Soundy

Apparently nobody has anything negative to say about them either

This is my understanding of the conversation. I don't think he was questioning the reliability of all regulators, and I believe they use them in their designs. I think he was comparing the reliability of regulators that reduce the voltage by a modest margin versus those that reduce the voltage by a factor of eight and increase the current by a factor of six (my words, not his, but that was my understanding). Is there a difference in reliability of regulating a 7.5V@2A to 5V@2A versus a PoE splitter converting 44V@0.3A to 5V@2A? Put it this way: there SHOULDN'T be. As with anything else, it depends on the actual circuit design and construction, but there's no THEORETICAL reason one should be any more reliable than the other. A step-down circuit starts with something as simple as a voltage divider (two resistors); can be made more accurate by the simple addition of a zener diode, can be a complex IC like a 78xx, or even a fancy PWM switching supply. Now for example, the 78xx-series regulators are limited to 1A, and at the upper end of that, require a heat sink; running them full-out without a heat sink, or applying an extended overload without fuse protection, will lead to the chip burning out... this is a case of reliability being wholly a function of circuit design and component choice (if you're going to require >1A, use a different unit with the proper rating).

Good advice, musher There are very few questions that haven't already been asked here at least a half-dozen times.

Right, it's roughly a third of an amp at 44v. Some splitters deliver 10W at various voltages (e.g. 2A @ 5V). According to the tech at CAI, he was concerned about the reliability of low-cost dc-dc power devices. FWIW. Best, Christopher I'd be concerned about the reliability of low-cost DC-DC *step-up* devices... not so much about step-down, since it's so easy to do: the venerable 7812 1A 12VDC regulator IC can be had at a local retailer for $1.25 each, or in a 10-pack at 78c each ($7.80 for the 10-pack). I don't think anyone would consider the decades-old design "unreliable"

You don't have to match them; image sample resolution on a DVR has no direct correlation to camera sensor resolutions or "TV Lines" ratings.

Hi gabriella. Please remember to use the "New Post" button to start your own thread; the Reply button just tacks your post onto the end of an existing thread, and people may not see it there (I've split your two current posts into their own threads for you). As to your question... what do you mean by "sports cameras"??

Ubiquiti is way easier to pronounce...

little more involve then just "power regulator and voltage divider" think if u want to drop in your example 10-13 v ( 48-35) with current around 1 A then then divider has to withstand about 10 Watt and so on Granted, but nobody says it has to ONLY drop to 35V; that's just the maximum for most off-the-shelf regulator ICs. You could also use a divider to drop it BY 30V, down to 18, and then regulate it from there... or use a regulator with a higher input tolerance. Anyway, like I said, that's just a guess, because I haven't actually opened the receiver up to see what's in it. If you REALLY want to know the specifics, I can crack it open and take some pictures... BTW, 802.3af-2003 specs up to 15.4W per channel (minimum 44V @ 350mA), so a basic PoE supply wouldn't be giving you anywhere near 1A anyway.

I have a customer who uses these with Linksys WAPs on his sites: http://homesupport.cisco.com/en-us/wireless/lbc/WAPPOE The injector component includes a 48VDC power adapter and is fully 802.3af compliant. The receiver "extracts" that and regulates it down to 12VDC for the AP. I haven't taken the receiver apart (I just use the injector for a PoE camera now, and had to open it up to repair a flaky power connector), but I imagine it's a pretty simple design, extracting the 48V from pairs 4/5 and 7/8 and feeding it through a voltage divider and basic 2-3A regulator IC (I'm guessing there's a voltage divider in there since most off-the-shelf regulator ICs accept max 35V input).

That's because most DVD players will only play DVDs authored to the proper format, using MPEG2 compression. You still need to load the AVI into a DVD authoring program... like I already said.

You would first need to export or convert the files to a "common" format like AVI or WMV using the DVR's own client or player software... then use any standard DVD authoring software to create the DVD.

Try running a full Checkdisk/Scandisk on the data drive (be sure to check the "Attempt recovery of bad sectors" option - this will take some time), and then a defrag. It sounds like the system isn't keeping up with the cameras and so is randomly dropping them out... it may be caused by a failing drive, or just a badly cluttered one.

Only 65GB? How old is this system? It's possible it just can't handle the processing required for 12 cameras.

Yes, I got that from your FIRST post. Did you read my reply? AT ALL?

