Soundy

I've had an IQ511 running off one of these for months.

The Linksys will power your camera without difficulty. When the question was asked regarding 12VDC, I inadvertently refered to the output of the Terminal unit. The Base unit, which is all omer needs, supplies 48 volts/400ma (over 19 watts excluding loss). More than enough to power any Class 0 thru 3 IP device. Using switches would be the way to go for multiple IP's but for 1 or 2 I prefer the injectors. I've also seen problems where some IP's act a little flaky when they receive PoE near the 100 meter limit and had to power them locally. As for reliability, we have several Mobotix on injectors that have been running for almost 2 years without a glitch. I have that same LinkSys setup, acquired from a customer that was upgrading their AP. The "base" unit (on the left) does indeed work fine to power a PoE camera, but the PoE IS only available on the port as shown. The power supply included is actually 48VDC output; the "receiver" unit steps it down to 12VDC on a standard barrel plug. Actually, the problem with that diagram is, the access point is NOT the same a router, and the network as shown is not actually connected to anything else. Where the camera is, should be a router or switch on the main network.

Matt, while I might agree with you, there are cameras out there that basically meet the specs for 720p and 1080p. The Honeywell HD3MDIP we are testing, as well as a number of others are 1280x720. In that respect they are 720p. Could they be hooked directly up to an HDTV? It would depend on the TV, but likely not in most cases. To qualify in that respect they would have to have either Component or HDMI outputs. None do that I know of. The Sanyo VCC-HD4000 has a HDMI output, as well as an analog output on BNC. I do still agree that using 720P and 1080P designations is mostly marketing hype, though.... That's my point. Most megapixel cameras may meet at least the RESOLUTION specs (if not the signal output specs), but many actually EXCEED those specs (1080p is, after all, ONLY 2MP, and 720p doesn't even qualify as megapixel). There's no point in LIMITING your camera designations by HDTV terminology, if not simply for marketing.

That phenomenon is known as "ghosting". It's a good indication of either cheap cable, or damaged cable, or possibly poor/incorrect termination. Baluns over the Cat5e wire should avoid that.

Providing the wires haven't been cut, you should have two connectors: a barrel-type power connector, and an RCA or BNC video-out connector... similar to this: In this picture, the connector on the right is power, and should work with any of a hundred standard 12VDC power adapters with a tip-positive output (note the "Polarity" diagram): The yellow connector is an RCA-type, like on a VCR, DVD player, etc. It can be connected to a video input (usually also a yellow jack) on most TVs. Alternately, it may have a female BNC connector - same video signal, just a "professional" locking-type connector: The designation "4-9mm" refers to the variable focal length of the lens, which relates to how wide or tight a shot it gets. 4mm would be a "wider" shot - larger area covered, less detail. 9mm is a "tighter" shot - smaller area covered, greater detail.

Why not just PoE cameras that do that themselves?

Applying "HDTV" terminology to megapixel cameras is, as far as I'm concerned, strictly a marketing thing. HDTV and related terms like 720p and 1080p are sexy terms that the average consumer can relate to. They know their 1080p LCD TV looks great compared to their old TV, so by extension, a 1080p camera must look a lot better than their old-style cameras. The connection between "analog" and "megapixel" isn't so readily clear.

I hope he's not billing you for all this time! It's possible he's getting firmware updates for the DVR, although those shouldn't be necessary for getting it installed and working - it can always be updated later. Ditto if he's downloading a remote client. As for the time it's taking, maybe he's on dialup? I'd ask him for specifics on what he's downloading that's taking so long... if it's the manual, RUN! (Edit: hmm, $600 for DVR *and* 8 cameras?? Yowtch... cheap cheap cheap).

All of these look like "dumb" units (ie. no intelligent processing like onboard RAID or anything, thus no actual firmware) so the only reason I could think of that any would have a drive size limitation is if the USB-to-SATA host controller it's using has a size limitation. Beyond that, it's possible that the ad copy is just so old, 1TB or 1.5TB was the largest drive available when it was written...

Could be that the DVR is set for 75-ohm termination on the lines, which is loading them too much and the signal is dropping out. The test monitor would more than likely be "Hi-Z" loading and therefor not causing the signal to drop.

