Soundy

yes... DEPENDING on the particular camera/NVR/DVR/VMS being used.

Whenever you want to trigger higher quality? Really, anything that achieves your needs is "appropriate". You could rig a panic switch that kicks up higher-quality recording. You could trigger it from a motion sensor, or a fire alarm/smoke detector. Depends on your needs! Most DVRs' input alarms just look for the input port being connected to the system ground... so anything that can create a connection across two pins can trip it. Output relays on alarms or sensors, pushbutton switches... you name it.

NO. Processing analog video, even with a hardware-compression card, is much more processor-intensive. Depending on the NVR software, Atom is suitable for recording IP cameras, IF you're just recording them and not playing them back, because that requires very little processing - most NVR software just pulls the stream off the network and writes it to disk.

Hmmm, no... you could connect the cameras' control inputs directly to the serial port on your PC and use the software to control them; you wouldn't interface the PC to the DVR this way. RS232 is generally compatible with RS485 - although the latter is more tolerant of noise and supports MUCH longer runs, the former will usually work fine for smaller setups.

You probably won't be able to fit two cards in that machine, at least not two of the same card - if it's anything like the other Shuttle systems I've used, it will have one PCI-e slot and one PCI slot. You also won't fit "a few" drives in that - these cases typically have one 3.5" drive bay and two 5.25" bays: at most, you'll get maybe three, if you forgo the optical drive... and you'll need a lot of ventilation at that point. Keep that in mind for the "small space" this is going into. Onboard graphics are fine for camera playback; you don't need extreme 3D performance or anything. 8GB RAM is useless unless you use a 64-bit OS; 32-bit OSes can't "see" more than about 3.5GB RAM. Yes, you will be able to add IP cameras later, but those don't require a card. If space is a concern, and you want lots of drive space (do you really NEED "a few 2TB drives??) consider just starting with IP cameras, and getting a RAID-based, ready-built NVR, like those from http://www.qnapsecurity.com... or NUUO or Synology, or a number of others. Even if you build your own machine, very little memory and processor is required for just recording IP camera streams; you could do it with an Atom-based machine. The real processor is only needed for playback on your remote VMS. This would make for a much happier system if it's living in a "small space" as it won't generate as much heat.

They're not a "brand" - their website even says, they're a distributor. Looks like they sell mostly budget stuff; prices don't seem to be anything special.

Yeah, lots of possibilities, depending on the specific DVR. Some will let you trigger PTZ presets, most allow you to kick a camera into a higher-quality recording mode (eg. going from normal recording at CIF/1fps/motion to 4CIF/30fps for as long as the alarm input is active). Some can send an email or SMS. Some, it might just be as simple as switching the live display to a specified camera (eg. you could have a quad-view switch to show only a door camera when that door is opened, then switch back afterward).

Whether you homerun all the lines, or daisy-chain them, the cameras are all still in parallel. I've only even home-run them all, and never found that it made a noticeable difference whether the cameras were terminated or not, but if you're daisy-chaining, you probably want to set the termination properly (last camera only). Personally, I don't see the point of daisy-chaining - you're home-running all the video runs anyway, and usually the power runs as well, so to loop the signal line from camera to camera seems unnecessarily complicated... unless you use two-pair-or-more wire to the cameras and "daisy chain" the runs near the DVR (ie. one pair to the camera, other pair back, tied to the pair going to another camera, etc. etc... like I say, unnecessarily complicated).

To clarify: this is a function of the specific lens design and construction, not the focal length. A good aspherical lens won't have these problems at wider angles... but they also cost more to design and build, and thus are more expensive to buy... potentially more than the camera they're being mounted to.

Remote Desktop (and similar tools like RAdmin, VNC, etc.) are handy in a pinch, but really not great for regular DVR operation - even on a 100Mbit LAN, they tend to be either slow and chunky, or scale back the color depth so things don't look right. And if you're using a hardware overlay card, most will only show you a blank square for the cameras.

Removed the wires from where? Normally in this sort of camera design, there will be two boards - one is the main camera board, and a separate one for the IR. Your incoming wires would connect to the camera board, and there would be a second pair of wires connecting that to the IR board (or they may split off from the main wiring bundle). The camera should be able to function completely independent of the IR portion. Typically, red would be +12VDC power, yellow would be video, white would be audio, and black would be a common ground for the other three. I wouldn't suggest connecting any of them together.

