Soundy

That WHOLE SETUP is $3k??? That doesn't sound right... that's a Pelco Spectra dome on there, those are >$3k alone.

If you're using an internet cafe or other type of public terminal (hotel lobby, etc.), or public or hotel WiFi, it's possible there's a firewall blocking access.

Or just fill it up with a blob of silicone

^What Sean said. It's not in the connectors, so much as the cable - video frequencies travel best on wire with 50-ohm impedance, like RG59 or RG6. Your audio cable probably comes nowhere close to that; cable impedance really isn't a big factor at audio frequencies.

That's pretty vague. What would help: Make and model of the cameras Make and model of the transmitters and receivers Make and model of the DVR Make and model of any other equipment involved Screenshots or photos of the problem

My first thought is that the cameras and cards are using different video standards... if you're in .AU, my guess would be the cameras are all PAL, and the DVR cards are set for NTSC. You SHOULD be able to change which video system the cards are using, but I couldn't tell you how.

The only LCDs I've seen that have a built-in "flip" function are the little 4" ones used with car backup cameras... I imagine that's a little small for your needs. Shouldn't be difficult to do, but it's not something that I imagine sees a lot of demand. I guess putting a mirror up beside each monitor is a little clunky, eh?

For starters, RG58 is the wrong cable for CCTV - RG59 or RG6 is recommended. For 600m though, even that is pushing it - you might need to go to UTP and baluns for that distance.

The only moving parts in that camera are the iris, the IR-cut filter, and the auto-backfocus system. Iris is the only thing that should be changing regularly on its own... ICR only activates when the camera switches between day and night modes, and the ABF AFAIK only activates when the appropriate button is pushed (although I found one brochure that says the camera activates it in conjunction with the ICR). In short, there's nothing mechanical that SHOULD be operating on a constant basis... is the picture changing at all when this is happening?

Wow, you've really covered your bases! So nice to see compared to the usual vague questions we get here I don't have time to weigh in in detail at the moment, but a couple quick thoughts: 1. Cabling: if you have the option and budget, there's nothing wrong with using Cat5 and Siamese. However, I do have cameras with heaters (CNB VCM-24VFs) running just fine on Cat5, using only two pairs for power with 24VAC supply, and they're a lot more than 100' runs, so you should be fine to go Cat5-only. 2. Power: AC vs. DC is kind of a non-issue... in general, CCTV power supplies will be either 12VDC or 24VAC (other options exist, but are rare and will probably cost more). 24V offers a number of advantages: the higher voltage will see less voltage drop over the length of the run; also, 24VAC or dual-voltage cameras won't suffer from the ground-loop issues that CAN plague the combination of cheap 12VDC cameras and passive baluns. 24VAC power supplies tend to be cheaper as well, purely by simplicity. If I do need to add a 12VDC output to a 24VAC power can, I'll usually just slap a ready-made regulator board inside... 3. Remote-viewing security: this is a function purely of the DVR, not the cameras.

What cameras are these? Are they running baluns with analog cameras, or are they IP cameras? If analog, what DVR card(s) are you using? Is it the DVR hardware/software itself that's causing the freezing, or a problem with the system itself? If they're analog cameras using baluns, then just about any analog DVR, PC or standalone, will work fine with them. After all this, the next question is, what's your budget?

Okay, so in the router settings, if you go to Access -> Virtual Server (assuming the manual I found is the right one), when you set up a port forward... there are options for "Public Port", "Private Port" and "LAN Server". So for each camera, you'd enter the desired port as the "Public Port" (eg. 11111), and 80 for the "Private Port", and of course, the camera IP under "LAN Server" (192.168.0.111). That's with the camera left at the default of port 80. BTW, the 632/652 models SHOULD support DD-WRT, which is an advanced third-party firmware with a lot of additional options, including VPN server support.

Again, the port forwarding on your router SHOULD allow you to designate different WAN and LAN ports for forwarding - ie. instead of setting port 11111 on the WAN to forward straight to port 11111 on the camera's LAN address, you tell it to forward 11111 on the wan to port 80 on the LAN address. Basically what the router is doing then, is instead of http://address.com:11111 ---> router ---> 192.168.0.111:11111 ...it's doing... http://address.com:11111 ---> router - \ \ --> 192.168.0.111:80 What routers are you using?

