Soundy

Manual iris IS functionally fixed iris: it stays fixed wherever you set it. Leaving it wide open is the same as having no iris at all. And rory is right, no lens will be waterproof on its own. Even if it were, if the lens was exposed to water, chances are the camera board would be as well, and none of those are waterproof either. The whole assembly needs to be in an enclosure to make it waterproof. Remember that, aside from possible very high-end, esoteric covert-surveillance purposes, board cameras in general are the cheapest style of design, so don't expect a lot of high-end-type options to be available. It would be like wanting a budget sub-compact car with a Rolls Royce ride.

I know with the Vigil DVRs, they image the operational system drive onto the data drive, then provide you a bootable CD with HDD diagnostic utilities, and the imaging software (PowerQuest Drive Image). If your system drive fails, you just swap in a new one, boot from the CD, and reimage the system. The Vigil software is all freely downloadable from their website, and will run as a 30-day trial without registration codes.

I've use a standard T25 curved-crown staple just over the coax side of the wire, and brad nailer just through the webbing. My preference is saddles and zip-ties, though.

Ah, there's your problem. "Backfocus" is an setting on many cameras, that adjusts the position of the sensor to help optimize the focus range. If that's out of alignment, it would definitely prevent you from getting a clear focus. Most cameras that have it, there's a locking screw or two that you can loosen and then adjust a ring or another screw... some have an auto-backfocus, which may be the case if you just have a pushbutton for it.

I already suggested that

Can you post a screenshot of the picture? Would make it a lot easier to diagnose the problem.

Tried it without the adapter?

Hey IR, just looked on your website and noticed you're based in Cranbrook... did your company used to go by a different name? I remember working on a couple DVRs a few years ago at various Kwantlen College sites, seems to me I had to call somewhere in that area for support on them...

Are you reading it in the original Engrish?

Yes... in fact, I'd go so far as to say MOST do.

Well, if the camera is powered by a 12/24 power source (ie. not using PoE), you can plug a laptop into it directly with a crossover cable. You can buy them or make them... I carry a retractable network cable that includes a switch to toggle straight-through/crossover. You can also use a crossover adapter with a standard network cable - something like this: http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/tools/7470/. If you laptop has a gigabit network port, chances are it will even support auto-crossover switching. Personally, I carry a cheap 802.11n router (D-Link DIR-615, goes for about $55 - 11n gives you a lot better range than 11b/g) that I just plug in to the network along with the cameras, and then connect via WiFi. That also allows me to run the DVR's remote client to adjust ANY of the cameras, analog or IP, via my laptop. My co-worker has also used this setup to adjust IP cameras with his Archos, and if you have cameras whose web interface will work with a mobile browser, any WiFi-enabled phone would work for this as well.

If it's the same resolution, yes... but that's a factor of the sensor; the lens is irrelevant to that equation (assuming the same lens is used on both).

I have a similar LinkSys setup - it was being used to power an access point, but right now I have just the injector portion running an IQ camera. Kinda handy to have around, actually.

OK, I understand the confusion. This lens/sensor mismatch is common in digital SLRs, and a better way to describe this is image cropping. Using phrases like "reduced sensitivity" and "reducing the light" is misleading, because it implies that an f1.4 becomes an f2. There is no reduced sensitivity or reduced light. Rather, the image is cropped. Absolutely correct! Think of it this way: take a 1/2" sensor, and a (very small) felt pen, and draw a 1/3"-sensor-sized box on it. That area inside the box is getting the same amount of light whether the area outside the box exists or not. Heh... that veers off into another pet peeve of mine: the endless debate in photography circles of 3:2 vs. 4:3 sensors. Some newer cameras (certain DSLRs in particular, although I think there are a couple of P&S models that apply) use a 4:3 aspect ratio rather than the traditional 3:2 shape that mirrors a standard 35mm film frame. Proponents have numerous silly reasons as to why this is "vastly superior", primary that it's a "larger" sensor (for a given "standard size", I guess) and makes use of more of the lens's circular light pattern, and thus gives the photographer a larger image to work with. The naysayers counter with how the shape doesn't conform to any standard output medium (ie. almost all common print sizes are 3:2), to which the proponents say it can be cropped to that ratio (kinda defeats the purpose, no?), and the naysayers come back that a 3:2 shot can be cropped to 4:3 as well... and on and on it goes. My answer to them both: by that reasoning, a perfectly square sensor makes the best use of that area, and even then, neither is an ideal shape; the only PERFECT sensor design is a ROUND one. Anything else will lose SOME of the image; only a round sensor will capture ALL of it, and give you the most to work with and crop from

