Soundy

Well, I figure SOMEONE around should know what they're doing!

hi. this is not always the case. CCTV has been around for years well before D1 it was CIF and licence plates and face were geting picked up then. Hell, we used to get prosecutions *and convictions* based on video from VHS tapes recording at 96Hr time-lapse on a 16-channel MUX, meaning one shaky 240TVL image every 3-4 seconds. Sure, higher res and detail makes it EASIER... it's not like convictions weren't possible before 16MP Arecont cameras came along, though.

Liquid ingress rating on IP55 is no different than IP65, which ARE used outdoors regularly... so why is IP55 outdoors such a bad idea? Assuming, of course, it does properly meet the requirement that "Ingress of dust is not entirely prevented, but it must not enter in sufficient quantity to interfere with the satisfactory operation of the equipment; complete protection against contact"?

Believe it or not, there are current cameras and low-end DVRs that require IE but don't work with IE9, too... common problem with a lot of offshore-made equipment. Actually, it occurred to me in looking at another thread, you'll probably find some low-end, consumer-grade, non-megapixel IP cameras that will work... these would be things on about the same scale as your average webcam. Most of them probably won't support PoE. Look at "home networking" names like D-Link, TP-Link, Belkin, etc. And BTW, I agree with you, IE-only really is a fail - it would be really nice to be able to pull up the configuration for cameras using my Android phone or tablet. Heck, I even used to use my old Windows Mobile 6 phone to configure IQ cameras, since the Java plugin is really only needed to display the live video - the configuration pages themselves don't need it.

I don't blame you at all for not understanding those instructions - they contradict themselves all over the place, like ssmith and Tom have pointed out. Obviously the people on the "other" forum aren't as smart as they think they are... sorry nobody saw your question here sooner! The good news is, there's a chance your fans aren't damaged - putting AC into a DC fan WILL cause it to just sit and wiggle a little without spinning, and since there's no back-EMF, they WILL draw a lot of current and get hot... however, if they were still hot when you shut it off, that means they were still drawing current, which means they probably weren't damaged. Switch your power supply over to 12V, and you should be okay. If you really want to be safe, see if you can see any labels or markings on either of the fans themselves - they should have a model number or something else that would indicate what voltage they're designed for.

Where are these "extra amps" going to come from if the power supply can't provide more than 1A? Plus, it would have to be a very thin wire indeed for 2A to "burn it up".

Without knowing exactly what your needs are... no. Knowing your budget would help, too, because "the best" of anything can get pretty expensive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code The first digit is "solid particle protection" - 5 means, "Ingress of dust is not entirely prevented, but it must not enter in sufficient quantity to interfere with the satisfactory operation of the equipment; complete protection against contact" Second digit is "liquid ingress protection" and 5 means, "Water projected by a nozzle (6.3mm) against enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effects." IP55 should be fine outdoors.

Just go to microsoft.com and plug "Windows XP SP3 download" into the search box - it should be the first hit that comes up.

Also, it MAY kill the power supply, depending on how robustly it's built... but it shouldn't be a fire hazard. It will just let the magic blue smoke out of a couple components and the thing won't work anymore.

Unfortunately, if you're going to limit the list to cameras that will work in a Linux-only environment, the list is going to be extremely small... and it most certainly is not going to be the bottom end of the price scale. There are only two brands that come immediately to mind that don't require ActiveX or a Windows-based utility to adjust and configure, and those are IQ, using Java, and Pelco Sarix, which the one model I tested used a Quicktime-based interface... and if you thought IQ was spendy, you don't even want to think about Pelco. Actually, I stand (somewhat) corrected: I just tested a couple Arecont cameras on a site using Chrome, and I can access their configuration interface. The picture is scrambled, but the configs work. If they're H.264 cameras, you can always pull the RTSP stream from them using VLC, so you can watch how your adjustments affect the image. However... Areconts are not cheap either.

There will be NO difference in power loss whether using a "combined balun" vs. just tying into the extra pairs - all the balun does is connect the power pairs straight through. Also, three 24AWG wires are almost the same cross-section (and thus current capacity) as an 18AWG wire, and thus there should be little or no difference in voltage loss if you're using all three pairs.

I'm bookmarking this thread to show to people when they ask what's so bad about a cheap DVR. They don't understand when you try to explain how some of them are "a nightmare to use".

IQEye cameras, AFAIK, all default to DHCP, and use a Java-based browser plugin for configuration (they have an ActiveX one that gives a couple more "user" features and has slightly better performance, but if it can't load that, it automatically fails through to the Java one, which still gives full configuration access). They can also be configured via SSH, several parameters can be controlled on the URL "command line", and you can FTP scripts to them as well.

That's a nice video. Does anybody know how the Dahua ESIP-MP2-DM1 performs in low-light compared to the CNB VCM-24VF? Waiting to see that one myself! SEAN - get on the ball, son!

Seems it's actually made by Derytech - could try searching for a local supplier based on that name (try DEREV08P-VPS).

