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SEANHAWG

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Everything posted by SEANHAWG

  1. SEANHAWG

    Old CCTV

    We get some oldies in that are taken down from retailers stores that weigh a ton. Some of these old 1980 B/W box cameras you could use as a good dumbbell. I know I sound like a geezer but they just dont make electronics like they used too.
  2. SEANHAWG

    My quest on getting a PTZ up and Running

    I got this baby up and running like a charm. I hooked the camera up to some no-name chinese DVR that I recently bought. This was a newer DVR than the Honeywell DVR that I initially tried it with. With the honeywell, I could only pan,tilt, and zoom and the operation was very slow and fidgety and could only be controlled through the front panel since the DVR didnt have a mouse control option. With this generic DVR, there were alot more options, I could increase and decrease the speed and adjust the cameras color settings. The coolest thing about it was that I could control the ptz with the mouse. For example, I would move to the very far right of the screen and the PTZ would go in that direction. I am sure this is normal for most newer DVR's but it was pretty thrilling for me to see this baby in action for the first time. The camera is very smooth and is pretty darn fast at the highest setting. I still cant access the cameras OSD though which is slightly aggravating. There is an IR cut filter option on the camera that I would like to utilize in low light conditions. I am going to pursue the serialportool software. I would like to ask for a recommendation on a RS232 to USB adapter. I assume this would be the best way to get it adapted to the computer??
  3. SEANHAWG

    My quest on getting a PTZ up and Running

    that would be it.
  4. SEANHAWG

    My quest on getting a PTZ up and Running

    Yes sir the protocol is a default of Pelco D/P as you said. Luckily, my honeywell DVR had the exact setting for my Costar PTZ in it. I am sure its similar to your Capture, the exact model # is Costar 2500H http://www.costarvideo.com/products/products.aspx?cid=200 I think the Fasttrax model is used by a few different companies because I also seen a Hitron that looked just like these Costars that I got in. I'll post pics soon with my progress. I got a bunch of these in. I also got some larger Ultrak PTZ's in too. I am eager to test these and get them listed for sell. I'll try that serialportool.
  5. SEANHAWG

    CIF, D1, H.264 Mayhem!

    I hate to break in on the heated squabble but I have been doing some research on using directtv, tivo, and dish network dvr's as security recorders. From what I understand, if it is a used DVR, it will not work because you cannot get past the pre-installed software in order to get it configured correctly to work with your camera. Apparently, on new Tivo DVR's, you can get it configured but there is really no point on spending the money to buy a new Tivo to use as a security DVR as you can probably find a good new single channel DVR out on the market for the same price.
  6. SEANHAWG

    CIF, D1, H.264 Mayhem!

    muy interestante.
  7. SEANHAWG

    CIF, D1, H.264 Mayhem!

    Has anyone tried to manipulate a Regular DVR such as a dish network or directv dvr to work for security purposes. Or the regular DVR's that are meant just to record TV shows or movies? You obviously could only use these for single channel purposes though.
  8. SEANHAWG

    CIF, D1, H.264 Mayhem!

    This may be a dumb question, but I'll go ahead and ask it anyways. Do they make DVR's that have no video compression? Sure, it would significantly take up alot of hard-drive space but surely they have security DVR's out there that can record at full video quality right? That will record exactly what it looks like when live viewing?
  9. SEANHAWG

    CIF, D1, H.264 Mayhem!

    LOL, I didnt mean to start a riot.
  10. SEANHAWG

    CIF, D1, H.264 Mayhem!

    Yes I do want to know the difference between effective and total and what effect they have on an image. If I came across as being sarcastic on my last question, I wasnt. I actually would like to know. On most of the specs of the cameras that I have came across either does not distinguish between the 2, or it just describes the effective so thats why I was curious.
  11. SEANHAWG

    CIF, D1, H.264 Mayhem!

