Soundy

The CNB Mona Lisa models are great - can't go wrong the 24VF line for a good all-around 600TVL, true day/night camera with a very versatile 2.8-10.5mm varifocal lens. The DBM is a non-vandal-resistant version, which should be fine for indoor use. Keep in mind the VD variant uses a fixed lens; go to the VF model and get the varifocal lens to give you more room to fine-tune the field-of-view to your needs. For the ability to adjust settings from the DVR, you'd need RS-485 support in the camera - CNB lists it as an option, but AFAIK it's not currently available. However, this is of limited use in most instances - it will let you adjust the camera settings like exposure control, backlight compensation, mirror image, and so on (things that once they're set, you won't usually be needing to change), but not move the lens or change the zoom. For that you need a PTZ camera, at substantially more cost.

Anyone have or recommend a tester for sealed lead-acid (aka gel-cell) batteries as used in alarm and access panels, UPS backups, etc.? Are these things particularly expensive? Not just a multimeter, but something that can check the capacity and health of the battery... like an automotive battery tester, but smaller (and hopefully cheaper)?

Yeah, these are for access-control panels - batteries are used to maintain function in a power loss. Various problems with the panels lead me to suspect (with confirmation from the manufacturer) that the transformers are under-rated for them, and I suspect the batteries have been picking up the slack until recently. Building super has no idea when they were last changed, let alone tested... we've quoted to simply replace them all, but with 10+ batteries, it does add up.

The "tunnel effect" is caused by using a 1/3" lens on a 1/2" sensor. Use a 1/2" lens and you can avoid that. Catch is, finding a wider (<6mm), 1/2", The images look to me like a video-standard mismatch - either your camera is set for PAL and your capture device uses NTSC, or vice-versa.

It's not the card the pirates are interested in (at least not directly); it's the software. It's easy to obtain the Geovision software (lots of places you can download it, including direct from GV by merely supplying the barcode number off a legit card). However, GV software will only work with GV-branded cards (branding coded in the hardware/firmware). So if you want to use the software, you either need to use a legit card... or a cloned card with hacked firmware, hacked drivers, and possibly hacked software. VideoInsight worked on a similar model when they still did analog: the software was readily available for free download, but again, would only work with manufacturer-provided cards. Neither VI nor GV require registration keys to install and work. As an example: some Vigil systems use the identical hardware as VideoInsight - I once swapped a VI "V60" card into a Vigil system to replace a dying "HiCap50B" card, and the DVR kept on running as if nothing had changed. I've also tried putting the matching Vigil card into a VI server, and VI tells me there's no supported card found. Vigil will simply work with any supported hardware; it's not keyed to 3xLogic-provided hardware. The software is also freely downloadable, BUT, it will only run for 30 days, and then requires registration keys (separate keys for each different module they charge for). Both models are simply designed to ensure you pay the software maker for their effort, one by requiring registration keys, the other by ensuring the software will only work with the hardware they sell you. The main reason pirating GV is so common, I think, is just because they're well-known, so it's easier to sell a pirated GV system than something nobody has heard of. And it would appear, their key-to-hardware scheme is relatively easy to crack. ATI/AMD, on the other hand? Until right now, I never knew they made (or repackaged?) DVR cards. Never seen one, that I know of. What software do they run? If nobody knows or cares about the software, then there's no profit in pirating the cards.

The software is fine - I don't see a face in that picture either.

isnt 720HD bigger than D1 and 25fps? yes... and like I said, then you're getting into the megapixel range (although technically, 720p is just a bit under 1MP), which means an entirely different type and scope of hardware than the analog system that have been discussed so far.

I like the "at least D1 @ 25fps" - since short of going megapixel, that's the MAXIMUM available on a PAL system.

Yeah, Yaletown at night, not a lot of street lighting - everyone seems to like it "low-key" in the area, more trendy that way...

Too late, he's already left in a huff. Not heeding the words of Groucho Marx, who always said, "Never leave in a huff... leave in a minute and a huff."

I seriously hope for you that you don't say that to your customers. Sometimes... when they ask for advice and then get snotty when they don't get answers they like... yes. Have fun with that. I've seen some of the other forums out there, I'm guessing they have plenty of guys that will be more than happy to sell you their dirt-cheap toys.

"Iz funny, because iz true!" Oh, I understood it perfectly. BRK already answered that part of the question; I couldn't have added anything to what he said, that's why I didn't bother before... like he said, you're not going to get usable motion detection for what you want to do with anything less than a true video-analytics solution. For your information, the PTZ is 100x digital zoom. And the price for it: 263 USD And again, like BRK said, there's no way you're going to get USABLE 100x zoom for that kind of price. At 100x digital zoom, take a little box of about 30x20 pixels and blow that up to full size - that's all "digital zoom" is: it crops out a portion of the image and expands it to fill the screen. You don't need factory engineers to tell you that: the answer is yes, it can. We're trying to tell you that your alarm will be going off either constantly, or not at all. The info on the PTZ is just a friendly freebie to save you from throwing even more money at something that really truly isn't going to work the way you think it will. That's our experienced, professional advice - take it or leave it.

