survtech

Try a hard reset at each camera. There should be a button.

On the minus side, almost every IT-oriented RAID system I've encountered has had trouble handling high bandwidth video storage. The key culprits are what some RAID manufacturers call "Drive Check Period" and "Maximum Drive Response Timeout". Drive Check Period is essentially how often the system checks the drives and Maximum Drive Response Timeout is the length of time the system allows for a drive to respond to I/O requests. Systems that record continuously high bitrates often encounter drives that are slow to respond due to performing bad block relocation and other maintenance tasks while writing continuously. The drives may be perfectly good but just responded a bit too slow so the system fails perfectly good drives. This can result in, at the best, way too many "failed" drives and at the worst, data loss. Some people I know recommend removing and re-inserting failed drives due to the likelihood that they are not really bad. I think that is risky if you don't fully test them prior to re-inserting them so I prefer to just set the RAIDs' parameters accordingly.

Are the camera and server on the same subnet and have you set the server's address as the gateway in the camera?

Here's a link to a manual explaining Pelco-D protocol commands. Perhaps it would help? http://cvs.ru/files/pelco-d.pdf

I seriously recommend you consider a true hardware RAID box rather than a home-brew system. A well-designed RAID system can achieve 99.9999% ("four 9's") to 99.99999% ("five 9's") reliability. Use smaller RAID groups (no more than 10 drives total in an 8+2 RAID6 configuration) with at least one global hot spare per chassis. Having worked with RAID-for-video for over 10 years, I can attest that well-designed systems rarely crash or lose data.

Many PTZs require multiple hexadecimal (base 16) command strings to perform actions. Take Pelco-D protocol for instance. The command to Pan a camera at Address 1 Left at high speed is: FF,01,00,04,3F,00,44. This string must be sent almost continuously to continue panning. In the absence of a follow-up command string, the PTZ would continue panning for ~500ms then stop unless another FF,01,00,04,3F,00,44 string is received or a "Stop" string (FF,01,00,00,00,00,01) is received. In the strings above, Byte 1 (Sync) - the synchronization byte, fixed to FF Byte 2 (Camera Address) - logical address of the camera being controlled (Address 1 is 01) Byte 3 & 4 (Command 1 and 2) Byte 5 (Data 1) - pan speed, range from 00 (stop) to 3F (high speed) and FF for "turbo" speed (the maximum pan speed that the device can go) Byte 6 (Data 2) - tilt speed, range from 00 (stop) to 3F (maximum speed) Byte 7 (Checksum) - sum of bytes (excluding the synchronization byte), then modulo 100 (Decimal code: 256) To pan and zoom at the same time, two commands must be sent with no more than 500ms between repeating commands (ie, pan - zoom - pan - zoom - etc.). Some VMS manufacturers fail to send the stop string, hence the camera will "overshoot" for approximately 1/2 second. Avigilon demonstrated this issue during my tests of it last year. It's possible that your VMS has the same problem. The "run-on" problem can also occur with improperly calibrated joysticks.

Pelco Spectras (and most PTZs) use the equivalent of a cheap 420TVL (actually 470TVL) 1/4" CCD camera, typically an Hitachi or Sony camera module from an older-style VHS camcorder. Typical specs are HERE. Horizontal resolution is listed at 470TVL. The biggest parts of the price difference between a $100 470TVL fixed camera and a $2000 Spectra IV are the power zoom lens and the pan/tilt drive system. You can't expect super high camera performance from most PTZ cameras because that is not what they are designed for. Also, the resolution limitations of analog provide an upper limit on camera resolution anyway. IP PTZs can, and often do, provide higher resolution pictures but can cost as much as 3x an analog PTZ.

You can try dielectric grease. Usually available at auto parts stores. Or check here That's assuming you need it for electrical connections. For other applications, try this:

After you thump, you're supposed to plunk. The IR filter is in the camera, between the sensor and the lens. If your camera is true day/night, a motor will move the IR filter out of the way in the dark so that the camera can "see" infrared light and back between the lens and the sensor when it's light to maintain correct color. Occasionally, some really cheap cameras will not have IR filters but that is relatively rare. Also, color-only cameras will have IR filters that are bonded to the sensor or part of the lens.

No. At this time, HD-SDI requires coax. Also, the bandwidth requirement for each camera doesn't, and will likely never allow more than one camera per cable.

