Soundy

What is the point of this hight strip camera. you need the hight in the image. why not have a normal hight strip and a good camera looking at the door way You won't get accurate with a "regular" setup anyway, unless the camera is at the 5-6' level and the subject is standing right beside the strip - perspective throws everything out of whack. The idea with these cameras isn't to get a person's height... it's the have a covert camera that gets a picture when the person is on the way out. Quite often, if a "perp" knows there's an ID cam on the door, he'll hide his face by wearing a hat or keeping his head down. Most won't expect a camera looking back at them on the way out, and being at or just below eye level, it's harder to hide one's face without bumping into things. An added bonus with these is that there's generally no backlighting problem, as is common with cameras pointed at an outside door. The models I've seen (no manufacturer name, sorry - they were prototypes) were in an angled casing that gave counter staff a better straight-on view of the strip itself, compared to a sticker on a standard door jamb.

\ Vigil and Video Insight cards have composite out - older ones have an output that can have one of the analog inputs, or a sequence of them, routed to it; newer ones have a software multiplexor as well (two separate outputs). I installed a number of cheap-cheap standalone DVRs for a sub-job a couple years ago, they all had composite out... SOME models had a VGA out as well, but that was just provided by a separate internal VGA card that just converted the composite signal. Many (most?) TVs with component input will accept RGB in addition to Pb/Pr/Y on their component inputs... a VGA-to-BNC/RCA cable will provide that from any VGA or DVI-A video card, doesn't need to be PCIe. My old AGP Radeon 9800 All-in-Wonder card has component output in addition to DVI-A.

Hey bantham1, sorry, I haven't had a chance to get back to the site yet, and my remote access isn't working. I'll get them though!

Pelco Spectra series have always been solid performers. You might be able to find a used Spectra III for a good price on fleabay. We've also use Capture Fastrax domes on a lot of sites and found them to be excellent (avoid the Minitrax mini-domes though).

The quality is also terrible compared to a proper VGA signal into a VGA monitor.

Your a Mac, aren't you? Heheheh, nope Camera TVL has *NO* relationship to DVR FPS limitations. None, nada, zilch, zero. Some systems do have an interdependence between CAPTURE resolution and framerate, but that's not at all connected to camera resolution. That should include the software for that price, I would hope... as Rory notes, the cards are largely commodity items; it's the software you're paying for. Do keep in mind, when you're watching over a remote connection, and particularly a phone connection, you probably would never notice the difference between 60 and 120fps total - bandwidth is a much tighter bottleneck.

Noted... my bad.

I've been dealing mostly with Vigil for years (and a bit of Video Insight)... we recently took on a client that had mostly GV, started replacing them with Vigils... don't even get me started on the things about GV that drive me nuts The answer is a definite, "it depends." The GeoVision software, AFAIK, will only work with GeoVision-branded cards. Ditto with Video Insight. In most of these cases, the cards' firmware is "branded" for the integrator, and the software is coded to look for that branding, and simply report that there's no supported hardware if it doesn't find it. Vigil software, on the other hand, will AFAIK work with any cards that use a supported chipset - case in point, I had a Vigil system with a 60fps card that died, so I pulled the 60fps card out of a Video Insight box (both use the same ComArt chips), plugged it into the Vigil machine, and was back up and running in minutes. The same software can also be installed without capture-card drivers, and simply run as an NVR. I don't know about "most". Rory notes that GV requires an add-on card for it. Vigil and VI both have it built-in - older cards simply route a selected input back to an output jack (both packages support sequence switching). Newer Vigil and VI cards have both the same switched analog output, and a built-in "software MUX" output that will generate a split-screen display, even allowing you to mix analog and IP cameras. "Stable" and "constantly updated" are usually mutually exclusive. That will narrow the list substantially - the vast majority, IF they have a web client, use ActiveX... that eliminates iPhone viewing right off. Video Insight, however, DOES have a very good web client that doesn't use ActiveX or Java - take a look at www.demoip.com (there a mobile-optimized version as well, but I don't have the link handy).

BTW, btown, have you tried contacting Sanyo for a manual?