Umm, so... are these just direct wires between sites, or are they going through a switching station (telco)? If the former, $25/mo seems a little... well frankly, like a rip-off. If that's the case, though, they're probably not using just baluns, but some specialized hardware for that purpose. If that's the case, going to a DSL link would allow you to add more cameras over a single connection.

I doubt it's a power-supply issue, or the cameras would be dropping out regardless of whether he's connected to the test monitor or the DVR. One way to double-check this, though, might be to use a T-connector to feed the camera to both the DVR and the monitor at the same time. If the cable resistance readings are too far out of line, it may indicate the need to re-pull those runs. This could be confirmed by just stringing the run across the floor and hooking it up, before pulling it through its final route. BTW, the test load doesn't HAVE to be 75 ohms; I suggested that only because 75-ohm terminators are relatively common. The impedence rating is nominal for design operating frequencies, but the cable should really have near-zero resistance at DC. Any size resistor will do; a multimeter should read within a couple ohms of the resistor's rating either way.

Not in the same price range with the same capabilities. Anything else close will probably cost at least twice as much.

If you can find one, pick up a 75-ohm terminator (or try just putting a 75-ohm resistor across the tip and shield of the BNC connector at the camera end). Then with an ohmeter/multimeter, measure the resistance across the tip and shield at the DVR end of the cable. You should get very close to 75 ohms (certainly within the 70-80 ohm range). Anything outside that will be an indication of a physical cabling problem.

Most of my systems are either on desks or shelves, or in cabinets, so the cables can just lay there and not put any extra weight on the breakouts. The couple of instances where they did hang down (DVR on a small desk or table), I just put a zip-tie saddle on the back of the table and zip-tied all the cables there with the ends right behind the DVR, so there's no weight pulling on the connectors.

As someone who's built a lot of things in those kind of project boxes, I'd say, it's definitely home-made. What do you need to know?

Yes, that should work.

Wow, so many questions, so little info. What DVR is this? Does it need the input to be "enabled" in the setup? Did your installer connect his monitor directly to the camera end, or at the DVR end of the cable? What type of cable is being used? How is it terminated? What happens if you plug into another input on the DVR? How many cameras are they? Are they all showing this problem, or is it just one? If just the one, have you tried swapping it with another one on the DVR?

Take a look at CNB's lineup (www.cnbtec.com). The VCM/VBM-24vf model is proving to be very popular on this forum for their excellent low-light capabilities. They won't see in complete darkness, but they do produce very good pictures with very little light, no need for IR. CNB also has some IR bullets that Rory seems impressed with, so you could look at those when you need to see in near-complete darkness. They do cost more than your eBay specials, but at this moment, they're far above most anything else in their price range, and measure up to many cameras that run two to three times the price.

^This. A 320GB drive can be had brand-new for under $50. For that matter, a 500GB can be had for under $60. Just get a dedicated drive for your video and be done with it. Add $20-$30 and get it in an external USB case. Just a thought though: you're "sharing" this video data drive, does that mean you're "sharing" the DVR computer as well? That's generally a bad idea; you typically want your DVR to run on its own dedicated machine, for a number of different reasons.

Can any one confirm that this is correct? If so, then Thank you! This was the answer I was looking for. I didn't even know there was an output relay on the camera. How come it is not really mentioned in detail in the manual? The relay itself may be optional... same with other features like built-in baluns, RS-485 control, etc.

1/4" vs. 1/3" refers to the size of the CCD sensor - a larger sensor will cover more of the image projected by the lens, which is why you see a wider angle. It's hard to tell much more about your problem without more information, especially on the cameras. Do they have any brand or model numbers on them (other than "Sony", which more likely refers to the sensor used rather than the make of camera; a LOT of cameras, including the very cheapest ones, use the same Sony sensors)? Are they dome style, bullet style, box style? What type/brand/length of lenses are on them? Fixed focal length, zoom, auto-iris?

See, this is just the kind of things I love about the CNB domes: it's like, they actually got installers' input on the physical designs, and used a little intelligence in them.

I think he meant more, how can he tell the system to only use 'X' amount of space and leave the rest free...

I can't speak for the CNB specifically, as I haven't used the motion-detect function in them, but the cameras I have played with it, it works much like a motion-detect area on the DVR, except it triggers an output relay on the camera, that you can then use to trigger a DVR to record (or whatever else you might want to trigger with it).