BPE

I'm going to attempt not to thread-steal and/or turn this forum into a geek's wet dream but whenever I start to look into buying a product of substantial cost I like to know everything I possibly can about it. I have experience in this field so I intend to share what I know in order to help others. The quick answer, Wyatt, is that the video is compressed heavily. In most systems, the H.264 codec is utilized being the one of the best and most common compressors out there now. With the ability to also load this compressor onto hardware for implementation instead of using a software based codec for compression it keeps costs down, as they're mass produced, high on reliability and it's easier for manufacturers to use as it requires less programming. Wyatt, since I understand you to be a video/graphics guy from your other posts here, don't think of the AVI being in a standard you would expect regarding resolution. You typically deal with SD or HD video in common formats of 720x480(SD), 1080x720(720p) or 1920x1080(1080i). For some those may just be numbers so to explain the first number is the width, in pixels, of the video and the second the height, again in pixels. The more pixels, the greater quality the image. Compare it to digital cameras you would have bought back in early 2001-2002 to cameras purchased within the last few years. The quality is much better and once the still image you take is saved you can zoom in better on the newer digital image. The older cameras were grainy at best and look horrible printed on a 4"x3" photo. Specifically, 1080i HD, what most TVs today are made to show, is similar to the quality of a 3MP camera. When it comes to digital video surveillance, video formats are not called SD or HD but are generally referred by CIF and D1. Now that you've seen the numbers for SD and HD signals, compare those to CIF and D1 formats. CIF: 352x240 2CIF: 704x240 4CIF: 704x480 D1: 720x480 Those are extremely small!! In fact, D1 video resolution which is not support by all manufacturers is the best of the list and it is only even with SD video. Most manufacturers support 1/2 CIF, CIF, 1/2 D1, 2CIF. Any time there is a 1/2 preceding the video standard, take the numbers and divide by two. This means you're getting crappy video snapshots of whatever it is you're capturing. This is why I don't recommend webcams as security cameras as most models only support CIF for recording. When it comes to storing these videos for usage later one needs to examine the compression used. Don't worry about the codec, such as H.264, so much as the bit rate of the video stored. The bit rate of the video directly correlates to how compressed the video will be. And no, compression is not some magical thing a computer does. It is a process in which patterns are found in the data and instead of storing 40 0's back to back they will store the number 40 and then 0. So compared the space stored to hold 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 versus 40/0. That may seem great but the next step the compressor does is to take and throw away data if the size of the resulting pattern finder is not enough to meet the needs of the bit rate. It will go through and take a square of 4 pixels and instead of showing each color on each pixel it will take and find the median color for the 4 pixels. It will replace the individual pixel colors with the new median color it calculated. It just made its own pattern so it can then compress the video further. So - the lower the bit rate supported the more often the compressor used is going to replace the video you're taking with a median of colors found within the picture. When you are watching video through Comcast, Charter or any other cable company, they are compressing the video on their side before sending it to your cable box to keep down the bandwidth that the video takes up. Typically, you're watching video between 5-10Mb/s or Megabits per second. This is considered by the industry to be called Broadcast compression. Step it down a notch to 3Mb/s to get to industrial compression and that's where most moderately priced security DVRs reside. Wyatt, I assume you're used to either 50Mb/s compressed or 300Mb/s uncompressed in your projects. Now knowing the compression rate we can easily do some math to figure out how much space is required for a video you are recording for security. Key: MB = 8Mb GB = 1,024MB TB = 1,024GB or 1,048,576MB MegaBytes per second: 3Mb/s = 0.375MB/s = 9MB for every 24 seconds MegaBytes per day: 86,400 (seconds in a day) / 8 seconds = 3,600 * 9MB = 32,400MB = 31.6GB per day 4 Cameras: 31.6GB a day * 4 = 126.5GB per day for 4 cameras You can see how much data will be stored per day, per camera and how much data is required for a full system of 4 cameras per day. Yes - this is quite a bit of data. But with prices on 1TB drives being what they are it's really not that bad. Also, don't forget to consider that most everyone will turn the cameras to only record during motion which generally eliminates 65% of dead time or more. That reduces your storage load to 44.3GB a day for a 4 camera system. Take that and save it to a 1TB drive and now you get ~23 days of storage for video. Perfect for most homes! Better if the motion isn't occurring more often than 35% of the time or you set the compression down lower. Also - the compression could be higher (meaning a lower Mb number and less space) on a lower cost system to save that all important storage space. Wyatt, you asked how a person would possibly comb through all of this video. The answer is rather simple. You're not going to watch the video until you realize you need it. For instance, you now have a clean spot surrounded by dust where your TV used to be, your guns are all missing and you don't recall posting them for sale on TGO, you're wife's acting a bit strange and the sheets are all a mess, that sort of thing. And when you do go to review the "tape" you generally will know about what time of day you're looking for so that cuts down a lot of the searching. Now, you fast forward. Some systems, including the one I have at my office, records all day long and marks events of motion for you. So when you go back to review you can easily click through the multiple events captured of motion and get to what you're looking for in under 2-3 minutes. Not bad considering all of the video I have on my security system. Which by the way is a 16 channel system with 8 cameras at the moment that records all day and night around the clock. I've put enough storage in the machine that it has been recording since November 1st and has only recently filled the drives to 85% capacity. I'm comfortable in knowing if something happens within my office, we have video of it and we have it for a long time. I hope this has been helpful and not too off topic. Just do your research when looking at products. Always click to review the specs and look at those instead of the marketing and flash that is attached with the unit.

