Soundy

Uhhh... so what are you going to run VLC on that you can carry up a ladder??

http://www.london.ca/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London,_Ontario http://www.londontourism.ca/

How about putting the recorder on a UPS (computers should be protected like that anyway), and power a few select cameras and lights on a battery system like those I suggested? They could run off the backed-up power supply or car-battery setup 24/7 and will simply keep going when the power goes out, while the others will shut off until power returns. Again, it seems wasteful to have a whole separate system with separate lights and cameras that will be used only very rarely for very short periods.

If I wanted to eliminate the use of a punchblock to demarc my "tie" cable and camera runs, could I just beanie-crimp the Video pairs in the 24VAC PSU enclosure assuming there's space in there or would that cause interference with the video signal? I have done that, it works just fine. This line in the features list: "- TDN(ICR)". The VF is a "true day/night" camera with a switchable IR cut filter - during the day, the camera operates in color mode and the filter is in place; below the defined light level, the filter moves out of the way and the camera switches to B&W mode. You'd use the VF anywhere you need better low-light performance. The VCM is a shallower dome with a small (3-1/8" diameter, 1-1/4" deep) protrusion out the back - these are the style we use most, and they flush-mount nicely in a tile or drywall ceiling with a 3-1/8" or 3-1/4" hole saw. The MuxLab balun should fit fine inside the back-box - we use these GEM baluns and they fit inside the CNB back-box. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell you if the baluns would fit inside the VBM models, as I haven't used that style. If there's ambient lighting, I'd stick with the VxM-24VF, as they do really well with very little light. I'm not a fan of built-in IR, as it's usually added to compensate for poor low-light performance. The V2815NVR is a case in point: according to your link, despite also being "true day/night", the 2815 has a low-lux rating of 0.3 color and 0.1 B&W, while the 24VF is rated for 0.1/0.01. Built-in IR has other problem all its own as well, such as a limited range where it provides good exposure - items too close is washed out, too far and it's ineffective. They absolutely can - we have several VCM models in outdoor weather, mounted directly to vertical walls or other surfaces. There are pendant mounts available, but I've never bothered.

I'm not quite clear here... so you have two separate camera/recorder systems, one that runs on 120VAC, and another 12V one that you want to kick in when the power goes out? Is there a specific reason for doing it this way, or is this just the way things have evolved? Two separate systems seems overly complicated and wasteful to me, especially if the 12V system will kick in only rarely - that's a lot of money (relatively) to put into something that will see only limited use. Personally, I'd go one of two (and a half) ways: 1. Put the 120V system on a UPS to keep it running when the power goes out (although this would require a fairly hefty UPS for 1-2 hours, depending on the number of components and their power draw). 2. Use an all-12VDC solution, running either: a. on a power supply with internal battery backup, like the Altronix shown above b. on a deep-cycle car battery with a smart trickle charger If power goes out regularly (I grew up in a rural area on a lake, I know how that can happen), I'd probably go with option 2. Option 1 is rather inefficient, especially since many standalone DVRs ultimately run on 12VDC anyway, and 12VDC cameras are cheap and plentiful - when on battery, you're basically stepping up 12VDC from the UPS's internal battery, to 120VAC, only for the cameras' and DVR's power adapters to drop it back down to 12VDC. That's a lot of wasted energy when you need to run it for a long period.

Plus, how many stores these days DON'T already have at least one PC? Throw the client software (or use the browser) on your paypoint or back-office system - no additional hardware needed. The lower-resolution "night" sensor also aids in low-light performance - as has been discussed here many times, the more pixels you put on a given chip size, the smaller those pixels get, and the lower their light-collecting ability. A 1.3MP sensor will give you better low-light capability than an otherwise-equivalent 3MP sensor.

This one: http://ca.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=BtksJTDENqfsnuyf In blue

Well, not inherently "worse". If your set automatically stretches 4:3 images to fill the screen, they'll look distorted, of course (most can be set to NOT stretch, instead leaving black bars on the left and right sides). It CAN look a lot worse on cheap sets that do poor stretching/upscaling.

I wouldn't worry so much about lower response times on these; you're not playing video games or watching sports. Worst case, there's a little motion-ghosting when something moves through quickly, but that's only on the display, it's not recorded that way.

Another option, if all the gear is 12V anyway, would be to simply run it all off a car battery (in a well-ventilated area, natch) and keep the battery topped up with a trickle charger, preferably the "smart" type.