Um, guys... Port forwarding doesn't (or shouldn't) come into play here - you shouldn't have to do anything with the router. Btown, the first thing you need to do is make sure the DVR has an appropriate IP address - if the it wasn't already plugged into the network, chances are it's never been properly configured for the network. If it's set to use DHCP, it should get an IP from the router. If not, you'll have to configure one on the same subnet as the attached PC. Of course, this will mean using the same crappy monitor to navigate the DVR's menus, so you may need to upgrade the monitor just to do that (or at least plug in a better one temporarily). The software will then have to be configured with the DVR's IP address.

See my reply over here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=20134

What's your budget? From my own experience, I can recommend Vigil or VideoInsight as having solid hardware (both use the same card) and excellent software. They're not cheap, especially compared to eBay junk, but in this business, you really do get what you pay for. Many others here will recommend GeoVision as well - I don't like them, personally, but they're pretty popular for the mid-level systems.

Actually, it refers to the way two normally separate cables are joined into one. Think "Siamese twins".

Welcome!

Even at 100'/30m you should only see about .3V drop, so you're probably okay, depending on how sensitive the cameras are to under-voltage. Three pairs of Cat5 is about the equivalent of 18ga.

Crown is the most common name in PZMs. Radio Shack used to carry one that was basically a re-branded Crown, dunno if they do anymore. We have a pair in our studio, they make stellar overhead mics for drums. Any pro-audio shop should be able to help you out with this. For a small mixer, take a look at Alesis or Behringer.

Umm, first we need to know if your DVR uses a composite or VGA monitor...

Maximum run will vary a little bit depending on the ACTUAL output voltage of the power supply - a non-regulated supply will realistically be producing something in the 16.5VDC range, which at 300ft/100m will give you a little over 1V of loss.

You may not NEED the heater for the DC area, but heaters do not and cannot CAUSE moisture.

First thing is to look for and seal any other places moisture may be getting in - possibly through a mounting point or fitting. If you're punching through a wall directly to the warm inside air, it's also likely that that warm, moist air is getting inside the dome. Once you know all possible leaks are sealed, open the camera up on a DRY day (and I mean DRY) and allow it to air out as much as possible... then reassemble it with a small desiccant pack inside (you know, those little baggies of silica beads that come packed with most electronics - those are designed to absorb several times their own weight in water).

Just about every new machine I see listed only has the 64-bit version if it also has 4GB or more of RAM; less than that, they include 32-bit. For most people, there's currently no real benefit to running 64-bit Windows except to make use of more than 3.5GB or so of RAM.

Is there some reason you think you NEED to use a 64-bit OS?

I'll second the recommendation for a PZM mic in this situation - they have excellent omnidirectional pickup, inherently tend to reduce echo, and don't suffer at all from proximity effect. Placed in the middle of the ceiling, it should pick up room sounds nicely without getting any direct noise from ceiling air vents or buzzing lights. For monitoring, you just need to run it into a very basic mixer. Anything from Radio Shack should suffice, although you can do better at a pro-sound supplier. For the camera, hardwired is correct again, you don't need high-quality video for this, so anything in a "nanny cam" type idea should do fine. Covert cameras can be had built into clocks, toys, computer speakers, smoke detectors, alarm sensors... just about anything you can imagine can have a camera hidden in it. That said, you could also go with just a simple, small, low-profile dome in a far corner of the room - there's really no need for this camera to be HIDDEN, you just want it inconspicuous... that just means you don't want a big obvious box with monster lens pointing right at the subjects. Something like a Pelco IS90 flush-mounted in the ceiling is discrete and unobtrusive: (just for scale, the white ring is a little bigger than a CD - the smoked dome would look even better in your case, but I can't find a good picture of that).

Agreed there... especially since IP was noted (at least here) as a future consideration and the request was supposedly for them to cable with UTP for the analog cameras in preparation for upgrading to IP later. Assuming MiamiRob presented it to them as such, this would indicate that they're not really listening to the customer's desires/requirements and just trying to throw out whatever they can to appease him. In other words, they appear to be operating on the "if you can't dazzle them with brilliance..." model.

Not sure I understand the question. The camera is located at my residence in Canada but it is being recorded on my NUUO NVR back at my office in the U.S. He's asking why you can't record it locally (at your residence) and then just playback the video from remote when you need to.