Soundy

If you're testing on the BNC connector, keep in mind both sides of the signal are going through a matching transformer, and the coil adds a lot of DC resistance, which could easily prevent a simple continuity test from seeing a "connection".

This the one? I've used these quite often, they don't require any stripping of Cat5e wire. How are you testing continuity?

There you go, stating the obvious again... making us all look bad.

You have to make sure the match the camera ID number, for one thing. I assume you have BOTH camera and joystick using 9600 baud? TX+ on the joystick to RX+ on the camera; TX- to RX- ? Many cameras have an on-screen display when they start up, listing their various communication settings... look for that to confirm the camera's actual settings.

Yes, assuming the DVR has a composite spot output, splitting the signal CAN be as simple as one of these: However, depending on the DVR's output driver and the load the TVs put on it, this MAY result in washed-out, tearing, or otherwise poor picture. You can try it, as the T-connectors are cheap, but if the results aren't satisfactory, you'll need an active video splitter.

If you want a ready-to-go system without the need to build your own machine, take a look at Vigil (www.3xlogic.com). DVR/HDVR/NVR all use the same software, in the same interface, so there's no learning curve for users if you decide to start with an analog or hybrid setup and move to IP later. 3xLogic also sell Hikvision IP cams (under their own Vigil name) with a utility that makes for easy setup and configuration.

Perhaps the third camera needs a different driver? Does it work on its own, if you unplug the other two?

Probably not a NOTICEABLE difference. Of course, the lower quality your DVR and cameras, the less any deficiencies will be visible, as well.

If you can't access the file in Windows, then no software will help you - Windows still has to be able to see the file before the Windows software can do anything with it (caveat: unless the software itself has the ability to read the unknown filesystem, which I wouldn't expect to find in a low-end system like this).

That's a little over-generalized. The best way to test any camera is under the circumstances you plan to use it in. If I'm looking for the best camera to go inside a walk-in cooler, knowing how it performs in bright sunlight really won't be of any use to me. The lighting conditions inside a walk-in cooler don't usually differ much from one to the next.

Many RAID manufacturers specifically recommend against "green" drives, or limit them to "home" use. Comments on many forums indicate that they don't have sufficient sustained throughput for CCTV use. QNAP, for example, in their Drive Compatibility list (http://www.qnap.com/pro_compatibility.asp), states outright: Not Recommended Hard Drives Manufacturer Model Number Size (GB) Remark WD All WD20EADS except WD20EADS-00R6B0 2000 Slow Performance or Unstable WD All WD15EADS except WD15EADS-00R6B0 1500 Slow Performance or Unstable WD All WD10EADS except WD10EADS-00R6B0 1000 Slow Performance or Unstable You don't gain one thing (cooler operation, for example) without a trade-off somewhere else.

The software is probably limited to four channels...

Couple of current threads on this: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=22998&start=0 viewtopic.php?f=12&t=23024&hilit=evds

According to this lens calculator: http://www.isorainbow.com/lens_calc.htm For a 10' field of view at 65' you need about a 30mm lens on a 1/3" sensor, or 20mm on a 1/4" sensor. For a 25' wide view at 35', you'd need around a 6mm lens on a 1/3" sensor, to 8mm at 40'. For the latter, this camera would do nicely: http://www.cnbusa.com/en/html/product/product.php?seqx_prod=1073 We use these all the time; their low-light performance is outstanding. For the former, you could use the same camera, although it wouldn't give you a very tight view on the object (at 65' its 2.8-10.5mm lens would give you about a 30' wide field of view). Depending on what the object is, this may be preferable, as you could see anyone approaching it. For that, you could maybe use this: http://www.cnbusa.com/en/html/product/product.php?seqx_prod=1076 Uses the same sensor, so should give the same low-light performance, but will let you use a longer lens of your choice - this one would do: http://www.cnbusa.com/en/html/product/product.php?seqx_prod=952 The drawback to that camera is that you'd have to put it in some kind of sealed housing if you're mounting it outdoors.