There you go, CP4874, there's your solution, for a measly CDN$20,000 Taxes, shipping, duty, PDI, etc, all extra, of course...

Could be the codec or its DLL don't run properly in the newer Windows. Is there an older system - XP perhaps - that you can try it on? Do you have XP Compatibility installed, maybe?

What version of Windows is on your laptop? Possible the old software isn't compatible...

Every now and then, people come up with something nobody else here is familiar with You should be changing your name to Guineapigman Adam

You can save yourself some trouble and just get a siren and hook it to a small circuit that activates the siren at random times for no reason ROFL!!!! This is the funniest thing I've seen all week BTW, that PTZ won't come cheap... even in the higher-end Pelco Spectras (retail about $3,000-$4,000), 32X zoom is the max you'll generally find. 100X will either need to use digital zoom as well as optical, or will require a lens that makes a LOT of compromises in quality, or will require a lens that very big and VERY expensive (which will mean a camera that's very expensive, and an exceptionally large enclosure to fit the lens). And you're plugging all this into a $600 cheapie standalone DVR? Riiiiiiight.

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=11322&start=83 Camera is a 16MP Avigilon Pro (anyone know the current MSRP on these things?). Lens is Sigma 300-800mm (retail about $8,000) with 2X teleconverter ($300). Tripods actually look exactly like my setup - Manfrotto 190CX legs with 486RC2 ball head (latest version of this package: http://www.manfrotto.com/product/8374.398.86698.0.0/190XB%252C496RC2/_/TR190XB%2BHD496RC2) - package price about $280 each.

Wow, that almost made sense. "The debate HD IP or HDcctv is an old one" - really? HDcctv products have just started hitting the market in the last few months... and while it's been PROMISED as the ultimate-killer-of-all-other-forms-of-CCTV for at least the last two years, even that doesn't qualify as an "old" debate. As far as Todd, well, he brings it on himself. His posts are consistently patronizing, especially in his little LinkedIn sandbox (per NUMEROUS private messages from other users, BTW - Carl and I are FAR from the only ones who feel this way). His constant harping that others using the term "HD" in reference to any sort of CCTV products, is some sort of grand validation of the HDcctv Alliance, is in itself, childish in the extreme - "Look, they're using MY name and MY special word - this must mean they want to be like me!" Wow, really? His ongoing propensity to deflect direct questions about the technology, pricing, availability, or anything else that might actually be USEFUL to integrators, but rather to respond with marketing gibberish and hype, does little to win anyone over to the cause. His latest ploy has been to put on moderation anyone who doesn't spend all their time praising HDcctv on his LinkedIn group - you don't dare ask pointed questions at risk of simply being censored. His toady Craig, for example, made some wild, fanciful claim about HDcctv cameras... I posted simply to ask him to provide an example; that post never appeared. Tried reposting it several times before I even realized the little line that said my posts were "being held pending approval"... last I checked, they were still sitting there, three weeks later (that was at least another three weeks ago - can't be bothered to check anymore). Childish? If people are making childish comments about Todd and Craig, it's because they continue to BEHAVE childishly.

A given lens focal length will always project the same size image. When you put a smaller sensor behind it, though, you're picking up a smaller portion of that image. Thus, the smaller sensor (1/4") will have a narrower view than a larger sensor (1/3", 1/2", etc.) 2.8mm on a 1/3" sensor will give you about an 81-degree horizontal field of view. On a 1/4" sensor, you'll only get 65 degrees.

Yeah, those cheap unpowered ones there will only do 10Mbit... borderline for megapixel cameras. I wouldn't trust them to support full-duplex operation, either.

Do the power supplies you have actually have ratings listed on them?

Sounds like the adapter may not be sufficient for the camera's power needs. What's the rating on the adapter? Any hint on the camera's model number? Does it have IR LEDs? If so, how many?

Ah, I see, you're looking for something with motion-activated recording... it does that as well: http://www.mobotix.com/other/Products/T24-IP-Video-Door-Station/Recording-With-Sound Also: So you don't have to wait until you get home to see what happened. Not finding a specific section on it, but a summary also says that it supports FTP and email notification - I'm guessing it would be able to email pictures to you to alert you if someone is there, potentially allowing you to log in remotely and watch what's happening in real time.

No, we understood what you want... I think you misunderstand what we're suggesting. The Mobotix option hardwired mentioned does everything you listed, and more: not only will it record video and sound internally, it will let you access it and communicate with the person there from any internet-connected computer, you can remotely trigger the gate to open, and authorized visitors can use a PIN code or RFID tag to open the gate.