Soundy

Only ones I've had a problem with, that I'm PRETTY CERTAIN were related to being in direct sun, were a few Pelco ICS-110s that died after several days of high heat. That wasn't sun directly in the lens, though; I suspect it's just general overheating. I think as long as you have an auto-iris, you should be okay, as it will allow the iris to close down when it gets too bright.

I've dealt with a number of DSC systems... they're solid, but the programming can be a PITA. Also worked with and installed several Paradox alarms and really like them.

Hmm, hadn't thought of that... the Pattern setup basically works like a macro recorder - you start it, it records everything you do, and then plays it back when called upon. I suppose one could call up presets, WHILE in the Pattern setup, and have those played back along with the manual camera movements.

That will work fine as well - only need to use one pair, doesn't matter which.

Ummm.... it will WORK... it might be a pain to work with, as it apparently has no sheathing. And I think it's horribly over-priced - £5 plus shipping for 10m?? You can use that, but it's really not the most convenient option. You'd be better off dropping down to a local electronics store, or maybe a car audio store, and asking if they have any scraps - to me, 30' of Cat5e leftover from a 1000' box isn't worth packing around most times, and goes into the recycling box (fill up a box, get a few bucks for it from a metal recycler).

Not sure offhand if the Spectra IV has the option internally... I know it's a feature of the Vigil DVRs we use, to call the presets in sequence, but I think that just sends the individual preset calls to the camera. Unfortunately I don't have any Spectra IVs on remote sites that are immediately accessible to me, so I can't check. I do have an Esprit on one site, and it doesn't appear to have the ability to set presets, tours or patterns from the camera's OSD. A Capture Fastrax dome on the same site DOES have presets, patterns and tours configurable within the camera. There's a Spectra III on the same site, but it's offline right now, awaiting some replacement parts. Okay, I DO have a site with a Spectra IV... does not appear to have Tour options within the camera.

RS-485 is a communication protocol, not a type of wire. You can use just about any sort of wire you have laying around - network cable, phone wire, speaker wire, even lamp cord.

A preset is a pre-defined fixed position. You would position the camera, then save a preset, so selecting that preset later moves the camera back to that position. A tour is a sequence of presets. You create your presets, then you program the camera or software to cycle through them (preset 1 for 5 seconds, preset 2 for ten seconds, preset 4 for five seconds, back to preset 1, etc.) A pattern is a series of recorded movements. You would enable recording a new pattern, then manually drive the camera around, zooming in or out where necessary, and so on... then enable the camera to play back that pattern.

I think Campbell's rule-of-thumb will apply most places, but the answer to your question really depends on where you live, as each country will be different, and each state or province also have their own specific laws about it. Since this is an international forum, and you haven't told us where you live, there's not much more detail anyone can give you.

Only problem I've found with heat shrink is finding some that will fit over a BNC, and still shrink enough to seal against the coax. I figure you'd need at least a 3:1 for standard RG59... forget even trying with that thin pre-made stuff... or for that matter, the tails coming off most cameras.

It does, in fact... in Canada, we have a number of sayings comparing American beer to horse p*ss.

The cameras would probably state somewhere that they're designed for "12VDC/24VAC", if not on the camera or the wiring, then on the box or in the manual.

Four cameras out of eight, either physically broken or mis-assembled, or just not working properly, out-of-the-box, was the last straw for me. viewtopic.php?f=19&t=22353

Arecont = shyte.

I'd stick with dual-voltage (12VDC/24VAC) cameras, which will usually accept anywhere from 9 to 30V - they'll work fine on the car's power, and their internal regulation will help deal with the widely varying voltage (typically anywhere from 10VDC to over 15VDC). That depends largely on YOUR needs. Again, best location FOR YOUR CAR would depend entirely on YOUR NEEDS and what YOU want to accomplish with this. Legality of audio recording generally applies to public places. In a private place, like inside your home or car, there should be no issue.

http://www.homedepot.ca/catalog/electrical-conduits-fittings/173172

Wow, Australian beer is just one short step up from American beer (old joke: how is Budweiser like having sex in a canoe? because they're both f**king close to water). Come to Canada if you wanna know what real beer is about

