Soundy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascadia_(independence_movement)

Ooooh, nice... off the beaten track at Boston Bar, I see (yay Google). Never strayed far from the highway through there, but I love the area. Got family that live up the Botanie Valley above Lytton.

I can't imagine a service monitor that would include this cable, since there are so many variations on the theme (size, polarity, keying, etc.). BNC would be standard, and a BNC-to-RCA adapter would be common, but few cameras I've see that use the two-pin connector have exactly the same fit or pinout. Every CNB dome I've installed that has the two-pin service port, includes an RCA cable to plug into it, so I have literally dozens of them floating around. I could send you one, but I couldn't guarantee it would work with your camera - I ran into some Digital Watchdog domes recently, for example, that the connector fit, but had to be reversed to display properly.

I love the wilderness of BC! Grew up in the South Cariboo Whereabouts are you, exactly?

If you're using your iPad/iPhone via WiFi, you can use a router with DD-WRT on your "home" end; it includes a VPN client that can connect out and create the VPN tunnel, and all devices on that WLAN will then have access to the connection.

Since IP cameras output a data stream and not (primarily) analog video, "VGA" *is* a valid spec, since "VGA" also indicates 640x480 pixel resolution (along with terms like "WVGA" (wide-VGA, or 800x480), "SVGA" (800x600), "XGA" (1024x768), and so on (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphic_display_resolutions for more).

This is as vague a question as "how big a hard drive do I need for X number of days of storage" - there are too many factors missing. There are four main things you need to add into your calculation: First and foremost, power requirements of the camera: most voltage-drop calculators ask for this in amps; many cameras, especially dual-voltage types, list only the camera's power draw in watts (mainly because current draw is inversely proportional to supply voltage). It's easy enough to calculate one from the other (I=P/V). Second, the number of conductors used: normally you'll be using two or three pairs for power, and the losses could depend substantially on that difference. Third, the *actual* voltage produced by the power supply: this is especially true of 12VDC source, as unregulated ones may actually be outputting upwards of 16-19V, which means not only will you have less drop at the camera, you'll be able to ALLOW more drop before the camera cuts out. Fourth, along that same line, some cameras can actually handle much lower voltages than they're "rated" for - they may spec 12V but still function properly at 9-10V. Others may crap out if you feed them voltages more than a few percentage points outside their design. A good voltage-loss calculator is your friend - I find this one particularly useful: http://www.netkrom.com/voltage_loss_over_cat5_calculator.html Using a CNB VCM-24VF as an example: it's rated for 2.2W power consumption. At 12V, that's about 180mA; at 24V, current draw is approximately half that. However, this camera will operate, if memory serves, on anything from 10V to 30V, DC or AC. So at one end of the scale, with a 12V supply and using only two pairs, you would see barely .3V loss at the end of a 300' run, according to the above calculator (which, oddly, complains if you enter anything over 300' for the cable length). At that rate, you could theoretically power THREE 24VFs off a two pair of 24 AWG Cat5e, with a regulated 12VDC supply (.54A gives 1.9V loss at 300'). Use an unregulated supply running at about 16V, and you could conceivably power six cameras over those two pair (1.2A, 16V input, gives 4.6V loss, meaning you still see over 11V at the cameras... higher, in fact, because at 16V, the current draw drops to under 140mA ). Bump up to a 24VAC supply and two pairs would be enough for a dozen cameras (remember that the current draw is cut in half, so in the calculator, we plug in 24V source, but back down to .6A, and see a loss of only 2.3V). The calculator doesn't accept the number, but we can extrapolate that at 600', you'd still see less than 5V loss running a dozen of these cameras on a 24VAC source... which would bring us down to 19V at the cameras, still well within their operating spec. And on it goes from there. Obviously it isn't really recommended to hang that many cameras off a single Cat5e, for logistical reasons if nothing else... but it is possible, and it illustrates that concerns about voltage loss over long Cat5e runs often tend to be overstated. Naturally things get a lot worse when you add built-in IR to the mix, where cameras start drawing upwards of a full amp... added to the fact that most of those kinds of cameras only support 12V input, so you're stuck with the inherent higher losses there.

