Soundy

You still have to enable Remote Desktop on the computer that you want to control or Remote Desktop will not find it. Yeah, you covered that in the first paragraph... The Computer Management console lets you MANAGE the remote machine from your local one, but there's nothing there that gives you the Remote Desktop. It's not necessary to create a Computer Management connection to use the Remote Desktop.

Hmm, that gives you the computer management... where's the Remote Desktop? Just click Start -> Run, type MSTSC, and hit Enter. Or look in Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Remote Desktop Connection. All does the same thing - runs the Terminal Services Client. From there you enter the name or IP of the computer you want to control. Remote Administrator is excellent for this as well... or if you want a freeware solution, there are numerous implementations of VNC (I like UltraVNC, myself - www.uvnc.com)

I've done that over Cat-5e (remote KVM) using devices from NTI - got a KVM switching between two machines, and a KVM extender that then allows selectable local and remote control. Now in this particular case, although it's using Cat-5e, it's NOT a network connection... but there are "networkable" solutions available as well, that you could use over the fiber with the networking you're already planning to install. Or you may be able to find fiber transceivers that include this capability as well as the network, video and serial signals. Check with NTI first; I've found them very helpful. http://www.networktechinc.com/

There's NO benefit if the DVR doesn't support IP cameras. The images would be far better, viewed through the camera's web interface, but you wouldn't be able to actually record them.

That do what, only go to 16 cameras? Lots of them do that.

That's a good point. I've seen 2.4GHz cordless phones and wireless mice/keyboards cause all sorts of problems with WiFi (which is also in the 2.4GHz band). Interference can be a real *** sometimes. A lot of newer phones are now 5.8Ghz. Getting out of both those bands may help a lot.

Okay, here's the point: how do you get the data in and out of the converters? For serial, it has to have serial ports of some sort, that you can connect to the cameras and the DVRs or PTZ controllers. All I'm saying is, when shopping, MAKE SURE THE DEVICE YOU CHOOSE HAS ALL THE REQUIRED CONNECTIONS FOR YOUR PURPOSE.

Yeah, "video server" is the key... ideally one with WiFi built-in. Problem is, most of those readily-available WiFi adapters you're finding are going be USB connected... the video servers have ethernet ports. You'd need something that's designed to plug into an existing ethernet port to make it wireless. In the end, you may well find it cheaper to just go with new cameras. Certainly would be a lot less complex.

BTW, if you should decide to go with IP cameras in any of the locations, this may be of interest: http://www.dotworkz.com/about_dotworkz/company_news.asp?details_n_id=80

That's where it gets tricky... unless you can find an all-in-one unit (I'm sure they exist, but I haven't seen one), you'd need a video-to-IP converter, and a wifi adapter to connect to it... and make sure they'll work together.

Still has to support the appropriate serial protocol.

Your other option, if you don't mind the expense, is to go with WiFi network cameras and an 802.11n router... I get good strong signals even on an older 11b adapter three floors and half the house away from my DIR-655 11n router.

That's what I've always ended up doing.... thing is, it's never been a problem with a D-Link, Belkin, or any other brand I've used, nor should it be. Unless the DVR is offline past the lease expiry, the IP should never change; if it is, the router IS NOT WORKING PROPERLY. Almost all D-Links I see also have a 'reserved IP' option as well, which is particularly handy because if I ever have to change out the DVR, I just apply the new machine's MAC address to the reservation for its IP, and I don't have to mess with changing all my port-forwarding destinations.

I hate LinkSys routers for this application... I have yet to run into one where it consistently hands the DVR the same IP, which makes port forwarding a PITA. Nothing like having your customer call complaining he can't access his router from home, then discovering it's because the DVR went from 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.101, for no apparent reason... then having him call again the next day because it's gone back to 192.168.1.100.

Depends on the construction of the floor... if you're in a concrete building, the floors are probably going to be all concrete and steel, which are very effective at killing most kinds of radio signal.

Yes, but the catch here is, do they also include serial control? Good to know... I thought in retrospect that 1000' seemed a bit too low.

