GrouchoBoucho

the "waterproof" portion is the camera housing itself - the backbox isn't designed to be completely water-tight. if water does get into the backbox, it should be able to drain out around the edges. the wire entry into the camera body *is* sealed.

i'd terminate everything in a patch panel, whether ip or analog... then you can easily plug in whichever type of camera you want. just patch to baluns on the head end.

they should. same principle applies.

your boss is right. that depends on the nvr software.

if you already have multiple cameras on each power supply, and aren't experiencing any ground loop problems, then you probably won't see any problems with all the cameras connected to a single supply. if they're dual-voltage cameras or have internal voltage regulators, you negate one of the causes of the balun-related ground loop.

i've worked with a few panasonic cameras that used up-the-coax power... took them apart to try to figure out how the power tapped off internally... never could figure it out; never got one to work without its custom power "injector" unit.

how are the two routers connected - wan/lan ports? where does the internet connection come in? normally i'd just plug everything into the switch and then use the router strictly for the internet connection.

the bitrate setting will have the biggest effect on the lag, since that defines the maximum amount of data the camera will send. if your iframe interval is too small, and/or framerate too high, and/or resolution too high, the camera will have to use more compression to maintain the bitrate, resulting in more pixelation. there is no "best" setting, because all situations are different, including the upload speed available.

your problem is simple: the higher the picture quality, the more data it contains, the longer it takes to send it out to your remote client. this is *the* trade-off in remote viewing whether you're dealing with hd or analog. one thing you can do is check your internet connection's upstream speed, as it will be seriously restricted on most isps' plans. you can also check that nothing else (torrents, other clients, etc.) is eating into that upload speed.

your manual will show the pinouts for the rs485 - it will probably be only two pins of that connector.

i think you answered your own question there how many cameras does that budget include? i wouldn't recommend spending under $100 per camera; $150-$200 is preferable, otherwise you might as well just go back to the crappy costco package system.

what would the cost be for four avigilon encoders plus software plus suitable pc? standalone 16ch x d1@30fps dahua can be had for $550+hdd

yeah, old thread, but... there's nothing wrong with cat3 for this; cat5 or 6 would provide *zero* benefit. 1000' is around the max for passive baluns; *past* the max for cheaper passives. active at either end will improve things; active at both ends is ultimate, but shouldn't be necessary. video amp won't help as the problem isn't *just* signal loss at that range, but signal degradation due to capacitance. all you're doing with an amp is boosting an already-poor signal.

most important thing to remember in cctv sales is: you get what you pay for.

the ciscos i've been using do max 15w/port up to half the ports, or 7w/port for all of them, never had a problem... but then i'm not running any ir. they do have models that do full power on all ports, but those cost more, of course. but yes, it is nice to be able to toggle power to the cameras remotely.

disposable hardware is disposable. have you tried asking zmodo?

when did this become eharmony?

why not just plug the camera into a wireless router and then access it through the wifi on your phone? keep in mind for your idea to work, your phone would need drivers for the usb/nic... or more to the point, the usb nic would have to have some sort of android support, which i'm betting it doesn't.

if they were using a generator, you'd hear it. they can't just drop an extension cord down to an outlet; that would be obvious. so to get power, they'd need an outlet in the attic... since attics don't typically have them, they'd have to add one. to add one, they'd need a suitable line to tap into. since most wiring in the attic is probably for lights, that means turning off the lights would quite possibly turn off the recorder and cameras. if there are cameras, there have to be wires... if you go in the attic, the wires should be obvious unless they went to an extraordinary amount of work to hide them. in short, it's very, very unlikely they would have a recorder in the attic without having used a professional, and/or put a *lot* of effort into it/.

wtf is a "modem extender"?

possible? sure, anything is possible. likely? not without someone putting in a lot of time and work. it's not just mounting the cameras, it's extra work to conceal them, and to conceal the wiring, and the recorder, and they'd have to get power to the whole thing.

well, that's the difference between doing something for yourself with free or near-free equipment... and doing something for a customer with purpose-built equipment. i would shy away from the dd-wrt route toward the ubiquiti solution as well, if it was for a customer... but on the other hand, it's something that *does work* if done right, and may be suitable on a production site as a "stepping stone" to the final product.

contact your vendor about a firmware update.

place a can of paint in the middle of the room with the lid off. pull the pin on a grenade, drop it in the paint, and run. *boom* - everything in the room will be covered with paint, including the cameras, wherever they may be.