dahur

Can we say Macgyver..........you go boy! It works and keeps the water out but I would not show that to too many people if your trying to get any work doing this. let me tell you. After spending two days fishing the cat5e from 3ft of attic space, through a 10 ft insulated inside wall, through a firebreak two feet down from the ceiling, there is NO WAY I'm looking for any work doing this stuff! As to the tupperware bowl, people on the ground think it's a wireless transmitter/receiver of some sort-at least that what they tell me.

HA! You guessed it. $6 tupperware bowl.

The power supply, wireless card, alarm wires, etc. required an weatherproof enclosure.

Here's a picture of my camera with the newly installed sun shield. This camera has a blower, heater. It was an easy install, though time consuming, as I had to bring the camera down, and disassemble it. Microseven said their Afganistan camera with the shield is still working great.

Here in southern New Mexico, it gets very hot in the summer. Back in June, we were going through near 100 degree days, and my PTZ IP camera failed. It is on my roof, in the sun all day. Luckily, it was still under warranty, and the company replaced it with a new one. I asked them if they make a sun shield for this camera, and they do. They told me they have a camera in Afganistan, and it uses the sun shield, and that it has been tested successfully with that camera. The company said it is cut into 3 pieces for easy installation over the existing dome. Question is, does anyone have first hand experience with these type of covers for domes. Do they work, in your experience?

I researched PTZ cameras for about 6 months and last January decided to get Microseven's Wireless IP dome hi speed camera. I have a review of it on the X10 forum, with pictures. Don't know if you want wireless or not, but mine works perfect with my Linksys router. No lost signals. pixilation, breakups or anything. It's about 90 ft from the router, on my roof. No cables=VERY easy to install. Mine was about 1200 with shipping, but it's the 26x optical version. They have a 18x for less than a grand. 12x digital zoom. Both models are the same, except for the zoom. All metal construction, belt drive. endless pan, and pans 360 in 1 second. 180 tilt @ 160/sec with auto flip. Blower and heater. Built in web server. 1 yr warranty, lifetime firmware updates and tech support. 255 presets. Motion detecting, and patrol in the software. H264, D1 video. Sony Ex view HAD rated at 001 lux. Auto IR cut filter for night time. I also wanted auto tracking, but after reading a lot of negative reviews, I chose not to get one that had it. 3 months now, and I'm very happy with this camera. Their cameras are on E-Bay, you can check out the specs there if you want.

I have been using X10 for 15 years or so, and am very familiar with it. I also have a video over powerline security camera system, that is pretty reliable, and reasonably in expensive. Lukwerks by Wilife uses cameras that have 433 mgz(if I remember right) processor in each camera that compresses the video and sends it on the powerline to the powerline adapter which retrieves the video and sends it via USB into your computer. You can set up motion detection up to 16 different areas per camera, and then you can have motion detection send you a text e-mail, snapshot, or video clip. Or save to your hard drive. Believe me when I tell you there is not a easier system to set up. I had mine sending a picture to my computer within 15 minutes of receiving it in the mail. All you need is AC. We moved to New Mexico in December, but attached is a picture of my five camera(you can have up to 6), system that I had in Michigan. We had a break in there last summer. He broke in the window of the pool room on the deck side. From there, he opened up the kitchen window, and crawled in over the sink. The kitchen camera is a Lukwerks "spy" camera. It looks like a clock, and is IR sensitive. It was the neighbor kid, and he never knew he was being recorded. I have a X10 motion sensor on the basement steps, that triggers a "welcome" from the speaker I have installed in the basement. We think this spooked him, because all he took was a handful of change I had. I gave the parents a copy of the recording on CD that clearly showed their kid breaking in. I didn't call the cops, I could see they were really embarrassed, and I believe they took care of it themselves. I never saw their kid around after that. Before I got the system, I was concerned there would be powerline collisions, or noise as X10 uses the powerline also. Not a problem, they use different frequencies. Cost for the starter system, which includes one camera, the USB powerline adapter, and the software on CD, was about $280. Amazon sells it, as does a lot of other places. Each additional camera is between $175, and $250, depending on which one you get. I have a hi-speed PTZ IP wireless dome camera on my roof now, which I just put in, but I have also installed the Lukwerks system too. BTW, you have remote access with the Lukwerks, hosted on the Wilife site. It's free of charge too. Only thing I don't like is, They want to charge you $75 per year to use the digital PTZ features of the camera(s). I won't ever do that, but I suppose some people do. This is a great solution for someone who doesn't want to run cable. Also attached is a current picture of the Lukwerks on the front of the house here in New Mexico at night, with the front lights on.

No, I haven't experienced a full moon yet, but I can only hope my image is as good as yours is. I get a similar image about 15 minutes before it's completely dark, then I lose it. That is really a great night time picture.

Scott, Thanks. The power supply, usb for the wireless adapter, and various connectors for the audio, alarm, etc., all had to be enclosed in something. What you see is a tupper ware bowl on the back of the camera. It was a very economical solution to protect the wiring from the weather. It actually turned out great. I drilled a dozen very small holes in the bottom for ventilation, and secured the lid with a outside tie wrap. It is attached with 4 bolts and washers, to the wall mount of the camera. Cost was $5. I never tested the range of the camera, my router is maybe 80-90 ft away. I've never had the signal break up, pixilate, or anything. It has always come in 100% from where it's at. Dan

I bought a wireless ip ptz dome camera from Microseven a couple weeks ago. It took me a couple days to get used to the settings, now I get great results. It's wifi to my Linksys WRT54GX router. I installed it on a antenna mast on my roof for 360 views. With the 26x optical, I can easily read the neighbors license plate at 500 ft. Endless 360 pan, and 180 tilt with auto flip. H264, 4 settings with D1 the highest, (30 fps). It has an auto IR cut filter, and gets great night time results until it's completely dark, then you just get car and house lights. I tested the IR sensitivity, with a 54 IR led illuminator, and though it's pitch black outside the monitor is lit up. Very good IR sensitivity, so if you install a IR lamp, you will get good results at night. The price for this camera was a little less than what you were quoted for a wireless camera. But the 18x optical version of this same camera is $200 less. About the missing wires. I worked over 30 years at the phone company as a repairman. Often we had missing wires in the house also. If you can get a tone and tone locater, you can try putting the tone on the end in the basement, and go around the house with your tone locater to try and pick up the other end. I assume the wires were pre-wired in during construction. Sometimes the builders would accidently damage or cut the wires during the construction, if so you're usually SOL unless it's in the attic.

Thanks for the response. I'll try the settings you suggested tomorrow. Yes, I noticed when I reach the end of my optical zoom, because it suddenly gets very blurry. The digital zoom is pretty much useless. Will lowering the frame rate also help for nighttime? this camera has an auto IR cut, and works very well until just before it's completely dark. In fact just before complete darkness, the video looks like the thermal imaging cameras the military uses. But ten minutes later, the picture's gone.

Can someone tell me what settings might work best for me? I just got a Wireless Microseven 26x optical 12x digital Sony 1/4 Ex View HAD PTZ camera. It seems to me the video quality should be a little better than it is. Here are my options D1 (I have it on that now) HD1 CIF, QCIF Frame rates 5 to 30 I have it on 30 Bitrate 128 to 3000 I have it about in the middle 1500 something Video quality low medium high I have it set on high Video quality control Quality first (check) Frame rate first (check) I have the frame rate first checked.