the toss

Have a look at the gain & chroma settings on the camera

Is the new lens an auto iris ?

After spending your money on a Swann wireless setup you have achieved the same outcome as everyone else who have done this journey - no picture. That is the usual result from el-cheapo wireless gear.

All DVRs that support motion detection will also have a settable pre -event & post-event time setting.

That's pretty much what I said but in omly 22 words.

For best coverage mount them towards the middle overlapping as shown in your pic

Would you like to rethink that ? The loss of high frequencies is usually the result of capacitive reactance of the dielectric not the DC resistance of the cable

Make up a nice (thick) timber base. Cut to whatever shape pleases you (oval , circle etc) sand it stain/paint it then attatch that to the house. This will give you a replaceable mounting base for whatever camera bracket you like. If it ever has to be replaced just make a new one & use the same screw holes to attatch it

If it is 12v DC / 24v AC then the polarity will not matter

Where have you looked in Aus for your cameras?

If you are going to be looking that distance then make sure the camera mount is ROCK SOLID

Your door camera location will probably be dictated by the ease of cabling.

There seems to be an echo - a sure sign of impedance mismatch

Everytime I see the word "splice" I cant help but picture two bits of coax stripped & soldered up then wrapped in electrical tape

650' is getting onto the limit for RG59. If it is running on 12Vdc then you may also have voltage drop issues.I think the telling factor here is these four splices. I'm interested to hear HOW they are spliced. Even quality joints using BNC-BNC connectors are going to cause a couple of dB insertion loss per joint. Add to that the attenuation from the cable run , the voltage drop on the power & maybe new cameras that draw more current ( & therfore bigger voiltage drop) & I think you are pushing the boundaries. You could try a video amp with pre-emphasis at the camera end.

**** happens. You have determined it's the camera , replace it.

Basically baluns are just impedance matching transformers. The better quality ones will also have a bit of filtering to block low frequencies. So you may see a few small caps & inductors in the better quality ones.

maybe some bad sectors on the HDD

Do you have colour cameras ?

If you connect it to a "real" monitor it may look a little better but it will not get rid of the black squares or fix the focus. The black squares may be a privacy mask set by the previous owner. As far as the zoom problem goes , have you mounted the camera on a horizontal plane or a vertical plane?

Can you do it ? If you can get it in one end of the conduit & out the other end then yes you have done it. should you do it ? No you shouldn't for a variety of reasons are you allowed to do it ? I doubt that your cabling regulations would allow it. A question from me - why do you want to do it ?

The main determining factor will be the environment & lighting. Things like how far or close can the camera be mounted & the light available will be just some of the questions you need to answer to determine the camera type. Webcams are not very good in poor light. If the subject wire is fairly small in guage you may need a contrasting backdrop to enhance its visability. Other than that it is simply a matter of connecting your camera screen & power supply & off you go .

The price you pay is a fairly good indicator of the quality. If you go for an entry level DVR then don't worry too much about a price difference of $40 or $50 look at the warranty. Where I am I can get a 4 chan DVR with 1 yr warranty for $200 or a 4 chan DVR with 3 yr warranty for $230. I am happy to pay the extra $30.

You may find that there is only power at the lighting pole when the lights are turned on.

Why would you be playing with the colour saturation ?