cesperon

Hi All... I wanted to introduce myself and apologize right off the bat for my ignorance. I am just learning about CCTV equipment and may ask some stupid questions. I am smart enough to realize just how ignorant I am.. so hopefully I won't make too big of a fool of myself, but if I do- forgive me, I am trying to learn. I am here to learn because I am trying to help my aunt set up an inexpensive yet reliable CCTV system in her horse barn. She would like to be able to see and hear what is going on when a mare is soon to foal, keep an eye on a new foal or watch a sick horse from her home. Internet access is also something she would like to be able to use- so her kids in college can watch the births, see the new babies or peek in on their fav horses. Network or DVR security is not a big concern- she is not worried about anyone hacking in to look at the horses. Actually she would prefer it was easier to get in... Anyways- that's my story- looking forward to learning from you all!

Ok.. first off I am pretty sure 99% of the problem comes from the fact that we bought these cheap cameras off of ebay.. but is there any fix other than buying new cameras? These are cheap bullet cams with audio that were purchased from an "importer" off ebay. (we've played with everything..it doesn't matter if we are using a VCR or the DVR... BNC or RCA cables.. we've pretty much decided it must be the camera..) When we first plug the cameras in the night vision image is beautiful.. crystal clear.. but the longer the cameras are plugged in the worse the image gets. We get a black haze that starts at the edges, which grows over time (almost like a vignette photo) and the image itself becomes grainy. The cameras are warm to the touch but not hot. I am sure there is more information that you may need.. but I don't know what might be important, please bear with me.. I am a newbie. If there is another thread that deals with this issue, I would be happy to read it if I could find it. Thanks! (I can also upload some sample video it that would help)

They weren't used- but they are a no-name importer's brand. They are also working with me on the issue, so that makes me feel a little better- they brought up the power supply question too- which reminded me, we did not get the cameras with power supplies. We got the power supplies from a local electronics store .. not a radio shack- this place is HUGE and has every switch, cable and connector known to man lol. So I will have to double check those as well. So I am going to go get the cameras, run the test this weekend and see what the results are. I will post any and all specs I have on both the cameras and the power supplies as well as some images from the daytime test and a night time test we did. Thanks for all the help!

We have never really tried them during the day- it is always pretty dark in the barn where we want to use them. We are using the power supplies that came with the cameras.. If you need evact specs I can get them for you. We are using siamese cable, so a couple of hundred feet... We have also tried it by plugging the camera directly into the power supply (which would make it about 2 feet away) same effect after a while. Uh favorite color.. black of course )