That doesn't mean much. You're comparing the high end of one product to the low end of another. Huh? What difference does that make?

Good idea! Cats are such troublemakers:

Here's a link: http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/endoscopy-gastrointestinal-in-cats/117 Though why you would want to do this is beyond me....

Looks OK but beware - some sellers claim the center conductor is solid bare copper when in actuality, it is copper-clad steel. Amazon is pretty good at accepting returns so if you buy the cable through them, test it with a magnet against the center conductor ASAP and complain if it's steel.

Good quality copper/copper RG59 will easily go 900-1000 feet. Look for a 20 gauge center conductor (a few brands use 22-23 gauge). Likewise, good quality copper/copper RG6 can go 1500 feet. Be careful if you decide to use RG6. Although many companies make copper/copper varieties, some places only stock CATV RG6 that uses a copper clad steel center conductor and foil or aluminum shield. Both will limit distance capability tremendously.

It looks sort of like a miniature Interocitor to me.

You have to get into the PTZ's menu and change each "label" you don't want to display to "Off".

Did you match addresses, baud rate, parity and stop bits between your serial port, software and the PTZ? Did you connect the Tx pins on the PC to the Rx pins on the PTZ - (+ to +) and (- to -)? Also, USB-to-serial adapters usually won't work for this application. Windows tends to randomly assign serial port IRQs with USB ports and that means inter-connection can fail.

How did you couple it? Preferred method is via punchdown block but I've used "beans" many times and they always work. Just maintain the twists as much as possible. Analog-over-UTP doesn't "disappear" over even quite long cable runs - it loses color first, then the B/W signal gets weaker and weaker as the length increases. I've tested passive-passive with runs of 500 feet, 1,000 feet and 1,500 feet and observed the results. I've also tested passive-active with runs up to 2,000 feet. Every test pointed to the same conclusion. Be aware that IDC-type splices occasionally fail - wires can be cut or fail to make contact during the process. The problem is not always obvious, so check your splice(s) carefully. Also, make doubly certain you spliced the correct pairs and maintained the polarity.

http://www.marshall-usa.com/IVS/Cameras/box-camera_VS-539-HDI.html Marshall Electronics VS-539-HDI - 2.0MP 10X Zoom IP Box Camera * 2 MP 1/3.6" 1920 x 1080 CMOS Sensor * Full HD resolution 1080p30 / 1080i60 Video and Audio Encoding * 10x Optical Zoom Lens Built-in (F1.8 ~ F2.2, f=4.5mm ~ 45mm) * 120x Zoom (10x Optical Zoom, 12x Digital Zoom) * Up to 30fps @ 1920 x 1080 live streaming * H.264/H.264 & H.264/MJPEG Dual Streaming * HDMI Video output and this: http://www.antrica.com/products/2-0mp-hd-camera-ant-3530/ Antrica 2.0MP HD IP Camera + HDMI (ANT-3540X20) * H.264/MJPEG compression * 2 .0 Magapixel 1/2.5″ CMOS Image sensor * Max full HD (1920×1080 30p) video with progressive scan * 10/100M Ethernet network interface * Live video HDMI interface

The same thing you would get if you hook your TV up to a gas main. They both deliver energy but obviously are not inter-compatible.

Not likely. HD-SDI uses very high frequency signals which will not propagate through baluns. The HDcctv Alliance has supposedly approved HDcctvCX, which will allow transport over UTP but I have no idea when such products will be released nor if the technology will filter down to HDcctv's generic brother HD-SDI. http://www.highdefcctv.org/hdcctv-specification

Don't expect the first beam clamps to hold against twisting weight or force. Electricians will typically use two of them, mounted on each side of an I beam with a piece of unistrut between the two. This keeps the clamps in position. They then mount equipment to the unistrut.

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/CADDY-CCTV-Camera-I-Beam-Mount-5KZT6 CADDY CCTV Camera I Beam Mount

I second the comment to only use one pair for video. In Cat(5/6/7) cable, individual pairs are twisted but there is little-to-no pair-to-pair twist. Plus, each pair has an impedance of 100 ohms. If you use one pair as (+) and one pair as (-) for the video, you have no twists and the impedance will not be 100 ohms. The twists act to cancel out noise picked up in the cable. Without the twist, you will likely get noise. You will also have impedance mismatch, which will cause its own set of problems. This does not apply to power, only to video so you can use one pair for power (+) and one pair for power (-).