Hey, I know that clock and intersection in the last one

Check out the ATEN link in my previous post - there are several models there that should suit your needs, including those with audio and RS-232 support.

Why would I do that? I'm not the one complaining about exorbitant shipping and custom fees at every turn.

Sounds similar to how a PC behaves with a failing power supply or blown capacitors. Do any of the caps on the board look like this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

So you can read minds now? Nice one No psychic powers needed.... just forum experience

It's not clear what you want to do... do you JUST want to extend your system's head, or do you want to switch between two or more remote systems, or do you want to switch the head between one local and one remote system, or...? DVI extension can get really pricey... VGA is a lot cheaper. We've used ATEN extenders frequently, and found they work really well. The model we generally use has a set of ports for a second head on the "local" end, so you can have a keyboard/monitor/mouse right by the system as well as a remote set. They also work well with a KVM switch at the remote end, to toggle between two remote systems.

Remember that heat will kill your components (especially hard drives) faster than anything. When you get into the PC itself, go for a machine with good ventilation and airflow (not just lots of fans blowing willy-nilly) and intake filters to prevent dust buildup. The rack- and wall-mount cases Vigil uses are great for this (http://www.3xlogic.com/prod/599/pro-series-hybrid-video-recorder). Make sure drives are solidly screwed down to metal parts of the case, so the heat "drains" better (avoid spring clips and other such flimsy mounting devices). Frankly, a Vigil system would fulfill your design requirements nicely as well... but they're not a DIY package. If it's all about quality and cost is no object, then megapixel is the way to go: Avigilon Pro is about the best you'll find, with SLR-sized sensors, using SLR lenses to match.

Just need to tweak the back-focus. Most cameras support this one way or another. From the pictures, it looks like the Samsung should do it by turning the ring between the lens and the camera body.

It's normal. In order for the multiple cameras to show normal shape and size (ie. 4:3 aspect ratio), the screen has to be divided into equal segments... that means 2x2 (4 channels), 3x3 (9 channels), 4x4 (16 channels), and so on. Since there are only 8 inputs, one of the channels simply remains blank.

Swann CCTV stuff is, in general, junk. A quick google on most of the manufacturer part numbers returned cheaper prices on almost everything listed on that site. If you really are starting your own business and looking for suppliers, start by doing your potential customers a favor and not selling them cheap crap. Spend an hour or so perusing the site and find out what the professionals are recommending for GOOD brands. If you're a spammer trying to slip in links to your store, you might want to try it on a site that's NOT populated by professionals who will be happy to tell everyone what kind of trash you're selling.

You could take a look at Dahua for a DVR brand - Rory (another member here) really likes them, and he generally knows what he's talking about Can't go far wrong with the CNB cameras, either - as Adam suggests, one wide shot on the area, to capture general movement/actions, and one tighter shot for greater detail, should suffice. The next step from there would be megapixel, but that comes with a fair bit of additional cost.

Generally, they use a transformer to physically separate the two sides of the circuit.

If this is a Windows-based system, you may be able to go to the program folder, right-click the main EXE, select Properties, and get some info from the Details tab. The program folder name may give a clue as well - eg. C:\Program Files\Company Name\dvrprogram.exe

What you would do, is run a Cat5 from each camera, back to a central location in each building (like a phone room). The central power supply (or individual transformer supplies) would go there. From there, you would pull your "multi-camera" runs to the phone room at the building with the DVR. The cables would split out and the two runs would splice together in that room. I normally use the blue pair in a camera run for video, green and orange pairs for power, and leave the brown for a spare or a data run (serial control, etc.) Cat5 is not required for video baluns - it's just commonly used because it's fairly cheap, and gives the option to upgrade later to IP. We've used station-Z wire (four 22ga. wires, un-twisted), and as ptzguy says, you could use a single bundle of 25-pair or larger multicore between buildings if you wanted (especially handy if it's already there). You could also run coax and power from that phone room to the cameras, and put your baluns in the phone room, using Cat5 or multicore to get the signals to the other building.