Be careful with this, now, because this is a function of the power supply itself, not the camera, and can vary from one to the next. I just recently had to rig up a power supply and the only one I had, had no barrel plug... so I found another barrel plug (recovered from a removed camera), and found that while the plug connected the white wire to the outside of the barrel, the power supply itself used the white-striped wire for positive (and the diagram on it showed it was originally a tip-positive unit). If you're splicing new barrels in, or snipping one off to just use the bare wires out of the wall-wart, always double-check polarity with your multimeter!

The PC wouldn't format it without your consent, but there is about a one-in-a-thousand chance it would be able to read it, either... and even if it could, chances are almost nil you'd be able to play the files.

/facepalm

If it works on the LAN but not from the internet, it's possible you don't have a port forwarded that the DVR requires - many use port 80 for an initial webserver connection, then use other data port(s) to communicate authentication, video, etc. As a quick test, you can try setting the DVR's IP as a DMZ (demilitarized zone) in your router - that will fully open it up to the internet. Try your remote connection and see if it works that way.

There is no written-in-stone power-jack standard for pretty much ANY electronics... but with 12V barrel connectors, the vast majority of cameras seem to use tip-positive configuration (offhand I can't think of a single exception that I've come across). I have seen ONE exception with some computer speakers I have, that use tip-negative... and I have an old Wacom drawing tablet that uses tip-negative (so old, it has a 9-pin serial connection). Most devices seem to be tip-positive though. There will usually be a diagram ON the device showing which polarity it uses.

Of course, if your insurance deductible is $1000, it doesn't make much sense to insure $500 cameras unless you reasonably expect a bunch of them to get taken... especially since your rates typically go up with any claim. But a $10,000 camera... oh yeah, it's worth it. But again, in something like this, once the equipment is installed, it would typically become the responsibility of the site to insure it (or more commonly, add it to their existing insurance). That's based on how things work here in Canada, anyway... other provinces, states, or countries, the rules will vary... and where your coverage stops and theirs takes over may vary depending on the insurer as well. Best to check it out with YOUR OWN broker and make sure of how far you're covered... and if a customer asks, as Rory insists they will, you'll know then what to tell them, about when they need to add things to their own coverage. No, I'm not an insurance expert, nor do I play one on TV... but I'm married to a commercial property and liability underwriter

Because we were talking about really f'ing expensive cameras, and rory asked (somewhat tongue in cheek, initially) about whether they were being insured against theft?

Maybe the stadium needs something along the lines of our "BarWatch" program here - where participating bars and clubs record a patron's ID along with snapping facial shots of them at entry. Imagine if your stadium ticket takers could snap the person's face at the same time they scanned his ticket (assuming they're using the spiffy little wireless ticket-barcode-scanner devices I see everywhere here)... if the ticket was bought with a credit or debit card, the purchase could be correlated to the seat number... so if, say, someone calls looking to contact Bob Smith in an emergency, his CC or debit information could be looked up, to see what seats he purchased, and his picture could then be pulled up... security staff would then find it a lot easier to scan the crowd for him, given a starting point and an idea of what he looks like.

Soundy who's responsibility to insure yours or customer ? Once it's installed and signed off, it's the customer's responsibility... same as any other on-site equipment. If your house burns down and destroys your TV... would Best Buy have to cover that? No... that sort of thing would be covered under your homeowner's or renter's insurance. I would hope everyone here has the appropriate insurance on their homes and shops, too... like if someone breaks into your office and steals a pallet loaded with equipment you're shipping to site the next day? Or if your shop burns down? (This happened to a subcontractor of ours once, BTW - arsonist burned down his garage with all the equipment he had for ours AND his own jobs... he wasn't insured...)

And I agree with Rory, BTW - anything worth that much should be covered by insurance. If not insured separately, it should at least have some sort of coverage under the building insurance - against fire, water damage, acts of God, etc., if not theft.

You would be better to simply double-up the wires (example: I'll usually use the green/white-green pair for ground or neutral, and orange/white-orange for positive/hot). As it is, the camera pair has to carry 1A and the heater pair only 500mA, so the camera will see greater voltage drop; doubled up, each conductor effectively carries 750mA... plus the full capacity is available to the camera when the heater isn't on. That depends on the camera - some handle voltage variations better than others. Sure, but if the voltage drop is near the limit of what the camera can handle, expect problems in less-than-ideal conditions. Pan, tilt and zoom operations all running simultaneously may be just enough draw to cause the camera to power-cycle. As the camera ages and the movement axes see more friction, the current demands could increase as well. Think of it as towing a 26' boat with a Kia - sure it will work, but expect to have issues real soon as you run everything right at the limit of its capability.