SEANHAWG

wow

Yeah, I just got a notice today that Uverse is available for my area. That means I get to ditch hughes net. Uverse claims to be pretty fast but I would like to see if anyone else has used it?

Somewhat. Its kind of a Hybrid.

I just use the wireless for my computers and stuff, Its a pain the butt to have to hook an ethernet up to my laptop everywhere I take it in the house. I'll hardwire the DVR to the router though. Another guy came by and moved the router downstairs and all is working good now, the only thing is that every now and then the internet will cut out for like 10 seconds which isnt too much of a problem but will be whenever I get my Xbox and play online with it, so if it continues, I'll probably be calling them up again. I average about 22mbs but sometimes gets a little lower and then sometime a little higher. Here is a recent speedtest I just did: Uverse is what they call a "Fiber To Node" Internet. Apparently, it is sent through Fiber Optic cable to certain "Vrad" units throughout your area, from the Vrad unit, it is then sent via Coax cable. You can also get TV and Phone with it as well but I just opted for the internet service. Apparently Verizon has a similar service called Fios, but I believe it is Fiber directly to your location which results in faster speeds.

I havent heard of anything like that either.

So that is where they got the idea for the little illuminator pictures that are on the side of each discussion topic.

Is that particular channel on the DVR possible defective? Did you try switching the connections around to see if you have the same problem on the same port?

It can be used for alot of things. Anything that you would need a video camera with or that you can think of, people will need surveillance. The main reason I have my home system setup is to view whats going around in my yard without having to look out the window, I can also view whats going on at my house from here at my work.

I think he may be referring to the link that I posted in this thread, which isnt even an advertisement. Its a link to another thread on this forum that Rory created to help people view their DVR remotely.

Hi Mike. Just curious, which one was Samsung and Which one was the Bosch.

Yeah I know the rules. Can you tell me what specific ad you are talking about? Because I never posted one.

Whats the point of that post?

Some of the cameras that we carry have time travel capabilities.

Sounds so cool that it makes you want to buy it, even though 95% of people will not know what that means.

I have a customer who installed his cameras using Cat5. His longest cable run which is 1500' is experiencing video loss. He has a run that is about 1200' that works fine. However the one at 1500' is experiencing a black picture with wavy lines. We ruled out that its a bad camera as he bench tested it, and he checked all of his connections. He is not running power over the Cat5 either. The camera powers on fine. The CAT5 is good quality too. He cant see anything that would be causing interference. Is 1500' too far for CAT5? Can someone recommend a video booster that they have used in the past? I havent worked much with CAT5 so am out of the know.

If the camera is getting dim when its getting cold, the cold itself is not necessarily the problem, its probably the heater thats getting triggered on which is pulling more amps that is the problem. Depending on which Ultrak housing you have, the heater gets triggered on when it reaches below 40 some odd degrees. It has to be pretty cold outside for the inside of your housing to get that cool because your camera usually puts off alot of heat anyways and that will keep the inside of the housing warmer than it is outside. What I would do is bypass the housings heater circuit board for a few days to see if you still have the problem. While your up there, check the Ultraks circuit board to see if you see anything with burn marks, the housing's heater could have finally pooped out on you, this is rare for the Ultrak housing as they built those like a mule but overtime, it's bound to happen.. But ff you dont have the problem occur after a few days and you dont notice anything wrong with the Ultraks circuit board, then you will know that the Ultrak housing is pulling too much amperage. Getting a power supply with more amps will solve the problem. Get a 24 VAC 40VA transformer and should definetely take care of the problem. You can get them for $10-20 online. If all else fails, you could always just bypass the housings circuit board and run the cable and wires directly into the camera. I dont think you will have to worry about the cameras getting too cold as I said before, they stay pretty warm from being on. The main good thing about heaters and fans is they help prevent fog from being on the window, but as long as you have a good camera and not a cheapo, it should be fine as long as your housing is sealed up and moisture free, I wouldnt worry about overheating or overcooling.

I was also under the impression that Pelco has lost its appeal that it once had. It seems that they dont have the massive presence like they used to have. I dont know if its because there are more major players in the IP camera field or what but it just seems they have tapered off a little.

What model was the Bosch? Usually Bosch equipment aint too shabby so it may be the DVR, but dedicated micros equipment aint that shabby either. Try plugging the camera directly into the monitor to see if you have better rez. Are you talking about manual zoom or remote controlled zoom. Usually for a 50x50 lot, a fixed camera with a vari-focal lens should suit you fine. No need for a Zoom Camera or PTZ unless you are there to control it frequently. Just trying to save you the almighty dollar. Are you talking about the BNC connector when you say adapter? If you are talking about the power wire, its normally as simple as stripping the wires to expose them and screwing them into the power supply terminals. For the video cable, you would simply apply a BNC

I got a 140 led illuminator I bought off eBay that is coming in from China I hope to illuminate my front driveway with. I will post pics.

Yeah I remember that you posted that pic a while back. That is beautiful.

I'd definetely recommend putting them in an enclosure regardless of whether they are under an eave or wherever. As long as they are exposed to moisture, fog, dew, condensation, etc, you will want to put them in a housing, otherwise the internal parts will rust up and corrode overtime.

Now if you are needing to illuminate a large outdoor area then it may be advantageous to get one of those hawg raymax lights but indoor scenarios are a different story.

When it comes to illuminators, I always buy the cheap ones. I find that you can buy 5 or 6 small illuminators and still pay less than a name brand one that has similar performance. The Bosch example just reiterates my point. Sure the one Bosch for $200 was better than the $6 eBay one. But put 6 of those ebay illuminators up @ a cost of $36 and I bet it will look alot better than the Bosch $200. Illuminators are so overpriced when it comes to name brand it aint even funny.

Has anyone tried or does anyone know of a way to get this to work without a backbox? I notice it has an RJ45 Port on the side but from what I have read, that is for servicing, not for regular use. Correct me if I am wrong. I guess I would need the pinout for the bottom connectors to make this work, if it is even workable.

Thanks Carl, I was wondering when you were going to chime in on this. Well it looks like I'll be keeping my eyes peeled on eBay for a backbox. Its basically what all the wires and cables connect to on the Pelco Spectra PTZ's. I find that most of the better PTZ's have 2 parts. The first part is the main camera module and the second part consists of the "back box" or "wire harness" or "wire base", or whatever you want to call them. I assume that they make them like this so if there is anything that goes wrong with the camera where you would need to do a repair or a replacement, you can simply just take the camera module off without completely unhooking everything. Whats crazy is that there are tons of good used PTZ's for sale on eBay but they are always missing that crucial piece that makes the camera complete, I find this to be very true for the Pelco Spectra cams especially.