kensplace

What does the manual for your cam say? Not got your converter so cant say for sure, but I would normally assume rx is receive and tx is transmit, so the tx + and - on the adapter would go to the rx + and - on the cam. If your cam is full duplex with two way comms then all four may need to be connected (rx to tx, and tx to rx) The 120 ohm resistor is used to terminate the rs485 and is needed on the last device you use, the cam may have a switchable termination resistor (the 120 ohm resistor) or you may need to add one yourself, that part should be explained in the manual. Also, no idea what your cam is, it may be your cam is set up for the wrong protocol, the wrong address, or the wrong baud rate settings etc.

You may want to take a link at the second site in your sig, its not working properly on firefox, its all stretched across the screen.

Hey, I know sunderland, I live there too! Small world! (Assuming we are on about England?) See you around the forums!

Guess if its outdoors it could suck up power with a heater on top of the motors, course if its installed indoors in a normal room, then the heater should never actually come on, as the room temp + heat from the dome electronics/motors itself should keept the thermostat from kicking in. Not sure about what makes of ground loop isolators are available in the usa, as Im from the uk, and the only one I have tried is a tecton humbug, which works ok. Searching for humbug will probably bring up loads of results, the main thing to watch out for (other than getting one from a reputable company, not some taiwanese fly-by-night) is the bandwidth, you need at least 5mhz+ bandwidth in general for a average 500ish line pic (for pal it works out as around 100 lines or so of resolution per mhz bandwidth, ballpark figures, cant be bothered to do the maths). Get one with too little and you lose resolution...

What equipment are you powering, 2.25 amps at 24vac is a lot of power for cctv stuff.

See if http://www.capturecctv.com/ has what you are after, they have a very similar model no (cptcd9t) on the site, and all manuals/spec sheets are available for download. If the exact model is not there, then a similar model may be similar enough to figure out most features from the manual, or you could email and see if they have the exact manual if its not listed.

If you want I can test it on pal for you when I get the geo card and get it all up and running, as I am on pal.

Cool its not too late, now getting control center...

Ahhh, if its not to late then I will switch to control center then! Will pm larry, see if its not to late, if it is, then no problems.

Never used geo yet, so I just went by the marketing stuff and picked v2. It was a close call, almost went for control center, but figured v2 would be more fun. Chances are I will end up needing the other one though!

I take it they can also be closed remotely, and dont need to be pushed closed by the staff?

Found this pdf http://www.remote-security.com/download/pctested.pdf which shows tested systems, along with the frame rates they got on different cards/setups, may be of some help. Im confused over the specs for the hw compression cards, they seem to need a high spec machine, but the whole point of a hw compression card is the card itself does all the work (it compresses the video) meaning you can use it on a normal spec machine without problem. Odd they need a high spec machine for a card that is supposed to make life easier for the machine....

I would do a quick test, flick the switch see if it improves. Remember your resolution is also dependent on the weakest link in the system, you could have a state of the art high res camera, but it would give a bad pic with low quality or bad cables. A low res dvr or multiplexer can also limit your resolution, poor lighting can severely affect what you can see, so can incorrect settings on many devices from the camera itself, to the dvr etc. Going b&w would obviously remove the advantages of colour, such as being able to identify the colour of clothing, cars etc.

If you want to control the ptz directly with 24v (I guess you must be going to make a diy joystick or switch controller for it) then you would need (according to a pelco pdf for that model) a minimum of 20 awg wire (which should get you over 100ft easily). You also need 6 wires at least to control that ptz. If you get a telemetry system then your choices open up a bit more, you can use a purpose built controller to send the control signals to a receiver at the camera end that then powers the ptz and lens. With a set up like that you can connect the controller to the reciever using either rs485 or rs482 (depends on model) so cat 5 cable would be fine, or you could send the control signals down the coax cable along with the video (via up the coax, co-axitron etc) this system mixes the control signal with the video at the controller and un-mixes it at the recieving end. This means the coax cable can do video and control. Telemetry systems are not cheap, nor particularily easy at times though.

