Soundy

okay, this may not be possible but i will try. if i can't then is there another way? - thanks If you can't use your ISP's? Well, you could possibly set up your own SMTP server on your computer, and have the DVR send through that... or sign up for another third-party SMTP server somewhere (no, I don't know any - try googling for it).

GMAIL has instructions on SMTP settings you need to send through their SMTP server, but it doesn't look like your DVR will support them all (it requires TLS encryption on a non-standard port). You'd probably be better off using your ISP's mail server, with the same settings you'd use for your computer's mail client. Check with their support website or support line for the proper settings.

Is your browser zooming the display at all? Looks like it's not rendering the fonts properly - not the fault of the font used.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=22339

WiFi cameras are essentially toys... don't think you'll find a lot of difference from one to the next other than feature set.

I think your a little confused. I have customers with 200 cameras on a network with about 50 of them Megapixel and bandwidth is about 350Mbps which is not a problem for a gigabit network. If your cameras stream at 5Mbps you could have well over 100 cameras on your network without any issues and there are ways to add even more capacity to a 1Gb network if you team connections. Also 10Gb networks are here and the price is dropping everyday. My point is if you know how to design a network bandwidth isn't a problem. As for your Apple TV that comes down to your wireless network and there is a lot more to go wrong with them. If you have a G router you only have 25Mbps of usable bandwidth that you share with your other devices. There are better wireless APs that can do 300Mps using 2.4/5Mhz and can handle multiple HD streams if designed properly. Second all of this - even 5Mbps is pretty ambitious for the bulk of CCTV cameras. The 2MP Hikvision cameras we use default to 2Mbps CBR, and also allow you to select VBR and define a maximum bitrate, which makes planning network capacity a lot easier. Heck, I've even had three 1.3MP IQEye cameras working over 10Mbit (previous installer botched the network cable between the switch and the DVR, so the DVR was only connected at 10Mbit). It was brutal to try to access the cameras via their web interface, but it recorded flawlessly with no dropouts.

The problem you run into with this is not so much powering the camera itself, but the IR alone will draw substantial power on its own, as will any wireless system you use - you're looking at a substantial battery pack to keep it all running for any length of time, as well as needing some way to recharge those batteries. Neither one will give you a smooth stream of the full-resolution video. And either one would require a separate device (3G access point/router/etc.). The thing you run into with basic built-in IR is that it's optimized for a certain range... beyond that it falls off quickly, and closer than that, it tends to wash out faces. To avoid that, you need either a camera or illuminator that uses a "smart IR" type of technology... or use an external illuminator in a different location. And even then, you'll end up with plain black-and-white images and people with glowing eyes - thus is the nature of the beast. One problem with regular IR on a covert setup is that you will still see a slight glow from the LEDs if you do look at the camera, as they still emit some light at the low end of the visible spectrum (crossing from red into infrared). "IR blacklights" use IR on a longer wavelength that doesn't leak into the visible bands, BUT, not all cameras will work with that wavelength either. I did not realise the ch180 was a hard wired camera, I had assumed that it would send the signal wirelessly back to the router which would be preferred. Is there a camera with similar specs that you would recommend that could do it wirelessly?

Where in Canada are you, and just how cold does it get? Humidity shouldn't be an issue if it's a properly sealed enclosure, but if it gets too cold and you're using auto-iris lenses, there's a chance the cold could affect the future operation of the iris (ie. mechanical moving parts). Same if it's a true day/night camera with ICR.

How do you know this? Have you asked EVERYBODY?

That would probably be for connecting alarm inputs/outputs; not useful for exporting video and data. If there's no burner, no USB, no firewire, no network... your only option for exporting video will probably be to connect some other kind of recorder to the video output (where you connect your monitor), then start recording on that while you play back the video you want on the DVR.

