miggc

Hi First time poster. I am working on a DIY security camera project and have done a great deal of research here at CCTV Forum. Thanks to everyone for a fantastic resource. The house with the blue star is mine. The red dots on the South wall approximately represent the location of 2 cameras. There are 2 more cameras at same location on the North side of the house and one more each on the East (back) and West (front) sides. There is approximately 4' of space between my house and the house on the North side. There is 6' of space on the South side. My house is longer than both by about 20-25' (the lot is 24 x 100). I am currently in the process of a gut rehab, so the walls are open. I am looking for very small outdoor cameras. Given the proximity to the street I don't want the place to look like a Bank or Prison. I have prewired with cat5 and 22/4, which together I can just barely get through the hole that was drilled through the outside wall (triple brick). The hole was drilled by an electrician on a tall ladder with a hammer drill. He is gone and I don't own either- so I am stuck with the hole size, which is too small to fit any wire with a connector attached. Here is a camera that is the size I am looking for: http://www.uspystore.com/low-light-varifocal-bullet-camera.html I believe this camera may be a white label of one of these cameras: http://www.vhtamericas.com/downloads/VHT-VB21HQSeries-Datasheet.pdf The camera has hard-wired Siamese cabling (with what I believe is a Ferrite core attached). In a perfect world I would cut off the camera connectors and wire them to my 22/4 and cat5. The 18/2 to 22/4 is trivial, but how do I connect the coax to the cat5? I know I can use a balun, but that would have to go in a gang box, which would defeat the 'small footprint' I am looking for. Can I simply splice the cat5 to the coax and then protect with electrical tape? My other option is to remove the cat5 and put in rg59. This would work, but take a lot of time I don't really have. The drywall goes up next Wednesday, so after that I will not have access to the wiring. I won't buy and set up the cameras until after the house is done (March). Question 2: I don't believe I need a zero-light IR camera. The North and South walkways are lit with motion floods, two on each side. The East and West sides have street lights nearby. Can I get away with a non-IR camera? Given the narrow space (4' - 6') between the buildings it seems I would want / need a pretty exact focal length and so should buy a variable focal length camera. My budget is around $200 per camera. Would the camera I gave a link to above be a good fit? Can anyone recommend something better? Lastly, is there anything else I need to do / consider before my drywall goes up? Thanks in advance for any help or advice. Cheers. Mike

Is there an IP equivalent of that camera? I checked out their website and it seems all the vandal resistant IP cameras have IR. Can I use a normal, dome camera outside? Like this one, for example: http://www.cnbusa.com/en/html/product/product.php?seqx_prod=1180 Are there any pros / cons to IP? Better features? Are the DVRs more expensive? Mike

That camera looks great, thanks Matt. Is it really a coin toss between the 22/4 and the cat5? I assume the wire gauge is pretty similar. Will the twist in the cat5 help protect the video signal from interference? My longest run is about 80', if that matters. I just went from needing a wire to having an extra wire- nice!