rory

yeah but that us $500 befire it has to be shipped to the US, and go through US customs charges so youd need to add a few hundred on top of that.

ill answer some of the questions as i dont know antyhing about geovision. RG59U is thinner than TV cable (which is normally RG6) Cameras: Provideo has some decent BW Bullet cameras, cost around $80-150.

Its not that really, but with a regular CCTV camera, whether itsa bullet camera or a traditional camera in a housing, you would generally get a better product. There are some IP cctv cameras, that come with built in hard rives, but they cost a fortune. This is why most of the major manufacturers make seperate IP servers or DVRS, and the cameras are standard coax.

never used those type, wouldnt consider them cctv, more like a webcam.

if you dont want to spend more than $1000 then a PC based card like geovision is your only choice, dont know prices as I dont sell them, but i think for 2 cameras they probabl run $200-300. If you are in the US, Provideo has a large selection of hidden (discreet) cameras, including things like outdoor motion sensor light cameras, clock cameras, smoke detector cameras, board cameras etc. Depends where you want it and how hidden you want. Some electronic stores sell them, if not look for a local security/alarm company in your area. You can also download their catalogue from http://www.specotech.com/downloadcenter/. Rory

hi, has anyone had a chance to test any of Provideo's new camera products? Eg. 150' IR Bullet Day Night Camera 550TVL Indoor Color Dome Weatherproof Vandalproof Dome with Day Night + IR LEDs to 45' Auto Focus/Zoom Box camera with remote just wanna know before i go ahead and buy one or 2 to play with?? they have a downloadable catalog on thier web site. Ive had some good experience with thier bullet cameras so far, and they are cheaper for low budgets and easy installed, hence cheaper installation cost also. Thanks Rory

if you still need more info on turn key products let me know, there are ways to get the price down and still have a great DVR system.

ILL log back on later on to check out 7's nighttime view..thanks rory

COOL MAN, its working now, im using the single camera You have a fast connection, cable/DSL?? I take it camera 7 is the ganz? If it is its a great daytime picture, i am impressed. what type of camera is camera 11? Desk shot, good quality also I mean that keyboard is really crisp. Rory

hi, no he is currently working for delta airlines. not sure what area he is looking to work in, ill ask, thanks Rory

OK IM in 1024x but cant connrct, ill try again in a few..

argg, i get doesnt support windows me, and only 1024x.. im on windows me right now till my main pcis bak up, im on a laptop..

ok will try again, if i get on ill go on again in the morning here (9am) your nighttime.

No please! No i just wanted t o know if you heard of them, dont send them! . The clients said they didnt want to upgrade just yet, i tried and tried but they just dont want to spend the dollars for new cameras yet. I hate these cameras with a vengeance! but i really need the extra money which is the only reason i touched the job.

Sorry bad explanation again.. what i meant to say is that yes good pictures but with IR Illumination! you can use a low F Stop lens with IR as long as you have a camera that has a photcell sensor built in to determine the difference between IR light and visable light. The ganz at 32x boost is at 0.012lux which is pretty low light. yep, they are no low light, i know that now after testing, actually they are terrible as far as low light, they only work with IR light. I asked about this after i (client) paid $700 for a IR day night dome camera and it would give inferior picture in the night club (wasnt bought for the nightlcub, but only for use with IR anyway which it worked good for) but I was testing and figured it should have also have low light, anyway I know better now! Thanks to the 2 clients of mine that allow me to test new products with them, im going to get a ganz for one of them, probably the night club. By the way, re: extremecctv.com, some great cameras, high prices, but are worth it for IR situations, though not low light or normal. The EX82 though gives a great color daytime picute but it is a seperate camera from its BW IR camera (2 in one), and costs $1250 US. They have a LRX version, color where there is light in the Picture, and IR BW where it is pitch dark or low light. But i would only use them if you need video in pitch dark. Ill try to get some new digital pictures. Rory

I dont think he is in the biz as much anymore, not sure, i think he owned / managed a secu company for years that sold them, which is probably what he means.

i have had one in the car sinc last week. havent had the chance to test yet, hopefully tomorrow or the next day. PS. ever had any experience with FOCUS FS100A Ball Cameras? Im moving some from an old shop to a new one. They are the ones that get power off the monitor, cheapos!! Anyway, spent all afternoon testing to find out which wire was for which, as the yhavent worked for months, its not my client, just aked to move them. Somone cut them off from the original monitors and RCAd to a PC based DVR (none ive ever heard of, i think it was 123 CCTV Multi PC DVR or something, ill know more tomorrow). System is running win98 loaded to the brim with tons of startup programs, i suggested highly they pay me to reformat with xp or 2000 (i only have xp right now but they could buy/borrow 2000), tweaked of course! Anyway, i found a 15V DC 2000MA plug that will power all 6 cameras, without the monitors, but ended up they get negative for the video and power off the same stranded cable from the power supply, video is the center cable, positive is positive, and audio, is one wire only, yellow! Anyway, in the end it will be easy to hook up as i will just use the 2 pair telephone wire they ran for power, and just hide the coax for a future upgrade to a better camera. Reason i asked is i only found info on these online on a canadian web site and an australian web site. no others. They are BW with 2 lux, 350TVL, truly pathetic as a BW camera!! Im not sure if it is an american manufacturer or not though. The cables are telephone type, but custom. Thing is they sell them for like $100 for a system with monitor cameras etc. THis company makes ALOT of profit as its a world known clothing co, but i guess they will eventually upgrade. At least i will get it working for now, since they havent had working video recording for months now, when they though they did!

