dustmop

For my exterior domes/enclosures I use ammonia free glass cleaner, usually the aerosol kind, but ammonia-free Windex works great. For a few cameras that are in the path of the sideways rain, or are in really hard to get to spots, I like to hit them with the rain-x wipes after they are nice and clean. Keeps them cleaner for longer. I have probably 50 exterior cameras around the property.

There are services that can tie dynamic IPs to a name, including (but not limited to) DynDNS and no-ip. (google for them). I use no-ip myself.

The 25-pair is used as a trunk line. I meant more than one camera per UTP when starred out from the closets.

^^^ This. 100% agree here. Building I work in has 18 data closets. Run 25-pair from the closets back to the head end. Star out from the closets using 110 blocks. PSUs in the closets. Makes managing this monster pretty easy. Also, I do my best to avoid multiple cameras on one UTP cable, but sometimes it is just unavoidable. If the original cable run was done during construction and is hidden or in a PACKED conduit, there may be no other way to get another cable to the area you are after. Then those spare pair(s) in the existing cables can be a real life saver.

While this is something of a "dead horse" topic, my input from this thread: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=25359 still stands. 250,000+ feet of UTP, ~800 cameras, some runs upwards of 2,000 feet, and no video quality issues here. Be aware that for longer runs, you will need an active transceiver on the receiving end to help with the signal quality. My experience on passive-only is that after about 300 feet or so, the image starts to darken, and beyond 500 quality really starts to suffer. Another advantage of UTP is using multi-pair cables (like 25- or 100-pair) to get your video back to the head end.

I do all fiber fusion splicing and terminations here, and I can tell you it's the terminations that cost the most. Since you are using IP cameras, you could use media converters at the cameras and back wherever the fiber runs to, then just use patch cables to your switch. Now, having a professional come do the fiber work for you, that's where it can become prohibitively expensive. Going with the coax ethernet extenders is what I would probably do, with some sort of good quality lightning/surge suppression for each camera. Lightning can do very very very bad things if it manages to chase back up the copper.

Highly reflective surfaces and event-based recording usually don't mix. If you DVR/recording solution allows for alarm inputs, you may want to look into separate motion detection hardware.

I've used NVT's passive balun (with the whip tail), but had issues with shorts in the whips on a LOT of them. Now I predominantly use Pelco TW4001P at the cameras: When we built this building, we recycled a lot of equipment from our previous temporary structure, including both active and passive UTP receivers. For runs more than about 300 feet, the image quality was rather poor with the passive receivers. Now I use all active receiver hubs on the head end. Pelco CM9700UTP32A (current and older models) and NVT NV-3272. NVT has awesome warranty service, btw.

For my personal system, 5x Seagate 7200.12 1TB in RAID5, on an LSI controller. For the work systems, 12x Seagate es.2 1TB in RAID6, on Areca and LSI controllers. LOTS of boxes.

Ok, I have an issue that I have to ask for help on. I have several parking lot cameras (analog, Pelco Spectra IV) about 3,500 feet away from the building, all on multimode fiber. About 5 days ago, I developed an issue with just one of the cameras. It still has a nice, crisp, beautiful image. It still does it's pattern to slowly scan the area. But it will not accept user control. Again, this camera was totally functional 5 days ago. A full check of camera functionality is performed every 8 hours here, so I can say that with absolute certainty. No one has the ability to change programming of the matrix (Pelco CM9760) but me. I have tried the following with no success (order may not be correct, or some steps may have been duplicated). Replaced head-end fiber receiver (FS85011AMSTR) Power-cycled the camera from the breaker Re-seated camera dome/drive Replaced camera dome/drive (address and baud were correct) Replaced camera-end fiber transmitter (FS85011AMST) Replaced control board in the housing Changed camera address at camera and in CM9760 Replaced CDU-T Lots of power cycling/camera re-seating Rebooted CC1 and spare to clear any possible gremlins there Swearing at it profusely Every piece of equipment involved on each end of the fiber to the other has been replaced with known working parts (I make it a point to keep working spares of everything on the test bench). Only thing I have not done is run an OTDR on and/or re-terminate the fiber. But since I'm getting a perfect image, could the fiber/ends actually be damaged? These poles do shake like MAD in the wind (cheap, flimsy things). Anyone ever have a similar issue?

