AVCONSULTING

A properly installed sunshield will make a big difference, strongly suggest you get one and also a fan/heater combo. Not a lot extra but will help extend the life of the camera.

http://www.ltctrainingcntr.com/Technical%20Library/gritty_video_heads_in_the_field.htm http://www.ltctrainingcntr.com/Technical%20Library/pick_a_tape.htm

Very good system, although I have to say there is a local guy in Los Angeles that sells them pretty cheaply. Right now a 16 camera 120 fps and 120 gb on P4 platform with XP Pro is going for $895. I was selling the exact same Magic Radar for almost twice as much until this joker camer along and ruined the market here. Eventually dropped Magic Radar but had nothing to do with the operation of the system. Pure marketing decision.

You don't need a Panasonic lens. I'd suggest looking at the Computar line of lenses since they are of excellent quality and are less expensive. Tamron is also a good alternative. All auto iris lenses are wired with Panasonic plugs now since that is the de facto standard in the industry.

That is the exact same one carried by Vitek. http://www.vitekcctv.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductID=181

As long as the modulator goes between the antenna and the TV you are ok. If you have multiple TV's then you have to put the modulator in line before the antenna splits off to the various TVs. You could have the modulator sitting on top of the TV, the antenna feeding into the modulator first and then going into the TV if you are only going to use it on that TV. Make sure whatever channel you are going to use is blank and you also might experience interference on the channel above and below the channel you are using depending on how close their frequencies are to the channel being modulated.

Here is a good resource for lens calculations and the Pelco site has lots of other interesting information. http://www.pelco.com/support/tools/lenscalc.aspx

There is a calculator on this site you might want to check it out. http://www.vitekcctv.com/

You have to use the modulator before you get to the splitter or splitters.

Here is another link with some general DVR information. http://www.digitalvideorecorder.net/articles.htm

http://www.nvt.com/

We think alike Hermin. I also have a license plate DVRKING, good thing we are in different states.

This should be the supplier. Also same unit as Crest and Digital Watchdog. http://www.win4net.com/eng/index.php I think Open Eye is also using that board. http://www.openeye.net/default.asp

Interesting Wahloon, the owner of VSSI has plates that are 007CCTV. What state are you in?

I live in an area that has a large asian population and my car has a license plate "CCTVKNG" and I've had several people come up to me thinking I work for them (even though I'm not asian). I guess they think I'm an American executive or something.

I've got someone who is saying their DVR is recording even if there is no motion at night and I've been telling them that if their camera has a poor signal to noise ratio then the random noise is triggering the motion detector. He thinks the DVR has a problem. Anyone know of an article or articles written regarding motion detection being tripped by high camera noise? Thanks.

I agree with Scott. An embedded system will work best for you. First they are much more rugged and in a body shop atmosphere with tons of dust and dirt you would be better off with an embedded system. Also you don't need the ultra sophisticated features of a PC based system and the need for a keyboard and mouse. There are tons of threads here on various embedded systems so you might want to look at them for some ideas.

Don't forget Tyco which owns Sensormatic, I.E. American Dynamics et al. Honeywell which owns ADI and all of their Ademco and related products. Most manufacturers will gladly bypass dealers, distributors, etc to make a sale in this highly competitive atmosphere. If the deal is big enough they will grab it and make the excuse that if they didn't do it their competitors would have so the distributor/dealer wouldn't have gotten the sale anyway. Unfortunately CCTV is a total disaster when it comes to a structured selling philosophy and now with the entrance of myriad overseas suppliers selling direct to anyone (even on Ebay) it is just getting worse. As for dealers, they are getting beaten down by companies like SuperCircuits and Security Cameras Direct, Spy Town, and many others. These are trying times for dealers and distributors. And end users aren't being served well either since they are buying more complicated products with no technical support and are set adrift when they need help. But the day may be coming when end users will start to sue places like SuperCircuits et al over potential harm that may come out of poorly installed systems because they didn't perform as expected and someone was hurt.

Martin distributing in your area and VSSI in SoCal are the two that come to mind in the West Coast. There is also Northern Video in Sacramento that has low pricing but customer service isn't as good, again a trade off between margins and level of service.

When you operate on such a thin margin as they do you have very little money available for quality support staff and barely enough for a mediocre skeleton staff. But you have to put up with that for the low prices. It is a trade off between price and quality of service. You just have to hope you have no problems or have to return anything. At that point the time you spend getting things taken care of pretty much wipes out any savings you got. A really bad scenario is getting stuff for your customer, not having it work properly and then possibly losing the customer because of the suppliers bad service. Then the cost to you is incalculable.

Pinetron is the OEM for Nuvico and Vitek.

I believe the OEM is Pinetron. Check out the link. http://www.pinetron.com/english/product/dvr_h.htm

If you can run wire then best bet is to go with Channel Plus remote extenders. Here is a link. Most distributors carry this line. http://www.channelplus.com/products_ir.html

Louroe ASK-4 KIT microphone is an omnidirectional mike and if mounted on the ceiling will pick up all noise in a 30' radius. You might have to change out to a unidirectional microphone. See if your supplier has this model available and would lend it to you on a trial basis. Here are the specifications. http://www.louroe.com/datasheets/kmic_cs.pdf

This is a new IR camera from Vitek. A local distributor has been testing it out with good results. You might want to check the spec's. Also a list of suppliers is on the site. http://www.vitekcctv.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductID=189