Soundy

Yeah, the backbox doesn't seal watertight to the main part of the enclosure, but the main dome itself is sealed. And yes, that is the CW484 dome.

Anyone who has a central login setup for webcams would already have such a system in place.

Hah... Niiiiiice doggie... He is nice, sleeps strange: What, does he think he's a cat or something??

Okay, got a couple of my own. Recently added some cameras to a fuel cardlock. We put an IQ511 in an EH3508 housing watching a fenced compound, and a WV-CW484 dome watching about the same area (don't ask, it wasn't my idea). Here are the comparisons (you can see the dome in the IQ's frame). Note that the night shots were grabbed just after installation was complete, before any image/setup adjustments were done. 484s recorded at 704x480; IQ511s are 1.3MP so you'll have to click to view them full-size.

Wiring AND wireless range could be an issue in a house that size, especially if time is a factor (wiring can take plenty of it). In that case, you may want to consider cameras with built-in recording to SD card. Mobotix and IQEye make some great megapixel models, but they're hella pricey (that might not be a big concern to someone with a 7600sq. ft. house!). Another one I've dealt with is MemoCam - they make covert cameras built into things like motion detectors, clocks, etc. The big advantage to something like this, of course, is that it can be installed and start recording immediately, no DVR or wiring required.

^Those are great too. I have something similar for Cat5 testing. The terminator is just a quick and dirty way to check whether a cable is working or not, and 95% of the time it suffices for coax Come to think if it, the Cat5 tester IS a CCTV testing tool, for my purposes, since it's used almost entirely with IP camera wiring I have this one (the full TP607 kit, with 8 termination modules): http://www.jdsu.com/products/communications-test-measurement/products/a-z-product-list/lanroamerpro-cable-tester.html

They look like this: All it does is place a 75-ohm resistor across the pin and shield of the connector. Put that on one end, meter the other end - you should see ~75 ohms. See infinite - it's open (broken wire or connector). See 0 ohms, it's shorted.

BTW, have you considered something like this? http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/4/Auto/CarAudioVideo/InCarVideo/PRD~0352518P/3.5%252BBack-Up%252BCamera.jsp For CDN$150 (be around US$125) the package includes the monitor, transmits wirelessly, and best of all, you don't have to buy from a shady eBay seller. (If you're not in Canada, these guys will ship... but you can probably find a local retailer at most larger auto parts stores in the US... if not the likes of Walmart or Costco). Edit: in fact, Walmart lists a couple different cameras, including one starting at <$35: http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_query=camera&search_constraint=0&tc=0&ic=48_0&ref=+125875.126086&tab_value=1889_All

Personally, I'd go with a B&W camera and NO LEDs. 1. B&W *in general* gives better low-light imaging than color. 2. Obstacles will show up just well in B&W as in color. 3. You can buy a much better B&W camera for the same price as a cheap color cam. 4. If your backup lights are working, you shouldn't need extra illumination anyway.

Portable DVD player. $30 off Craigslist, works as both monitor and signal source. Multimeter and 75 ohm terminator is handy for testing some coax problems.

All I can say is, you get what you pay for. Nowhere is this as true as in the CCTV biz.

"LED" TVs still use LCD panels to create the display... they just use white LEDs for the backlight, instead of the standard fluorescent tubes. The "problem" that creates the "silvery" appearance still exists, but some designs get around it by turning off the LEDs where they're not needed. I don't know if that's something you'll find in any but the high-end HDTVs, though...

Nevermind folding knives, that would apply to pretty much any contractor's utility or carpet knife...

I was just questioning the implication that the RS-485 board was *required* for GV to control PTZs... that seemed rather bush-league to me. Good to hear it's not the case...

What a load of GARBAGE. That's kinda harsh - he DID specify, "that I know of".

Oh I know, but it's gotten beyond that and into "Oo, it would be nice if it did this and that..." I'm all for that, just saying it might be better served in its own thread. This one isn't for wish-fulfillment, this one is "what features ALREADY EXIST that you like?" Following that up, if the OP, as a manufacturer representative, were to actually start a "wish list" thread... and then have some of that feedback actually make it into the design and manufacturing chain... that would be a rare thing indeed! Not unheard-of, but rare... that would be a selling point in itself - a manufacturer that actually openly solicits public suggestions, and responds to them publicly. Many do say, "email us your ideas!" and then respond with a boilerplate "thanks, we'll keep it in mind", but actual open interaction with them would be a wonderful thing.

