Soundy

All camera sensors can "see" infrared light. Color cameras typically have an IR cut filter over the sensor, to block the IR light that's present in regular daylight that can negatively affect the image (throws off exposure and color balance). Cheap IR color cameras don't have the cut filter, but compensate electronically for the poor color balance caused by the IR. B&W cameras generally don't have IR cut filters either. In short, the only way to make this camera "see" IR is to disassemble it and remove the cut filter. Since that's normally glued right over the front of the sensor, this may or may not be an easy operation, and may result in you ruining the camera. This is NOTHING to do with it being an IP camera, BTW... it's just because it's a color camera.

Nevermind the power boost, that's the wrong type of amp anyway - you want a composite video driver, not an RF booster. I don't believe an amp should be necessary anyway: if the picture is clean (no tearing or blooming, in particular), that probably means the load is fine. If a 250' run of RG6 is what's killing the DVR's output, then the DVR's output is a pretty weak design.

QSee probably thought you were talking about running the DVR to the RF (tuner) input of your TV. That would require a modulator - what you're talking about would not. You have existing cable like this, correct? So, put one of these on the DVR's output: Then put one of these on the TV's video input:

I've found with those round housings, the seal either deteriorates over time, causing a leak, or it sticks and makes it nearly impossible to open the housing for future service. Plus, you have to line everything up perfectly when assembling them, or the screws that snug everything up won't go into their threads. On the whole, they're a LOT of hassle just for a little bit of aesthetics.

Or EH3508, which is a squared-off housing with flip-up lid. I hate those round ones...

As with much of technology on TV and in the movies, there's a basis in fact, but most of what you see is... "embellished". I can't see the episode (site won't show it to me in Canada), but I'm guessing they're supposed to be IR LEDs, working on the theory that the cameras will probably be IR types as well. The idea would be, of course, that the LEDs would "blind" the camera, much the same way as someone might blind you by shining a flashlight in your face. In theory, you could blind a camera this way... in reality, the output from the LEDs would be highly directional and this would really only work if you were shining the LEDs *directly* into the camera's lens. Wandering around a room with a ring of LEDs around your neck would at best probably just show as brief flashes as the beam struck the camera. And of course, all that assumes it's a not a color camera with an IR cut filter...

Isn't it always?

Thanks... I tried Google and the only thing I found that wasn't a hideously expensive complete system was supposed to be a demo of some commercial package, but I couldn't find the actual demo download. Guess my Google-fu is weak today.

Welcome!

The thing you have to be careful of with a mic is that, unlike a camera that can be focused on a particular area, most mics will pick up EVERYTHING in the room *equally*. Anyone coughing, rustling a bag or coat, sneezing, or talking in a stage whisper, will all be heard. If the mic is closer to them than to the speaker, that noise will likely drown the speaker out. If the room is particularly "bright" sounding, you'll get all the room reflections of the speaker as well as his direct voice, and it will sound like he's in a tunnel or bathroom to the people watching remotely. A camera with a built-in mic won't really give you very good results unless you're putting the camera close to the speaker. I'd really recommend keeping the two separate, or using a camera with a mic-in jack and then running the mic to a location closer to the speaker. If you can get a more directional mic (hypercardioid pickup pattern), you can minimize surrounding noise. The ideal, if you only need to hear the speaker, would be to have the speaker wear a lavalier mic (the little one that clips to a lapel). Honestly, a basic camcorder might suit this purpose best. Since you don't need to record, you may even be able to find something at a second-hand or consignment store, or even Craigslist - an older 8mm, VHS-C, or some other sort of tape-based type would work fine. The built-in mics in some are fairly directional, but again, you ideally want one with an audio-in or mic-in jack so you can run a separate mic closer to the speaker. From there, just run from its A/V out jacks to your remote TV, and you're golden. Oh, one thing to watch for with the camcorder idea, though: many of them will shut off automatically after a period of time, if they're not recording. You'll want to look for one that doesn't do that. Edit: BTW, I have this great little JVC MiniDV camcorder I got at a yard sale for $25... battery was toast and they were selling it because the power cord had been ripped. I repaired the cord and got a cheap battery off fleaBay. Thing has 10x zoom, A/V out, built-in stereo mic and *I think* a mic-in jack as well... and just testing it, when running as a camera (vs. playback mode), it DOES NOT shut off over time. No, I'm not selling it... just pointing out that you should be able to find something suitable for cheap

Would something like this work? http://www.3xlogic.com/prod/983/mvr-series-micro-video-recorder How many cameras does this thing have to handle? If it's a single camera, how about something with onboard recording?

Alright, kids, that's quite enough.

Interesting... the blacks have been running flawlessly for us for a couple years now as both internal data drives and in the RAIDs. QNAP does recommend only the REs (for WD brand, anyway) for "Mission critical/enterprise" use. Hmmm, seems QNAP has updated their list: WDxxEARS and WDxxEADS models (basically, all the Greens) are simply listed as "Not Recommended" on pretty much all their arrays... not even listed for "Home/SOHO" use anymore.

