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thankyou to both for above replies

first class

can one of the gentlemen among you advise me on this please.

If i have a 50 meter CAT 5 / ( RJ45 ) cable run to a camera (400 mA) and want to also run an IR array (1000 mA)

Is that too much current to put through the 50 meters of CAT5 cable and run both camera and IR ?

Is it likely to cause any interference in video signal ?

i have BNC/RJ45 baluns to use marked 100 // 75 Ohm

second question , if i need to run RJ59 coax for the first 4 meters and last 2 meters to the cable , will that cause much deterioration of signal ?

I would take CAT5 all the way but a junction box for the balun will attract attention to the discreet camera if i do that.

thanks people.

including viewlog player fixed the problem

thankyou

plays perfectly and gives options of playback speed and pause

all good

what is the best method to make a CD or DVD for police ?

If i convert the Geovision AVI file using AVS file converter to play under Realplayer or Windows Media Player the playback speed is too fast , and cant be slowed down .

what do other people use to get a quality playback that can be played on any PC or a courtroom DVD player ?

Geovision seems to be lacking in this area , and local police dont bother playing with it , they just say the video evidence is corrupted and not admissable in court

what a joke.

that hole in the middle is where you put retired trunk monkeys

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hand me that book........ " please "

found a reference from a UK website where they suggest IR wont disturb the birds

http://www.naturecameras.co.uk/NatureCamerasBirdBoxWireless.htm

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and a very nice article about Birds and colour spectrum

http://www.webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/17B.html

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if you consider that some of the problem with dirty lenses is probably caused by them flapping their wings and throwing off water spray on to the lens , then i guess a 1 millimetre spray of water and dirt will cover half of a 2 mm diameter pinhole lens fairly quickly

whereas a standard screw in lens like you use now might take longer to get the lens obscured.

of course if some of that dirt is from them brushing up against the lens directly , then it wont take long to spoil the picture.

can you write a message inside the gourd instructing the birds to lick it clean each day ?

water spray and dirt will get flung around the whole interior , so i wonder if mounting the camera further away from the birds somehow will reduce the dirt issue

can you put a sheet of glass where the camera is now , and then mount the camera inside a box behind that glass ?

like the pic below only with the camera higher up and not pointed at the bright light source through their front door

you cant make the box too deep though otherwise the side of the box will fill the sides of your image.

love what you are doing there Charles.

I suppose you would be a big fan of David Attenborough then

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and dopelgangr , very nice camera there too , pity i got no google hits when i tried to search for the original manufacturer using the ID numbers visible on the front , i would have liked to talk to the factory direct.

best wishes guys !

he needs new glasses

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. damn thing is bent

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sorry

i completely misunderstood you

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i thought you were hiding the cameras inside the bird house so you could watch intruders in the yard

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but you are watching the birds inside....

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my humble apologies.

.regarding infrared not disturbing the birds , some birds actually see infrared spectrum.

i saw a Tv documentary recently which identified certain breeds of fish and birds that could see infrared spectrum colours , and also in fact displayed colours on their plumage that are not visible to humans which are in the infrared spectrum

some birds may also see radio frequency waves , and use that ability for migration navigation.

us little old humans are not so special in comparison ...

i wonder what affect the IR would have on them ?

Mintron can supply that camera with 2.2 , 2.5 , and up to 12 mm lenses inside a birdhouse a 1.6 mm - 2.2 mm lens would be better result for you .

and one or two LED's might be enough with your CMOS , a cheap option could just be putting black duct tape covering up the other LED's or cable tie some black or opaque plastic to cover the rest you dont need.

also , the CMOS camera might be adequate due to the close up image , depends if you want to record photos and post them on the internet somewhere or not

i believe the M14 thread is an industry standard , although i have seen some that have a groove machined around the thread for a locking screw , but otherwise i have swapped lenses between half a dozen cameras of that style without a problem.

best wishes with it , sounds like an enjoyable activity.

here is another one.

large aperture M14 lenses designed to improve night vision imaging

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=120391726303

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it can be difficult to get a good night use covert camera that also has small lenses.

generally speaking , small cameras / small lenses lose their low light function , but the S88 below does both quite well .

www.mintron.com

email joy@mintron.com.tw

the S88's on their site have a 14 mm interchangeable screw lens which allows it to be hidden reasonably well , and also has superb night vision , the others on that page also have vari-focal auto iris lenses with mechanical IR cut filter .

tell them your application in detail , ask if they can advise a suitable camera which doesnt require infrared.

i am not sure about the pricing on these for you guys but it doesnt hurt to ask.

take a look at the spec on these , some of which have 256 x SensUp for low light vision without needing IR

S88 H 540 TVL

S88 420 TVL ( which is better quality than a chinese "1/3" inch 540TVL " )

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if you want to stay with infrared , you will find some IR illuminators which have a combination of wide beam and narrow beam LED's built in to one array

these stop the hotspots and ghosting of facial features you have now , issue again is price.... you might find a quality IR for under $ 55 , but i have also seen commercial grade IR illuminators which go out to 220 metres night vision , and have constant light levels over the field , they are up to $ 500 - $ 1000 each .

another option is to put a diffuser sheet in front of your existing LED's , which takes away the red glow and also gives more even light distribution , i dont have a supplier for those yet i am sorry , so keen to find one if anyone can help out.

there is certainly some pretty awesome technology out there , most of it priced for commercial users only , but in years to come i think pricing will fall relatively as the sales volumes allow discounting .

