Bungle

We have a camera that only accepts input on a terminal block, and wish to attach a microphone to it (it doesn't have one built in). How would we go about this? Do we need a special type of mic where the wires can be plugged in, or could we just rip the end of a normal one and stick it in to the appropriate audio in pins?

We have 2 ACTi cameras on order to trial (their cube cameras) and I was wondering from those who have had experience of these cameras, what they thought of them (their cameras in general, not necessarily specific models). They are of course so much cheaper than Axis, although that doesn't always mean the quality is lower too. I found a very interesting repository of preview clips which have very nice and plentiful demonstrations of all their camera ranges in action, although unfortunately i'm not allowed to post the link as I am a new member! [edit 14/03/08] Link to camera demos: here. [/edit] The image quality from them seems fine, so it's just a case of reliability.

Thanks for the replies. It's an acti 7411 - link to manual - page 1-7, mentions AUDIO_IN and ground. Also states it accepts audio in/out. The purpose, I appreciate often controversial, is not for home use. We are protecting an area of a school corridor where theft is an issue, and wish, under such circumstances of this reoccuring, to be able to understand the details of what is happening by the culprit(s).

For those interested, the ftp site showing sample video clips from ACTi cameras is here. We have recently acquired a dome camera too (7411) and for what you get with it at the price, it's really is incredible. No trouble with any of our acti cameras, except some compatibility difficulty with recording software. I think we'll definately be buying acti cameras in future now.

Well since starting this thread, I must say I am impressed with our ACTi cameras, considering how cheap they are! Had no problems with them crashing, image quality suits us fine (and is very good on their MP line) and overall for the price we paid, are very satisfied. Only downside is that there is less choice of software to support them, especially when using mpeg4 compression. Although, with Axis's new M10 line, it seems the competition for budget IP cameras is getting hotter!

Well we have had our cube cameras in use for a little over 10days now, and are working fine, although I think we will only opt for the megapixel counterparts for any future ACTi cameras we purchase (cheap enough) - we got one of each, 4100 and 4200. The cube cameras are a little ugly and not suited where you'll want protection, however in a high enough position they are fine; we put one in the corner of a room with ~80% coverage. There was a slight issue with settings going back to factory default when upgrading the firmware, but other than that they are fine. Picture quality is impressive for the price (4200) and given we only use 4FPS, the limitation of 8 doesn't affect us. Had a few issues getting them working with some NVR software though (particularly exacq), whereas our existing Axis cameras work fine with this.

I would go with Axis all the time if they were cheaper, but as it stands, the closest to the ACM-4200 (which as you point out is the 207MW), costs over double the price, which for us is too big a difference! I think ACTi know this, hence why their prices are put alot cheaper. I'm glad that you have seen reliability with the cameras, however milestone is software which we would want to implement on a larger scale once we get our camera network organised (a bit messed up atm), so the fact you say it doesn't support mjpeg with these cameas may be an issue - is that a problem with milestone or the camera itself? Is the picture quality much of a difference on the 4200 between mjpeg and mpeg4?

I know they're not "the best" (how could they be with how cheap they are!), however it is extremely unlikely we'll be using it for 24/7 recording (although it will always be monitoring), and I doubt we'll ever need to use the footage for legal matters, so it is just for internal use for us to see what is happening at certain areas at certain times. I was more looking for those who have used them and if they can say whether they work reliably long-term and don't frequently crash/freeze/go bad etc.

Thanks for those replies. We will trial 1 megapixel and 1 standard res camera, so maybe we would have better reliability with the standard? Then again, I plan to use a 1280x720 resolution on the megapixel cam, so I suppose it wont need as much in the way of processor power, compared to the full 1280x1024. The cameras will solely operate indoors in "reasonably" heated areas, so if they are able to withstand frost conditions, then I hope this should be fine.