Soundy

I don't know about the Geovision specifically, but in general, your software has to be able to support >16 cameras as well. Not all software does.

From my experience, 8-channel systems are usually PC-based, while standalone systems tend to go in 4/9/16-channel steps. I can only guess at why, but my suspicious is this: Many (most?) standalone DVR designs appear to be built off multiplexor designs (and why not, since most incorporate mux function as well), where 4, 9 and 16 cameras are "round numbers" for 2x2, 3x3, and 4x4 split-screen grids. So it would make sense to adhere to that design standard. As for PCs, it seems most cards are 4, 8, 16, or 32-channel designs, which may be based on multi-encoder A/D chips used for the capture cards - if you have two or four encoders on a single chip, it makes sense to build cards with multiples of two or four inputs. Right now, for analog we're using mostly Pelco cameras - C3701/3751 models for "box" cameras, IS-90s for indoor domes, and IS-110/ICS-111 outdoor domes. This is due more to those being spec'd by our largest client, but we use them for other sites as well. They have some particularly annoying design aspects that make them more of a pain to install and setup than they should be, but the image quality is good. We've also regularly used a variety of Panasonic, National Electronics, and Capture cameras, and they've all generally been solid performers. There's also a brand of dome we've been using, I can't recall off the top of my head what they are... GNB or something like that, I think... they're low-cost and *fantastic* image quality, in a lot of cases better than name-brand cameras costing twice as much. They're really well designed, easy to install and adjust, full range of adjustments through three axes. If I remember, I'll look them up when I get to work later. For IP cams, all we've used so far is IQEye units, mainly IQ-511s, and the odd IQ-A11 dome where a dome is called for.

Answer: yes. There are plenty of IP-based 4CIF/D1 cameras out there. They're not as "hyped" because adding IP is a fair extra cost that doesn't hold any benefit for the image quality; the main "benefit" of IP isn't the IP medium itself, but the fact that it's needed (at least with current technology) to support resolutions over 720x480, beyond the range of analog video standards. Most (all?) of the IQEye cameras are 1/2", but that's really not much larger than a 1/3" - not enough to significantly improve the light collection capability. To get to that point, you need to get into Avigilon territory (http://www.avigilon.com), whose top 11MP and 16MP cameras have sensors the size of a 35mm film frame.

No, it doesn't. A lens, in this definition, is a series of curved glass or plastic elements that bend light. Along with some supporting structure, and an integral iris to control the amount of light transmitted, that's all there is to it. A lens doesn't know or care what type of camera it's on; all it does is bend light. It works exactly the same whether it's mounted in front of an electronic sensor, or a piece of film, or just a white piece of paper. Cheaper lenses may take advantage of the fact that cheaper, low-res cameras won't show up deficiencies in design and manufacturing, but they work exactly the same as expensive "megapixel" lenses... the higher-resolution cameras are just more likely to make the deficiencies stand out.

There should be no problem with that, the balun doesn't know or care what serial protocol you're using. Also, that camera should work fine with RS-232 and 422 as well as 485, so the converter shouldn't be necessary (although in my experience, RS-485 can be less problematic).

Well, all technology has to progress in steps. Keep in mind that a megapixel IP cameras' sensor is the same size, or only slightly larger, than most low-light analog cameras' sensors, while containing four or more times the number of pixels... that means each pixel must necessarily be about 1/4 the size, and thus able to collect a lot less light. To find a megapixel camera with the same low-light capability, you need one with a much larger sensor... and a correspondingly larger cost. "I canna change the laws o' physics, Cap'n!"

If your DVR supports the HID (Human Interface Device) spec on its USB port, then most wireless mice should work (you can test this by plugging a regular USB mouse in and seeing if that works). For the BT dongle to work, it would have to conform to the HID spec as well, which cheap ones may not do.

Are you trying to forward two separate outside ports to port 80 on the same inside IP? No router will support that.

You're probably okay with that, sure. Concerns might be if you were doing something I/O-intensive, like playing back a BluRay video...

Nothing wrong with discussing it here, but you'll get a lot more people reading it, and thus a lot more input, by putting it in the appropriate forum. As for how the cameras are typically connected, it'll depend entirely on the type of cameras and the recording technology you go with. If you go with all IP cameras, you can use NVR software and forgo additional capture hardware. Ethernet-over-powerline will generally work for this, although AFAIK most systems are somewhat limited - ie. all devices have to be on the same phase of the circuit. There are WiFi-capable network cameras as well, but they naturally are subject to the standard limitations of range, speed, etc.

Welcome, eno45! Feel free to post more specific questions in the appropriate areas as they come up, but a bit of advice right off the top: Recording multiple cameras can be fairly system-intensive, and if you want to use a PC-based solution, you really want to have a machine dedicated to that purpose. More important than the chance of the cameras slowing the system down, there's the chance of other activities affecting the quality or reliability of the recording. And as with everything else in life, you really do get what you pay for - cheap eBay cameras simply won't give the same quality and reliability as good professional-grade cameras. You don't have to break the bank on your cameras, but if your security is important, don't cheap out on them either.

If that was tracking me... I'd run away! Straight up, I'd be afraid it was packing weaponry!

^Damn, that looks real bad-ass!!