Well, my puppies are quite enjoying their first winter with REAL snow (there was very little last winter)... Dusty: Groucho: Dusty and Groucho: Daisy:

You mean Arecont?? Cuz if so... I'm gonna hafta go ahead and disagree with you on "great products" and "impressive stuff". viewtopic.php?f=19&t=22353 The only thing impressive about these things is just HOW flimsy they are...

*6* lux?! Wow... remind me to keep this camera in mind if I need coverage ONLY in full daylight....

I see it listed as an "option" on the box on the ones I put in, but I've never seen a connector for it. If they were going to have one, I'd think it should be coming out the back with the other cables, through the grommet-sealed hole. Would be kinda silly to just leave it as a header on the internal board.

www.cctv-megapixel-lenses-r-us.com

The yellow connector out the back is the video. The green is power, and as Adam says, can use AC or DC power, no worry about polarity. The separate little wire with the RCA jack is for the service connector - you'll notice the small white plug on the other end matches a plug on the side board inside the camera. The idea with that is it lets you connect a monitor to aim and adjust the camera, after it's been mounted (since the rear BNC output usually won't be accessible at that point). Yes, you can use speaker wire, bell wire, phone wire, or just about any kind of wire to connect it to your transformer or power supply. Using Cat5, as Adam suggests, you can use one pair of wire with a pair of baluns to connect to the video (I use the blue pair), and the other pairs for power (I use the green pair for ground or neutral, orange for positive or "hot"). No, you're not able to control the camera remotely; it's not a PTZ. If it's a model that includes RS-485 support (rare), you CAN access the menus remotely, but I doubt that's the case with yours. The cameras DO have auto-iris lenses, so they'll self-adjust to changing lighting conditions... but outside that, you'll have to climb up to the camera with a service monitor to aim, zoom and focus manually.

Actually only necessary if the router doesn't properly support port forwarding. One that does will allow you to forward one outside port to a different inside port - for example, assuming the cameras use port 80 internally, you could have the router forward port 11111 on the WAN to port 80 at 192.168.0.111; port 11112 on the WAN to port 80 at 192.168.0.112, and so on. Another reason to NOT change the ports: courtesy to the next guy who comes along and has to service the things. I recently ran into a site where the installer had assigned odd ports to the IQEye cameras, and for whatever reason, the camera utility (iqfinder) wouldn't actually display the port number, and wouldn't let me change the settings ... since I didn't know the port he had used, I had to use the hard button to do a factor reset on the camera, so I could then access it on the default port (80).

What are the odds that cameras have back doors by design or otherwise? Fairly high, I would guess. Best, Christopher Worst case, someone could view and maybe mess with the camera settings... won't give them access to anything else on your network.

Wow... I thought this stuff was supposed to kill IP by coming in at a price point equivalent to analog... I could put together an 8-channel Vigil NVR (not the cheapest) *and* eight cameras for that price!

A number of cameras have "flip" and/or "rotate" functions... what are you trying to accomplish?

Assuming both cameras' DVR channels are set for constant (rather than motion-triggered) recording... Most forms of video compression used for DVRs, use a method whereby they store one complete image (known as an I-frame), then store a series of images containing only what has changed from the previous image (B-frames or P-frames, depending on the compression used), before storing one complete frame again. If you have no movement in the frame, then you'll get the one large frame of video, followed by several small frames, then another large frame, and several more small ones, etc. etc. On the whole, that makes for fairly compact video files. On the other hand, if there's lots of movement, then the B- or P-frames will be much larger, as more has changed from one to the next. String them all together, and they result in a much larger file. Of course, if the DVR is set to use motion-triggered recording, then camera 1 simply isn't recording ANYTHING when there's no movement going on - which results in FAR less space being used - while camera 2 is consistently recording whenever there's movement.

FWIW, we used pretty much the same math for calculating SPL coverage/distance of speaker arrays, and particularly compression horns, when I took audio engineering courses. Inverse-square functions make it relatively simple to design an array to provide even-level sound coverage from a single point over a large area... much like the illuminators are doing with IR light. The funny thing is, we did our calculations using the regular inverse-square law, straight up... none of this reversing BS. That's the stupid thing about this: in order to get even illumination, they're USING the inverse-square law to design the illuminators - enclosure, reflectors, lenses, all of it factors in. Adding "reverse" on there is just pure marketing BS.