Soundy

I think the DIY PVR route might be your best bet, as CCTV systems aren't really designed for the time-shifting like this. Some have something close - the Vigils we use, for instance, have a "Quick-search" option where you can right-click a camera view, select Quick Search, and go back one, five, or ten minutes. As far as framerates, keep in mind that standard NTSC analog cameras will be limited to 30fps *max* by the NTSC spec itself. I'm not aware of any IP or SDI cameras that go beyond that either, although I'm sure a couple exist... but they won't be cheap.

Gel-filled type helps prevent corrosion by keeping moisture out of the connection. Not a big deal indoors, but invaluable outdoors, especially here where we're near the coast.

It's a 1/3" sensor, so with a 2.8mm lens, it should get around 90 degrees, easily. These are from CNB cameras using a 2.8mm lens (actually, 2.8-10.5mm, but set at full wide) on a 1/3" chip:

None of that applies to Toaster's standalone unit...

I run 24VAC over Cat5 all the time. Overall losses are about a quarter that of 12V (half because of the higher voltage, and half because a device with a given power requirement will consume half the current when run at twice the supply voltage). There's a great Cat5 calculator here: http://www.netkrom.com/voltage_loss_over_cat5_calculator.html Using a 24VAC source, 0.7A current draw, and two pairs of the Cat5 for power, at 300' you'd see a loss of 2.6V, which should still land you well within the spec of most 24V cameras. Bump that up to 3 pairs, and your losses drop to 1.3V. Two pairs at 100', you're seeing only 0.8V loss. And so on....

Yeah, well, this is in Richmond, aka "Hongcouver" - it's the center of the local Asian community, so it's pretty much all light-colored skin thereabouts.

A couple from the WDR thread: Panasonic WV-CP484 with and without SD3 enabled:

In the case of a DVR, there's probably not much other benefit to it. The article I linked lists numerous different things UPnP is designed for, but most of them wouldn't apply to a DVR. And again, for the port mapping to work, the DVR would have to support that feature of UPnP as well.

I have a Speco dual voltage HT7815DNV camera and just lost video, it says it needs a power supply of 12v 500mA, I have a 12v 1 amp power supply hooked up to it. You dont think that would of fried it do you? No... rather, the current rating wouldn't have anything to do with it. Amperage on a power supply is a rating of the maximum current a power supply is CAPABLE of providing... how much is actually drawn from it will depend on the resistance presented by the device(s) it's powering. You can't "force" more current into something than it's designed to draw. Now, I can't say for that supply SPECIFICALLY, because as I say, if it's pushing too much VOLTAGE, that could potentially fry the camera.

Panasonic's SuperDynamic feature is like WDR on steriods. Had a CP484 "SuperDynamic III" on one job that a previous installer had set up without ALC or SDIII enabled... I put a longer lens on it for a tighter shot and enabled the SD3. Makes a big difference:

Funny, I was looking for a picture of a Capture CCTV DVR for an example of how the backplanes look on these things... and the guts of a Capture are just what you've got on that eBay link. Assuming that's a legitimate used card and backplane, that's actually a pretty good unit, and a good deal.

" title="Applause" /> soundy also give me surprises Ummm... okay?

It's not just the card - the PC case has to have space for the BNC (or you'll have to get jiggy with a Dremel).

Would be hard to make a "wrong" power connection, as both drive types should use the same SATA data and power connectors. Certain pins on the connector are designated for 3.3V, 5V, 12V and ground, so they can't really get mixed up. I'd say try it - worst case, the DVR's power connector doesn't have the 5V source and the drive won't spin up.

Looks like you're getting a flare from the light hitting the front element of the lens. You could try putting a piece of paper (something thick and black would work best) over the lens to block the light from hitting the lens element... if that helps, you can make something a little prettier. Think of the sun hood on an outdoor enclosure, and adapt that idea to a smaller scale to fit your lens: Picture the lens hoods you can get for SLR lenses, for example:

I googled "VU-431" and found this with the first hit: http://www.aban.co.uk/4ch-dvr-vu-431-712-p.asp No manufacturer listed (big surprise) but you could try contacting this store and ask if they have support contact info, like a manufacturer name, website, or whatever (although I suspect they won't). This is a perfect example of why a "cheap" system isn't really worth it... or, "you get what you pay for". Edit: Hmmm, from perusing the site, it look like the the brand name on the DVR is "ABAN", which is the name of the site... meaning they may be re-branding these units themselves. So they may actually have support for it.

There isn't really a direct correlation between TVL and sample resolution.

Never seen anything like this in any standard PC form factor. It's common as a custom-built unit for a standalone DVR, but those would all run custom firmware, not something suitable in most cases for building a PC around. Any PC DVRs I've seen that have BNCs on their own backplane like this, have it as a separate board that connects to a PCI card or cards via ribbon cable(s).

Dunno about where to buy, but... I usually use GVI and GEM for passive video baluns, and Altronix, Pelco and Enforcer for power cans... often depending on what's available at a given time. THIS is my current balun of choice - cheap, works great, and small enough to fit inside a CNB back-box

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Plug_and_Play In short: if your router supports it, UPnP should let your DVR set up its own port forwarding.

I'll see what I can scrape up... maybe I can pull out some used cameras and snag a few clips.

Heh, thanks for the props, Nimrod Just to clarify a couple points, though: "Ethernet" is a type of network connection; it is not specific to any cable, although Category 5e or 6 unshielded twisted pair (UTP) is used almost exclusively, which is why they're usually simply called "ethernet cable". "Power over Ethernet" refers to a particular specification (IEEE 802.3af) for providing power alongside the ethernet signal on a UTP cable. The spec includes voltage in the 44-48VDC range - you DO NOT want to feed this into any analog cameras! What you're talking about is NOT ethernet, or power-over-ethernet. Analog video using baluns most commonly uses UTP (Cat5e or Cat6) because they're readily available, and Cat5e is super-cheap these days. However, the concept will work with just about any wire pairs. We've used "station-Z" wire on occasion (four 22-ga. conductors, non-twisted). I've run video with baluns over 18/2 audio wire and shielded 20/2 mic wire.

I would suggest removing the mics before you and the store get in trouble: http://www.rcfp.org/taping/states/illinois.html

Well, the simplest way would probably be a series of multiplexers with loop-throughs: run the cameras into one MUX, then out from those channels into another MUX, and so on for as many as you need. Each MUX then drives a separate monitor. You might be able to reduce the total MUX count if you can use the SPOT output for some monitors (difference is, on most, the SPOT output won't show a split-screen display, but many will let you run a sequence).

Thanks for taking the time - a lot of people wouldn't! " title="Applause" />