Soundy

That would depend entirely on the TV. Most will default to whatever channel or input they were last on.

A ground loop of this type occurs when you have two different paths to ground of substantially differing length. Most cheap 12V cameras have a common ground for video and power, so right there you have two paths to ground, one via the power ground, and one via the video shield. Normally, using coax and power, or siamese cable, the two ground paths are essentially the same length, and there's no problem. If you look at the internals of a balun, however, they're effectively inserting a matching transformer inline with the two video wires, thus increasing the total length by the length of the wire in the coil windings, which could be dozens or hundreds of feet. So you end up with one ground path (on the power) that's maybe 30-100 feet long, and another (through *two* baluns) that's 10 times longer, or more. Within a single camera with an isolated power supply, this isn't usually a problem, but when you tie mutiple cameras into a single power supply with a common ground between all of them, and also have a common ground between all of the DVR's inputs, you end up with a mess indeed.

You can buy a simple adapter that will let you physically connect your camera to your TV's RF input, but as tomcctv points out, they are completely different types of signal. There are a few ways around this: if your TV has an A/V input (yellow, red and white RCA jacks), you can use the appropriate BNC-to-RCA adapter to connect the camera the the yellow video-in jack. Or if it has a SCART input, you can use the appropriate adapter for that. If the TV has *only* the RF (cable/antenna) input, you can use an RF modulator device to convert your video signal to RF (these are the same things often used to connect video games or DVD players to older TVs). Or, most older VCRs have RF outputs; you can use one as a video-to-RF converter as well.

Over 1.6km??? ashtech, there are a number of different options here... it really depends on what you're trying to do, what infrastructure you already have in place, and what you want to spend. For that distance, you could use fibre, or you could use an existing internet connection, or possibly active baluns.

Soundy could you possibly supply me with web references for the weatherproof connectors. I could give you dozens of links, but this is probably the easiest way: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=compression+bnc+connectors Hmm, GEM Electronics and ICM Corp. are two common ones that I use. Both make full lines of crimp-on and compression connectors, as well as baluns and other audio/video accessories. You will need different crimpers for these types of connectors, but if you're doing a lot of outside work, especially around the ocean, it's probably worth it to get into the weathertight connectors... plus, I find compression types generally a lot quicker and easier to work with - no loose center pins or crimp rings to mess with, they're a single piece and attach very solidly. ICM sells several nice kits that includes stripper, crimper, and an assortment of connectors, although I believe their crimpers will only work on their connectors... other manufacturers, like Paladin, make "universal" crimpers that can be adjusted to fit most connectors (I use this one, myself). You can jam grease into the crimps, or apply some to the wires before you crimp, but there are also crimps that are "pre-loaded" with a non-greasy gel intended for the same purpose: to keep air away from the connection and prevent corrosion and oxidation. We generally use this type (not an endorsement of this eBay seller, BTW, just an example of the connectors).

Interesting analogy The part Scorpion hasn't stated so clearly, is that H.264 requires substantial processing power compared to MPEG4... which either requires more powerful hardware, or a bunch of work-arounds to make the cheaper hardware handle it, which can create other problems. Indeed. When I asked about support for H.264 cameras (Arecont, specifically) on Vigil DVRs a few months back, one of Camacc's techs told me that their Aztech variation on MPEG4 could, in some instances, produce better compression with better quality than H.264, and that recompressing H.264 video with Aztech could even produce smaller files. I haven't tested these claims myself, but I trust the tech as someone who wasn't just trying to make me a sales pitch.

Hi soundy running sound/video/power/ ptz controls down coax is now very common. i realize that, but as i already said, 'There is no (cheap and easy) way to combine audio and video to run over a single wire', particularly in the context of this thread.

Not to muddle things, but for the sake of accuracy, you actually CAN run audio on coax... just not the SAME coax as the video. You can also run video on audio-type RCA wires, which as often as not are coax as well - those red and white RCA-tipped cables you normally see for audio are two thin coax wires.

Hi Soundy .. this sounded complicating to me .. what do you mean by "color artifacts in the B&W video" Briefly, when most DVRs display a B&W camera on a color channel, you'll see shifting color patterns on the image. This is a side-effect of color processing on greyscale vide, since greyscale video is still comprised of all three colors (red, green and blue), just all in equal amounts. With "lossy" video codecs (as with lossy image codecs, like JPEG), the image is examined and small variations in color are discarded - for example, an area with several very close shades of blue may be stored as just a single shade of blue, to save storage space. When you get shifting noise or lighting patterns in greyscale, that color processing can get "confused" and substitute full colors - say the brightness increases slightly between the time it processes the red and the blue components. Where the colors are actually balanced, the processor sees that there's more blue than red, so it will toss the red data and store the blue. When you view the compressed video, then, it shows that area as blue, rather than greyscale. You can see some examples in the gates at the top of this picture: The fix (or workaround, in some cases) is to zero the "Saturation" setting(s) for the B&W cameras. Some also have an option to simply tell the system that that camera is B&W or greyscale.

Yeah, but he was asking about DIN connectors But this illustrates another problem: it's not always JUST audio and video out (from camera) and power in... some will also have alarm triggers (camera with built-in PIR, for example), and some will have a speaker in the camera for bi-directional audio (so you can talk back to whoever is in front of the camera). All this makes a LOT of different possibilities for use of the six available pins.

