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Never mentioned Surge Protection - Ground Loop Isolation and Interference Rejection. Surge Protection doesnt work in the Bahamas, has to be Voltage Regulation. We got some of that 3rd world Government Electricity Monopoly going on here. Out of 2 name brand baluns I used the image quality was bad over 150'. Never said it did not give a video signal over that amount, just the quality was bad, or at least degraded

You da man!!

Yep, I never lost video, just had that bright object issue. I dont have the $$ to test out various other baluns though, so I would just spend the extra couple $ and get the active one time, as then you also get Ground Loop Isolation and Interference Rejection, at least with NVT products; dont think the passive units have that.

Glad it worked out, and thanks to Heloder

Typically if using all analog (CCTV CRT Monitor) and CCTV cameras, it would be crisper than a basic IP Camera system (Non Megapixel system) at least going by the ones I have seen online and also locally (note, using 811x508 pixel cameras). Now, if you put that on an LCD (or even just a VGA CRT monitor, though clearer than the LCD) then the video quality of the analog CCTV system just degraded, at least visibly (doesnt mean it still didnt record in high quality) - tip, use the video card S-Video output to a CCTV CRT monitor with an S-Video input and it will be very crisp in playback. Both of them have their limitations when it comes to how many frames they can do as the camera numbers go up from 4+, the analog one due to the PCI bus and the IP due to the network bandwidth - both also depend on what products are used, especially with the IP depending on whether it is off the shelf or high end network products. We have had discussions on this before though under the IP forum .. most of what you find on google will be marketing hype by both industries though. Also many IT experts have little to no experience with professional CCTV systems prior to using IP cameras. MegaPixel takes IP systems to a whole other level. But then you need decent software and expensive network gear to fully utilize it. After seeing megapixel though (even just from my digital still camera), Im getting tired of low res anything, will be trying some MP gear soon. Though, most clients will not be able to afford that kind of system anytime soon. My 5 cents

1/3" 4mm is approx 70 degrees, 1/3" 2.8 is approx 90 degrees, finding 120 degree lenses may be difficult. You could search for 1/3" 1.8 fish eye lenses though, that might cut it. More than likely your dome is a 1/4" Fixed Lens CMOS. Check it first, then send that info to a reseller to see what fish eye lenses they have that will fit your camera. if you can post the exact brand and model of your dome that would help us. No idea what STV is.

i would use active for anything over 150'

Oh come on; do a simple web search: http://www.divisdvr.com/sources/pd_mpg240.htm If I only had the spare time

Hi, need to know what brand it is.

Depends on the location, in this country Cable is the best, cannot even use DSL for remote video, packages that equal Cable cost over $400 for businesses, while cable is $150 and still faster. Also down here DSL support is not great, it is run by the local government telco monopoly. In the islands though, in many cases it is all there is as Cable is not in all of them yet.

The most important thing for any unit with a hard drive spinning, is a Voltage Regulator - many UPS come with this built in, just find one that has AVR.

Dont forget it still has to write 32-64 channels of video to the hard drive/s, so a P4 2.8 with 1GB of ram will still be very slow, suggest if you are going to build a system like that, spend the cash and get a decent quad core extreme or a Core 2 3.0 Ghz with at least dual channel DDR2-800 2GB (more ram the better). Also get some noisy 10,000 rpm Raptor (or other) drives. Still if it were me I would not do 32-64 channels in one Computer, but thats just me. I dont care how much processing the card is doing, if the video is going to be high quality and the software is saving all of that video to the hard drives, there will be alot of processing (CPU and Memory) going on (even if only background processes) and that will be done by the PC itself. A P4 with 1GB of Ram is a budget system, under $200. Dont go cheap on the Computer you will use, that is more important than the DVR card, without the computer the card will not work, poor computer will mean poor system performance and hence, poor security system.

Not sure if that will fix their problem as they say they are using 8.01 already. Perhaps upgrade to 8.1 or 8.1.2? Also, what OS is it being run on?

As mentioned, 16 channels max with GeoVision. It is a Hardware Drivers, and Software Restriction. I would not use Dell either for Geo, always better to build your own, and it is cheaper. If you must use Dell, check out Video Insight DVRs instead: http://www.video-insight.com

LOL .. nah, they got one in Miami too No Snow For Me!!

Could get a 24VAC Transformer, the extension cord, and a power strip (surge protector or just a basic strip). Thats what I use right now along with the 9" monitor.

You can but depends when system it is exactly. We will need more info such as a model number to look it up. I have taken a system before which got power from its own monitor and had audio and video, and it ended up having to splice a whole bunch of wire together to a 15 VDC Power Supply, also had to splice together a whole bunch of ground for both the audio and the video. The audio was not used though, but as it is there you could also grab that, it would be a single wire, the ground for it would come from the power supply (maybe, depends on the system, dont take my word for that as I dont want you to fry something!). Its been along time so I cant remember exactly how I did the wires, and I would never do it again (would make the client buy new products as it is a hassle and unprofessional) but it can be done. You can get cheap mics though, cheap regular CCTV cameras would be much better than the type that gets power from the monitor also so I would also suggest chucking the old ones away and using new ones.

Yes, Extension cord or a UPS. Or could buy one of those handhelds but they can be costly.

Yep thanks ,, checked all over that area too, everything there is either over $200 a night or booked out .. looks like it will be Miami Beach and just try to catch a bus to Aventura or Mall of americas this trip over .. next time it will have to be Boca or Ft Lauderdale ..

Yeah Its the FIRST ip software that has impressed me, now maybe the ones I have seen just were not the best, and these guys might be better at marketing also .. but the video demos on you tube showed it off really good. Anyone here using it and have any demo images or anything else? Thanks

Not 100% sure about that (not really my area), but the PCI Express cards should be faster, even though it is only x1. Software based compression cards, the most common, also rely on the CPU and memory, dependant on the software used. Hardware compression cards do more processing on the card, but still the actual recording will depend on the Computer hardware - slow/bad hard drive = slow/stuttery video. I dont believe PCI or even PCI-E x1 are capable of full 480fps in 640x480 or 720x480 though (uncompressed), unless you use a hardware compression card. As I understand it (someone correct me if I am wrong) the hardware compression card will compress the video before it is sent through the PCI slot, while with the software compression cards, the raw video is sent without compression. Also see these threads for previous discussions on that topic: http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=4326 http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=6662 As to the connectors, pigtails allow more camera and audio connections to one single card. Also with Pigtails there is less chance of dislodging the card from the PCI slot.

If its not MegaPixel IP then the quality typically wont be any higher than a decent DVR system, sometimes even worse actually.

Bingo. Its not just an issue with how fast the system itself will be capturing 64 channels of high resolution video, but if one system goes down, all 64 go down. I would max it at 16 personally. If you want highest resolution and fastest video frames then should stop at 8 channels.

Tested better than my color bullet cameras hey