Soundy

Welcome aboard!

"Quality" color cameras normally filter IR light, as it can adversely affect exposure and color balance. "True day/night" cameras can move the filter out of the way when they switch to "night" mode, as they then operate in B&W and color balance isn't an issue; instead, they benefit from the additional long-spectrum light collected. Most "pro-grade" PTZs have "true day/night" functionality, so you'd be good to go for future night use already. For the design you want, I would suggest taking a look at the Pelco Esprit line - it's a pedestal-mounted high-speed housing with a standard C/CS-lens-mount camera inside with a range of lens options available. We have one atop a 50' tower in direct weather and it's been running perfectly for years. The front glass is shielded by a small overhang/sun-shield, which should nicely protect it from the birds, and it is available with a wiper as well.

I thought I was wrong once, but it turned out I was mistaken.

...waiting for the sales pitch and link to some cheap junk from some fleaBay store...

And if that's the question... then whether there are "rules" would depend a lot as well... on the location, on the industry, etc. Some industries (casinos, for example) may have their own rules; most probably don't.

This question makes no sense. Ratio of what? Number of cameras? Distance from cameras? Type of cameras?

This... or any of a dozen variations on the idea: Actually, the best one I have, instead of standard off-the-shelf LEDs with a reflector behind them, has seven tiny "chip" LEDs, each in its own parabolic reflector, for really good throw... and it only cost $5 in a clearance store. Downside is, the whole thing is made of really cheap plastic and is currently held together with several layers of PVC tape. No kind of name anywhere on it, either, so I can't find an exact replacement. My other best fried is one similar to this: Wraps around girders, sprinkler pipes... my arm... hooks into the front of my shirt... magnetic feet allow me to stick it to the side of a computer case, or even inside a computer. Insanely useful. Regular flashlights are so... inflexible

Second this... with the added benefit that if you separate your remote access from your camera network, your VNC connection should be smoother. BTW, for a VNC app, I highly recommend UltraVNC along with their "mirror driver", which SUBSTANTIALLY improves the speed of live video over the remote connection. Thanks for the comments. I'll have to look into the mirror driver not sure what that is. If you install the latest version of UVNC, it gives the option to download and install it as part of the UVNC installation. If not, you can just download it from the website. It installs on the server side and the benefits can be seen with any VNC client (we have one client who uses UVNC on their DVRs and RealVNC client on his office desktop). I'm talking about having the cameras and the remote connection on two separate NICs... hence, this would be a beneficial side-effect to adding a gigabit NIC to the machine: you could connect the cameras to that, and the existing built-in NIC to the rest of your network.

Must be a redhead. Voice of experience? Damn straight.

Must be a redhead.

As I said in another thread, running high and low voltage in the some conduit is contrary to pretty much every electrical code in the Western world. DON'T DO IT. These cameras, from what I can find, are IP cameras that support Power-over-Ethernet, so go that way and avoid a bunch of hassle. If you have eight or fewer cameras, use a Cisco SFE-1000P switch - eight 10/100 PoE ports and two gigabit ports for the DVR/NVR (and NAS if required). If you really want to run power separately, run some 18/2 or 16/2 through the conduit and power them with 24VAC (you'll see too much voltage drop at 12V). If you absolutely MUST run 120VAC to the cameras, put it in a separate conduit from the low-voltage.

How big is this grocery store? Are you sure you really need **50** cameras??

Second this... with the added benefit that if you separate your remote access from your camera network, your VNC connection should be smoother. BTW, for a VNC app, I highly recommend UltraVNC along with their "mirror driver", which SUBSTANTIALLY improves the speed of live video over the remote connection.

If you already have a substantial network in place, that's a good argument for going with IP cameras, and using existing infrastructure.

