spyguy

Greetings all and thanks for reading. I'm relatively new to access control and have run into something that seems simple enough, but I'm having a hard time finding any information on the topic. I have a small installation that includes a DSC wired alarm system, there is also a controlled door with dual mag locks, rex, and reader. The two systems are separate, and the access control was added long after the pre-wire. I have a set of door contacts installed for each of the doors, and have one pair of conductors running back to my data closet. All of the cable for the reader and mag lock solution is in place, but missing a dedicated pair of conductors for a second set of door contacts. My customer would like to see door contact activity on his access control platform but I really don't feel like swimming through a sea of fiberglass insulation for one door contact. I'm using a Mercury 1501 for the access control side of things. To the best of my knowledge, it's just looking for dry contact activity. I have to assume that the resistor in the alarm circuit would somehow play a role preventing this from being easy...lol I'd really like to piggy back off of the alarm systems door contacts with the access control solution. Does anyone have a suggestion as to how I might accomplish this?

My suggestion would be to use the lack of information on a product as an indicator to avoid it. I would encourage you to consider something sold through distribution channels to ensure product support once you've purchased it. In my part of the world, there are several commercial systems that could be had for the budget you're working with. Hikvision immediately comes to mind, although there are several others out there in that same price point.

Attempting to revive some old Pelco IP cameras and have no way to access the legacy IP settings to configure them for the new head end. It looks like these are early IP models, with analog 540 line cameras, using an ethernet adapter that they added to make them "IP cameras". I found what looks like a reset button, labeled "SW2"...but when I press it the result varies....and never results in a default IP address. Does anyone know of a sniffer, or another way to identify Pelco camera settings on a network? Having the subnet would be incredibly helpful, looking at the dead ONSSI server I can see the previous settings, but they are not accessible on the LAN. I can only assume they were configured via DHCP. But that assumption would also lead me to believe they'd return to their default if disconnected. They respond to neither their legacy IP settings or the default IP... Any thoughts on how I might be able to bring them back to the network?

I'm working on designing an observation system that will incorporate a handfull of PTZ cameras, tied to a viewing station for real time viewing. No brainer right? My concern is around image clarity at great distance. Previous applicaitons like this we've used Pelco Esprite systems which were great for their time but the last time my customer did one was in the mid 90's. I'm looking at about 2600ft maximum viewing distance and will need the ability to read an I.D. number that's roughly double the size of a US license plate. The Esprite cameras in place now cannot do this. Our cameras are, and will continue to be mounted approximately 50ft above ground on poles or towers that already exist. My Pelco Rep is telling me that the Spectra IV with 35X optical will do this. I love the idea but have a hard time believing that at 2600ft the 35X optical will be enough to read an ID plate. I'd love to hear about succesful installations similar to this or any insight that might help me select the right optical package. This would be an expensive mistake to make....lol Thanks for any insight you might have to offer!

Is there recording/viewing software in use? Maybe this is not an option but I have several customers doing exactly what you've decribed. We've accomplished this with the use of ONSSI software running on one PC, but in four separate applications. In short, we open four instances of the same application, create views that encompass the four cams we want in each quad, then drag each quad view application to it's own monitor. We use four monitors running off of two dual channel video cards. Not cheap, but works great!

Videocomm and Videolarm both make good wireless products. I think you could get it done for less than "thousands"....but it's not going to be cheap. What is the approximate distance that you'll need to send the signal?

Outstanding!!! Thanks so much. I assumed that it would be OK to address the issue this way. I did not think there would be such a nice little device like the Nitek product posted above. I'll be ordering a few of those. Thanks again!

I am trying to help out a friend with a residential installation on a home that has been complete for some time. The head end is in the basement and a physical cable path for RG59 does not seem to be present. After pondering over this for a while it occurred to me that there is one spare Cat5 cable that was installed during construction that is available. My question is: Can I pass the video signal from four separate cameras down one Cat5 cable by using each of the four pairs? I plan to power the cameras locally and use NVT or Nitek Baluns but would hate to go to the trouble and expense if there is a conflict with using each pair. Your comments are appreciated. Thanks, Scott

I thought it looked pretty good too. I have begun marketing the DVR's as a Geovision alternate to my clients that prefer to avoid PC based systems. I've not sold one yet but I expect to in the near future. From what I've seen in the demo rooms I like the product and the SAVS compression format seems to do a good job....although I have not seen a system in use, with a drive that's full of data so I can't say I believe in it yet.

I was wondering about that.... They do sort of have that OEM look to them and their packaging. My main concern was would I be replacing these on warrantee in 6 months. I hadn't considered that they were not true day/night as well. Thanks Rory!

Hello, I am wondering if anyone has experience with Luxon brand cameras? If I am reading the specification correctly this particular camera seems to be very comparable to the Panasonic vandal dome. I've seen them in person but not used them on an installation yet. The demo looks great (what's new). http://www.luxonvideo.com/products.php?navigate=product&productid=VD55V49DN&categoryid=Cameras Would I be sacrificing on quality if I offered this as an alternate to the Panasonic model?

Ah, I left a few details out. The I used this sony cam to replace out a very old Panasonic B/W that had been in a Pelco Intercept dome. The Dome provides a Hirschman connector for the lens for much of the connection. I believe the 12Vdc on the cam is only used to power the iris... It is the Iris control that was lost. The picture was however greatly improved.

Certainly not a low light camera but does perform pretty good in normal lighting conditions. I've found that they do not perform well when used in conjunction with a motorized zoom lens. Auto Iris controls do not work in that case. I've had some in outdoor housings and in place for over a year with no problems to report. The image quality is good and no moisture problems.

I used to instal Cop USA cameras..... Now I spend alot of time replacing them. The game these days is did they outlast their 1 year warrantee or not? My experience has been about 50/50 and I hate it. I would never use Cop....or any OEM camera again on an install that I was being paid for. Charity work maybe...

I have used that exact model. It's been in place for a little over a year now and still working as expected. The picture quality is just as good for each camera as it was prior to combining the feeds. I am using these to combine two Pelco cameras into one feed, then distributed out to a Geovision V7.04 series system. The drawbacks I found with the product was that they were difficult to find and pricing was hard to establish.