Look into a product line called QSee that can be purchased at most any place. Generally the best prices for these items are at TigerDirect.com. I'm not affiliated with either. These are perfect home systems with standalone DVR you can hide anywhere. Plus the user interface allows connections to iPhone and Android with minimal setup. Not to be offensive but it is made for people who know nothing about Tech but want a good deal for the money. They are not PoE like the one suggested at Sam's but come with all appropriate cable. Additional cable can be easily picked up at Bluff City Electronics off Elm Hill Pike or GrayBar off 8th Ave in Nashville. I think this will suite your needs and get images as required for conviction without breaking the bank or putting on a low line that LinkSys is going to provide. USB cameras will not do you justice when you desire justice. They mainly offer a false sense of security. I may get burned for those last statements but each man is entitled to his own opinion. But you decide whether to pay $70 for a decent single webcam or 3x that for a decent system that will last, have 4 cameras, independent and reliable DVR, great support and offer IR lights on the cameras for night time.

Manager at a company that creates computer software and corresponding hardware to control jumbotrons - video boards at sporting arenas. An interesting job that takes you to different places.

The wife and I were planning on Ezra or Elijah for the first son we now may never have. Love my daughters like no other, though.

No mention of Four Roses, yet? Woodford is also a winner.

Indeed you can. Just got a good deal myself on a few boxes of 9mm. Thanks to everyone posting the info on the deals. Well worth it.

Thanks everyone. I will try some more research given the new source of information and give them a ring as well. I've always heard of their great customer service, just finally ready to put it to the test. I do understand that some of my frustration is to blame on my own act of benching the gun and expecting different results each time I put it back in service. What do they say the definition of insanity is? Doing the same action repeatedly and expecting different results? I think that's it. Where I'm not 100% that it is not a limp wrist issue I've tried all recommended steps as well as having 4 others fire it, all with the same result. I'll let you know what turns up. I'd like to have this back in my carry line when summer comes back around. It does fit perfectly in a pocket with a holster.

Guys, I'm getting ready to contact Keltec as I'm finally fed up dealing with my P-3AT woes. The gun just doesn't function as it should. Jams and other various issues with the gun have permanently benched it on the sidelines as it cannot be trusted. Where I'm disgusted with the purchase I made a year or more ago, I'm not willing to sell the gun as I don't feel it fair to sale a gun that doesn't function properly. And it's not worth much, so the loss taken in sale would be worse than just hanging on to it. I feel that my particular issues are indicative of the design as I've talked to individuals with similar issues. Most have been resolved by a trip back to the factory, to which I hope I may have the same experience. In lies the question, though. I've read numerous times throughout TGO certain terms used to describe the order of operations for a handgun's operation and am not sure I quite understand them all. Often times I will see the term or phrase "return to battery" and think I have a grasp on what it means just to find myself wondering if my assumption is correct. That being said, I would like to explain to Keltec, in detail, the issue I'm having with my gun, using proper terminology, without pointing them in the wrong direction by my misuse of terms and phrases that I think I understand. So as to not be vague, my problems with the weapon are when the slide comes back to the furthest position to chamber a round it will hang for a moment and feel sticky. It's almost as if it is catching a burr in the metal somewhere on the slide, although I've inspected it and haven't found any such issue. For those unfamiliar with this gun, it does not have a slide lock. When the slide moves forward and comes in contact with the round in the magazine to put it into the chamber it again hesitates but not as bad, almost as if the spring the magazine is pushing the round upwards too tight. After rounds are removed from the magazine and if you are manually working the slide, the delay in chambering a round gets marginally better. When firing, if the magazine is full the gun seems to operate as expected for the first 2-3 rounds. After this, it is almost certain that a round will get stuck in the chamber or not be ejected in time and the next round comes up and hangs behind the empty casing still lodged in the gun. This additional force applied with the new round further lodges the empty casing into the chamber and sometimes results in a field strip to get it properly removed. For a gun that only holds 6+1, this failure rate is astounding (to me) for after it jams this way one time it is game over - it is just going to jam all day long. I've tried everything I know to prevent this from happening. Different ammo. Different and tighter grip. Holding my tongue to the right instead of the left. Different trigger pulls - meaning to pull and release quickly or pull and hold the trigger for a moment longer and various other things to see if I was the one causing the issue. You see in my explanation above I did detail out what I feel is wrong with the weapon but in a way that a 7 year old child may explain the workings of internal combustion to GM or Ford. Could you assist me in finding the proper terminology and phrasing that describes what I'm explaining to not only assist me in my dialog with Keltec but also my own personal knowledge and experience? More over I would take the experience and knowledge gained from such education more seriously than my communication with Keltec. I would like to learn this information properly so I can better communicate with people I come in contact with from time to time. Thanks.