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for people who want to improve their cameras low light function , i have seen these on ebay , but never used one yet.

they have a 14 mm thread , and claim to improve low light function due to the large lens aperture , which sounds credible.

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unless people are wealthy and charitable , then the focus to make $$$$ would be on ;.....

reducing labour inputs against revenue to allow quality family time

and positioning yourself in the place where you believe the biggest slice of cashflow exists.

i dont know the US market , so i have no idea which part of the market has least risk , least headaches , lowest costs, highest consistant sales volume and profit margins.

has someone identified the sector where there is either small profit margins but high volume unit sales , or high margin and maybe but not necessarily lower volumes ?

We have choices of either selling a service , a product or both.

Govt sales seems to have higher profit margins and big ticket prices , but i have also seen suppliers to govt who go bankrupt through poor management.

With the economic cycle still showing risk of continued long term recession for many sectors , i think there is still a consumer appetite for spending in the security industry.

people just have to position themselves right.

many online CCTV stores are going great from what i can see , but you have to buy in bulk and make sure your product is going to satisfy customer requirements.

your website quality can make or break a store too , broken links and crapp information on some websites prevents me from buying there , i have seen plenty that are an absolute joke.

Many websites have a poor degree of information to educate and assist buyers on choosing the right products , so someone like scorpion can refine customer satisfaction by also supplying good backup information and educational articles if he was to go in that direction.

if setting up from scratch and doing both installations and online sales , then the business plan can be modified over time based on sales analysis.

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whatever

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just random musings ..... i had too much black ink ....

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that camera is poor for night use due to only being 2 lux minimum light level

a decent IR day/night camera with infrared would go down to 0.03 lux or better

there is cameras available that go down to 0.00001 lux and cost as little as $ USD 135

also , thats only a CMOS thing of 380 line , a true CCD camera is miles better

depends how much you want to spend

love the idea of finding new places to hide these things , bird houses have been used before but can be a bit confusing for the birds hahaha

a wooden " 2 bedroom " birdhouse can give one space for the bird with another hole for the camera , just point the holes in opposite directions so the birds dont trigger motion detect all day , and have seperate compartments for the camera , at least neighbours will think its a real birdhouse that way

good luck.

amazing pictures

they would be good places for a futuristic movie set about a nuclear winter

what do moderators feel about making a new forum for ;

1 ) new technology releases that might make our work easier simpler or cheaper

2 ) Ebay finds .. where a seller is dumping items useful to us at a heavily discounted price to retail

3 ) new products released to the market ( spammers and dealer advertising excluded )

i will start by listing a couple of links below ;

This product is a combined surge protector for video, data and power all in one unit ( i have no relationship with the company )

http://www.globalspec.com/FeaturedProducts/Detail?ExhibitID=97459&md=090616&mh=99e9d6&Vol=Vol9Issue24&Pub=1&LinkId=442642&keyword=link_442642&vid=2715&uh=b777d6&id=-352084087&email=alexandria63%40hotmail.com&frmtrk=newsletter

and this Hong Kong Online shop has El-cheapo infrared illuminators

( $ 3 - 11 each )...... i have already purchased two cartons off them so i have enough to last me a while .

http://www.mydashop.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=11_34&sort=20a&page=2

Mobotix have these 3 Mp IP camera sensor boards if anyone else likes to make custom covert cameras like me when customers have a tough environment to investigate ( corporate fraud in particular ) ...their pricing is over the top in my opinion , so if anyone knows a more direct route to buy from the factory door i would like to know.

http://www.mobotix.com/other/content/view/full/37540?tab=37543#tab

thanks and best wishes all.

probably unneccessary while this kind of thing is available below

IP camera sensor boards for kit fabrication of custom cameras , which is what i wanted anyway

http://www.mobotix.com/other/content/view/full/37540?tab=37543#tab

i have seen brand new digital camera CCD chips and board assemblies for sale on "that internet place "

Olympus , Canon , Nikon etc for $ 6 - 50

pretty cheap

Edited..... i just searched there again today but there is less cheap sellers of CCD assemblies

has anyone tried making their own IP camera out of one of these ?

if you chose one with 5 - 8 megapixels , one that has the hardware option of video recording as well as still images........

does this not lend itself to the manufacture of an IP cam ?

you would need to set up the power supply to match what the camera uses and find the video output connections.

( there will probably be a few different video outputs depending on resolution setting options )

you could theoretically use either megapixel lenses or traditional.

any creative adventurous folk among you ?

EDITED AGAIN ... link here

http://cgi.ebay.com/SAMSUNG-S860-8-1-Mega-Pixel-Main-Board-CCD-Parts-LOOK_W0QQitemZ390035983072QQcmdZViewItemQQptZDigital_Camera_Accessories?hash=item5acff4cae0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12|66%3A2|39%3A1|72%3A1234|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50

i understand your thoughts on the topic , and thanks for sharing.

fortunately for me the two sites i have installed them on have been farming areas .

