Soundy

6dB is a halving of the signal. You'll get that if you're splitting it to two loads.... you shouldn't get that from simply inserting a barrel.

You can't fault "software motion detection" entirely - different DVRs implement it differently with different degrees of accuracy and different levels of "adjustability". Some now include video analytics, which does require more setup, but is far more precise: for example, it lets you pre-define the sizes of people, animals, vehicles, etc., and will let you define directions of motion, so for example, an alarm could trip when a person enters the yard but not when they leave it, or trips when a person hangs around in front of the gate for more than 30 seconds... or whatever.

Seconded - that camera's not worth more than about $10

Well, if you only want sub-$200 cameras, then you won't care that the IQEyes use http://cameraip/now.jpg

rise, I get "Link appears to be broken" on the second link in each post.

I'd think that would point to a problem (or incorrect setting) with the viewing software - if the video is still being recorded at full resolution, then the live-view software may be downscaling it. Or, do these encoders do dual-stream? If so, the viewer may be using the sub-stream.

Two important things to remember: 1. NEVER cross the streams! 2. There's always room for Jello.

Just remember, it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you!

It depends on the camera, there are numerous different ways it's implemented, although from my limited experience with Arecont, I'd say they probably don't (hence the shims). Best way to find out is RTFM - Read The Fine Manual. Honestly, from my experience, Areconts are a marvel of half-arsed engineering... it's almost as if every separate piece is designed by a different engineer and none of them ever talk to each other; they just make their piece and then pass the camera on to the next guy with no documentation. Hmm, come to think of it... I don't know about your models specifically, but in the 3155DN domes I've used, the backfocus (the distance between the back of the lens and the sensor) can be adjusted by turning the ring that the lens actually mounts to - you have to use one of the supplied Allen keys (of the three, since they apparently couldn't standardize on one size) to loose the three screws (two of which are on odd angles and not easy to find) so you can turn the ring to move it closer to or further from the sensor.

All the Areconts I've dealt with come with thin "shim" rings that you put between the lens and the camera body to space them out. Why they couldn't just make the lens mount itself a little deeper is beyond me... You could check to see if those cameras have a backfocus adjustment (lets you adjust the position of the sensor).

Those don't look too bad, aside from the low resolution. You'd probably be a lot better if you could record at 4CIF or D1 (four times the resolution there). Other than that, you won't likely find cameras that are any better for under $100. Probably have to go to $200+ to get a significant improvement.

I think I'll have to talk to CNB about commissions...

A 24V, 20VA transformer will do just fine. I think hardwired nailed your problem: if the original transformer was a non-regulated type kicking out 17V at the source and dropping to 13V at the camera, then a regulated 12V supply would be dropping to probably 8V at the camera, maybe even lower with the greater current draw.

In addition to indoor or outdoor, other important questions are: What lighting conditions will this have to operate under? How fast will the subjects be moving? What's your budget? Does it matter whether it's analog or IP, or will either do? If IP, what DVR/NVR are you using (compatibility may be an issue)?

The only place scratches matter is directly in front of the lens - you can scratch the living $#!t out of the rest of the dome and it really won't matter. If the scratch DOES end up directly in line with your lens, remember that almost all designs will allow you to rotate the dome in one or more ways. Other than that, when you unpack the camera, remove the dome completely and put it back in the packaging until the install is done.

Check my pictures in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=20048

There's no point in dumping your money into a good GPU if the DVR software can't take advantage of it. Photoshop is designed to take full advantage of things like multiple CPU, multiple cores, and advanced GPUs to aid its processing; your average DVR software is not.

Actually, as far as I can tell from CNB's spec sheets, the ONLY difference between the VBM- and VCM- models is the mounting styles (VCM can be flush-mounted with a slightly lower profile, or using a supplied back-box), while the only difference between the VxM-2xVF and VxM-2xVD is that the VF model has "true day/night" (aka ICR aka "removable IR-cut filter) while the VD versions don't. Everything else specs-wise looks the same.

You'll have a hard time finding one that ships without a hard drive, but if you're looking to cut costs, you might go with one with the smallest available drive, and then swap in the one you have...

What are you recording to if there's no optical or hard disk drives??

My first hunch, assuming all the communication parameters are correct, would be to simply type the control codes into HyperTerm (make sure it's showing you're connected). If that doesn't work, you could try something like Comm Operator Pal (http://serialporttool.com/products.htm) to build a complete command set as shown in the DVR manual (FFC0??727F for "STOP" command, for example... the ?? I would assume is the ID number of the DVR, which would be set in the DVR menus).

I'd probably go with the option that best fits the budget and has the features I need, and not be so concerned with image quality. You're not recording the video, you don't need it for forensic identification or anything, so super-high quality isn't really a concern. You say you have good lighting, so low-light or day/night performance shouldn't be an issue. PTZ is a neat toy, but maybe not something you want either, as you don't need one clown deciding to drive the camera around while everyone else is watching something different... unless it's a feature you can lock out with user permissions. Just another thought too, you might want to consider recording anyway, just so the actors can go back and watch their performances, whether to look for places to improve, or just for their own vanity.

PoE is an established standard (IEEE 802.3af). Anything that says it supports PoE *should* (unless they're fudging it) work with any PoE power source, be it a switch or individual injector.

Hmm, that is somewhat vague. What sort of cable are you using to connect the two? If the DVR has a male port (same as on your PC), you may need a NULL MODEM cable. If it's a female port, a straight-through serial cable should work, or you can wire your own - connect pin 3 (TX) on your computer's serial port to pin 2 (RX) on the DVR, and wire pin 5 to pin 5. That SHOULD be all that's necessary. At that point, you should be able to fire up HyperTerm or whatever other terminal software you want, to send the commands.

CPU and RAM upgrades would make the bigger difference. The video card doesn't need to be anything special, as it doesn't do any processing outside its own display. Most machines we build, we just use the onboard video chipset.