Just a correction here - the information you've provided is not a representation of firearms sales but instead of the production data that is just below the graph you've linked on that site. There is no data presented on that page, that I could find, that showed official firearm sales numbers. It did provide a table of NICS Background Checks but does not state how many checks resulted in a sale of a firearm. If you use the NICS Background Checks as your gauge for looking at a correlation in sales then you will find there is no major up-swing between 1999 and 2005. But, all of a sudden in 2006 NICS Background Check numbers jumped by just over 1 million and have continued to climb at that rate per year to present date. And, for the record, Obama took office in January 2009 - two very, very long years ago - shy of the 2006 jump in checks. Percentage of change in NICS Background Checks 2000 93% 2001 104% 2002 95% 2003 100% 2004 102% 2005 103% 2006 112% 2007 111% 2008 114% 2009 110% What I do find interesting is that for every year since 1999, as that is as far back as data I found went, background checks sky rocket every December. Meaning either people are more giving of guns than we think, hunting is still a big deal and people are preparing for it a little late or, as I like to believe, there are more men going home during this time of year saying, "Honey, I got you a present for me!" Sorry to spoil any fun. But I had to dig in to see for myself what the numbers were showing.

Like I said I haven't been in a while. Maybe the mall leaving has pushed out some of the riff-raff that would hang around dark corners like that area. Not sure. But $20 is a small price to pay for a more secure, well lit lot. A happy wife to boot? Sounds like a trip to the ATM for me but I'm not everyone else and to each their own. Saving $20 also sounds really nice, too.

In weather like tonight or the next week, shell out the dough for your wife's comfort of warmth. Sometimes you may not want to do such things but you can let your position be known and tell her your giving in, thinking of her alone. Your cheap ways can be a plus for you. However, if you park at the mall the walk is not that bad if you use the rear entrance near the roundabout. Go to the old theater area and then head like your exiting out the back of Opry towards Magavock Pike and there is parking there. I haven't been there in a while. During holidays they used to use part of that lot for employee parking. It gets really dark on that side and no security so you may feel on high alert walking through the trees on the walkway. Best of luck in your adventures either way.

With a full lifetime warranty you may not have to worry too much. Although no one wants to deal with a product that fails and needs replacing every few months. I'm not sure if this is standard for today's scopes but the Zero-Reset Turrets are a really nice feature, I think. Older scopes I have used do not have this feature. It allows for quick adjustments in the field if you feel the need to do such things with the ability to reset to the same zero point after you're done without much question at all. Nikon Hunting

This may not be the quality you were looking for but my father-in-law recently gave me a NIKON ProStaff BDC scope 3x9 that is amazing... to my untrained eye and for my uses. Main purpose for me is deer hunting. The BDC reticle is good to 600yds. if zero'd at 100yds. at the cross hairs. They make other models fashioned for certain calibers but that goes beyond my little knowledge. It's at least worth the 3 minutes it will take for you to determine if it is right for you. EDIT: The NIKON ProStaff BDC is a 3-9x40, not 3x9. I apologize for my lack of true expertise in the technical specs.

Please let us know if we can help in any other way. All LEOs put up with the scum of the Earth on a daily basis and sacrifice greatly of themselves even without this type of incident. In many ways more than anyone not a LEO or close family member will ever understand. It will be a long recovery to be had but it is how you get up, not knocked down, that writes the story. My thoughts and prayers are with your friend and co-worker.