We actually did a system in a similar site under similar circumstances a couple years ago. It's a crane company whose yard takes the better part of two square blocks, and they wanted perimeter coverage that would signal the alarm company if anyone breached the fences at night. We ended up putting three FLIR thermal-IR cameras and a Pelco Esprit PTZ on top of a 50' tower in the middle of the yard: the FLIRs feed a video analytics system that then outputs to a monitored alarm panel, and the monitoring office can then remote into the DVR and access the PTZ to see what's going on. The whole thing has been working pretty well for them. One quote they got from another company included something like 30 separate cameras ON the fence, watching along the fenceline. Now granted, this whole project probably ran them over $100k... it's a lot, but compare that to the value of what it's protecting... The irony is, they had a major theft just two days before we went live with the system: the thieves parked at the end of a road a half-block of grass field from their fenceline, crossed the field, cut through the fence, and made off with a substantial amount of tools, wire, and equipment. We have lovely video from the FLIRs showing their little white dots moving back and forth for a full 45 minutes, from the yard, through the fence, across the field, to their vehicle. The night watchman in another area of the yard a couple hundred meters away is also on camera through the whole process, sitting in his car, occasionally getting out, walking around the car, then getting back in, either not noticing, or just ignoring what was going on.

Besides the cost, the big problem with auto-tracking cameras is that they can still only track one object at a time... and without some advanced analytics and lots of time programming them (at even more cost), they have no way to really know which object is more important to track. It could lock onto someone walking past and follow them one way across the scene, while someone else is sneaking in the other direction, out of the camera's view. Or it could switch and lock onto the second person and follow them back the other way, while the first person sneaks in.

IQEye cameras will do exactly this. I just tested it with an IQ511, but the day/night models like the IQ753 should work pretty much the same: it can FTP images on motion trigger, or on a pre-set schedule. It provides a number of variables that allow you to define the folder and file names used; default is /cameraname/date/time_imagename.jpg These settings upload an image every 15 minutes... check them out at http://www.moltenimage.com/IQEYE030D8E/ They're IP cameras, so there's no hardware needed... the catch is, they're not exactly cheap...

IQ cameras will send images via ftp and/or email as well.

If it's not already formatted with a filesystem supported by the DVR, it would have to. That said, even a Linux system should recognize FAT32... SHOULD (the DVR may not actually be Linux-based either). The Windows machine should also default to FAT32 when formatting the drive; it would have to be specifically told to use NTFS. There are a number of Windows utilities out there that will show you what the filesystem is on the drive, even if Windows itself won't recognize it. Try UFS Explorer, for example: http://www.ufsexplorer.com/ Edit: in fact, UFS Explorer Standard Access may allow you to actually access and copy the files: http://www.ufsexplorer.com/download_std.php That said, even if you do manage to access the flash drive and get the files off it, you still may not be able to play them.

Geez... I would have expected better pics of them from 17 different cameras... Yet another clip to help me sell megapixel cameras " title="Applause" /> Follow it up with some of the clips here: http://www.youtube.com/user/3xLOGICvideo

RAID5 won't increase your read/write performance anyway, because the controller (software or hardware) still has to maintain the parity information. The point of RAID5 is data integrity/reliability.

The DVR is probably Linux-based and its hard drive formatted with the ext3 filesystem, which Windows won't recognize (Windows only supports FAT/FAT32 and NTFS without add-ons). I wouldn't be surprised if it's formatting the USB drive with ext3 as well. This means you'll only be able to view/playback the saved video ON the DVR (unless you have a PC with Linux sitting around). The "PC Viewer" software is probably meant only for network viewing... in which case, you'll need to hook both up to the network, access the DVR from your PC using that software, and export the video from there.

Yeah, I dunno why they have that limitation... kinda silly.

Welcome to the world of professional equipment! 24VAC supplies tend to be cheaper, as Bean notes, because they require no more than a transformer to step down the line voltage. 12VDC supplies either add a rectifier and filter to the step-down transformer (to convert the transformer's AC output to DC), and sometimes a regulator, or use a PWM module to step the line voltage down and output DC. 24V does suffer less loss over long distances, however with sufficiently sized wire, this won't be an issue in probably 99% of DIY installs. There are still a few cameras around (mostly higher-grade ones) that will operate on 24VAC only, but most newer ones accept dual-voltage input, like the CNBs. Cat5 will work fine for 12V in most circumstances - see my reply to Bean00.

This is why you double- or triple-up the wires in the Cat5. I normally use the blue pair for video, the orange and green pairs for power (orange and orange/white for 'AC hot' or 'DC+', green and green/white for 'AC neutral' or 'DC-' or ground), and leave brown as a spare. Two 24awg wires together give you the equivalent of about 21awg; three are equivalent to 18awg. This one's even better for calculating for Cat5: http://www.netkrom.com/voltage_loss_over_cat5_calculator.html