Ideally, run them into a waterproof box... short of that, I'd squeeze a little dielectric grease (often sold in auto-parts stores as "battery post grease" or "tune-up grease") into the connections (to keep water out and prevent corrosion), then seal them up with some REALLY TIGHT windings of quality PVC tape, or some heat-shrinkable PVC tape, or my personal favorite, "Brush-On Electrical Tape":

This is one I haven't heard. Problem with acronyms is, the letters can stand for just about anything. Digital Image Stabilisation Cliff notes definition is that it reduces the amount of image shake that can affect a camera feed due to vibration etc. Of course, I should have know that. Duh. This would be, as opposed to optical image stabilization, which typically uses motors and/or gyroscopes to physically move either lens elements, or the sensor, to counteract shake and vibrations. Digital stabilization will shrink the area displayed a little bit, then digitally move the image itself to counteract the effect of vibration.

I'll take a stab. Keep in mind on some of these, I'll be going by the "standard" definitions - some manufacturers have their own variations, and some may give the same function a slightly different name and thus a different acronym... kinda like an ATM (automatic teller machine) and an ABM (automatic banking machine) are the same thing... or ALB (Anti Lock Brakes) and ABS (Antilock Braking System). That said.... DNR typically means Dynamic Noise Reduction or Digital Noise Reduction. 3D DNR is a variation of this - the best explanation I could find posits that "3D noise reduction generally refers to noise reduction that operates both spatially and temporally. That gives you your 3 dimensions." However, since "3D" is a big buzzword right now, it's also possible some manufacturers are using to refer to something different. Shining a light on something... with cameras, that often means infrared (IR) light. This is one I haven't heard. Problem with acronyms is, the letters can stand for just about anything. At a guess, this would be a feature that dims the IR output under certain conditions. Most IR illuminators just blast full power, all the time. OSD = On-Screen Display. Usually refers to cameras where the settings are accessed and adjusted through an on-screen menu and a set of buttons or small joystick on or in the camera. A PIR (Passive Infrared) sensor is the technical name for a motion sensor, the type you see on alarm systems. You'll usually see them in the corner of a room, with a red light that blinks on whenever you move. A PIR camera is generally a PIR with a small covert camera hidden inside it... or just the shell of a PIR with a camera in it. They're designed for "stealth" surveillance. Depending on where you're getting all these... this probably means the same thing as the "blind spot" when you're driving: and area that's blocked from the camera's view, such as around a corner or behind a piece of furniture. Wide Dynamic Range. Your eyes are good at seeing high-contrast scenes, things that have both very dark and very bright areas. Camera sensors are not. WDR is processing that essentially lowers the overall contrast, dimming the bright areas and brightening up the dark areas. Back Light Compensation. Most cameras will adjust their brightness to get proper display out of a scene. If you have a backlit situation, such as a camera in a darker room looking out through a large window, the camera will dim itself... and anything not front-lit will just appear as a silhouette. BLC tells the camera to boost the overall level and allow the bright areas to overexpose, so the dimmer objects will show more detail. Automatic Gain Control. The underlying function for adjusting the brightness of the camera to meet light conditions.

If you're using an actually installed client app to connection, it may not need port 80, but I'd try forwarding that anyway, just to be sure.

It's not usually possible to simply take a drive from a standalone DVR and plug it into a PC and have it be recognized. Most DVRs use some variant of embedded Linux or other embedded OS, which means the drive MIGHT be formatted with ext2 or ext3 filesystems... or might use some other proprietary format. Even if you can access the drive, chances are the files will be in a format that's not recognized by any of your media players. Best bet is to use the remote software to connect to the DVR via the network, and extract the video through that.

Nice looking car... for a Rustang Kidding Welcome aboard!

Yeah, I think the problem is, with some file formats (keeping in mind that "AVI" is just a wrapper and not a single written-in-stone file format), WMP has no way of knowing that the video is NOT recorded at 30FPS, so it just plays it at 30FPS by default.

Gee, Albert, you wouldn't happen to be affiliated with FiSnap, would you? Three posts so far, all three recommending people use it... hmmm!