I have not used this model, but took a quick look at the manual on the web, which ide connectors are you connecting to? From what I can see, there is the removable ide caddy on the front, a cd drive and a ide port on the back. If the hard drive is working ok on one port, then its possible that either their is a bad (bent/missing/snapped) pin on the other port, or the other cable is faulty.

If you already have an adapter to get the composite video lead then you can get numerous composite video compatible capture cards/boxes. You can get tv capture cards that take composite, either internal cards, or usb style, or go for a proper cctv capture card like one of the geovision cards. CCTV cards can support more than one camera directly (if you buy a model with more than one input) so in time you could maybe connect several cams direct to the pc instead of using a switcher. TV cards usually accept only one input at a time, but if using a manual switch that is not a problem. The cctv cards come with better software for recording/playback/monitoring (motion detection etc) than a tv card will, but obviously cost more.

I think you would need a dc to video lens converter in between the sony and the motorised lens, as the sony is a dc drive for the lens, and most motorised zooms are video drive. You can get little converters that convert the signal so it will operate the lens, search for dc to video lens converter on google or your favourite search engine.

It arrived, cant see any other useful markings on it, other than the base pcb is marked with 73-7702-s2b1. It has loads of dips underneath on the base, no idea which ones do what yet! Only managed to figure out the power connection for 0v and 12v by looking at the pcb, applied power to those pins on the 16 pin connector coming out of the base and it appears to go into some sort of self test. First it spins clockwise, then anti-clockwise then clockwise again, then it tilts the cam down a little then back up to the upright position (with the dome sitting on the desk) Cant get any video out of it yet, could be bust, or could just need more time and info.....

What are you using to convert it?

Does it record all the time, even if there is nothing going on, or does it just record suspicious activity? If it just records what it thinks is suspicious then I would be interested in the legal aspects of that. If people have had problems with motion based recording (ie people saying how do you know it was working at the time etc) then it would be fun trying to prove in court that the system will always spot suspicious activity and that there is zero chance it didnt record a important event it did not think was suspicious. Sounds like a good system though, reducing the amount of stuff people have to look at so only important stuff can be concentrated on.

That could become even more of a issue a few years down the line, when many of the current budget dvrs are no longer supported or even sold. When the dvr eventually breaks, any footage on it wont be of any use if its a propriatary format, as you wont even be able to play it from the dvr to record on another device, and you may find it impossible to get spares for it.

Gave up trying to get some protocols, it looks like the only way I would be able to get them would be to capture the protocol from a real controller and figure it out that way. Molynx/bewator has a propriatery protocol for its telemetery, which they wont release. You can get a 'open protocol' from them, but it means buying a converter - which just converts one protocol to theirs, pointless really, may as well just send the correct protocol to start with and cut out the extra un-needed equipment. Plettac wont even reply to emails regarding their protocol for their cameras. Pelco on the other hand were great, no problems at all getting the protocol from them!

Will keep an eye out for those makes, love being able to get protocols The one thing I am looking forward to with the fact the cctv is becoming more technologicaly involved is all those manu's with closed protocols will soon become dinosoaurs as the rest of the world overtakes them with products that are not only open, but actually have really good features (and are a heck of a lot cheaper). Many current manus are relying on ignorance, people dont know that the feaure should not cost a fortune, so they buy it. When competition opens up, they wont stand a chance.

Wonder what happened in the end? What did they decide, what was installed?

Is the bilinx thingy a hardware tool or is it software? Either way, is the protocol available for it? I miss the ability to be able to remotely control cams, I have some ability with the bbv setup, but other stuff I bought (despite the claims from the manu) are closed protocol so useless to me. Sounds handy though, its next to impossible to properly adjust a cam in situ, remote is the best way to get the best out of a cam.