LEDs can last years as long as they're not overdriven. Voltage isn't the main killer - current is. You can put any voltage you want across an LED as long as you limit the current with an appropriately-rated resistor (you can also use a constant-current power supply if you want to get REALLY fancy). Allowing the LED to draw more current means it will shine brighter... but for a shorter time. "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long... and you have burned so very, very brightly, Roy." This is normal. Take a look at an LED flashlight - turn it on, point it at the wall. IR LEDs are no different except for the spectrum of light they produce. If you look inside a typical LED (not while it's on, obviously), you'll see the light-producing semiconductor junction is inside of a small cup-shaped reflector - this directs most of the produced light straight forward, just like a light bulb inside a standard flash light housing. Thus, they don't blast light out in all directions like a standard light bulb. IR LEDs are really no different, functionally, than having a flashlight attached to your camera, except they use a non-visible wavelength of light, so they're not as noticeable, and they don't illuminate the area for the naked eye. Like a flashlight, they have limitations - they're limited in the distance they'll shine vs. the area they'll cover. If you make a tighter beam, you can get more distance, but cover a smaller area. Or you can use a wider coverage, but get less distance. They're great for NO-light situations, within their range... but if you need to cover a larger area and will have SOME ambient light (streetlights, say), you might find a D/N camera that can properly display with the low light, will work better.

Scorpion's got the right idea. Or you can get a specialized nail-pulling tool - they come in a number of styles, including some low-profile styles for just this type of purpose.

First, there is no "universal" DIN-to-BNC adapter, as there is no standard for the DIN pinouts and different manufacturers will use their own pinout arrangements. You'd need to find out exactly what pinouts your system uses, then either find an adapter that matches *on ALL pins*, or build the adapter yourself. Second, the reason there are 6 pins is because there are three separate cable pairs in the camera wire - one pair each for video, audio, and power. There is no (cheap and easy) way to combine audio and video to run over a single wire. You need your adapter to split out the pairs, and then terminate each of those appropriately. If it's any help, it doesn't matter whether the video or audio pairs use RCA or BNC connectors - BNC is most common for professional video; RCA is most common for audio and also often used for consumer video.

Try using a dielectric grease in all your connections - this is often sold in auto-parts stores for use on battery terminals and in trailer wiring connections for prevent corrosion. Squeeze some inside the male BNC ends before you snap them on. In your case, it might not even hurt to force a bit into the ends of the coax before terminating - it doesn't have to protect the entire length, it just has to prevent the sea air from getting inside the jacket. Might even be an idea to cut off any existing connectors and re-terminate them with the grease inside as well. Oh, and use compression-type weatherproof connectors if at all possible, and gel-filled crimps where necessary. And yes, this is in addition to all the above steps: the boxes and conduit will keep the direct spray off of things; the grease and gel will keep the ambient salt air that's sure to leak through anyway, from working its way into the connections.

The trick to low light is to get as much light to the sensor as possible. The best way to do that is with the largest-aperture lens you can get. If box cameras (C/CS-mount) are an option, this gives you a lot more flexibility. Standard CCTV lenses typically fall within the range of f/1.0 to f/2.0... and f/1.0 allows *FOUR TIMES* the light of f/2.0. f/1.4 falls right in the middle of that range (it's an algorithmic scale). The lower the f-stop you can find, the more light you let in, and the better your camera will work in low light.

The PIR in our living room is actually mounted about 8' up (under a 16' ceiling)... even my friend's huge Rottie doesn't trigger it, but a person can't step into the room without it triggering. It's not a PET-type detector, either. YMMV, but it seems to me careful placement should be able to get around pretty much any animal problem.

That's not the case anymore - pretty much ALL modern PIRs have some form of "pet immunity" feature. Even without it, a properly placed and aimed PIRs has very little susceptibility to being triggered by animals. Not if you have a properly installed alarm system - a good installer will put it somewhere that's not obvious.

THAT sounds pimp, I'd love to see pics of that finish!

Just one client that likes them painted black, the blend into the ceiling of a dimly-lighted restaurant. I've done it IQEye box and dome cameras, with Pelco and CNB domes, and with CP484s and CW484s. For the box cams, I find it usually easier to disassemble them and just paint the shells, rather than trying to mask everything off.

We often use heater housings here in Vancouver, but in reality, even the non-heated ones almost never have a problem as long as they're sealed.

Any particular reason it needs to be converted to WMV? Most computers are capable of playing QuickTime MOV format...

I'd take the one with the larger maximum aperture - it will probably be listed as something like "f/1.4" or "1:1.4". Most of these types of lenses, that number will be anywhere from 1.0 to 1.8 - take the one with the SMALLER number. Smaller number = larger opening = more light.

Just gotta add some analytics in there to email/SMS you if there's a package left behind

You SHOULD only need to connect one, as they're probably connected internally anyway...

Even with DD-WRT you're still limited to the capabilities of the hardware and the 802.11g protocol. You might be able to tweak a little more performance out of the radio with some better handling of heavy traffic, but that's probably beyond the scope of this forum (www.dd-wrt.com would be a better place to ask about that). As you say, try plugging one or two cameras directly into the router and see if that helps the wireless framerates. And again, try locking all the cameras to lower framerates, and see if that improves the overall stability for all them.