How long does it have to run for? You could just plug the whole thing into a standard UPS (uninterruptable power supply, not the courier). Beyond that, something like this should do the trick: http://altronix.com/index.php?pid=2&model_num=AL1012ULXPD4CB

Next day? Really? From the UK to Canada? Wow.

Well, for a noob, you've done a great job of defining your goals without going overboard on the specs. Off to a good start! Something to keep in mind right off the hop here: quality PTZs WILL NOT be cheap, and are really mostly effective when someone is watching them. Any PTZ will only record what it's pointing at at that moment; you can't go back later and steer it around and zoom on on something that it didn't record. You probably already know this, but you'd be surprised (or maybe not) at how many people think you can actually do that, based on what they see in the movies If you DO need to record a large area and be able to zoom in on it later, consider a 3-5MP IP camera with a wide lens, and a hybrid DVR. With analog cameras, motion detection and "full motion" aren't really considerations - they simply send out constant 30/25 fps (NTSC/PAL, depening on where you live) video. Your "cons" aren't really cons. Whether you run UTP or siamese, you'll need to pull extra cables if you want to plan for future capacity or redundancy. Baluns do add cost, but consider the relative cost of Cat5e vs. Siamese, and it balances out pretty quickly. Also, there's no need to spend substantially more on "power-thru" baluns - if you're going to run power over the UTP, just use basic screw-terminal or tool-less video-only baluns, split out one pair for the video, then tie the other pairs to power manually. It's a little more effort, but they're a helluva lot cheaper, and every bit as effective. In other words, with the power-thru units, you're just paying extra for convenience... like going to 7-Eleven to pay $8 for that dozen-count bottle of Aspirin at 3am, instead of suffering until morning so you can get a 60-count bottle for the same $8 at the pharmacy This would probably be my choice... and again, your cons aren't really cons. First, there's added equipment, but there's also reduced cable cost - again, it balances out a lot quicker than you might think. You'd need only one cable run for all four video feeds, vs. four going the other two options (not counting redundancy/expansion/PTZ data/etc.) Second, the number of baluns doesn't change whether you use this option, or option B, so that's not really a "con" specific to option C. Third, as nice and tidy as punchblocks are, they really aren't necessary; standard twisting-the-wires-together-and-capping-them-with-a-beanie-crimp will do just fine... especially if budget is a concern. And if you do want things tidy eventually, the punchblocks are something that can always be added later. As far as power supplies, you're not going to pay substantially more for two four-channel units than you would for one eight-channel... and in fact, it could save money in the long run, because if you put a single 8-channel in the clubhouse, and later want to add cameras, the next step in most product lines is a 16-channel... while powering the shack cameras locally would mean you only need to upgrade one supply from a 4 to an 8 when the time comes. I would go 24VAC in all instances. For one, there's less voltage drop over longer/thinner runs. Second, 24VAC or 12/24 cameras don't have problems with ground loops when using baluns, the way cheap 12VDC-only cameras do (because these types typically have a shared ground between power and video - there are numerous threads on this issue). No; in fact, in some instances, I've found baluns over *station wire* (nevermind UTP) to provide cleaner picture than coax. YMMV, of course. We use a lot of GEM and GVI baluns - a lot cheaper than the "big" names like NVT and MuxLab, and work just as well. I recently bought one pair of each brand our distributor carries (all four listed above, including two different GEM models) and tested them through a still-coiled box of about 550' of Cat5e, using a 600TVL CNB Mona Lisa dome camera, and found little to no difference between the $13/pair GEM units, and the $40/each surge-protected NVTs. CNB all the way, especially where low light and day/night capabilities are needed. Bonus is that they're dual-voltage, so you can run 24VAC. I believe there's even a version with built-in baluns, which would save you on buying and installing one-half of your balun count. That, I can't help you with - we deal with strictly higher-end PC-based systems in the $3500+ range. No problem at all - it's a hulluva lot nicer than the typical "I need a system for my house, what should I get??" types we usually see In short, this is how I'd probably do it: - 8-channel 24VAC PSU at each location (let's just plan ahead for the power capacity, the price difference from four to eight channels shouldn't be much). - Four runs of Cat5e between clubhouse and shack - one for the three fixed cameras initially, one for the PTZ (video and data), and a couple spares/future. - Power supply located near the cable entry point to the shack; PSU proximity to splice point makes things easier. - Cat5e runs from there to each camera. My color code is typically blue pair for video, orange and green pairs for power, brown pair left for future use. Splices made with B-crimps. - Shack Cat5e runs in clubhouse pulled either direct to DVR location, or spliced again, but I'd run UTP right to the DVR and tied the baluns in right there where they connect. In the clubhouse, I'd do similar: Cat5e run to each camera, PSU placed near DVR. From there, it depends on the individual job... I've pulled them all inside the PSU box, split out a healthy amount of the blue pairs, then pulled a bundle of blue across to the DVR; I've pulled out by the DVR, split out the power pairs, and taken those as a bundle to the PSU box; I've extended the PSU runs using 18/2 (pain in the arse, BTW)... One thing, if you do plan to go to IP cameras in the future, you might want to pull something for power to each camera's location... or plan to use PoE. Note: you could also put the baluns right where the UTP enters each building, and extend to the DVR and cameras using coax or Siamese, but really, one of the benefits of using all UTP is that you reduce the amount of cable you need to stock, carry, and handle. Since we've been doing baluns and UTP almost exclusively, I almost never have to load any coax into my van, or pack it into a jobsite. I just carry four boxes of Cat5e, and that does for cameras AND network installs, and in a pinch, I can use it for intercoms and other utility purposes as well (although Station-Z wire is preferable for that, because it's a LOT cheaper - I do carry one or two boxes of that as my main "utility" wire). The 3M intercoms we use on fuel sites, for example, use two pairs for RS-485 communication, and one pair for audio, between their base unit and the desktop "selector" unit (keypad and mic)... where we previously had to pull a piece of station wire and a piece of 18/2 for that - resulting in ugly wiring on the desk - I now just use a nice clean-looking piece of Cat5e - orange and green for the RS-485, brown and blue pairs for the audio. All in all, very versatile stuff, that Cat5e Cat5e now costs us about the same as coax, but with coax, I also need something for power... and it's a damn sight cheaper than Siamese cable (which really, is nothing special, just separate coax and 18/2 cables joined by a web - again, it's a convenience more than anything).

