kensplace

Fine here to now, but it was dark so could not see anything

Nothing loading at my end when I tried it.

welcome to the forum.

Control center is a seperate purchase from geovision, it comes with a dongle that needs to be plugged into the pc or laptop you are running the control center software on. It has a few parts to it, you get a 'remote dvr' which I have already mentioned, a remote viewlog (again its the same really as the one on the main dvr) and a geovision optimised remote desktop, plus a camera viewer/matrix for viewing multiple cams, or single cams. I use the matrix and remote viewlog/remote dvr quite a lot as I connect using a laptop to the main dvr.

if its just a one of you need you could check ebay, but be careful in case you end up with someones faulty board...

Control center comes with a remote dvr that mimics the main dvr user interface almost exactly. Or you could remote desktop in and control the settings that way if you want.

Dont suppose any one has any info on the plettac 830 camera (specifically the control protocol for it). I have figured out the lens/power connections but dont have any software (just need protocol info, can write my own software). Unfortunately when I emailed plettac (ages ago) they never bothered to reply, which is a shame, as many other manufacturers who I did contact with similar queries bent over backwards to help.. Guess plettac dont like the little guys... Its a nice camera, which is supposably controllable via rs485 but I have zero clue as to what to send to it..... (when my rs485 converter finally arrives that is lol) Any one anywhere got any ideas?

What exactly do you want to do? You can get DVR's with inputs for sensors (door contacts, pirs etc) or you can get alarm panels that can interface with computers etc, what do you want to interface the contacts to?

Nice links, btw the doktor jon history link needs to be updated to http://www.doktorjon.co.uk/bygone%20days/historyofcctv1.html as the one currently there does not work

Hi, No thats not a system I have come across, so unable to help with any software issues on that side, but maybe someone else on the forum may know.

Welcome to the forum.

Some of the chips are custom programmed, so even though two boards may look identical (with the same chip numbers) the actual code programmed onto the chip is specific to a manufacturer.

Hi, No a video card outputs video, a capture card is for capturing video. Many cctv capture cards can capture more than one camera input. You will be able to use the PM facility when you have posted 15 posts, but please dont just bump up your post count with fake posts, as it just clutters up the forum.

Compared to what exactly?

Think about upgrading to phpbb3, its reliable now, and has lots more features.

Welcome to the forums

Welcome to the forum.

Got to be the most unusual use of analytics I have seen so far... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7475654.stm

How many have you got?

Darn, USA only... Wonder if they will pay up if anyone wins? The official terms&conditions are a little vague, it states "one (1) customer may receive" not "one (1) customer will receive" the cash prize.

Clarify also where you stand on what happens if the thing breaks in the future. You dont want them to bill you for a replacement camera if the chinese cam fails in a few months (or even if it turns out to be so bad you need to spend more to buy another cam, are they going to pay for both or will you end up shouldering the cost?) Also find out the stance on insurance/liability etc, if something goes wrong, you dont want them suing you (unless your covered) btw - it almost certainly wont be a sony cam, even if advertised as one. The chinese tend to advertise a cam as a sony cam if it has some sony components (chipset, ccd or both) in it. There is a also world of quality difference between a good cctv cam, and the stuff is sold on ebay in that price range from china... It may be ok though (assuming it lasts!) for a door type cam, only way is to try it I guess.

Welcome to the forum.

Also, be careful if you connect to an existing alarm system. If you open the alarm panel up, it may require an engineer reset (and set off the alarm bells probably, or worse they could have a smoke cloak that also activates on tamper, very, very unlikely but you never know without checking...) which may well cost them money. It may be a monitored alarm, so the police may turn up (in the UK you can lose police response to monitored alarms if you have too many false alarms, I believe in some countries/areas police response is chargeable for false alarms). It may well be in breach of any contract they have with the alarm company. It may well (and will appear in the logs that you have been in the alarm) cause their insurance to be invalidated due to unauthorised tampering with the alarm (if the alarm is part of the insurance terms).

I would fit a inline fuse in the cable, rated to blow before the cable overheats.. What I tend to do at home when I need several outputs from one DC power supply is build a small distribution board (just on veroboard) that takes the main DC output, and splits it X ways, with each way having its own fuse, rated at what the camera needs. So a 4amp single output power supply could have 8 individual 500ma outputs. Although I tend to leave spare capacity by not using them all, so that the power supply runs cool. Usually also, they are a mix of milliamps, I fit the fuse to the output needed, label it and forget it (but keep a spare sets of all fuses). The fuses are in fuse holders, and the inputs/outputs on terminal blocks on the board. The board then gets bolted inside the power supply box. I also stick a label inside clearly stating max 500ma fuse per fuse holder in case I drop down dead tommorow (so if someone else gets the power supply they dont go sticking 4amp fuses in each holder and putting the cables at risk.)

I have always used crimp-ons, never tried anything else so dont know how good they are yet. If I was installing a setup I would try to use the same type of metal for the connector (ie if the dvr end was gold plated, I would use gold plated connectors, if tin plated, then my normal tin plated ones would be used.) this would be to reduce any risk of corrosion caused by dissimilar metals (tin and gold can react against each other over time, and where electricity passes through them, you sometimes see this warning in server motherboard manuals etc, telling you not to use gold plated dimms if the board connector is tin plated). Probably me just being paranoid though