Soundy

Not sure I quite followed that... you want to connect to a remote system that has both analog and IP cams to demonstrate the difference?

It's really hard to say what the REAL cause of the problem is without seeing a video clip... and the same goes for the "DVR manufacturer" (of course he's going to blame the cameras before saying there's anything wrong with the DVR or its settings). If ambient light changes are triggering motion recording, it's unlikely a different camera will solve the problem.

Define "blurred". They MIGHT be baluns... but as we saw in another thread, another ad with those units both called them baluns in the tagline, but had big bold text in the ad that stated they weren't. So honestly, without disassembling or testing them, it's hard to say for sure. My bet would be on "no" just for the sheer (lack of) size. As we also saw in another thread, not everyone (including experienced techs like Seanhawg) even realize that there's more to a balun than just a pair of connectors... and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the people selling these things honestly THINK they're baluns, even IF they aren't.

If they give you the option to buy it without a hard drive, then I think it's pretty clear that the OS *does not* reside on a user-removable drive... and it's highly unlikely they'd use a regular hard drive internally for it as well, for reliability's sake. I think you can put that question aside. Whether it will RUN without a drive installed is another matter... sorry, can't help ya there.

I gather the idea is to have completely external, possibly hidden storage... it's not a matter of NOT WANTING an internal drive, so much as not planning to need it, and so not wanting to spend the extra money for it.

He's talking about the camera end of the setup... You could probably use the head off a mount like this: Unbolt/unthread from the mount, thread onto the end of the conduit, or a fitting clamped onto the conduit. The heads are probably available separately too.

The OS in the NVR has to run on something...... If you're talking a standalone, the OS will be either on another drive, on a flash drive, or as benf puts it, baked into the motherboard. Otherwise you'd be hooped if you ever had to swap the drive.

Those little devices you use (or used, if you're old enough to remember) to connect CATV cable to twinlead antenna wire... those are baluns too, of a very similar design (just matching 300 ohm twinlead to 50 ohm RG-58). (Edit: see here for a picture of the innards: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=885475&postcount=146) So "balun" technology is nothing new... just its implementation for baseband video that's a more recent development. Balanced lines aren't new either - as I noted in the original thread, professional audio has used balanced signals for decades, especially for low-voltage sources like microphones, where noise rejection is crucial.

The name itself - "BALanced/UNbalanced" indicates there's more to it than that. In its simplest form, it uses a matching transformer to match impedences. I posted a link a page or two back to one design: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6917255.html Here's another design - active and amplified: This one actually shows the schematic on the housing: Another basic passive design:

Eh... some of the Axis M-series aren't bad... as long as you stick to indoors, and don't put too many on the same AP. He said "non IP".

This one too: http://gemelec.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=704&category_id=68&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1 Takes PoE in, outputs 12VDC at the far end.

PM me your address and I'll send you a pair of the baluns we use. Of course, if it's just on your bench, it still won't be a valid comparison

You can get "Smart TV upgrader boxes" for <$100... some of the ones I looked at had browsers of some sort (although most just seemed to have specific apps for things like Netflix, Facebook, etc.). The catch, of course, is that your DVR must support browsers other than IE/ActiveX. Otherwise, it's back to the PC route.

Type of cameras is irrelevant -the DVR is handling all the interactions. You can connect directly, but you may need a crossover cable (IN THEORY you shouldn't as GbE ports SHOULD support auto-MDI switching). If you want to connect to the DVR remotely though, you'll need a switch.

Again, and again, forget the cost of the cable, imagine you just dragged it out of the trash. The baluns alone cost more than the coax. For you, and only you. A balun is not a complicated device. There's no reason it has to be expensive.

Because the unbalanced line is extremely prone to induced noise. Put a powerful motor close to that line and watch the noise appear in all four cameras. First time I ever use baluns, we'd had to use station wire to connect up two cameras because that's all that we could get to the location. We gave the customer two options: one camera using the proper coax, or two using the station wire, with the possibility that it would be very poor image quality because of all the lighting and high-voltage electrical it would have to run past. They chose the latter... and naturally complained with the video looked like crap. So we dropped the $45 *each* for two baluns, put them on one line... *bam* crystal-clear picture. They were happy to pay for that, and for us to do the same to the other camera. Again, that's plenum-rated Cat5. Plenum-rated (aka CMP aka FT-6) cable is always two to three times the price of riser/CMR/FT-4 types, whether you're talking UTP, coax, etc. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plenum_cable

I assume these are all "Smart TVs"? Your TV would have to have the ability to view your DVR's network stream... if your TVs have web browsers and the DVR supports browser viewing *without an ActiveX plugin* you might be okay. Otherwise, unless the TV comes with some sort of software specifically for that purpose, I doubt it would work.