Wow... 1000', maybe fiber WAS a good idea. Video over UTP using active baluns would cover that, but that's pushing it for coax, and for RS-485. Definitely well beyond the range of 10/100 ethernet. Well, I guess the first place to start would be with some of the manufacturers listed above. Googling "ptz and video over fiber" will get you even more. I've found with this type of thing, it's usually best to actually contact the mfr. and describe your specific needs, and see what they can suggest... believe it or not, sometimes the sales guys actually have a clue What you'd probably be looking for is a video-and-serial-over-fiber solution with a transceiver for the camera end, and a hub or mux of some sort for the DVR end (would likely be cheaper than a stack of individual xcvrs, and definitely cleaner). Or if you do go with IP cams, you'd want a single-channel fiber transceiver for the camera end, and a fiber hub/switch at the DVR... going straight to somewhere like Cisco might be the trick there. As for PTZ IP cams, I think Axis makes some... I deal mostly with IQEye cameras and I'm not aware of a PTZ model in their lineup. I know D-Link has a few consumer-grade models, but with what he's laid out so far, that would make about as much sense as putting 13" steelies with 155/80R13 summer tires on an F1 car... you know, just to save money As far as software, you might look at a Vigil system from 3xlogic - they make NVRs and hybrid DVR/NVR systems with standard PTZ support, and may also have support for IP PTZs (another good time to talk to one of their sales guys), and if not, they're usually pretty good with updating their software to support new stuff.

Yeah, most DC-output transformers I've seen, the white-striped wire is the positive... but that may not always be the case. A multimeter is your friend! But as scorpion says, if you're extending the wire, as long as you match the colors at both ends of the extension, "real" polarity doesn't really matter.

Wait, you're running alternating current on unshielded pairs next to the video pairs? And this works without lots of interference? Do it all the time, no problem. The whole point of a balun (or part of it, anyway) is that interference induced equally on both wires of the signal pair is "canceled out" at the receiving end. Check out these gems (pardon the pun): http://gemelec.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=238&category_id=40&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

How about never having to climb up a ladder focus or zoom a camera ever again With very, very few exceptions (maybe 0.1%) the only times I've had to re-zoom or re-focus a camera (ladder or not), it's been as a result of first needing to re-aim the camera. Power-zoom/auto-focus analog cameras have long been available as well, at an additional cost for those functions... it's never been useful enough to us to be worth that cost. I put one in for a customer once, because he insisted on it... he changed the zoom twice, just because he could, and ended up with it back at the original setting I gave it, and hasn't touched it since. Again, it's a gimmick that serves limited real-world purpose without also having pan/tilt.

Wow... he musta got a bulk deal on the fiber, because it seems to me running that would be far more expensive up front that running copper... and now he's looking at a ton more for the necessary hardware. Yes, you'd need some sort of transceiver setup - you can't just have one end send and the other receive. The DVR end would have to transmit the control signal and receive the video; the camera end would then receive the control and transmit the video. Fiber is rare enough for networking that the hardware for it is still pretty expensive (no economy of scale there yet); for this purpose, I'd imagine it's even more expensive - I'm sure someone's build something to make this possible, but I've never heard of it being done this way, so I'm guessing it's not that common and thus such hardware would be rare and accordingly expensive. Hmm, well, I googled "serial over fiber" and got a LOT of hits... but so far nothing (at least in one box) that will do serial AND video over fiber. These guys might have something - http://www.phasebridge.com/fiber_optics - but nothing I could see in a cursory scan. Ah, here's something.... googled "ptz and video over fiber" and got this: http://www.versitron.com/fiber_optic_video_transmission.html No prices on any of these, as they're manufacturer sites, but again, I'd expect it to be expensive.... most of these, the idea is to take a number of signals (multiple cameras, etc.) and move them over long distances (talking KILOMETERS here)... it's the kind of thing you'd normally use where you have to go beyond the range of ethernet (100m) and standard RS-422/485. And of course, you'd need a pair for every camera (or one for each camera and some sort of hub or multiplexor at the DVR end)... it could add up fast. I'm thinking it would probably be cheaper to go with IP cameras, as fiber-based ethernet gear is probably cheaper and more readily available... but that's just a guess too. Even most switches that have fiber support are usually 16+ ethernet and one or two fiber uplink ports. Or it might be cheaper and easier to just re-wire with standard copper Use the fiber to fish through some Cat-5e and use cheap and readily-available baluns to send video and serial (and power, if you want) over that

This may be of some assistance: http://activex.moonvalley.com/register_activex_control.htm It occurred to me, ActiveX plugins aren't likely to be stored in Temporary Internet Files, because they generally aren't considered "temporary"... thus, clearning the cache won't help.

Well, if you're attending to this on-site, you can always use a portable version of Firefox off a flash drive, if just for the sake of testing.

But unless you have a pan/tilt on the camera as well, you can only zoom on one fixed point. Limited usefulness.

That IP is a "private network" address and only exists (for you) "inside" your router. To reach it from an outside location, you need the WAN (wide area network) address of your router. Easiest way to obtain this is to fire up a browser on your home system and go to http://www.ipchicken.com - that will tell you your "outside" IP address. Plug that address in at work, and you should be good.