the toss

I have found it is not worth the trouble of repairing cameras short of repairing the 24Vac/12Vdc power supply or simply removing it to run the camera on 12Vdc. That resistor got cooked for a reason & simply replacing it will probably only result in another cooked resistor

OK you are impressing me , I might have to get more adventurous with UTP installations. I have never used active baluns so their performance is an unknown to me. Do they have cable equalisation capabilities or just signal amplification?

If suggesting doing some research is being an Ahole then you won't get an appology from me. So when you talked about RG6 were you talking about a cctv rated one? 90% of those who talk RG6 are referring to CATV or digital RF RG6 because they don't really know any better. They focus on "quad shield" and long runs and decide this is just what they need to avoid all the problems. Next thing you know they are on this forum complaining about the quality of their video. All I'm saying is be aware of what you are doing - the information is easily accessable if you need to check on the internet experts. @survtech - I know you are a big fan of twisted pair & baluns for long runs (I'm yet to be convinced) I see the main advantage as easy cabling for co-located cameras on fairly short runs , but would be careful of using it to overcome a run length problems as there are other factors to consider like HF rolloff due to capacitive reactance. For longgg runs the first step should be the normal cable transmission principle of pre-emphasis & de-emphasis (cable equalisation). This has been used since video was invented and is tried & true.

If it's for CCTV then start by using the correct cable which is RG59 RG6 and RG59 both have 75 ohm impedance and so can be used interchangeably. The RG6 also has better shielding and lower loss. The only disadvantage is that it's slightly thicker/more expensive. If those aren't concerns, the RG6 is the way to go. Do some homework. RG6 shielding is designed for RF inband frequencies. The shielding is NOT particularly effective below 50Mhz which is where the baseband frequencies of CCTV cameras operate. RG6 main claim to fame for CCTV is it's lower DC resistance enabling longer runs if noise immunity is of no consequence. With all the people on this forum seeking help to deal with poor quality images you would think that maybe they might start listening to some proper advice & not people who use youtube as their main source of knowledge ( not referring to you Stan)

Are you sure these are 50^ cameras? There are so many potential sources of problems I'd be surprised if you got a decent outcome. You could be lucky, it can happen.

As stated an under rated power supply is usually the cause but if it is a fairly cheap camera then it may just be that it is trying to compensate for it's poor quality design by having crazy AGC thresholds to obtain some sort of IR performance

I would be surprised if your cameras are 50^, they haven't been around since the ark ran aground. If they ARE 50^ you should be using RG58. Your problems are many - 50^ cameras running on 75^ cable. RG6 in an industrial environment will likely suffer from LF EMR/RF interference. 500' of copper clad steel RG6 cable in an industrial environment with low res analogue cameras AND impedance mismatched - is there ANYTHING in that last sentence that isn't a problem ? May the force be with you.

If it's for CCTV then start by using the correct cable which is RG59

What happens to him at the end on the 4 week assessment when you realise he knows more than you ?

The "inline remote" is actually for a camera menu. Push the button to bring it up then navigate through it by using the button as a joystick.

Nothing beats a University Tube education

Say goodbye to your camera.

Plastic is fine

Not even hot enough to raise a sweat

3fps/cam @D1 - do you know what you are getting?

So you buy it from China then $100 for a 1Tb HDD (if it will take 1Tb). Then 6 months down the track it falls over. What was the warranty? Do I need to send it back in original packaging? (it's long gone). Freight & insurance to China $80 maybe. Do I have to pay return freight? 3 months on & it all happens again. It's your money but that's why there is a retail markup. In Aust the warranty claims fall on the retailer. I would suggest you check out Rhino Technology ( 3yr warranty) or Secuvision ( 2yr warranty ) Then again you may get your Chinese one & be lucky (it has been known to happen)

I'll put it this way. I've been in this business for 18yrs and there is not one REPEAT NOT ONE person I have come across that have bought one of these cheap DVR packages that hasn't eventually realised they have wasted their money. If you feel you have a need for a CCTV system then I'm guessing you also want an outcome should the circumstances that created the need come to pass. $120 you really have to think to yourself - why isn't everyone using these?

If you are really that keen on getting rid of $120 then I'll send you my address

Well it can be inserted anywhere as long as the problem is in fact an earth loop. Other issues can cause the same symptoms as earth loops such as LF RFI and EMF interference getting into low quality cable (specifically RG6). Installing you earth loop isolator at the camera end will be a waste of time as you will still have the whole length of your cable picking up induced noise. Many installations experience this when pushing the distance limits of their cable runs and the S/N suffers accordingly. In these cases a ground loop isolator will probably only degrade the signal even further as there is about a 1.2dB insertion loss introduced.......understand ?

Cut your losses and get it replaced from your supplier.

$5 a pair for baluns is really cheap so it is not surprising that you are having issues. What is even more surprising is that you have no complaints when using the cheaper ones. If your friend is right then they are just an adaptor ( BNC - cable pair) They perform no impedance conversion and have no LF filtering components. If you are running any reasonable legth of cable your picture should be a mess. They won't affect the operation of your DVR (overheating etc) they only affect your picture quality (multiple ghosting , frame lock etc)

Your seller is partly right. DVRs have run for years on PC hard drives however there were reliability issues because of the higher duty cycle for a DVR (as your seller mentioned). HDD for DVRs are designed for a higher duty cycle.

All the clock mounted "spy" cameras I have come across have one major drawback and that is the FOV is pretty well fixed. The camera is fixed in the clock & the clock is fixed on the wall. There are only a few places where a wallclock looks at home and many places where it looks odd. You simply cannot have a wallclock hanging on a wall and packed out at 30* to get the view you want. Been there and done it. Your best bet would be a camera in something portable (moveable) like a book , toy or shelf mounted ornament

I'm not a big fan of flush mounting. I know it looks better but it worries me that when the time comes to replace it you won't find something the same size. I come across this a lot with alarm panel keypads & intercom stations. The end result is a lot of patching & colour matching. Now if they would standardise the sizes like for auto accessories or rack mount equipment...... if only

Depends on the didtance of the cable run. Most cameras with heater , blower & IR will run at 2-3 amps