It will, if the existing coax is Belden 1694A or equivalent. And then there's the more recent large-scale installs that are done primarily in UTP / multi-pair trunks. Hundreds of thousands of feet of cable, suitable for analog, and a good chunk of which will work for IP (under 100 meters back to data closets). So we can have a cable tray PACKED full of expensive high quality coax, or sparsely populated with 25-pair (for analog) or even less populated with fiber (for IP). Even with a budget that might be upwards of $1.5million USD for the migration to IP, there is NO WAY we would even remotely consider HDcctv, as the sheer cost and effort would be... well, you can figure it out. The supposed "benefits" just don't exist, IMHO. (Oh, and 6 lux? really? What planet are they living on?)

^^^This right here. I have a rather large system in a casino, and the single largest cause of video loss is the recorders having issues. Be it a RAID array that is just about to drop a drive from a SMART failure, or a nasty memory leak, this is, IMHO, the single weakest point. To be fair, however, the amount of video loss I suffer is amazingly low when you consider just how many cameras and recorders there are.

I've been following the development of this...technology...for a while. All I have to say, is that when actual techs from a few of the largest manufacturers of recording systems used in casinos can't keep a straight face when answering you, that's a sign...

At that distance, there's nothing wrong with the way you want to do it, so long as the cameras are not outdoor models with heaters. If you ever need to go farther, or outside, I would recommend a dedicated 14/2 or 16/2 for power.

What kind of distance are you talking about? (also, I think Blue/White should be positive, and Blue negative, but that's just how I do it)

The cable is a 2-pair UTP siamese with 16/2. I use Tappan spec# H91068.1. Quite nice. Just slap a balun on the camera end, attach, split the cable in the nearest data closet, hook to power there, then use 110 blocks for the video/control. In terms of management, you can pack a lot of cameras in to a relatively small area. I do all the cable routing on the walls, but in our temporary facility we used a few years back, it was all in racks. As for purchasing the cable, I usually rely on my vendor(s) to buy it direct from the factory, as when I order it, I'm usually ordering at least 10k'. Of course, they require at least 10k' minimum for black cable (standard, non-lead time color is white). CSC does carry this cable, I think as part number 590319. As for managing ~800 cameras... Luck? Ha! I am the only tech, and we don't bring in integrators/contractors/vendors for anything. After the initial build, and one door access addition, it's been all me. It's a casino (oh no! I've said too much! heh), about 250,000 sqft, multiple buildings on property, parking garage/lots. Outside lot cameras are all done with multimode fiber. Door access (also mine) has about 75 access controlled doors in multiple buildings, all kind of panic alarms, and emergency exit alarms. Since everything was built a few years ago, I have added about 275 cameras, moved around 100, added/moved 25 doors, and countless other little things like panic alarms, emergency exit horn/strobes, etc.

I used to drag around an LCD monitor and battery. Now I just use a Tote Vision LCD-703HD. Get the KIT version (battery and carrying case). Resolution is 800x480, so you can definitely focus an analog camera with it with no issues. BNC, S-Video, HDMI inputs. They even have a LARGER model that has a regular VGA input and component inputs, but it's too massive for my taste.

Felt the need to chime in with my two cents here. I use exclusively UTP/power siamese cable, and I have about 250,000 feet of it in the building. ~800 cameras, all analog. Longest runs are in the range of 1,800 to 2,000 feet. I use passive baluns at the camera, and active transceivers at the matrix end. Using active transceivers, I see absolutely NO difference in image quality/color. I have tested using passive on both ends, about 500 feet is where I start to notice a degradation of image quality both live and in recording.