I'd check the specs on the PTZ, see how much current it pulls, and MAYBE use a separate power wire to it, depending on the length of the run... other than that, there's no reason not to run video, power, and control over the same Cat5e. This really depends on how "tidy" you want to be. For the cleanest install, I'd suggest terminating the Cat5e into an RJ45 patch panel at the DVR end: Then I'd use one of these type of units, which combines baluns and power supply into one unit: From there, you just need short BNC cables to connect to the DVR, and standard network patch cables to connect the patchbay to the VPS unit. At the camera end, a balun like this makes it easy to connect to the camera, although you can use standard screw- or punch-terminal baluns and split the power out manually: One benefit to this is that if you want to switch to IP cameras later, you can just unplug the patch cable from the VPS, and plug it into a PoE switch. For the PTZ, you can always separate a pair where the wires punch down at the patch panel, to run your signal over. This balun separates one pair for PTZ/data connection as well: All that aside, there isn't really a "standard" practice for the connections. I've done it a dozen different ways, usually depending on the specific site requirements: where the DVR goes, where the power supply goes, where the cable runs come in... That's WAY too broad a question without knowing some operational requirements. I could suggest good systems at both ends of that scale, but without more details, it would be pointless.

American components, Russian components... ALL MADE IN TAIWAN. It's a global economy, folks - get over it.

Almost all analog cameras are CCD - there must have been other differences. The CNBs I noted are highly recommended and work very well in low light without need for IR, but generally go for about $160 and up, which would eat up your budget right there. Specs-wise the components look fine, but I'm not familiar with the brand. As Sean notes above, they appear to simply be a reseller who sell products from various manufacturers under their own brand name... nothing wrong with that, but you have to look at the actual manufacturer of the gear to better judge its quality. Going just from the specs though, that should all suit the needs you've listed (you might be able to reduce costs more by using indoor-only cameras).

Not familiar with either of these... the specs on the camera are okay, but not stellar. I'm leery of any IR camera that doesn't list its REAL (non-IR-aided) night-mode lux. Look up the CNB VCM-24VF and check the lux numbers on that. All that for $2500, I'd be really suspicious of the quality - you could easily spend that just on the 16 cameras.

"Crisp and clear" is far too subjective and ultimately meaningless. It's also entirely relative - "as crisp and clear as you can get over 3G" is not the same thing as "as crisp and clear as you can get plugging the camera directly into a TV" and some concessions have to be made for the limited bandwidth. You state bandwidth is "5mbps down 2.5mbps up" but that's irrelevant when you're viewing over 3G, where your bandwidth will be much lower. The client will have to be made to understand, you can only get a certain level of "crisp and clear" with mobile and concessions WILL have to be made SOMEWHERE... probably starting with a very low framerate. The other two requirements could apply to just about any DVR from $300 to $3000 and again, are virtually useless to work from. How many channels? How many cameras? What are the requirements for the cameras themselves? Indoor or outdoor? What kind of angles/views? What kind of lighting? Is the listed budget for the recorder alone, or for the recorder and cameras together? Does it include installation?

I'm also testing a Dahua 3MP box cam, and for the $400 price, it holds up pretty well beside an IQ755. Once I get the chance to actually do some side-by-side, I'll be writing up a review.

I couldn't find any info on the LT site about that SDI camera, but that DVR won't work with SDI anyway. SDI is a high-bandwidth uncompressed digital interface that runs about 3Gbps for 1080p video. To use SDI cameras, you need an SDI DVR... to use both SDI and analog cameras together, you need an SDI/analog hybrid DVR, and I don't see one of those listed, only a couple four-channel SDI DVRs. The CNB camera you listed is an IP camera; it communicates over the network, and also won't work the DVR you listed - you need either an NVR (network video recorder), or IP/analog hybrid DVR, such as the LTD304-HYBRID or LTD409-HYBRID. It's also over four times the resolution of the analog CMD3270DW. Perhaps it would be more efficient if you just spelled out what your operational requirements are, as well as your budget, and maybe we can just suggest some appropriate equipment, rather than comparing apples, oranges, and kumquats.

There are other differences as well (alarm I/O, etc.) - as the others have suggested, talk to Sean, he'll have a better idea of how the two compare. Personally, I'd say spend the little bit extra for the Proline if you can, just because you never know what you'll run into down the line that will have you saying, "D-oh! Now I wish I had that other unit with more features!" Baluns are required only to run video over UTP, and as Tom notes, they're required at both ends. If you're using standard Cat5e/Cat6, the baluns will use one pair for video; the other pairs can be used for power, be it 12VDC or 24VAC. Now if you're talking about the VPS baluns units that I so often recommend... that's a combined balun/power supply system that does indeed supply 12V to the cameras, but you still need a balun at the camera end. The VCM-24VFs run fine on either 12 or 24V (and will actually work with just about anything between 10 and 30V, AC or DC); it's just a matter of which setup is more conducive to your design.