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I love my Plextor. It will record to Divx also. Go to Tigerdirect and check the Plextor system out. There is even a $50 rebate on it right now, until the end of the month. I use mine all the time. You're just going to have to capture the video in a format that is readable by regular PC or DVD player. That is why I bought my Plextor hardware encoder from Tigerdirect.

Do a test on any you find that state "CD writer" , as many times, the CD is written in a file type that cannot be read by normal means, without the benefit of software to "decode" the CD. I take my laptop to my Avermedia, and via the USB connection, can download from the Aver hard drive to my laptop in minutes. Will play back, using Windows Media Player. Can then import that to Windows Movie Maker and make a "movie" to put on CD.

No, Mel Gibson used a Claymore in Braveheart. If you have any "Scottish" friends, ask them what a Claymore is . John Wayne carried an M-16 A1 in The Green Berets.

That is why I put the "English" in. George wasn't King over all UK at the time. We couldn't use your Claymores to hunt our Wild Boar. We had a man named Jim Bowie ( no relation to your David) who invented the perfect hunting/fighting knife anyway. We have to be pretty quick when the Wild Boar charge us. That's where another man named Colt invented the perfect quick draw weapon. You see it on TV all the time. Ever see John Wayne use a Claymore?

Go to HackedGadgets.com and see how the guy built the fridge that throws the beer to him. If you used a refrigerant-based system, you could actually put the evaporator coil anywhere you would like. Just have to remember that on the Evaporator or "high side", you have extreme pressures, many over 300psi, so you would need to take care when soldering that line extension. I learned in Industrial Refrigeration many years ago to use only Silver solder on refrigeration lines. If you had the time, you could look in a Grainger Catalog, and see all the parts necessary to build a small AC system, or even buy a small used "wine cooler" and strip it down to the refrigeration system part. Compressor, condensor, evaporator,TXV. Many smaller units use a single fan motor, double shaft, moving air across both the evaporator coil and the condensor coil at the same time.

I found this out by accident while trying to build my own License Plate Camera. I bought several different NM rating IR filters on Ebay. 4 different NM ratings , 750nm, 830nm, 900nm, 1000nm. Actually, they fit my 5-50mm lens perfectly. Made with Hoya and/or Schott glass. Anyway, I blocked the photocell contol of the IR Illuminator to keep it on during the day. I could "see" via the camera and monitor, where the IR was pointing. Looks pretty strange in the daytime,as there is actually a lot of IR, we just can't see it with our eyes. The IR filters would block ( I am guessing) around 90% of visible light, but allow the IR to come through. I couldn't see the IR on the street (pavement), but I could see where it was pointing on the side of my house and car.

Just have to say that most people I have interacted with, who have transitioned from VHS systems, to DVR's, really enjoy the DVR's with Jog/Shuttle Button control options. I see that the new Speco's have that also. Do any of the "high end" DVR Manufacturers have this option also?

Anyone know of MPEG-2 DVR's, other than a TIVO?? I have heard that only the Series 1 original Tivo, will record without having to have "phone in" connection. Best MPEG-2 recorder??

Kerry, will the DVR "box" be out in the direct Sun? or shaded somehow?I would think that outdoor humidity would be as bad as anything in a fridge, especially in the summer. Do your kids have any friends who do the "gaming" thing? Maybe they have seen the water-cooled PC cases. Since my son moved out, I only see him about once a week, but I will call him tonight and ask him how he built the last water-cooled PC case. One thing also, is that Hoffman makes a "panel mount" AC cooling unit for large panels. I have some huge Hoffman Panels (8' X 8') that have over 50 VFD's in them, which give off tremendous heat. The Hoffman AC Panel coolers do a great job, and mount to the side, or door of the panels. The units are about 8" X 12", and use R-22

Come to California. George Bush hardly comes here. Our state is Governed by the only man to survive, in the movie Predator. There were 2 governors in that movie (future), but only 1 survived. Everyone knows who the governor of California is. Guns? that is part of our "2nd amendment" as we call it. In fact, it was your (English) King that caused it to be written into law on this continent. (Just a little History lesson here, sorry to get off subject.)

Even those small "wine chillers" pull a lot of current, as they have a compressor, etc. The cooling theory , in part, of any refrigeration system, is the refrigerant used, i.e. R22, R134a,R12, etc. RV sales/service places might have other ideas, to keep things small/simple. Would this unit have access to AC current? or run on batteries?My son and 1 of his friends,who build PC's for people, have found a "water cooling" method, which utilizes some sort of liquid, in a closed-loop, I assume to keep the hardward cool, while they are "gaming"??Just have seen pictures of it , though.

Mom is 75 years old. She doesn't like me to tamper with her old PIII computer anymore. I also got her to sell her home last year, so she doesn't need the "virtual dog" anymore. I should send this one to "Hacked Gadgets" website, though.

That tree is in California, seen it. The "Old Growth" Redwoods here are larger than that. A friend of mines' grandfather, has a 12 inch "slice" from a Redwood, which measures over 20 feet DIAMETER, at his ranch. His grandfather has marked the Historical dates on it; "Columbus lands", "George Washington is President", etc. Each 100 hundred years are marked on the rings of the tree slice. You need to come to California on vacation, and go see Sequoia National Park or Redwood National Park.

The one thing I have tried, when it comes to saving video from a "strange" source, was to import the video into Windows Movie Maker. Once in Windows Movie Maker, I have always had the Video CD able to play on regular PC . I have made Video CD's for my local Sheriff to play on his office PC. In a couple of Video CD's I also put music on them, to break the boredome of watching residential thievery. I found the "Sanford & Son" theme online, in MP3 format. Worth a try.