It's impossible to say for sure which wire is which without testing the cameras, but at an educated guess, I'd say the yellow is video signal, and red is +12V. The bare wire would be a common ground for both. Normally I'd say any camera that uses and all-in-one cable like that is probably not worth more than $20 and you're probably better off just replacing them, but from what I can find on that model, they DO appear to be true-day/night models, which makes them worth a bit more (although I wouldn't pay the almost-100-pounds I found them listed for).

Not necessarily. One of the "stats" passed by a DHCP server is a "lease time" - that's the amount of time that an IP is granted to a host. As long as the host renews the lease within that time, it should always get the same IP back. With our cable provider here, the lease time is 7 days. With some DSL providers I've seen, it's an hour. You'd need to check your own setup to confirm what your ISP gives you.

I doubt you'd even need 1/10,000 - that's fast enough to freeze helicopter rotor blades in action. I don't know what you're trying to capture, but I'd be surprised if you need to go over 1/250 for ANYTHING you could capture in an underground parking lot.

You've pretty much covered it all. The other issue is the unsuspecting installer that will inherit this mess might get bit by 120v when thinking they only have low voltage lines in the conduit. Then again, a good installer never assumes anything and uses caution before they test for voltage. Too many weird oddities out in the field. This is too true! Like the PTZ I took down a while back that had 120VAC running to it through BELL WIRE... and that wiring had a marretted splice laying in a water-filled gutter, too.

High- and low-voltage wiring is never allowed in the same conduit... and it's just not a good idea. Imagine, for example, if ground vibrations caused the insulation to wear through both wires, allowing the 'hot' lead of the AC to contact a lead of the low-voltage, thereby frying your DVR *and* your camera... Now picture the same thing happening with a phone line... or a life-safety system like a fire alarm... that's a big part of why it's forbidden in electrical codes. That aside... since the two wires will be laying side-by-side in the pipe, running parallel the entire distance, probably even wrapped around each other... the interference will go up as the current draw goes up, and would probably become visible by the time you're pulling 1A. If you're running new conduit anyway, just do it right the first time and put two separate pipes, separated by AT LEAST 6". It's very little extra work and expense, and you simply avoid any potential issues right from the start.

Probably won't cause an issue unless you put a heavy load on the outlet... however, I can guarantee it contravenes pretty much every electrical code in the Western world.

This is an interesting concept. We have one customer who have GPS trackers in their trucks, that display the truck positions on a map on a huge plasma screen in their dispatch center... wonder if I could sell them on such a setup? Would any of these systems allow me to receive the video into their existing DVR in their head office? Their dispatchers already use remote viewing on the DVR to check their yards for truck and personnel locations, it would be really slick to add truck video in there as well.

There's an old adage: you get what you pay for. Nowhere does this apply as consistently as in the CCTV business.

You generally have to have four things right for PTZ control to work: 1. PTZ protocol. If your camera and controller aren't the same brand, Pelco D or P are as close to a "universal" protocol as you'll find. 2. Comm parameters. Not just baud rate, but data bit/stop bit/parity (usually 8N1... but not always!) 3. Correct wiring. TX/TD/SD on the controller, RX/RD on the camera, and make sure the polarity is correct! RS-422 connections are often labeled "A" and "B" rather than "-" and "+" - make sure they're the right way around ("B" is generally "+"). Sometimes it helps to hot-swap the wiring - connect it one way, power everything up, then switch the polarity *without* powering off! 4. Camera ID. Often overlooked - your controller must be set to the same ID or address as the camera. Most cameras will display protocol, comm info, and ID/address onscreen when you power them up. For testing that your controller is sending data, try hooking it up to a serial port on your computer (use a serial-to-USB adapter if necessary), then fire up a terminal app (HyperTerm or PuTTY), point it to that port with the same comm settings, and put the connection "online". You should see data streaming in as you move the controller around. Conversely, you can use software like PTZ Controller (www.serialporttool.com) to attempt to control the PTZ, to confirm whether your controller is the problem.

That is also possible, depending on the controller (keyboard or DVR). Some can accept alarm inputs and trigger multiple presets from them. Again, it's mostly a matter of cost...