hardwired

I agree on the Speco problems. I've had great luck with the Panasonic WV-CW484S, and I'm just trying out the new WV-CW504S, and it looks even better, comes with a clear dome, too, with a snap-off liner over the lens assembly.

A WDR type camera would help (the Samsung mentioned above is a good one, but a box style camera that would need a housing), if you need a dome type camera, I would suggest the new Panasonic WV-CW504S or the slightly older WV-CW484S. Both are excellent dome type cameras, well regarded by me and many others here, that deal with wide lighting variations well. The Speco intensifiers have a good daytime image, but they are somewhat handicapped at night by the slow shutter that causes blurring on moving objects.

Take a look at www.udptechnology.com ,they are the OEM for the DVR card we use, and have a hybrid DVR/NVR SDK, too. They have up to a 16ch 480 Frame @ D1 H.264 card.

I'd second the alarm suggestion. If money really isn't a problem, there are good, reliable, low false alarm rate sensing options available (Protech Piramid combo Microwave/ PIR sensors for volume areas, and Optex beam towers for perimiter lines come to mind) Maybe consider IP video with analytics (Object Video, etc.) for coverage, as well. Think about physical barriers, too. It is better to deter someone, than to try to identify them later....

i thought i read they were coming out with Day Night CCD cameras, if not already? Yeah I heard they are not cheap, but then for somewhere like down here, no megapixel camera is cheap after 50% customs, so if someone can afford a $2000 camera, which will be retailing at $4000-$5000 here, then they should be able to afford the better Avigilon camera. Haven't seen a data sheet from Arecont, but I know they use Micron /Aptina imagers, and they only have two 10MP sensors, (MT9J003I12STCV),both 1/2.3" with light sensitivity rated at about a third of the 5MP sensor, about what you would expect for pixels that much smaller. I also have reservations about lenses that will work well with that cam, the best I've used so far have been the Fujinon HFxxSA-1 series machine vision lenses, and they aren't cheap, and only in the 12.5mm-75mm range, although the Kowa 3.5mm looks good too (also not cheap). For a good night shot, the new Panasonic WV-NP502 CCD cam is looking pretty good (I know, Rory, I'll get you some dark night clips soon...)

Luxriot actually supports the Mobotix camera I have... but I may use MxControlcenter to record directly to NAS. I have Terabytes of network storage that I'm not using. I'm going to play with this one to get a feel for what it will do... and I will probably take you up on that offer. I have to figure out exactly which areas I want to cover and measure some distances/angles. One very important thing with Mobotix cameras do not lose the Admin or Supervisor password. There is no way for you to reset back the the default password even if you do a factory default. It is a security measure Mobotix implemented so if someone would steal the camera they can't see the recorded video stored in the camera. And I understand that turning off the microphone is likewise permanent. Why is that? I think the microphone thing is mostly so you could prove compliance with areas / users that do not allow audio recording. Once it is off, no one can turn it back on against policy. BTW, I just finished an install with three of the D12 dual domes, and I like them. Only problem I ran into was that there is no (clean) way to run cable into the side of the dome if it is surface mounted. The image is very good, but there does seem to be more pixel to pixel variation than other cmos cams, hard to describe, but if you pan the camera while looking at the image, it is like a very fine, fixed, blotchy screen over the image. The digital zoom image is fairly smooth, without too many jaggies. The concept of having complete imager modules, instead of just lenses, is a little odd, but they are cheap enough that it is not a big problem. Overall, I think I will be using more of them in the future. Hopefully Exacq will add support for them soon, that would be a nice combo.

I've had that setting available on a few DVR's, it can help with license recognition with non-progressive scan cameras. Some DVR's also have a "deinterlace" setting which copies just an odd or even field twice to make a 640x480 image without the "jaggies".

So you'd put an analog camera into a camera server and a wireless bridge of some sort? How do you get it back into analog form at the DVR end? ************ Edit ************** The DVR is a Dedicated Micros unit, and it only supports a very small range of network cameras, and only at 2CIF resolution, max of 18K per frame. No motion detection is supported on IP cameras, and there is a maximum of 25fps split over ALL IP sources... DM is actually pretty miserable in the networkability department. http://dedicatedmicros.icentera.com/exLink.asp?6302542OT32U57I28598570 You can read it there you're interested... Acti makes both encoders and decoders, if you have to go that route.. but by the time you add in that hardware at both ends, times four, you could be close to buying a new hybrid DVR that has decent IP camera support. thewireguys and I have both been happy with Exacq in that regard. On the wireless stuff, analog links are pretty much garbage, and trying multiple channels is going to be even worse. Take a look at Ubiquiti products, I have a install with ten IP cameras on four different links using their stuff (one over two miles, through trees, at 900Mhz), and gave the customer network connections for three different buildings at the same time. Surprisingly cheap, too, they provide equipment to wireless ISP's who are both cost and performance sensitive. To the OP, I do not think metal conduit will attract lightning any more than the copper conductors in the cabling. If it were my install, I would connect a ground rod to the bottom of the metal conduit, and add lightning arrestors on the lines at that point, too.

Pelco makes several http://www.pelco.com/Products/default.aspx?id=637 either manual or timed switching. You have to cut a resistor inside to make it not a 75 Ohm termination, but it's pretty easy.