The main idea is simply to give you more options (which is one of the benefits of IP cameras to begin with). There are many different ways in-camera storage can be utilized: You could use such a camera for a quick-deployment situation, where you just place it and power it (say, for a temporary installation). If you have to use battery power, you'd be saving more power by not needing to run a DVR/NVR as well. You could have the camera record to both NVR and SD simultaneously, and take the card out to view separately - could be handy if you suspect someone is tampering with the NVR. Some have the ability to store the video locally, then send it to a remote recorder or storage when network traffic is lower. Some can do other in-camera processing, like video analytics. With the above two features, you could record everything in the camera, let the software determine what video is important, and then send just those images to remote storage as well. Some may detect network failure and THEN record to the card, but most will record to the card simultaneously with sending their network stream. There really is no ONE answer... it's a feature that's used for whatever YOU want to use it for.

You'll have to be a little more specific than that, because there are literally thousands of DVR card designs out there, and not all of them work the same way. As the others have said, most will use either an existing serial port, or some sort of add-on card. Some software can also use external USB or network-attached I/O devices, like this: That's a function of the software, though, not the card itself.

Because some people expect to see a TVL number when they're shopping/comparing CCTV cameras. If they're looking for it on IP cameras, it probably means they don't understand the term anyway and are just looking for the highest number because "it must be better"... nevertheless, it's not uncommon for marketing people to use irrelevant information in their copy just because they know people expect to see it. Some do have full-time analog output that can be used to feed a live monitor... for example, the customer-awareness monitor you see when you enter a store, displaying the camera that watches you as you enter. There is no "clear answer". We've given you some reasons WE think this particular manufacturer MIGHT have listed it. If you want to know the actual reason, you'd have to ask their marketing people.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=multicast

It's not a network hub, tom. From the manual (found via a three-second Google search): And yes, it does require baluns at the camera end. See the diagrams on page 3 of the manual: http://www.gviss.com/webfm_send/591. Since it can supply power and send data as well, they'll need to be either appropriate power/video/data baluns (such as those listed on page 2, or similar models from other manufacturers), or you'll need to split out the appropriate pairs at the camera end (as shown on page 4) if you're using basic two-pin baluns.

Ooooh crap, you're right, it wasn't a Digimerge... uh... what what it now? Crap... can't remember.

Viewing and recognizing/identifying a bill (I assume you mean of the monetary/cash type) from 11 feet (remember to subtract 4' or so for the height of the counter) isn't a problem... provided the bill stays in a relatively small area. You'd probably need to narrow the shot to cover an area of no more than 3'x3' to get enough detail to pick out the denominations. At 11' on a 1/3" sensor, an 18mm lens will do that easily... you just have to make sure the money stays within that area.

I think most here will say the same thing: we wouldn't trust one of these "kits", or any of its components, any farther than the weakest of us could throw it. Traditionally, such units provide sub-par quality and tend to be short-lived. It says it has all the features, but there's no guarantee any of them are properly or fully implemented, or at all configurable. The bullet cams would probably survive fine under the eaves, but I wouldn't risk putting them in direct weather. As for the wireless camera, it claims "up to" 100m line-of-site... I'd be surprised if you got 20m without serious problems. And remember, line-of-site means you can actually see the camera from the receiver - no walls or anything else in the way. If you put the receiver indoors, expect the effective range to drop even more. Remember, too, that "wireless" cameras are almost never 100% "wireless": you still need to power them. Besides that, though, the DVR you've chosen is only a four-channel model, and the you've accounted for all four included cameras: there's nowhere to plug in an additional camera.

www.cam2life.net

Does it just need to survive the vibration, or do you need something with image stabilization? Do you have a particular form factor in mind (dome, bullet, etc.)? Does it need to fit in a specific size or shape of area? Are you recording it, or just viewing it? And if recording, what are you recording it to? Analog or IP? What sort of budget are you looking at?

