Kawboy12R

But then you're stuck with IP signals at the house/dvr end.

IP encoder for the cameras or buy two network cameras.

Yes, but then a lot of them find out that their price/performance graph was skewed waaay too close to the $0 end, especially for trickier situations.

http://www.costco.com/Lorex-8-Channel-Full-HD-PoE-NVR-Security-System-with-2TB-Hard-Drive-and-4-HD-1080p-Cameras.product.100035609.html Sorry, but there's not a lot of excitement on here for ultra-cheap analog DVR systems. You WILL be happy with the video quality of the above system, and it comes with 100' cables and Costco's excellent warranty and return policy. Check out this guy's system if you want cheap, but note the 60' cables and HD not included. 100' cables are available for about $15 online though. The same system is available through Newegg for a bit more money if you want to buy from a more well-known company.

http://www.dsdcctv.com/

http://www.amazon.com/EDEALLINE-Indoor-940nm-Duai-Array-IlluminatoR/dp/B00AF57OLS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367455574&sr=8-1&keywords=covert+940nm+ir+illuminator Invisible IR and it doesn't look like a light to most folks.

Definitely has a good features in a PoE-dense package, especially if it would do 15.4w x8. No stock? Quick Googling showed stock here- http://www.winotek.com/itemdetails.asp?cc=126&ic=NET-PMAGSW808PO Gotta sign in for some reason though.

15.4w per channel is lots for just about everything but some PoE PTZs or some cams with built-in heaters. Typical consumer IP cams generally suck up less than 10w/channel. The tricky part about that switch is that I don't specifically see the total power budget listed. Some switches deliver up to 15.4w/channel, which is good, but can't provide 124 watts total, so some items have to use less. Any cams rated for IEEE 802.3af use will work on 15.4w/channel, but you might not be able to power 8 of them if that switch can't put out 124w at once. I'm not saying that it can't, but I don't see anything stating that it does, either, and that's not a great sign. Zyxel's ES1100-16P has 8 full power PoE ports with a power budget to run them at max all at once. It's a 16 port though and it's got a fairly noisy fan. If quiet is the goal, try two ES1100-8P switches. That gives you 8 full power ports with no fans but two switches. That Airlink looks like a nice way to get 8 PoE ports in one switch, but you might want to email them and check the power budget. Maybe someone here has used one and can confirm the power budget??

I've heard that there are more skeptics than liars on the internet, but I somehow doubt it...

Depends on what the cameras support. My Axis cams support two different kinds of edge storage, so I can store a copy (say continuous recording) on a NAS tucked someplace hard to find, another copy (say motion recordings) on a 64gig card in each camera, plus on an internal HD in the NVR computer. I even think I've unintentionally had two different computers running NVR software monitoring/recording the same motion events when I was testing programs on two different computers. Not sure what other cameras are capable of but ftp backup seems popular on cams that don't do edge storage. I'm sure there are other ways and combinations to do it as well. YMMV.

A little birdie told me that the 3mp domes were about $1100 and the 3mp bullets were about $1200 before discounts. 2mp versions are roughly $200 cheaper.

Having a "bait" computer doesn't hurt. Something cheap and visible with even just an IE window open showing one of the cams maybe. Have the real one tucked somewhere out of the way if the location is big enough. Possibly use a NAS or edge storage of some kind so that there's still a copy of the data around even if they do end up finding and stealing the real NVR. I'd also make a cage and bolt it down.

If you're doing network cameras, basically one camera per cat5/6 cable back to a switch similar to this, and then run one cable from the switch to your NVR or computer. You can stick the switch in a closet, basement, the garage or wherever makes sense to you and then run the single cable to the NVR. If you're doing analog cams at the start via baluns, you'll have to run all of your cables to the DVR instead of a switch, and that'll be where the monitor is without some special effort. You could always run cat 5 from the DVR to your home network and then use the DVR's remote viewing software to view it on other computers on your home network or the internet as well, and then replace the DVR with a switch and use the same topology if/when you switch to network cameras. You'll just appreciate the DVR and monitor someplace easy to access and operate rather than sticking it in a closet and forget about it like you could a switch.

Splicing won't give you good results. In my inexpert opinion (I'm a hobbyist), if you're totally against digging into the walls to find out what's in there, I'd cut the old cables as close to the camera as possible, attach a BNC and barrel connector to the end of the old cable, mount a junction box, and connect the new camera's leads to the new connections on the old cable inside the box. The difficulty will be in getting the BNC crimped onto the old cable properly. With different grades and sizes of coax, especially if the exposed cable is the remains of something attached to a low-budget Chinese analog cam, it's hard to say exactly what's there to crimp to. That's why I recommended getting a local pro, but I suppose if the existing cams are dead, what's the worst that can happen if you do it yourself and it doesn't work? As long as you leave them exposed cable to work with, that is. Maybe cut off an inch or two of the existing cable and take it to your local electronics shop and have THEM identify the cable and sell you the right crimpers and connectors. There's no substitute for eyes-on expertise. My local place would even give a demo on how to properly use the crimpers. Heck, there's even a possibility that you're not dealing with coax at all...