If this is for work... what sort of business/workplace is it? If at all possible, forget the IR and use some good external lighting, such as a motion-activated floodlight: you'll get a better picture, in color, with regular white light rather than IR. 3G is not very fast - you'd have a hard time getting clear VGA video over that, let alone full 720p video. However, that is a dual-stream camera, meaning you could record the high-quality, full-resolution video and watch the lower-quality stream over the wireless connection. IP cameras don't connect to a DVR card - such cards are designed only to digitize analog video. You'd need a computer with suitable NVR software. Difficult to say, as there are so many factors that affect the space usage - codec used, codec settings, encoding type used, scene complexity/contrast, whether you use motion detection/analytics to trigger recording, and if so, how much motion or trigger events the camera sees. Since it's a wired camera, you could go up to the maximum distance for ethernet: 100m.

You just answered your own question: with IP cameras, you don't need the hardware card. Look at it the other way: with the analog system, the card costs the same whether you're using one input or all of them. If an 8-channel card, for the sake of argument, costs $400, and you only put one camera on it, then you're paying $400 "per camera" to be able to record that camera. With an IP licensing setup, each camera costs the same whether you have one or 30.

How diplomatic - are you running for office soon? "I'm a politician, which means I'm a cheat and a liar, and when I'm not kissin' babies, I'm stealin' their lollipops... BUT, it also means I keep my options open."

So will simply removing the wire connecting the two - you've already stated you don't need each DVR to control the other DVR's cameras so there's no reason for that connection to be there. You can't damage anything this way - at worst you might have cameras being confused or signal being dampened.

802.11af specs up to 15.4W/ch. so that will actually be fine for probably 99% of the cameras out there (the Axis PTZ noted above being one of a few exceptions). You will want to check the switch's specs as well though, as some will only do full power on some channels... the Cisco switches we're using, for example, will do 15.4W on up to four channels, or 7.5W on all eight.

Find a "spare" computer around the place and build your own, using something like Exacq, Milestone, Nuuo, etc. An NVR requires no special hardware; the cameras are all recorded via network.

Depends on exactly how you define "GOOD low-light", and megapixel cameras are traditionally not great in this situation, but I have found this one to be one of the best of the type: http://www.3xlogic.com/prod/1617/vsx-2mp-vd-2-megapixel-indooroutdoor-vandal-dome-daynight-ip-camera

Welcome!

Averaging the distance at 175', you can cover a 20' wide area with a 42mm lens on a 1/3" camera - 42mm is not an uncommon focal length (I have a couple of 7-70mm lenses here, as well as a 15-50mm).

That is exceedingly vague... no make or model, no pictures... how are we supposed to know what type of key it is? I've never even seen a DVD drive that's key-locked. You sure you're not talking about a hard drive sled?

Pretty much any audio amp you find will have SOME sort of level controls. That amp kit I linked above has adjustable output level. The Elk one you linked does as well - "The audio source is amplified up to 10 watts, adjustable from an on-board volume control."

I wouldn't worry about noise - the vast majority of the 12VDC power supplies we use now, whether multi-channel cans or basic wall warts, are switching types. There may be MEASURABLE noise, but I've never seen it have a VISUAL effect. Almost all DVRs' power supplies, whether PC or standalone, are switching types as well.

No, and no. It's not really that different than figuring out power ratings for cameras: the higher the impedance of a speaker, the less load it puts on the amp, the less current it draws, and to some degree, the lower efficiency it is... however, if the impedance is too low, then it will draw more current than the amp can supply, and you start to get distortion or possibly fried amps. So as with all other areas of electronics, everything is a balancing act. Typically, an amp will list how much power it produces at a certain load impedance, as well as a range of impedances it can handle... for example, it may state it will do 20W at 8 ohms, and accept loads of anywhere from 4 to 12 ohms. With a four-ohm speaker then, at a given volume level, it would produce approximately 40W, but you'd be more likely to get distortion if you ran it at maximum levels. Again, these ratings usually refer to the MAXIMUMS each component is capable of; there's nothing wrong with running well under that, and frankly, you may find you NEED to run well under that to avoid blasting out the neighbors.

It's not CRITICAL for each device to have its own fuse... the fuses are mainly there to protect the wiring itself. From what I can find on those shock sensors (if they're the ones I think they are), they draw about 120mW, which would translate into 10mA at 12VDC... at that rate, you could (theoretically) run 100 of them off a single 1A fuse.