    Here is another great question. Total pixels vs. effective pixels? Is the effective pixels the only ones being used or seen and if so, why have more pixels if only a certain amount is being used, or am I getting this all wrong.
  12. SEANHAWG

    Got to get a hard drive.

    and thats why I try to get them with pre-installed hard drives, LOL. Thanks for the info!!
  13. I have never messed with putting in or taking out a hard drive out of DVR's so I dont really know alot about the subject, I usually get them with a hard-drive already installed. I recently got in a Samsung single channel SSCDVR and it did not come with a hard-drive. My question is are most consumer grade hard drives compatible with each other. I was considering buying a hard drive from Samsung but I am sure the hard-drive will cost more than what I can re-sell the whole unit for if I bought a new one from Samsung. I was hoping to buy a used compatible hard-drive if it is possible to inter-swap brands. Furthur if anyone has any used hard-drives they want to sell, let me know, size doesnt matter too much.
  14. SEANHAWG

    CIF, D1, H.264 Mayhem!

    Okay thanks.
  15. I sell used housings. When these housings come brand new, they come with 3 wire grommet glands on the back of the housing, the grommets are also pointed downwards to not allow rain to flow into the holes. The glands have a small rubber opening that you poke the cable through which somewhat seals up the housing. My used housings are sometimes missing these grommets which leaves about a 1" hole exposed. I obviously tell my customers to fill this gap with some sort of material to avoid excess moisture and insects to make their way into the housing. But am I correct in saying that you do not want to completely seal the housing up air tight? The housings that I sell come with heaters and fans in them. If the housings were sealed completely, would it not allow the fans to work properly inside the housings causing the camera to overheat? I mean if it was air tight, how would the fans blow around air? Sure I understand that you dont want to leave any gaps near the top of the housing to allow rain to flow into the housing. But would it not be safe to say to leave a little bit of air flow near the holes on the underside to allow some air in.
  16. SEANHAWG

    CIF, D1, H.264 Mayhem!

    It could just be me but when I test my cameras on some of the tube TV's we have, it seems the picture is clearer as opposed to hooking them up to an LCD TV we have which I thought was odd. These are just standard-rez analog cameras.
  17. You should leave your router on all the time, even when you turn your PC off.
  18. SEANHAWG

    Signal Interference

    Odd. I'm sure you have already tested to see if its not 3 bad channel ports on your DVR or whatever you are using? Try swapping them around any?
  19. SEANHAWG

    Signal Interference

    Sounds like the cameras went defective.
  20. SEANHAWG

    This is our trade

    I would bet that the vast majority of people buying CCTV systems have never heard of or care to take a look at this board, they just want a CCTV system installed correctly, so they call an installer. Besides if there is someone on here who gets a piece of information, it is probably a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the market out there who still need services performed by an installer. The people that do look at this board are do it yourself people who will find a way do it theirselves regardless of whether they can find the info on this board or not. Just my opinion.
  21. I ordered some mounts and transformers from 123securityproducts.com a few times and was shipped from Canal Alarm. On more than one occasion they substituted a different product than what I ordered. I didnt mind too much though because they actually sent me a better mount but I did email them to let them know and they never emailed me back. Are all of these companies somehow linked?
  22. SEANHAWG

    Outdoor Camera Housing Question

    You make a great point about the bees. When we receive these in, we clean them and test them. But some of the housings we get in have massive wasp nests that are right in front of the lens because the previous retailer's installers did not seal up the housing good enough. Some of them are so disgusting that they are not even salvageable and we just throw them away. We'll recommend to seal them up from now on. Thanks for everyones input.
  23. SEANHAWG

    Outdoor Camera Housing Question

    will do. They are all box cameras. Thanks.
  24. SEANHAWG

    Outdoor Camera Housing Question

    Thanks for the link Bpzle. I just assumed that they only made a certain size for each different housing. I wasnt aware that there were standard sizes for these things. I'll try that out. Tweak'e: These arent meant for air flow either I guess because there are no vents in it. I just assumed that if you sealed it air tight, it would not allow the fans to blow any air around since there is no air getting inside the housing. Sure there is the initial amount of air that is inside the housing whenever you first close it up but is that enough air for the fan to circulate around to sustain for the life of the housing. I'm not knowledgeable enough in my physics to know what this air will do over time, LOL. The fan only comes on when it reaches 96 degrees inside the housing so I thought that it was mainly for cooling purposes but the drying effect makes sense too. When I first started dealing with these, it was always my assumption that you were supposed to seal them up too and I told my customers to do so, but I kept getting questions such as this and I never really had a good answer. All in all, you think I should seal them up?
  25. SEANHAWG

    Outdoor Camera Housing Question

    So it should be air tight? How do the fans work with no air?
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