where the results? I am not (yet :) ) talking about software hacking .

Thanks in advance

JH
John Honovich
Jun 04, 2015
IPVM

Franz, Hikvision makes a model that already does that and I see an online US price of $170 USD - ds-2cd6412fwd-30

FM
Frantz Mathias
Jun 04, 2015

Hi

I am interested to know where you can find the Hikvision ds-2cd6412fwd-30 for $170. it can be offline if it violates any IPVM policy.

This price would be very close to our budget.

Thanks ina dvance

TC
Trisha (Chris' wife) Dearing
Jun 04, 2015
IPVMU Certified
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Ari Erenthal
Jun 04, 2015
Chesapeake & Midlantic

"This item is being shipped from overseas and shipping times usually varies from 5 - 15 days. Please note this in your purchasing consideration."

Means it's not in stock. NewEgg is relying on some third party vendor in China, and they claim they have it in stock.

TC
Trisha (Chris' wife) Dearing
Jun 04, 2015
IPVMU Certified

Low price, In-stock.

Pick one.

Avatar
Mark Jones
Jun 04, 2015

Thats funny. I know a contractor who has a similar saying. You can have it good, fast or cheap. Pick two. LOL.

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TC
Trisha (Chris' wife) Dearing
Jun 04, 2015
IPVMU Certified

Funnier still, I was actually echoing you but couldn't remember where I heard it til you mentioned it.

I delayed sending my initial reply to Ari because I was thinking, "In-stock, low price but what's the third thing??"

JH
John Honovich
Jun 04, 2015
IPVM

Frantz, if you are a Hikvision dealer, ask them for a price or a reference. Even if you pay $200 or $250, it is likely going to be less expensive and far more reliable than buying a dome and performing surgery on it.

LM
Luke Maslen
Jun 04, 2015
IPVMU Certified

Hi Frantz, is the Samsung SNB-6010 outside of your budget for this project? IPVM have previously found it online for $290 and I still found it for $317 today. It includes 1080p, H.264 and Micro SD card edge storage.

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Mark Jones
Jun 04, 2015

Yes I have. Here are my results in general. I have taken cameras apart and separated the power supply from the motherboard; I have tried exactly what you are considering, putting greater distance between the pickup device and the processor to allow for a covert placement. Im my head (where most things sound wonderful) it is similar to installing a longer ribbon cable to a hard drive. Oh contraire! Those cables are the length they are for a reason. Things are almost always engineered the way they are for a reason. A few times it has worked; a few times it worked well for a while, most were just bad ideas. If you can gain anything from my experience, you are welcome to it.

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Avatar
Ari Erenthal
Jun 04, 2015
Chesapeake & Midlantic

Everyone in this industry should take things apart to see how it can be modified. There's no better way to learn how things work than to break it apart and then put it back together.

Back in the Before Times, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and covert cameras were expensive, I used to do this with analog cameras. Dome cameras are essentially board cameras after all. Buy a thermostat or a smoke detector or something, pull out the electronics, a 3/16" hole, some duct tape, and you've got yourself a covert camera.

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TC
Trisha (Chris' wife) Dearing
Jun 04, 2015
IPVMU Certified

Ribbon cables are typically used for parallel data transfers of many bits simultaneously. Because the physical conductors have slightly different lengths and impedances, the signals arrive at slightly different instants. The longer the cable, the more the variance, and the longer the system has to 'wait' for the slow bits to arrive. At some point errors and retransmission overwhelm the system and it fails to transmit properly.

How much longer do you need to make it? Understand it may seem to 'work' but with reduced performance.

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Jun 20, 2015

I came back to my senses and have decided to go for the Hikvision Covert Camera. Pictures is (as ususal with Hikvision) very good and it has the options I need plus the price is decent. The job is low margin so I was trying to find ways to make a little more. i am not losing ... but not making much either :( .

I thank you all

TC
Trisha (Chris' wife) Dearing
Jun 21, 2015
IPVMU Certified

I guess hacking Hikvision hardware is harder than hacking Hikvision software. ;)

A, can you share thru what channel you obtained the product?

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