I'm not sure that anyone here enjoys paying the prices we do for NVR software (I use Milestone, along with Exacq, and I'm definitely not happy with Milestone's pricing!), but to some extent, we have commited ourselves to that structure, and have worked on conveying that value presented by the NVR software to our customers. The investment in time learning these platforms is a tangible part of our expenses that we then amortize over multiple customers. With an open source platform, free also means that there is no recovery in the investment there, unless we can get more on another part of the job, or additional maintenance sales (which, I'll admit, is feasible.. If the total cost per cam goes down, sell them a few more cameras..Plausible tradeoff on a job) A concerning aspect of an open source solution is that there is no (visible) driving motivation to improve, support, upgrade, or otherwise make the product an ongoing viable solution, compared to a market driven product that has to keep swimming to survive, and provide ongoing technical support (part of the costs that the NVR S/W companies have to absorb). I've seen a couple of open source projects implode under their own weight, shrugged off by the few designers that really understood the platform fully after beating their heads against the wall for years, with no benefits to them (constant demands for features, support, drivers, internal contention between programmers, etc.) In short, convince us why this will be a (reasonably) long enough term solution to outweigh the investment in time associated with using your solution, dealing with problems that may arise in an install that may take a significant amount of time to resolve, potentially having to learn a lot more about programming than we might like, possibly leaving a job unfinished, while waiting for payment from our customers. Retail NVR solutions offer us at least some leverage. If it doesn't work, we will not pay for it. Where is the motivation to support an angry integrator with a half-finished job in the open source model?

Take a look at www.mini-box.com ,they have a lot to choose from, and I've ordered from them quite a few times. I think you could get your $400 mark between them and Newegg, depending on how much HDD you need. You should be able to save on the Exacq for the OS cost (Free!) As far as Jetway, haven't tried them. I did build a hybrid system with a 4 channel capture card recently with the Intel brand dual-core Atom (Intel D945GCLF2D), and it ran a lot better than one I built a while back with the C7, haven't tried Exacq on it yet, though. The Atom is what Exacq is using in their EL series, along with the Linux OS on A SSD.

NAS box?? Whats inside it? Wonder if you could run Exacq on the Promise version or something like it, if you could reflash it with Ubuntu or similar? The CPU load of Exacq is really low, I've run it on a Via Epia 1.0GHZ board with two Arecont 5mp cams.

At first glance, Exacq seems to support more cams in MPEG4/ H.264 than Icatcher. They only have a hybrid if you buy their box, though. As far as other features, they have an evaluation 1 channel version available to test, why not try it for yourself. www.exacq.com ,talk to Thewireguys about it.

If you are comfortable building a PC, you might want to look at Exacq software for IP cameras. It performs very well in the installs I've used it in so far, and has an extremely low processor load. Plus, you can add cameras on a per cam basis, no set limits like a DVR. It allows straight MJPEG browser viewing with no plugins, so it will work with just about any viewing method around (firefox, Opera, Etc.), and they have a client S/W for Win, Mac, and Linux. On the IP camera side is where you'll need to spend a little more for performance (look for a CCD imager, better in low light conditions in most cases.. Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, etc.) An IP based install can allow much more flexibility in camera placement (wireless, etc) than a standard analog coax-based install, IMHO. As far as PTZ's, I'd just go with more cameras than install a PTZ. If you have it on a pattern, it will trigger the motion detection all the time, and if you do not, it is usually pointed the wrong direction at the time something happens.

For a distribution amp, I've used this one a few times. A looping quad would be a cleaner install, but will cost a little more. [edit by mod-store link removed]

"Enough"?? You can't GET more than 120 combined fps out of a four-channel system. NTSC = 30fps; 30x4 = 120. /facepalm Soundy I can easily prove to you that 2 X 2 = 5 I am not joking That's an easy one.. They are selling a unit that records 480 fields per second. You guys are the ones making unwarranted assumptions about what they meant by FPS. They were being perfectly honest I'm waiting for the dvr with the OSD for camera resolution

Just gotta ask. How much are they? Best, Christopher Quick google shows north of $5000 each, distribution is not much better... Havent found that "special" customer with a wallet that big yet.. As far as the Noble Peak, the impression I got at ISC was, if you gotta ask.....You aren't working for one of the three-letter agencies that have a wallet that big.

If you have a source for Pelco in the U.K., this might work http://www.pelco.com/Products/default.aspx?id=637 The specs indicate VBI switching, and they have a 220 volt model, so I assume it is PAL compatible, you could call them and double check.

In the quest for ultimate low light performance, have any of you guys worked with EMCCD starlight cams like the Toshiba IK1000 or Samsung SHC750 , Or the shortwave IR cam from Noble Peak? Or do your customers ask prices first, like mine do ?!!

Soundy, I'm missing something.. how do you embed a URL to your inserted text, instead of the link showing?

Thewireguys.....Motion grid.. Don't think res settings can change day / night.. still going through settings, though. Not as many settings as Mobotix, though... Just put in three D12's, Those things are like the Batmobile /Swiss army knife of setting menus.... What in the heck are you going to use a random event trigger for, anyway!?!

Probably not large enough. There is an available (bigger) version of that idea at Home Depot, though. http://www.homedepot.com/Building-Materials-Ceilings-Attics-Ventilation/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xgtZas18/R-100551938/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

Sorry, I missed the reference to megapixel. The new Panasonic WV-NW502S Megapixel and the WV-CW504S Analog would be a possible choice there. I've been trying the box megapixel model (WV-NP502), and it looks really good so far. See a few shots I posted at http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=17863&start=30 I have a few analog WV-CW504S on order, if they really work better than the 484, they should be outstanding.

Still working on it, the camera is just too good That area actually looks darker in real life than the pic. I know what you mean, though. I hope to have a few more in the next few days.