If it was a built up city suburb i would agree with you that its a nightmare we dont need to invite ourselves into.

by the way , one installation paid for itself by notifying the owner of a burglar intrusion ( pop up screen with alarm ) , he then locked the meth addict thief inside the shed , and police took him away to the Rock Hotel for 6 months.

The shed in question contained $ 140,000 of uninsured workshop machinery

Computer Case - clone

Power Supply * 400 W

Motherboard * gigabyte 945GZM

CPU * celeron D 2 Mhz which works fine but might go to a core 2 Duo

Memory * 1 Gig DDR2 kingston

Video Card * Nvidia 9600

Hard Drive 300 Gig WD on external USB

Optical Drive Acer DVDR

Cooling - standard

Monitor samsung

Operating System * XP 32 bit

Service Pack -

GeoVision Card GV 800

GeoVision Software Version dont remember

Screen Resolution * 1240 x 1080

Video Size * 720 x 576 PAL

Motion/Continuous * motion

FPS (if applicable) 10 - 15 FPS

Environment - office

Length of Tested Period * 36 months

Any other notes. with the sometimes windy conditions , 8 cameras , they get about 30 days recording on 300 Gig of HDD

Camera types *

2 x Mintron MTV-83SS80H-IRVF 32x SensUp 4-8 mm day/night lens

2 x Samsung SCC B2305P

1 x Sanyo SCC - 4594

Nuvico SDD 550 TVL , since dumped and upgraded

2 x Komoto 480 TVL

in answer to the guy who started the thread.........

i would like to see transmitter / receiver sets that have shielded directional point to point antennas

intent being to both reduce the amount of interference imposed on other peoples equipment , improve security even where the signal is ecrypted , and also out of consideration for the public and reduce the amount of EMF imposed on humanity where we dont know the long term health affects.

yes AZROB . many do exaggerate IR distance specifications , but of course it depends what kind of camera you use , and what the IR manufacturer used when making their tests.

dont expect good results in range if you are only using a camera with 0.5 lux or 1 lux minimum light level.

you might get only 5 metres of night vision.

use the same IR panel on a good quality day/night camera that has minimum light of 0.03 - 0.07 and you could have 15 metres night vision.

or a camera that is rated at 0.001 - 0.01 lux minimum and with the right lens to match you could be smiling with 35 metres of night time clarity as you watch an intruder stumble and bungle their way through the darkness.

next level up ... i have cameras that dont need IR at all due to light sensitivity compensation technology which can turn night into day , even on a pitch black night away from the city , with no moon , no starlight , no street lighting reflecting off the clouds from suburbs 5 miles away...

scorpion

IR arrays are often available in 30 degree , 45 and 60 degree to match 4 mm , 6 , 8 mm lenses etc

i PM'd you with something else

and then if you want to spend $ 200 - 400 each , there is the Raymax , Pacom and pelco IR illuminator arrays which are gauranteed up to 10 years and have angles of 10 degree to 180 dgrees

for high end wireless trans/rec there is these , some of which can be encrypted . out of my price range though.

http://www.pacom.com.au/products.asp

then there is other " stuff " called X-band and G-band which i suspect is more govt orientated

P.S.

*********** Important

never power up a transmitter if the antenna is unscrewed off it , you will blow its guts out

************

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i have never seen a camera with built in wireless that wasnt garbage

never buy a transmitter and receiver seperately , buy them only as pairs.

700 milliwatt 2.4 Gig transmitters and receivers are available on ebay , and do give a very good quality signal .

i have also seen 3000 mW units on ebay that might be okay on a big farm but in a city area you would be broadcasting to 10,000 people and interfering in any other 2.4 G signals.

I believe they would also be illegal.

many countries dont have licensing requirements for 2.4 Gig , but some countries place a limit on the maximum power at 250 mW max.

problem is Microwave ovens as mentioned above , which cause jagged lines across the video screen image while they are operating.

I am actually hoping to find a way to shield microwave oven radiation , because i have two wireless fitted cameras fitted in a location that cant be serviced any other way.

also , the antennas will be prone to lightning strike if you stick the antenna through an iron roof as i have done , however there are lightning surge protectors available to screw between the antenna.

if you have to use wireless and must use a low powered transmitter for legal reasons , you can improve transmission range with a yagi antenna on the receiver.

i wouldnt recommend using wireless cams inside a home due to the lack of security , but for outside , sometimes there is no other way

( like me being unable to lay cable under 100 metres of hard rock to a remote workshop )

the newer Nuvico cameras look great on paper , but i have tried a couple of Nuvico Omnivu NVCC-SDD series which were supposed to be 550 line and they disappointed me greatly , they were very grainy and looked more like 420 TVL in my opinion.

i removed and dumped them on ebay.

they were replaced with cameras i made up from dual CCD Sony 500 TVL colour and 600 TVL BW boards , fitted with an IR LED array and they give good daytime image and CRYSTAL CLEAR night vision to about 35 metres .

Me and Nuvico just didnt get along.