NYCBlue

No, the illuminator would not be visible to a passerby. Hey scorpian, zmxtech thank you for taking your time to reply. I disagree that somebody willing to go to survey an area is immediately and always a super nut or lethal crook, though obviously could very well be. Rather even somebody with minimal knowledge, a minor thief of opportunity, could be looking to steal something from somebodys yard(plastic or cement yard animal, flower pot, yard light etc.) (Yep, had each taken from mine! Gosh, people would take a gum wrapper if it had value) could simply pass by in a car or on foot and check with any simple camera for infrared illumination. I dont have a cell phone camera, can ir be visible to that too? Plus, I wouldn't want neighbors taking pictures and asking "Why does your yard glow in the dark?" LOL. By the way I would position it, and the way things are setup here in my urban area it would be very, very hard to notice the illuminator. Some of the units by some ir companies can even easily be put in a flower pot at even level at the top and very easy to miss. With a little thought, in a good location it would be very hard to find. Don't have to worry about animals, LOL! I rarely even see stray cats!! Yes, hit me with the urban dweller jokes!! I don't want to turn this into a philosphical debate as to why are you doing this? don't do it, etc. Thats serves me no purpose, not the 2 cents I need, keep the change. The idea is a sound one. Those willing to further the idea and evolve it to its maximum, please do. Thanks for the links scorpian, anymore from anyone else would be appreciated, and the idea you recommended from my first thread is on the way, thanks!!

Hey Guys, I had success with the information and ideas provided to me from my first thread, I thought I'd give another topic a whirl. You guys here are great. I am looking to place a good infrared illuminator in my front yard. It would be best if the IR only turned on if it was tripped by a motion sensor. I don't like the idea of having the unit constantly on at night, which could be easily a tip to a uncivilized human being that the area is monitored if this person surveyed the landscape with a regular camcorder. What would be the best way to accomplish this? Any ideas, recommendations, suggestions are welcome, especially any actual motion sensor product recommendations. Thanks

Hi Rory, The monitor is a standard cctv composite one. The connection to the monitor is coming from the video out from the switcher. However the monitor is not the issue. Let me briefly reiterate, to simplify lets look at one camera, video line from camera to T-con video line from T-con to Dvr video line from T-con to Sequential Switcher Line from my farthest camera about 90 feet,/dvr, switcher, monitor all in the same area If you watch the monitor holding the T-con in hand, and pull the side lets says that going into the DVR, the picture goes back to normal, plug it back in image loss. Now its not horrible, but you lose sharpness and clarity. Given thats its CCTV, we want the dvr to record the best picture possible in case we need to nab a potential illegal act. Getting a switcher with a loop out for each channel seems like the cleanest and most econmical solution. I had no idea you could splice the lines?! WOW! Would that be a signal mess? 3 cables joined together?

I checked with Pelco, yes you are correct they do have units with the loop outs. I got thrown off when I looked for the switcher because they all said 1 to 2 output, but yes each switch has 2 BNC connections and the option to cut the resistor. This is a great solution. It saves me from getting a distribution/amp for each channel. The more research I do the more I realize the DA that I got is really poorly made. It seems a good DA with 1 input 2 out is in the 80 to 100 dollar range. While the 4 in 8 out that I got was 130 bucks. Ok great, this should work, Kudos and thanks to Scorpion and Hardwire for taking their time to write and provide me with a knowledge response. Good job and thanks guys again.

Thanks for replying. Thats an idea, I have not found any switcher units that have a loopout for each channel though.

Hey Folks, I have a DVR with no video loop outs for each individual channel, just a single video out. I'm trying to incorporate a video switcher into my setup. (Older members of the family simply refuse to use a mouse so that the vga connection could be utilised) I have a 4 channel Dvr with a 4 Video Camera setup. Originally to solve this problem I had the video signal coming in from the cameras connected to one side of a t-connector, one line going to the dvr on another side, and on the last one, a line going into the switcher. With this setup there is a loss of picture quality. What did I think would solve this problem? A 4 in 8 out distributor/amplifier. I purchased a Ameba unit, and when I got it the t-connector setup when compared to it was still producting a better image. I exhanged the unit for one that just does distribution and the 75 cent t-connector was still outperforming the distributor. I am stumped. Maybe the product line is inferior I have no idea, but there aren't that many companies, if at all one or two that make 4 in 8 out distributors. It would be great if I could have a setup with no picture loss. Any ideas, comments, thoughts, would be greatly appreciated.