Kiwi

That is a weird question. The wire pair between the baluns must be a twisted pair, preferably the color with the tightest twist. Not good idea to use more than one pair in any way for video, however using one or more pairs for power is common.

As a home user I bought a AV3130 dual sensor day/night camera about 2007. We had used them at work for government projects and they seemed to be a high quality camera. The optional 4mm lenses I also purchased turned out to be virtually useless, a waste of $140. My example was only in service a couple of years as a weather webcam (monochrome side covered) and then the daytime colour sensor inexplicably failed, despite the incoming light level being well stopped-down and the camera well-protected environmentally. Now I use the monochrome side only in a nighttime security application with the free AV100 software which is barely adequate and doesn't seem to have any way to save clips. It does work though and it did solve a recent break-in. The Arecont seemed physically very well made but not well evolved, at least at the time. This one, like most, have no output for an iris control so you have to compromise with one setting for all conditions, not realistic, and I was never very happy with the colours. I also found that JPEGs extracted were not precisely formed to the required JPEG specification and could not be extracted by PHP scripts. I replaced it with an Axis 2MP day/night which has met all my performance expectations, despite being shipped with the incorrect dome.

Lol, I guess you have never priced CCTV equipment. You should just buy a consumer camcorder.

It'll be the same as any other device with general purpose sound inputs and outputs, "line level." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_level

I'm thinking more high current than high voltage. One last thought - is the metal dome body inadvertently grounded?

When you tested the camera on a battery were both the normal + and - power wires disconnected? Are the cameras that are OK v.s. not OK of the same type? In particular simple cameras usually have the power (-) connected internally to the video shield, often contributing to ground loops. In my minimal experience I've seen a wavy picture from either insufficient voltage at the camera, or a ground loop between the (-) and video shield. Also having long untwisted power wires raises a flag for me but the battery test should remove that possibility.

These answers are never easy. The Logitech system still needs a PC which must survive the break-in, nearly impossible without either a strong box or hiding it - both difficult in a rental property. I've put my DVR and other security monitoring kit inside a large, vented NEMA 4 box in a closet but I own the property. It took me years to evolve and cost thousands. It pays to play out all the potential scenarios to see if the proposed solutions will even work and are worth the cost. And that includes trying to get the cops to act and produce results from your CCTV images. I wouldn't limit yourself to ideas which also suit your nanny concerns. The optimum solutions may be different as the nanny is unlikely to mess with your PC but will have more time to notice a hidden camera. Do you have a trustworthy at-home neighbor that can respond to a silent alarm? The big advantage with an apartment is limited access and if your door is impregnable that's the best answer. Perhaps you can limit CCTV to the nanny. Someone should sell a DVR with a battery and single camera looking out the front, all inside a lockable steel box that can be temporarily but securely screwed to the back of the front door.

I would spend $500 on securing the door better and forget about the CCTV. Other than a nanny-cam built into in a teddy bear, your simply not going to be able to have a covert system without drilling holes and it's very likely the equipment will be gone the next time you have a burglary.

(post deleted)

If you right-click on the setup file, "run as administrator" Video server E will install and run. Once installed, I've noticed on many installations that it fails to run the first time, but will on subsequent attempts. Video viewer seems to install incorrectly during the install of Video Server E. Go to the Video Server E folder and re-install viewer from it's setup file - back into the same folder - rather than install to the separate folder it normally uses. When Viewer is invoked from E to play a file, note it sometimes has a delay of several seconds.

Great video - that should be mandatory newbie viewing.

I would suggest an additional IR block filter positioned in front of the lens to supplement the one already present at the CCD. A UV block filter may or may not be helpful but is plenty cheap enough. Also, since the dynamic range you will have is significantly higher, a neutral density filter of several stops may be required.

I used to design x-ray imaging camera boxes as part of my job. Using a mirror is best if the camera receives the direct x-ray beam. If the radiation at the camera is only scatter and it's not too high the leaded glass should work and is the easier fix. Either way be sure and shield the camera with thin lead, likely 1/32" is thick enough. The leaded glass will need to be about 1/4" thick.

Good answers. And that DNS server address can be the local NAT router which would have one or two internet DNS addresses recorded by way of the ISP.

Is the blur from the person due to long exposure or IR focus shift? Not that it applies to my 3130, but with many Areconts you can specify which parts of the image are used for determining exposure. If you have a slow connection the command line interface (using a browser) may be more convenient.

Have any of you who are Arecont customers managed to gain access to their secured "Customer Service Portal?" I've emailed two requests to join and both have been disregarded. Thx

I suspect the reason the DDNS doesn't work when initiated by the DVR is that it does not know the actual address on the internet, only its own IP which is usually on the LAN hosted by the router. The router's DDNS client knows the correct IP and that's the one you should set up with the account info. With some DSL systems you could set up the modem/router in bridge mode and the DVR's DDNS would work correctly. With a cable modem it should work also if the DVR is connected directly.

I run an Arecont at home by supplying 12V over 2 unused pairs of the CAT5E for 4 meters but this should not be called Power over Ethernet to avoid confusion with the actual PoE standard. I would never do this on a professional install however.

Throwing us off the scent, aye ... I've seen the same effect on a 12 VDC camera with a noisy power supply.

If I understand the question correctly you are actually asking if installing a 1/2" lens on a 1/3" camera will improve the image? Well, no, it won't just on that basis.

Are the cameras synced off the 24 VAC? Perhaps there is some electrical noise on the power that is confusing the sync?

and the history - did it ever work? Are you using baluns? I've got some poor quality baluns that cause a similar problem.

After you set up the DDNS hostname/password on the router you should see the IP get updated on the DynDns site. And again if you reboot the router. There are no other changes to make regarding DDNS other than these two items. When your IP changes, don't expect the hostname to work for as long as a half hour after the change - depending on the client's service provider. The new IP has to propagate through the DNS system.

That's one of the funniest things I've seen in ages!

That should have been the question! Technically the video signal can only be terminated at the end of the line. If you "tee" off the signal mid-way that device should not load it with 75 ohms. Certainly the device in the web link above *will* terminate it, so if your DVR does not have a loop-through (double BNC with termination-off switch) then you will suffer loss of brightness and possibly ghosting.