I think I'll agree with you that an addendum of a single word gets the job done while not making a stink of things. That is why I came here. Thanks for the insight of what may have seemed obvious.

So, at my current place of business I'm in a management position and as such have been asked to take part in assisting the owners of the company work out some minor flaws in the employee handbook. Most are simple issues concerning time off rules and things of this nature. However, there is one part that I'm requesting suggestions on to make a point understood in most respectful but convincing manner. You see, our current company regulations disallow the possession of "weapons" on company property. The definition of weapons is missing so the term is used in a vague sense. Everyone here carries a pocket knife for opening shipping container but guns have been understood to be strictly off limits. I've let my position be known for sometime regarding my opinion about the removal of such language from the handbook but need some guidance in making sure my reasoning is sound to those who may not agree with me immediately. For now, I'm working on something in the words of: "I submit that the banning of weapons from company property be removed from the handbook so that those employees, rightfully licensed by the state of Tennessee, may carry a weapon onto company property to prevent and protect from unlikely events of aggression. It should be noted that anyone wishing to carry such a weapon should be made to check with HR to confirm the validity of licensing. Additionally, any weapon carried onto company property must remain out of sight at all times unless required to defend one's self from an immediate threat of life." I get to about that point right there and then I start to feel as if I'm sounding really nutty about the whole situation. Not everyone at my company would jump up and down about this idea of carrying weapons but it would put a few at ease knowing they could. Any suggestions on how best to approach the wording to request a change to the rules in a convincing manner would be helpful and appreciated. Mainly I want to be respectful and not force the issue but make a resounding stance about why change should take place.

Alright then. Probably time to find a Sport to put my hands on to see how it feels. The price point will make the wife happy and the ability to modify quickly and easily will be a pleasure. Thanks for the help and tips everyone. I'll be in touch with updates along the way.

Thanks nysos and Murgatroy.

Where? Reading what? What did your research consist of? Your story of building is intriguing, and possibly a bit more than I want to do the first time out regardless of skill level as I'm confident I could do it, but I'd rather do the learning you said to have done. So where did you start when you were thinking of building? Just hitting stores and sites for specs? But if you're looking at just specs how do you know what each part does?

Dolomite - thanks a ton for taking time from your day to go through such a long and thorough explanation and suggestion. So here are some general responses after I've thought it over some more after your post: 1. Price range equals what it takes to get something nice and reasonable. If that needs to be $1,500 or so then so be it. The top of the price point would not go much beyond that, especially if the wife finds out. But if I can pickup the M&P Sport for $660 out the door, as I know is something possible to do at the Goodlettsville Gun Store from their Facebook updates, and it suits my needs then I'll save my money for another adventure, for another day. I've made purchases of guns in the past, my Keltec P3AT comes to mind, that seemed reasonable but were purchased for price and then function not the other way around and it has bitten me in my butt. Now I'm left with a gun that I don't much enjoy or like, needs to go back to the factory (again) and isn't worth selling monetarily speaking. Plus I don't want to sale it to anyone because I know it's not reliable. This is not a Keltec post nor forum so that's as far as I'll go. But given the point I'm trying to make, I'm done saving a bill or two just because I want it now or feel there's some pressing need. The truth is there's not and I can take my time, do my research and come out better on the other side for it if I just allow myself patience. 2. The purpose of the gun would be one of mainly recreational shooting for the most part. I may hunt from time to time with it but it would generally stay behind in favor of a Marlin 30-30 my father-in-law gave me recently. Not much running and gunning going on in my neck of the woods either. So - as sad as it is to say, a range gun it will more than likely be. That's the purpose I have for it today. I want the weapon of choice for this purpose to also be able to fulfill, if so selected in the future, a run and gun type of setup. I'm still young relatively speaking and I have no idea what I'll be doing or interested in 2-3-5 years from now. But I would like to think that this particular purchase would allow me the flexibility to do what I want to now and any unforeseen things I may want to do in the future. If this is unrealistic, slap me back to the real world, please. 3. You mentioned a few things, in the lingo, that I didn't quite catch or understand which was my main reason for the post to the forum in the first place. In a most humble and respectful way I ask, how do you know what you know? Has it been from life experiences that you've ran into along the way? Books? Cassettes? CDs? Laserdiscs? 8-tracks? You are a SME in your field and sharing your knowledge is greatly appreciated. I just want to know if there is a resource that I can plug into to learn about this particular subject. It's not that I don't respect highly your opinion, I just like determining that I agree with the facts presented. I'm allowing myself the time to learn about this in advance so I can feel good about my purchase before and after the sale is made and feel like I know I can address any concerns that may arise while I am in possession of the gun. That's why I'm not asking which gun to buy, but instead asking what is different? What makes one better than the other? Why should I care that a dust cover isn't included? Again, I hope I've spelled this portion out in a way that conveys my curiosity but also my respect for anyone who knows what they're talking about. I'm hear asking to learn - not so I can take the place as a SME, but so I'm educated myself to make my own decisions. And yes, I've always been this hard headed. -BPE