I've seen the stills - it's pretty obvious. It may be a "pinhole" TYPE of camera, but the install sure isn't. And yeah, it's a pretty freakin' gaudy birdhouse - thing could house an entire aerie of bald eagles, I'm sayin' it's bloody HUGE.

Was it really necessary to post this in three different sections? A single post in the correct forum is all that's required.

Well smedley, I don't know about any others, but Vigil DVRs should handle your listed needs. They make 16- and 32-channel units; all their DVRs will work as hybrid (analog and IP mix) systems, or they have pure NVR units that use the same software, just without the capture hardware. They also have both a remote client that will let you easily display multiple sites on one screen, and even group cameras from multiple sites together for one-click viewing, as well as a CMS/health-monitor utility. Systems can even be configured so multiple DVRs/NVRs can use a single central database. The only thing you don't mention is your budge - Vigil isn't the cheapest out there, but it's not the most expensive either, but for everything it does, IMHO, it's pretty reasonably priced, and (also IMHO) very user-friendly.

Rory I sent you a pm but it's sitting in my outbox and I don't know how to make it go. Does it go on it's own? It will show as being in the "Outbox" to you until he reads it... then you'll see it in your Sent box. Just the way the forum software works. I say, hell with Mr. Moron, post the pics... if he's reading this, he already knows you're talking about him. Plus, if he does find these threads, maybe he'll come to realize that you have the braintrust of several dozen collected years of CCTV experience working to help you defeat him, and give up. Or if he's really got balls, he'll post his side of the story for us to laugh at....

Let word slip to the local crime community that your neighbor has an extensive and unprotected grow op in his house.

well in that case you would have to be buying lenses and cameras just to play with and that costs alot of money, not everyone is rich boss. Buying lenses and cameras and just randomly testing combinations is certainly not a recommended method of education, and it surely doesn't teach you HOW things work. Well unless you have a hands on, and that would mean buying the lenses and cameras, then you are still just blindly relying on what someone else is telling you. You don't need more than a couple of lenses to see theory put into action. Well... *I* don't. I can't speak for anyone else. Still... six years in this industry and 30 in photography in general provides lots of experience in having experience reinforce theory. I would hope in that time, I would have installed enough cameras bought with other people's money to see theory in action, too.

Do you set each device (e.g. each camera) to time.nrc.ca, or do you set the router to time.nrc.ca and point each camera to the router? Best, Christopher I've always just pointed the camera at the outside NTP server directly. Not all routers provide NTP server service, and some I've seen, the NTP client doesn't work either. I've had to install a third-party NTP server on the odd DVR/NVR for the cameras to sync to, on sites that the system doesn't have an internet connection, but those are rare - people are usually happy with the timestamp the DVR/NVR puts on the video and don't even care about having the camera's timestamp turned on.

I've come to the conclusion that the whole H1N1 hysteria is being driven by Purell.

I'm sure you mean NTP? NNTP is Network News Transfer Protocol - the basis for Usenet. I've never seen a camera with a newsreader Anyway, what do you mean by "preferred configuration"? The only camera I've seen that even gives an a choice is the IQs, listing "ntp" or "daytime" options, and "broadcast" or "passive" options for ntp. For standard internet-based time servers like time.nrc.ca or time.nist.gov, I find "ntp" and "broadcast" settings are necessary.

The short shouldn't damage the cameras, but it can easily take out the power supply, which then takes all the cameras offline until it's replaced.

well in that case you would have to be buying lenses and cameras just to play with and that costs alot of money, not everyone is rich boss. Buying lenses and cameras and just randomly testing combinations is certainly not a recommended method of education, and it surely doesn't teach you HOW things work.