It doesn't have to, RS-232 is what's spoken by the serial port. Point is, chances are very good that if GV can drive cameras out the serial port, the RS232/485 converter board isn't necessary - such a board would only be required if the camera doesn't accept RS-232.

I was more referring to the fact that the thread was turning into more of a "wish list". All important discussions, but getting off-track for this thread, and really probably deserving of their own threads.

It does use the serial port in ADDITION to the IO card. (At least mine does). PC serial ports speak RS-232, PTZs speak RS-484. That would be RS-485... and not all PTZs are limited to it. I've only ever run across ONE PTZ that would ONLY work with RS-485 - all the others so far work just fine with a direct RS-232 connection.

Usually because answering the more "general" threads requires a lot more typing, and thus a lot more thinking. That can be straining for most of us! Heheheh, another forum I'm on, oriented primarily to the "performance import car" market in BC, has a "Police Forum" where actual police officers participate... some questions are SO commonly repeated (like "I didn't sign my ticket, is it still valid?", which comes up at least weekly), and the cops got so tired of telling people to use Search first, that they actually came up with a custom emoticon for it: Sad fact is, stickies and FAQs and search are seldom the first tools used... they're more often something that's referred or linked to once someone has asked the same old question AGAIN...

Actually, there is no one answer to that question. How do you define "best"? Best for what? Best to whom? No single machine does everything. Only you can determine which is best FOR YOU. You mean, like in cable TV? I've never ever seen one that has that capability built-in. Main reason is probably because there's far too much variation in what's needed to integrate it, it would be cost-prohibitive, if not outright impossible, to build in the capability to work with ANY cable system.

GV can't just use the PC's existing serial port???

Good sales pitch. Did he also explain how shutter speed affects exposure? You'd need a ridiculously bright light on an object to obtain a usable exposure at that speed. What would be a reasonable shutter speed to expect (use) at about 50 feet with say a seperate 150ft IR source (playing with angles to avoid reflection after the fact)? The Panasonics that you guys like so much (484 and 504) top out at 1/10,000. Barring exceptional conditions, will I even come close to using that at night? You'll be lucky to use 1/30s at night. Consider that light is only hitting the sensor as long as the shutter is open - the less time the shutter is open, the less light gets through to the sensor. Every doubling of shutter speed means half the light. Most cameras, assuming no trickery like signal boosting, and using a "typical" lens with a wide-open aperture around f/1.4, you'll need probably 1/1000s shutter in bright daylight. 1/2000s would be half the light transmission of that, meaning an image half the brightness. 1/4000 would be 1/4 the brighntess; 1/8000 would be down to 1/8 the light level, and so on.

Well... sort of. The sensor is generating an image 30 times per second, in keeping with the video spec (technically, 29.97 times per second for color video, but that gets deeper into the nitty-gritty of NTSC spec and isn't really relevant to the discussion). The shutter activates UP TO once per frame, for the designated time period. The shutter speed can actually be LOWER than 1/30s... technically, in fact, the shutter can be open an infinite length of time - the image just becomes "smeared" across multiple video frames. Nope. Frame rate, at least with analog cameras, is designated by the video format used (30fps NTSC, 25fps PAL - in both cases, based initially on the AC power frequency in the region of origin, 60Hz for North America, where NTSC is used, or 50Hz for most of the rest of the world, where PAL is used). Nah, just sleepy - LONG day! ROFL, nicely played

Full-on PC-based DVR/NVR system - you can buy just the software, the card and software, or the complete system. The client software is included free. There's an excellent central-management/health-monitor package with it as well, that works on a 30-day trial and will let you actively monitor all your sites and email alerts to you if anything goes wrong. Depends on how you define "open standard format". Vigil can record in both MJPEG and MPEG-4 (and H.264, I think, with some cards). AFAIK, the specs/SDKs for all are readily available.