I assume you are planning on replacing the existing cameras and not thinking that you can add more cameras using the existing wiring? If you mean replace the existing cams with new ones, I suppose it depends on how long of a pigtail the new cams have and how far away the connectors are inside your wall or soffit. I suppose you could cut the existing wires at the existing cam and crimp on new BNC fittings and barrel connectors for the power and house them in a waterproof junction box of some kind (get a pro), but I'd prefer to find some access to the old connectors through the soffit or wall (probably from the inside) and use them. Major PITA if the original installer ran conduit right up to the outer wall and sealed the connectors in the tubing, but I'd hope that there's a junction box with the connectors in it somewhere just inside the wall.

I'd probably run cat6 (but cat5e is fine) and use baluns if I settled on analog to start, but you're definitely thinking of future-proofing in some fashion by running both. There are advantages to running both just in case over using baluns with the UTP. As for anything else, the wires are probably fine but leave slack for jiggling the mounting position a little (or maybe a lot) after the cams are installed, plus enough for drip loops.

UTP isn't the same as coax and he's not talking digital information. I know nothing about PVT but I'd question reinventing the wheel when shotgun cable works fine for existing cameras? I'm sure it's good technology but probably a little late to the races unless it becomes standard tech.

Glad it's working better and good luck. I should've thought about mentioning BLC etc as well. At least it's probably too early in the season for you to be fighting skeeters as well as dead batteries.

If you can mount motion activated floods inside it's a good solution Q.

Enjoy.

IR is kinda handy when the jerks that break in after dark forget to turn on the lights.

The clicking will be the cut filter moving. It's a mechanical thing, basically just a piece of glass that blocks infrared light. Hearing the click is a good thing. So is seeing the red LEDs, although it'd be nice to find an easy answer quickly. It'll probably be a pain to go out in the woods and hook up a monitor to see the OSD of the camera and fiddle with the settings. Not sure what you've got for battery powered equipment but the last time I checked most of my trees didn't have 110v receptacles for plugging in toys. There's one major plus to network cameras- you can fiddle with their settings from just about anywhere that's got internet and see the results from the comfort of your La-Z-Boy. That's not exactly common with analogs.

It might be related to a blur setting. Low blur is generally = high noise. Exposure might be locked at 1/60th or faster. 1/30th is generally a good compromise exposure speed to balance blurring. Long exposure gives less noise but more blurring. Also, are you sure cam 2's IR is actually shining? The filter might be fine but the lights are dim or even off. With cam 3 behind cam 2, cam 2 might be seeing only cam 3's distant light if its LEDs aren't functioning from defect or setting.

You don't want to be doing this standing on your tiptoes on top of a stepladder... Anyway, just find those little screws, loosen them up a bit, and then you can rotate the focus and zoom rings. Tighten up the screws when done. Focus on those is pretty fussy, too. It's a little tricky getting the focus right AND the screws tightened back up. It's good you have help and will have a screen right at the camera.

For cam 3 you might try checking to see if the noise reduction settings match your other cameras, as well as maybe shutter speed settings. For cam 2, is that white light always shining? It might be that light causing automatic exposure adjustment to make the rest of the pic too dark. To my eye, it looks like cam 2 is seeing light from SOMETHING behind it shing in the same direction the camera is looking, so if there really is no light shining in the same direction as the camera then the IRs are shining, the camera is seeing IR, but the exposure is darkened down because of that pinpoint of light shining at the camera. If the OSD isn't set to auto exposure then try setting it to auto. If it IS set to auto, try looking for a way to set the exposure to auto adjust to the bottom part of the screen or maybe the left side. It'll make that light way too bright and maybe draw some vertical lines in the picture like the streetlight does in cam 1 but it should brighten up the rest of the pic. If cam 2 DOES have some white lighting from behind, then maybe the cut filter is sticking. Try tapping it, slapping it, or rubbing a magnet on the sides of the camera. Possibly you've got it set somehow in the OSD to NOT retract (day mode all the time), but I think it'd look a lot lousier than it does if that were the case. My money is on the IR and cut filter working properly but you've got an exposure problem because of a funky setting and that white light. If you can't adjust the settings for the IR to overpower the white light shining at it, maybe point the cam at an angle and remove that white light from the FOV or add an external IR illuminator. $10-$40 will get you a lot of extra IR, but maybe start with a low power one instead of overpowering things and whiting out close targets with a floodlight. Make sure the IR shines at least as wide as the FOV of the camera to avoid light/dark areas of coverage, or possibly use two for best results.