^This. It's also possible the ICR isn't functioning. Most TDN cameras, there should a noticeable "click" when switching between day and night modes. (I'd meant to mention that earlier, but got distracted).

Interesting... that might explain the four 1TB Seagate drives I've pulled out of another array over the last couple years, all of which the RAID said were failing, all of which have benched fine even after "long", zero-write, and burn-in tests.

How old is the modulator? My initial guess would be that it might be a little off-frequency, enough that the newer PLL tuners in the LCDs can't deal with it.

Interesting... I've pulled a couple of 2TB WD Greens out of a RAID that threw errors saying the drives were failing... replaced them with Blacks... still have the Greens sitting on a shelf. I should test them... hmmmmm!

THAT is really freakin' cool. Bookmarked!

There's nothing to do with petulance. You're basing all your statements about drive suitability on your experience with home PCs and small home NAS systems. You have several *decades* of combined experience with surveillance systems telling you that your comparisons don't wash, and yet you insist on debating reality and hard-earned knowledge. If anything, Quantum, you're the one being petulant. Simple fact, folks: regardless of what manufacturer specs and marketing tell you, nearly every pro here HAS actually TRIED "green" drives in surveillance systems and found that THEY DON'T WORK WELL. Go into a forum populated by automotive engineers and tell them any number of bizarre "fuel-saving devices" you can buy off TV will work to improve their gas mileage, and you'll get pretty much the same kind of response.

CCD and CMOS sensors *always* pick up IR light... color cameras usually add an IR cut filter in front of the sensor to block the IR, because it can negatively affect exposure and color balance. B&W cameras generally don't use cut filters because color balance isn't an issue, and they can take advantage of the extra light collected at night (there's all sorts of "ambient" IR lighting in many scenes, just as there is "ambient" visible light). That's why a B&W camera will usually have better low-light response than color cameras. Cheap day/night color cameras usually have no cut filter, and merely correct the color (as best they can) electronically. A "true day/night" camera uses a mechanically movable IR cut filter that sits in front of the sensor in "day/color" mode, and flips out of the way when the camera goes to "night/B&W" mode. Lenses (particularly the larger C/CS-mount lenses, like on your box camera) typically DO NOT have cut filters. When you see an "IR lens", that generally means the lens is designed to be "IR corrected". Because of its wavelength, IR light focuses a little shorter than visible light - that is, when you focus for visible light, the point of focus of the IR light will be slightly in front of the sensor. As a result, when the camera goes to "night" mode and moves the cut filter out of the way, the IR portion of the light will be out of focus, resulting in a partially fuzzy image. "IR corrected" lenses, through optics or coatings, force the IR to focus at the same plane as the visible light.

This describes CIF: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Intermediate_Format D1 is essentially the same as 4CIF, at least as it applies to CCTV.

Do you get falses from animals? BRK is correct, motion detection is iffy at best outdoors. It's fine if it's only recording, but if you're using it to send you alert emails, most people are going to find it excessive. Careful camera placement and a lot of tweaking of masking and sensitivity can help, but it's still subject to falses from things other than just street activity.

"Professional and reliable" for £500 may be a bit ambitious. A single "professional" camera can cost £500.

Not AS important, but can still be useful in some instances. If you have the choice of two- or three-axis, by all means, go for three. Not really... but capturing a POS screen this way can be really tricky, as reflections and varying lighting conditions can really hamper the readability, especially if the text is smaller. A better idea is to look into POS interface systems - most modern POS terminals can output transaction information as plain text via a serial port, and many DVRs can then capture and log that information, or you can use a text-inserter box that will overlay the text on the video from the POS camera... looks something like this:

But the reality is, 95% of the machines you build will not have real hardware RAID. OK, they say 'hardware' RAID, but that kludge depends primarily on Windows software. It is not hardware RAID. Not the machines *I* build. If I do add a RAID internally to a machine, I use a nice little SiliconImage card that does RAID 0/1/5/10, and yes, ALL IN HARDWARE. The array is created in the card's BIOS, long before any OS is loaded. Windows doesn't even do RAID5 in software unless you get into the server editions. You're obviously a Linux fan, and apparently not that familiar with how things work in Windows these days. I'm not a Windows booster by any means, but do please try to get your facts straight. Nobody's saying green drives aren't "reliable over time" *as such*... the point is, they're not designed for the kind of SUSTAINED use that you see in surveillance DVRs. Your HTPC and home NAS are not a valid comparison to the kind of use an active surveillance system uses, plain and simple. Go to QNAP's website and take a look at their recommended drives for their various models and various uses - you'll note there that not only do they not recommend them for anything beyond SOHO duty, but they specifically recommend *against* them for heavier duty installations, like corporate NAS and surveillance systems. My preference is an external array anyway - QNAP or Enhance Tech, configured RAID6. If I'm going that way, I set the DVR to use the array exclusively for its primary recording target, and relegate the internal drive(s) for "backup" use (system uses them if the array is unavailable). Then if the DVR goes down and I have to swap in a loaner, the video data stays onsite.