My Vigil DVR allows me to set pretty much any framerate up to one frame every four hours (well, in multiples - 1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 30, 60 minutes, 2 or 4 hours, in addition to going up to 30fps), then export the results as a native MJPEG stream, or as an AVI. I have one IQEye IP camera on it, I'm recording one channel at 5fps with standard motion detection... another channel is recording the same camera at one frame every hour, specifically to create a time-lapse output. I just exported the past week here, if you want to see it in action: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4030692/Vigil%20Exports/Time%20Lapse%20Demo%20-%20one%20week.avi (Note, it's a 1.3MP source, but I had it export at D1 and at a low bitrate so it would create a smaller file to download... this was all done within Vigil, no additional software required).

No. TDN cameras cannot see in complete darkness. Cameras require light to create an image - that's basic physics and the theory behind pretty much any type of camera, be it an SLR, a pocket camera, video camera, CCTV, whatever; it applies whether you're talking about digital sensors or film, too. It means there has to be SOME source of light to illuminate the target object(s). TDN cameras work a lot BETTER with LOW light, because the lack of IR cut filter means they get more of the light that's already present at the long end of the spectrum... but they still need SOME light. An IR illuminator is a pretty simple concept: imagine taking a flashlight and shining it on your scene... except instead of visible (near-)white light, you're using light at the very bottom end of the visible spectrum, where's it's not going to be obvious to the human eye. That's all you're doing: shining an LED flashlight on your subject(s).

Current rating of the power adapter should make no difference, as long as it can provide *as much or more* current than the device requires. If the server specs a 1.5A source, then anything rated 1.5A *or higher* will do fine (providing it's the proper voltage, of course).

...or if the camera has an analog output, it could be referring to that. Or it could just be a marketing thing because they think their customers expect to see such numbers (maybe they've even been asked by some customers what the camera's TVL rating is)... or they could just have clueless people writing their specs and ad copy.

There are a few... I recently set up a Digimerge that connects out to a central server, then you set the client software to connect to that.

Keep in mind that storage retention times will vary WIDELY depending on a large number of factors, many of which aren't included in most of these storage calculators. The calculators (and there are lots of them out there) can give you a rough estimate, but there are so many things that affect the amount of data that can only be guessed at. For example: Regular video (like you see on TV, DVD, etc.) is 30fps. This gives you nice, smooth motion, but eats a lot of data. Dropping to 15fps will still give smooth motion, virtually indistinguishable from 30fps on all but fast-moving objects, but use approximately half the space. Most people wouldn't even know the difference at 7.5-10fps, but you save even more space dropping to that level. Depending on the specific camera's coverage and requirements of that view, you can often get away with 1-3fps. See the following for examples: http://www.panasonic.com/business/security/demos/PSS-recording-rates.html Codec makes a big difference: at high frame rates, H.264 can save a lot of space over MJPEG and MPEG-4, with relatively minimal loss of quality. At lower framerates, the benefit diminishes, where you might want to use a higher-quality codec with less impact (percentage-wise) on storage. All codecs have various "quality" options - ie. higher compression vs. image quality. You can often save space without noticeable image degradation by tweaking this setting. Many standalones use options like "Normal", "Fine" and "Superfine" to define these different levels. High-contrast scenes with sharp edges are less "compressible" than low-contrast scenes, or those with smoother, softer edges and transitions; calculators don't know what type of scene you'll have, so they can't take this into account. B&W video takes substantially less space than color video (typically on the order of a 5:1 to 10:1 ratio). On the whole, if you can run motion-detect with properly tweaked sensitivity and/or mask areas, at <10fps, As suggested, using motion activation can save you a TON of space. There's no sense recording, say, an entry door while nobody's coming or going.

For future reference, you could try using UltraVNC and installing its "Mirror Driver", which as I understand it, installs as a "shim" video card so the system "displays" direct to VNC, rather than VNC scanning and re-sending the desktop. It makes for WAY faster display (you can even comfortably watch live video on it) and may get around the issue of a failed card blocking remote display. www.uvnc.com

I think that will depend on if your recording the audio or just using the system as a 2-way intercom. True, but it may also count as "surveillance monitoring", which may also be an issue. But like I say, OP will need to clarify and check the laws for his area. Dammit, Jim, I'm a technician, not a lawyer!