5 Meters in diameter, that is a big tree ( would that be 16 feet here in the USA?). Never seen that big of a tree outside of California. I guess if the Maple trees can stand being tapped into each year, a few Stainless screws shouldn't hurt that tree at all. Never seen a Maple Syrup tree in process , though.

I setup a similiar device for my mother a few years ago. She has a PC on her front room desk, with speakers. I found a recording of a dog barking (I think it was an MP3, but can't remember). I wired it in so that whenever the motion sensor lights went on, the relay output would generate a signal to the PC. A techie friend of mine finished it, so that whenever the motion light would energize, you could hear the "virtual dog" barking from inside her house. Worked pretty good, unless she was home and forgot to turn it off. Would drive her crazy at night, until she learned to shut it off while at home.

I have the same sort of situation at my home. Coming out of my DVR, I "T'd" off the "monitor" output (75ohm) and went into my attic with the cable. I have setup both my living room TV and my bedroom TV by going into the AV1 RCA input jack on both TV's. The actual monitor and the DVR are in my office at home, but I took the output with RG59 into the attic and split it, basically. When I want to view outside, while watching TV , I take one of the remote controls and "flash" it to the incoming AV1, or AV2 inputs on the TV's. I will see the "quad mode" screen on either TV. I don't really notice that much video degrading, even though the signal is split.

When I met my wife, I had a hard time convincing her why I carried my Glock when we went on trips out of town. Never loaded, but always within reach of me. Until the night we were in Marysville (Cal) after a concert at the Sacramento Valley Amphitheater. I awoke around 2am to a person who had a "pass key" , opening the door to our room. The man was drunk and turned on the lights in the room, thinking ( I assume) that no one was in the room. I had the magazine in and had chambered a round by the time he took the second step into the room , as the Glock was next to me on the night stand. I could not tell who was screaming louder, my wife lying next to me, or the man who had his hands raised over his head, standing in the doorway. Needless to say, today, when we plan a overnight trip, my wife will make the "to pack" list, and now it always includes the word "Glock" on it.

I for one am sold on the new Avermedias. The 4 channels' are very inexpensive and "user friendly". You can actually order them via the Avermedia websight , if you can't find a dealer . For a simple, "entry model" DVR, the Avermedias are great. I have only tested/installed the 4-channel with MPEG-4, so can't comment on any others they have in their lineup. The 4-channel doesn't include a CD/DVD writer, but you can easily access the hard drive (and most accept 2 drives) via your laptop/PC with a USB 2.0 connection and save the video to your laptop/PC for writing purposes. One thing is that the 4-channel I have been using/installing only fast forwards to 16X while viewing video playback. No Jog/Shuttle button Remote control is actually "user friendly" also.

Having never captured video on my laptop, would like suggestions about experiences (good and bad) with different Capture Cards on a laptop. Would be going directly from camera to laptop, no more than 4 cameras, and recording no longer than 24 hours. Suggestions/Advice???

I was just about to ask if there were anything other than PCMCIA cards for the laptops. My brothers' company foreman, carries the laptop to keep track of workers time cards, email, pictures of the ongoing job taken from digital camera and emailed to my brother, etc. etc. There wouldn't be room in any of his work trucks for anything other than 4 workers per truck, tools, soda pop bottles, dirty magazines, etc. than go along with the construction trade. The foremans' laptop normally lasts only about a year, at best. Takes quite a beating, especially the fall from the front seat to the ground about once a day. The Plextor USB would just fit into the laptop carrying case, barely. Can't wait for my Tigerdirect order! If anyone is looking into the Plextor, there is a $50 rebate on it, until the end of this month, so it ends up being around $50 after rebate. Like any technology, it will probably be outdated by next year, though.

I myself have taken my Avermedia DVR into my truck and recorded video from a small bullet IR camera on it. DVR's, for the most part, run on 12vdc. Most auto batteries are 13.2 vdc (fully charged), but people call them "12 volt" batteries. I used the Power Port and used the input to the DVR , which I believe is a 2.1mm DC plug. No problem recording. That was a simple test. Recorded for a few hours to see for myself if it would work. My laptop question was to have a laptop, inside a motel room, and have a camera watching a parking lot. 1 camera, 1 laptop, 1 Plextor USB DIVX recorder. Just can't get too much hardware in the picture, for this application anyway. Remember the old saying "if you can program a VCR, then you can do this". I don't honestly think that over 50% of adults over the age of 40, could program a VCR.

I will send a PM to you, to have you look at a pretty decent IR bullet which I use extensively.

I talked to my Brothers' Construction foreman today. I told him I was going to setup something pretty simple for him. He laughed. Since I have known him for over 20 years, he knows me well enough. My brother "lost" 2 generators last weekend . At around $800/ea (Hondas) he needs something quick. I will have him (the foreman) delete , or write over, the video files each day. Bottom line, if workers come in around 5 to 8PM, setup camera(s), then wake around 5AM, that would be small hard drive space each day. No more than 12 hours to be stored at any one time. When my brothers' employees go to their work trucks in the morning, and everything is OK, life is good. So they would know each and every morning, while they are out in the field. Isn't "DIVX" the same codec as MPEG-4? or very similiar? My "techie" friiend told me that hardware compression, as in the Plextor, is easier on the CPU , and a lot more adaptable to a laptop than software compression. Are any of these statements true? Just not sure about it.

Small wire guages were just not meant to move current through, only signals. Like trying to use a Serial cable for power. Amperage, whether AC or DC, depending on the current "draw", needs larger wire sizes to prevent overheating the wires' insulation. Some cameras , though, only pull 3 to 4 watts, so that is very minimal. "Ampacity" of wire is always to be taken serious. 24AWG wire is just so small, I would have a hard time trying to draw any sort of current through it, especially on a long run.