^Looks like a zillion other generic eBay bundles.

Unless there's some burning NEED to use Win7 on this machine, stick to XP.

CNB does make PTZs too...

"Remember, Kyle, there are no stupid questions, only stupid people." (Bonus points: where is that quote from? ) There isn't a "special" kind of IR, per se, but there are different wavelengths; this camera's filter may be blocking the wavelength used by your existing illuminator. Can you remove it? Probably not, at least not without damaging something.

And if I open a camera, install it, and find it's DOA... then what do I do with it? With local distributors, I can drive half an hour, maybe an hour... exchange it... drive back... install the replacement... job done. Buying online, I have to box it up, ship it off, wait for the replacement anywhere from two days to two months, then return to the site to install the replacement. My time is worth more than the savings in most cases.

use the Mona Lisa, and if you find you need more light, add a separate IR illuminator.

We don't buy online; we prefer to support local companies who can provide better support. If I have a problem with hardware, I can just take it back and swap it on the spot, I don't have to ship it out and wait for a replacement to arrive. Plus, most of our suppliers have hot receptionists, so... yeah.

Correct. Correct. However, if your monitor has a higher physical pixel resolution than NTSC video (or worse, is a widescreen display), and doesn't have good upscaling, the picture could still look like crap (although probably not as bad as you're getting now). Composite in general, or just BNC? You can still find LCD monitors with one or more composite BNC inputs... but they tend to be specialized toward professional uses and thus more expensive. Consumer TVs have RCA inputs for connecting games, older DVD players and the like, but you'll pay more for the tuner and multiple other inputs.

That's one nice thing with my new ASUS netbook, the LED-backlit screen is insanely bright - it's even readable in direct sunlight.

Standard analog CCTV uses composite video, so if your monitor has a composite RCA input, you can just use a BNC-to-RCA adapter to feed that input:

That's a color camera... meaning it probably has an IR cut filter over the sensor. I would guess your other camera is a B&W model? Don't be fooled by the low lux rating either, B&W cameras typically work far better in low light than color. That rating is enabled by the "Sense Up" function, which slows the shutter speed down, leading to motion blur. You'll get exposure at that level, but with a ridiculously long shutter speed, enough that it probably won't be a usable image.

^^Saw a guy using one of those in a coffee shop the other day, that's a sick little toy! Although my new Asus netbook is pretty handy, too