Worms, viruses, etc. are not "universal" code and will only run on the system they're written for - someone would have to WRITE a worm for it... being an embedded, realtime OS that's probably highly customized, I doubt one exists... and being stored on a ROM or EEPROM, it wouldn't be possible for an external application like that to change any code anyway (unless, say, the unit supports automatic remote updates and someone hacks the manufacturer's update site... but again, it's the machine going out and requesting the updates anyway, and a firewall won't block that). Even with a Windows-based system, the basic firewall included in all routers, as well as the built-in Windows firewall, should be sufficient to prevent outside intrusion. When you have only one or two ports forwarded to the machine, then only attacks/attempts on that port would even REACH the system. For the attack to accomplish anything, it would have to "affect" whatever is listening on that port. If all there is, is the DVR app looking for connections, the attack can blather away at it all day, and the app won't respond unless it hears the request it's listening for.

8x baluns at $5/pr = $20. You just admitted you don't even know the real price of Cat5; it's obvious you're using the highest possible price you can find for baluns in your calculations as well. Irrelevant.

Irrelevant as long as you're comparing Cadillac baluns with Kia BNCs. So? 18/2 is unnecessary 95% of the time with Cat5/baluns. How is testing I performed myself, "hearsay"? Just FYI... Cat5e isn't required either. You can use Cat3 if you want... or station-Z... or speaker wire. Any single pair of wire will work with video baluns. Cat5e is popular mainly because it allows easy transition to network cameras in the future... and if you deal with both, it lets you reduce the number of types and boxes of cable you have to stock and haul around. I find Cat5e also useful with VGA baluns, HDMI extenders, KVM extenders, four-wire intercom systems (we install a lot of 3M D2470 systems - Cat5 is good for both callbox runs, and for base/selector runs). Costs for single camera runs are one thing... now calculate the cost difference to run four cameras over a distance using Cat5e vs. coax: it will take four RG59 runs... or one Cat5e. The *same baluns* can be found for $3/pr. on fleaBay.

Im not discussing cost with you, You're the one who started the comparisons. I can look up retail prices just as easily as the next guy - YOU'RE the one who brought up "retail American pricing", so... there it is. Click the link, look at the picture: that IS RG59 Siamese. And if it isn't Siamese, well, that's pretty f'n expensive for JUST RG-59... don't even want to think about what the Siamese would cost. Double FOR YOU. Not for anyone else in the real world. Is this the Cat5e you're looking at? This stuff is plenum-rated (under the Specifications page: "May be used in the place of CMP, CMR, CMG, CM and CMX cables; 1,000 ft. category 5e is ideal for running in plenums"), which always costs more than riser-rated cable, like the $83 box listed above. You're also comparing retail on the Cat5, to what I assume is a wholesale price for the Siamese? Pretty sure if you check your wholesale supplier, you'll find CMR Cat5e substantially cheaper than $83/1000'. Nothing wrong with listing retail pricing - anyone can look it up with a simple google search.

I like anything I can flash with DD-WRT. Haven't found that the specific hardware makes a huge difference (except for things like WiFi G vs N... and the chipset matters if you want to set up WDS or a mesh network; you need all of them to be the same brand of chipset for WPA to work). Ummmm... not by itself. If someone is surfing porn sites on a PC-based DVR, then sure... and it won't matter what ports you use or what firewall you have in place.

Yeah, I just saw that vac at KMS Tools today... must be new, they didn't have one at all when I was looking at Home Depot a couple months ago. However, I've found those little "Handy-Vac" types really don't work well for pulling string through conduit - they just don't have the "oomph" of a good canister vac.

Those look like the same things we covered in another thread, that stated in huge letters on the listing that they WEREN'T actually baluns... Canadian retail pricing: 1000' Cat5e: $85, or $0.085/ft. 400' = $34. 8x baluns @$10/pair (sure, I'll take 100% markup) = $40. Total: $74 500' RG59+18/2 Siamese: $158, or $0.316/ft. 400' = $126. US pricing at Home Depot is pretty much the same: $156 for 500' Siamese, $83 for 1000' Cat5e.