Birdman Adam

They are pretty much the same camera, except that the BBM-24VF is a box, and the VBM-24VF is a vandal proof dome. There is also a VCM-24VF vandal dome, which is taller, and meant to be flush-mounted. You can tell they are same/similar because they both have the '24VF'. Soundies' images were in B/W because he hadn't set the DVR to record in color yet. Normally the camera would only switch to B/W during night and low light conditions. And hey, you gotta put up some pics of your install once you finish!

no guns!?!

I would think there would have been a rash of break-ins by now, if this place is really as crazy as you say it is! Do you really hide weapons in your yard?

If I ever go to Bahamas I'm gonna bring a Sat phone!

Ha ha, of course its got that red, green, blue logo...

Plus I just read its owned by the government! Maybe something secret is going down and they had to cut off all the lines

OH! So it's just phone lines, and naturally, cell phones after that... Maybe a big fish bit the lines going across the ocean! I can't believe its lasted all day though... Must mean the telco company has a serious problem. EDIT: Here's a webpage about it: http://www.bahamaslocal.com/newsitem/3185/Statment_from_BTC_Acting_President_No_explanation_for_downed_phones.html http://www.bahamaslocal.com/newsitem/3122/Phone_trouble_is_your_line_working.html

How are you even posting this then??

Yea, that's how many cables are labeled. Wire Gauge / # of wires So 16/2 is 16 gauge wire with 2 conductors (wires). The smaller the wire gauge, the bigger the wire. That always used to confuse me... So 16g wire is bigger than 18g; its the next step up. Naturally, bigger wire can handle more current; as well as drop the voltage less. If you were just running the cameras, then I'd say you could go with 18g; but since you've got more power-hungry blowers and heaters, it's better to run 16g.

Hey here's another video for you. BBM-24VF is in the upper-left corner, Blue-i DBB-30VF in lower right corner. I can't find one that shows the comparison at night though, where your situation mostly takes place. This video does show how well the cameras work with the range of lighting.

My friend's computer uses low-profile memory like that, its in his mini-computer. I guess its just used in situation where normal RAM is too big. Since the specs are the same, I guess if they are out of the normal size, they will send low-profile.

Hopefully others will chime in as well with more suggestions... If you have a lot of lights, then you might need a camera that can handle bright lights without getting 'blinded'. From what I read, the 24VF will handle that pretty well. Others might suggest a camera that has a Wide Dynamic Range, which will handle both very bright spots and very dark spots exceptionally. As for a specific one in that category, I would not know.

You definitely want ALL copper, shielding, and center conductor. So if that is what you have, then great! If you were to get with aluminum shielding, then you're more susceptible to interference. With copper covered steel, the signal won't travel as far.

What's the point of this HD stuff when there are IP cameras that can take HUGE pictures?

You can use analog cameras just fine with cat5. Make sure you use baluns at both ends. You only need to use one of the twisted pairs in the cable for video. The rest can be split in half for power.

Yea, I would talk to others and get a few people complaining about him. Is this camera on your property? I dont understand, because you say its looking in your window, but then you say he lives like 100 yards away? Maybe it's time to take a pellet gun to this camera. Make it look like some crazy kids, maybe shoot some other stuff too. Like that sensor, and the spot-light camera. (I'm joking!)

If channel 3 is open, you can just use a VCR. They have modulators that output on channel 3. That's what I use. Of course, I use an antenna for TV, so I don't know whether cable uses channel 3.

Here is a link to my site: I made a tutorial for forwarding ports to recording software called Yawcam. It's a little different because I have separate router and modem. Also, its for windows. http://birdman.ulmb.com/dep/guides/port_forward_for_yawcam/index.html So you have a computer, connected to a router, connected to the broadband. It must be one of those router+modem things? Normally that info (password) would go into the router/modem so that it can connect to the WAN (your phone line). Once your router/modem is connected, somewhere in its settings it should show a public IP address. If so, thats good. In the router, there should be settings for 'port forwarding'. It might be called like 'applications and gaming'. What we want to do is forward the ports that are used to connect to the server. For my Ubuntu server, running Zoneminder, the ports are simply port 80, because it is accessed by normal web browsing. In the router set it to forward port 80 to the IP address that the server has on the LAN. Another note on that; in the server, make sure you set the IP address to stay the same. In other words, manually set the server's IP in the settings, instead of letting the router assign the server one. At this point, everything should be set up. Router is connected to WAN (broadband), it has a public IP, router configured to forward correct ports to IP of the server, server has a static IP (non-changing). Now we are not quite done. At this point, you should be able to go to the IP of the router, from outside your network, and access the server. BUT, that IP is probably dynamic, meaning it changes. We need to make an address that doesn't change. We will use DynDNS for that. Sign up, it's free, and make a host name. Mine's coffeeserver.homeip.net. Here is a wonderful guide to setting up ddclient which will update your host name with the IP of your router: http://mexpolk.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/ubuntu-gutsy-dyndns-client-setup/

Well the interruption is only a little more than the duration of the brown-out. The connection is usually back within a few seconds after.

I use 2 powerline networking modules from D-link to connect my zoneminder server to the router in my house. Works great! Yes, they are interrupted by excessive noise (I had to move some fluorescents to a plug different than the one the module was on). Any brown-outs also cause interruptions (as expected!) The thing about the two 'legs' of power is very true. It doesn't apply for me though, as the transformer is only about 50 yards from my house. As far as security, most use a pretty weak algorithm like 56-bit DES so that others nearby can't connect their modules to your modules' network and sniff your data like your on the same LAN. Much better than WiFi though, where I can get WEP password's in less than 3 minutes!

So did you get it working? In terms of DVR's, I've only ever used dedicated systems and Linux computers. Windows is too rickety IMO. I do use Windows systems for work and play though. I leave Linux to grunt-work because it is reliable for that use.

I too am now more lazy with my CCTV over my TV's. When ever I hear a car pulling in the driveway, I just flip channels instead of getting up to look out the window!

Viewing your cameras from your TV isn't hard at all. It depends on what kind of TV service you have though. Here's my website, and the tutorial I wrote on this: http://birdman.ulmb.com/dep/guides/cctv_to_catv/index.html For me, I get digital and analog TV over the air with an antenna. This signal goes from the antenna to the basement, and is distributed by the distribution box in the basement to all the TV's in my house. If your TV's can read at least analog (like almost all TV's can), you can use a modulator. The modulator takes the composite video from your camera or other video output device like your DVR, and makes it a channel. Then you would connect the modulator to the distribution box so that it will be distributed to all the TV's in the house along with the antenna signal. Most modulators you can buy give a choice of channels to output. If you want to go the cheap way, like me, just use any old VCR. Connect the composite output from cameras/dvr into the composite input on the VCR. Then connect the coaxial output from the VCR to the distribution box so that it will be distributed to all the TV's in the house along with the antenna signal. The only is catch is most VCR's only output on channel's 3 or 4. Oops, I think I read you will have satellite. In that case, I would run the video output on the DVR up to the TV through RG59 (or RG6). At that end, use an adapter so that you can plug the line into one of the composite IN's on your TV. Just plug the Male BNC connector at the end of your coax to this: BNC Female to RCA Male Adaptor. This will plug into a Composite input on your TV. About the wiring. You should be fine with cat5 or cat6. If you are using IP cameras, it will surely work. If using analog cameras, just make sure you use baluns at both ends and your signal will be beautiful, even over huge distances.

A hardware store near me has some old cams, must be at least 30 years old. The thing is huge, and the plastic has turned brown with age. I will maybe snap some pics (without being obvious) next time I'm there!