Thanks for that tad bit... looks like I have some more research to do as I've not yet looked into Bravo Company or Daniel Defense. However, what I've seen from Colt, which isn't much mind you, I'm not fond of right off hand. Too many caveats of you can't change this, this is one piece instead of two like most guns, etc. Again - I've not had a ton of experience with Colt hence the purpose of asking so many questions.

I'm looking at picking up my first AR after the first of the year. Call it a late Christmas present to myself. However, I've no training on this weapon system whatsoever. It will be more of a toy and nice addition to my so called collection I'm starting to accumulate. I also take pride in and enjoy learning everything I can before, during and after a new journey. So where should I start? Basics basically. What are the different types available? What's the difference in M4, M16, AR15, SKS,AK, etc? I understand now the difference in terms like upper and lower but what's the difference when it's stripped? I've got my eyes on a S&W M&P AR15 right now as I don't believe building my own is the right move for my first and given the purpose maybe overkill. Generally I've seen posts saying the Sport model is perfect for a beginner. My reservation is if I enjoy it too much and want to trick it out with all the goodies would it allow me to do so? To my untrained eye I see the big difference being the lack of a front rail system. Is this a big downer for things like nice optics or scopes? Admittedly the price point of the Sport model is more appealing. But I've also learned that you get what you pay for and cheap doesn't mean quality for a smaller gun. I would take quality over saving a few bucks as the investment is equal in my eyes given resale after certain amounts of usage should things not work out to satisfaction. Am I on the right track here? Do you have any articles you can send my way I can sink my teeth into to do some learning? Going to shops and talking it through is nice but I feel odd not knowing how to speak the lingo and feel I'm not asking the right questions. Thanks to anyone able and willing to supply some information to a person simply looking for general information on the details of this type of weapon.

Ok... Let's agree it depends upon the DOCTYPE you specify, as that is what defines the standards you are going to follow for the rest of the page. Defined in HTML 4.01 <br> is acceptable and fine. But that particular DOCTYPE is seeing less use these days except in specific cases. More often than not you will see a XHTML 1.0 DOCTYPE, similar to what is used here at TGO. When using this DOCTYPE <br /> is proper and <br> is not. And not every HTML tag has a closing tag at the beginning of the element. Empty elements such as BR or INPUT tags are closed within the starting tag. For instance, <input type="text"></input> is incorrect and may result in error in some browsers regardless of DOCTYPE. However, <input type="text" /> is properly closed. </br> is never correct as it closes the tag before opening it but it may still generate a new line break on the rendered output of your browser. That does not mean it will render that way in every browser. In my statement.. I meant to convey that <br /> is used in plain HTML pages as well as it is good practice even though it is not a requirement of the specification. All of this discussion is all quite silly unless you're attempting to pass W3C Validation and I don't think TGO gives a flip about that unless something breaks. I was simply pointing out in my original post mentioning the difference of <br> tags to note that the tags used in the source were not what I was seeing in Tapatalk and that lead me to believe the issue was with Tapatalk and not TGO directly. I will check back for any responses you may have but will not be responding again unless in a more proper forum or PM. I'm not sure the mods want their Support Forum filled with the back of forth of where a forward slash belongs in HTML code. However, I do enjoy the conversation as it gives me pause to rethink my understanding of why things are the way they are. All in all - a good brain exercise.

OS: you are correct. <br/> is not required by HTML standards but is by XHTML. In good practice it has generally been adopted in HTML although not spelled out by W3C.

Ok - my apologies - it must be something with the Tapatalk app. I rarely get to browse on this forum from a PC but took the time to double check today. With the test above when originally posted the markup still showed in Tapatalk - even after FC of the app - but not through a browser (Chrome, FireFox, IE, Opera - all tested). But a quick Edit and Save removed the markup in Tapatalk. I looked at the source through Firebug and there was no difference in the raw HTML before or after the edit as one might expect. Additionally, I think it is Tapatalk as the line feeds in Tapatalk are properly closed <br/> where the raw HTML code shown in Firebug in the blockquote is <br>. Regardless, it seems as though a browser renders as it should for everyone. Sorry for the bother and keep up the great work!