Birdman Adam

Will be plug&play in Linux.

There is nothing you can do. They have bad image sensors, coupled with no IR cut filter. That makes everything look off.

Maybe open it up and remove battery for a while? You could always try all the passwords, only 10 to the 4th possibilities!

Did it have drop-protection for the HD?

Any test shots?

What's the model? What is WER? Wide Extended Range? Is this the same as WDR (Wide Dynamic Range)?

Thats what I've found too - they are tuned nicely as-is! Only in certain environments/scenes will you need to change anything.

Yea, a pic would help a lot! I'd go ahead and "Initial" the settings (back to default). Then go from there.

One of them looks young, maybe a 'new guy'. He doesn't seem to be as accepted in the group as the others. At 2:56, look in the upper left corner. One of the guys is running down the lot, was there a gate or something? Again, at 4:03... I think the mannequins had riding suits on, thats why they took em.

I would never buy a complete system. Always better to select each part individually, so you get just what you want. For example, you can buy varifocal cameras that zoom in/out to fit the situation, instead of common fixed lenses with those systems. Also, I like to use cat5 with baluns instead of coax or the crappy 'plug-n-play' cable. In a week I will be able to recommend a DVR, (doing a project with one), but as a DIYer I only have 1 PC system so far. In terms of cameras, I love CNB's domes, like vcm-24vf, or dbm-24vf. Good bang-for-the-buck. Compared with a friends cameras which are much more expensive, they perform even better, while costing less!

Well, I suppose Ubuntu, but most all should work. I think V4L & V4L2 is standard on most all distros.

They did a pretty good job. Proper tools, nice van, good planning on what to get & who's getting it. They should look through previous video to look for people scoping out the place. 1. Proper alarm system. Lots of sirens. 2. That smoke stuff. 3. Those cameras can't see worth ****. Looks like none of them are even 100% focused, and with crap resolution at that. They couldn't even handle the glare of the back of the van from the lights. More views = tighter shots. 4. Barred doors & windows, and a real lock, not a simple 4 or 5 pin lock. 5. Oh, and hidden GPS trackers in a few of the bikes. These bikes seem expensive, shouldn't they have security like a jewelry store or bank?? Oh, and wtf is the ones guy doing throwing a dummy in the van?

Really! Well that's good to hear. I will be starting install on Monday, will try to get a bunch of pics. Probably won't be taking the Nikon though... Eventually I'll probably turn it down to like 15-20 so we get more recording time. Here's the power supply, 12VDC @ 10A. Case is nice and thick, seems well built! Most of the alarm wire. 2x500ft. of 22/2, & 1x500ft. of 22/4. 1x500ft. of 18/2, and 1x1000ft. of Coleman CAT5e - very good quality data cable. 2 30W (that's speaker output) sirens made by DSC. They are really big, bet they will scream real loud. Pre-set-up of the alarm panel. Main module (top) is a PC-1832. 8-zone expansion (right) is a PC-5108. Escort module (left) is a 5580TC. The baluns. I tested with the 1000ft. roll of CAT5e, and they work great. Indoor siren, splice crimps, a few recessed contacts, and a bunch of surface-mount contacts, all NC. Motions & glass-breaks...

Yup, I'm almost 100% positive it will work. Plug it in, boot up, and run lspci. Look at the results for something like "Video Capture", "878A", or "Conexant" (or similar). This proves that it is present and recognized. Also, run lsmod. Look for devices that use things starting with v4l or v4l2. Should have at least 1 device using one of those, (the card). In terms of testing, you could install xawtv or similar software to view the different inputs.

How odd! How hot do the major heat-producing parts of the computer get? If the capture card was overheating, this could cause it to freak out. Verify the power supply isn't wimping out as well.

Looks like a rather generic 4 channel, 120FPS capture card. What is are the numbers on the Conexant chips? Each one of those chips handles one input, doing 30FPS each. I bet it will be something like 878A. Don't think it will be easy to find drivers for use in Windows. It will be plug & play in Linux though. (Yay for V4L & V4L2!). Looks like its got an audio input too? The 2-pin connection at the top right is for a watchdog connection. Black header at the right is used in conjunction with another 'break-out' sort of card for alarm I/O.

I don't even remember where I got it! It was some small online retail site. This camera design seems to be a generic one, as many places sell it with wired/wireless options, with different sensors & lenses, etc. The version I have is also B&W only. Mines has RCA outputs, video and audio.

All you need to make your own 'mosquito' is a couple smallish speakers, a cd player & some sort of stereo for the speakers. Download some tones off the internet with frequencies between 10000 & 20000 Hz. 17000 is really annoying, choose the one you think is worst. Burn to a cd. Maybe open them up in audacity and edit a few together for maximum annoyance. Set it on repeat and crank up the volume!!! Also, probably want to use some tweeters, they will work best at the real high frequency.

I'm pretty sure your going to want more than 500GB of recording, especially for up to 16 cameras! I would stay away from buying products like this on ebay. Many members on the forum sell this stuff, as well as dedicated online retailers. A lot easier to return stuff then! Haven't used that DVR, dunno how good it will really be. It says it will record 240FPS @D1, so thats 15FPS per channel. The WCL-20S has a fixed lens, so not super versatile for different situations. It has the Monalisa chip, but isn't TDN, so might not see as well as a VCM-24VF or similar camera. I never really like bullet cams, I'm worried people will hang on them or beat them with something.

I have the wired version of that camera, the quality is 'fair'. Bit it it quite small, so its worth it in small places.

Ordered some CNBs and a Samsung DVR from them (surveillance-video.com) just a couple weeks ago, recieved cameras just fine, they told me that the DVR was discontinued, so I chose an identical but new model. People on the phone were nice, they gave me faster shipping for the hassle. Canal Alarm Devices = surveillance-video = 123securityproducts.

Last four numbers are 8722. Maybe the police are willing to at least see what cars end in that number/similar, then match to similar looks...?

Cameras have arrived, 2x DBM-24VD, 6x VCM-24VF. DVR was a discontinued model, so I now am going with the SRD-870DC w/4TB of drives, still from Samsung. Really all the same features... Could a mod change the thread title to Samsung SRD-870DC? OK here's some pics of the cameras. Hoping other newbies looking to buy their first cams can get a feel for what these are like before buying. (I would have liked that!) All pictures taken with a Nikon D5000, scaled down for online album... They have arrived! A look at video & power connections. This is from a VCM-24VF, so power polarity doesn't matter. Instead of using their short & flimsy direct-viewing composite cable, I'll connect to my setup monitor (~12" CRT) to do initial set-up. View of back of VCM-24VF. Lots of cool circuit boards! DBM-24VD without dome on. That outer plastic 'shell' pops off as well for adjustment. This will be my first time terminating network cabling. I'm sure you guys have done billions! I practiced a bit - did good, made a patch cable and it worked the first try. Did a few RJ45 connectors & a couple RJ11's... My 'test-monitor'. Its like 12". Good quality, though - cameras look beautiful through it! All the stuff that came in one VCM-24VF box. The ports on the back-box are 3/4" & 1". Guide pattern will make things easier. Here you can see where the RS485 connection would be. Wonder why they don't use it...? The whole picture album: http://s1105.photobucket.com/albums/h350/Birdman-Adam/CCTV%20Stuff/

What I'm saying is its a lot easier to map the schematics and source parts for a GV capture card than it is for a fairly recent graphics card.

I think its too hard to duplicate a nice video card. Chips & circuits on GV cards (and all DVR cards for that matter) are somewhat simple, with chips that can be sourced fairly easily.