100 % agree with Soundy What I done few times NTSC standard signal Gen in place of the camera and Oscilloscope at the DVR then u can have some data to play and analyse Since I use a portable DVD player as my field monitor, I made a DVD with various looped test signals - color bars, alignment grids, grey scales, etc. Don't need to use it very often, and I wouldn't really trust any of them for laboratory-grade signal analysis, but it's handy to carry around. It's easy to look at the player's screen to compare, too. Maybe I should look into a USB/software oscilloscope for my laptop Agree don't use very often my self good old days of service are gone (thanks god) i mean component level repair Don't even get me started... my previous job was tech support at a digital-arts school... the digital-video lab had component monitors, we spent hours with the signal gen and vectorscope getting everything JUST SO. Didn't help that one of the instructors was beyond anal about it, either - "look at that trace, the blue cable must be a quarter-inch longer than the others!" Thanks, but I don't think I could justify the cost of either from a business perspective

Just out of curiosity, HOW do you have baluns wired into the serial run?? Typical baluns are BNC on one side and a pair of spring or screw terminals on the other, I can't picture how they'd even connect to the serial ports.

There's no need to use a baudrate over 2400, or at most 9600 (I've run into a couple older PTZs that are 9600-only) - a lower rate will be less prone to data corruption from interference. Also, ensure the rest of the port settings match (8N1 - 8 data bits, No parity, 1 stop bit, an no flow control).

A DNS server is not used to host videos, it's used to give your system a "human-friendly" named address for outside access. As VST_Man suggests, a dynamic-DNS service is what you want - that will allow her (or you) to connect to her system from a remote location, through her internet connection, using a simple name like "momsplace.no-ip.com" (providing either you have client software for the DVR, or it has a web-based remote viewer). Ignore nocturnal59's post, it's irrelevant to your question and will only serve to confuse you.

100 % agree with Soundy What I done few times NTSC standard signal Gen in place of the camera and Oscilloscope at the DVR then u can have some data to play and analyse Since I use a portable DVD player as my field monitor, I made a DVD with various looped test signals - color bars, alignment grids, grey scales, etc. Don't need to use it very often, and I wouldn't really trust any of them for laboratory-grade signal analysis, but it's handy to carry around. It's easy to look at the player's screen to compare, too. Maybe I should look into a USB/software oscilloscope for my laptop

I use a USB-to-serial adapter on my laptop, and HyperTerminal (yeah, just the little basic terminal bundled with Windows), to view incoming serial data. I made an "adapter" using a DB-9F solder-on connector, with short wires to pins 2 (TX), 3 (RX), and 5 (ground), and small alligator clips on the other end. In this case, you'd connect pins 3 and 5 on such an adapter to the wires from your DVR, set your baud rate and protocols to match the DVR's serial ports (probably 2400 or 9600, 8N1, no flow control), and fire up HyperTerm connected to the USB serial port.... then start driving the PTZ controls on the DVR and watch for garbage to show up on HyperTerm. If you want to get more in-depth, you can use serial capture/analysis software to see what data the DVR is actually sending... this package, for example, even includes a tutorial on their web page for reading and understanding the control codes it's seeing: http://www.232analyzer.com/RS232_Examples/CCTV/Pelco_D_Pelco_P_Examples_Tutorial.HTM Finally, if you're using RS-232 (vs. RS-422 or 485), there's a little trick I've found works sometimes: with the camera off, connect the wires with the proper polarity, then fire up the camera, and switch the wires (so the GND wire on the DVR goes to the RX+ input on the camera, and pin 2 on the DVR goes to the RX- on the camera). Often, it will just start working after that!

Ah, that sort of tester is known as "a VCR and your eyes" The problem is, the tester has no idea what kind of signal the camera is generating, so it has no way of knowing what the "quality" of that signal is. It needs its own, known-quality signal source at the other end, so it can compare the signal it's receiving against what it knows the signal SHOULD look like. Simply taking a "snapshot" of the camera's signal at one point and using that as a comparison later won't work either, because again, the tester has no way of knowing whether the camera itself is failing - all it's supposed to be testing is the cable. It could show a FAIL when the cable is perfectly fine, because the camera is having issues. No, such a tester MUST be a two-part unit.

Yeah, support and free upgrades probably expire in a year, but I can't see the software itself expiring and not working anymore after a year. Most with a "demo" mode like that will be 14-30 days or something.

When we cabled the new campus at the digital-arts school I used to work at, we bought so much Cat-5e, the supplier loaned us a really nice Fluke tester - it tested, measured and logged the length of each run on a room-by-room basis so we could pull it into a computer later. There were probably 15-16 rooms with 16 or 24 runs to each one, that according to the sum of all the cable cataloged in the tester, came to nearly 30km(!!!) of cable. The tester we were using, they told us, sold for about $3000...

Don't have any suggestions for you offhand, but having used that type of tester for network runs, I can tell you right now, it's gonna be pretty spendy.

I haven't worked with those cameras specifically, but I've used a lot of that TYPE of design... there simply isn't room in there for a varifocal lens. However, there are a wide range of fixed lenses that you should be able to swap into it - common lengths are 2.6mm, 3.8mm and 8mm (models of National Electronics domes we used to use included all three with every camera).

Do keep in mind the relatively limited range of WiFi - 300' line-of-sight for 11b/g unless you go with repeaters and/or high-gain antennas... and the closer your get to the far end of that range, the weaker your signal and the lower your bandwidth.