ok thanks, just tried it it has no privilage to access, forgot it is still daytime there! SOrry, ok, so that is 10pm your time would be like 7 am, say then 8.30-9am, so your time 12 midnightish? I would show you the nighclub where i have the 2 low light colot kalatel cams but they have all the lights on tonight, not sure if they are turning them off. I am impressed with any low ligh technology. Let me know what time i can check your server again, thanks. I know teh casinos use ganz here and in the US, so if thats the best Ill go with that for my high end. Thanks Rory

hi, yes ive used the IR cameras from www.extremecctv.com, but only in pitch dark. the ones i used, 2 versions, 1 worked well to 100+', the other, over 400', but i only needed 100', it was overkill, but just like daylight, in pitch dark. They use them in UN Bases, Afganistan, IRAQ, US MIlitary, Uk. etc. They have recenlty been installed all over London. IR Cameras are a pain though, have to go in daytime to set up and nightime to get the IR properly adjusted, down here with nightime mosquitos and all kind of weird fevers from them, and a high crime rate, working in pitch dark alone, it can be anoying! they are expencive though, which is why i was asking about provideo. provideo is a manfactuter, make really good bullet cameras. I have used quite a few day night and low light, they all though tend to be much the same. Kalatel actually has the lowest color low light camera i have tested, 0.02 lux, and can utlize some IR light in almost pitch dark. Not the best picture though, but it is better than the others I tried, for low light nightimt images, daytime, id use any another brand. I will still get one of those Ganz to test though, as soon as some more cash flow comes in ROry

ok thanks both, ill have to get my hands on one of them. Rory

If you want ease-of-use, and reliability, and not to worry about hardware compatibility, i suggest you go with a non PC based DVR system. If you have 48 cameras then I i,agine they want a very good system. Look at Kalatel's DVRs. They are all in ones. They connect to he LAN also. I have 8 cameras with a 320GB doing 28 days recording. @ 5pps. it is using motion recording, and its in a 24 hour gas station. you could get 28 days on your 16 cameras then if you are only open during office hours. You can always add more space using additional digital storage device called DVSe from Kalatel. They are more expensive than PC based but it depends what you want. They are basically maintenence free. The simplex DVMRe 320GB would be the cheapest, Triplex version is nice for playback features (playback while stil recording) but if you would be using your LAN connected PC to play it back then just get a simplex. There are also SDVRs which go up to 250Gb and are cheaper with built in CDRW, or if you could just add a single channel DVR if you want to just upgrade your currect VCR. Rory

Specotech (Provideo) may be able to sell you everything you need to work for this, as they have evreything like the quad, multiviewer. multiplexers, sirens, audio devices, RF modulators for TV, Monitors, and more. They are a good budget company with so far tested myself, some long lasting cameras. They are inexpensive but not too cheap to be considered cheap quality products, id day say they make some good products. Out of ALOT of their CVC-325 bullet cameras located by the ocean and in a nightclub, and at my appartment on the ocean also, they have lasted almost 2 years with absolutley no problems, i am impressed for the price, and the picture is good in low light also. Im talking even compared to ALOT of expensive day/night or just nighttime cameras I have installed/tested. Of course the Infrared part is limited to only 15 feet or so (in thier bullet cameras anyway), so if you need to see beyond that youd need extra illumination or a diferent camera. I see they have a couple new IR cameras that go to 150' (claimed). Dont know the price and wont work with this system setup. Let us know what they say, thanks Rory

Now THAT looks promising. Thanks, Rory! I fired off an email to Specotec with some questions, but this may be exactly what we are looking for. In case there's more good input, here's the questions I sent them: 1. I notice that the signal can be set from 5 to 80 seconds. We intend to have a dedicated monitor for the video; is there any way to have the video always on? (And is there a way to cycle from camera to camera every few seconds... or even split off to a standard quad-viewer?) YEs - Use a Quad with loop through, the quad monitor output goes to the dedicated monitor, and the loop through goes to the Resicam Switcher. The Resicam Switcher can then goto a modulator which can put it on channels 3 or 4 for cable, so it will switch to that say if you are watching TV in your bedroom and the dedicated monitor is in tje living room. Or you can just not use the TV and have multiple monitors, linking each one from output to input. AND, you can use a TV instead of a monitor if you want to save money, just use the video Inputs (RCA). The quad can view 4way or switch from camera to camera with different speed (dwell) settings. 2. We'll want four cameras. If we were to want more, is it possible to "stack", "chain" or "piggyback" two AV switchers (for a total of up to 7 cameras)? Yes, but you will need multiple monitors if using a quad, or use a 9/10 channel multiplexer, OR, provideo has a cheaper multiviewer which is like a quad but displays up to 9 cameras. http://www.specotech.com/cart/products/productDetails.asp?prodID=362 The 2 switchers would be next to each other, as far as I can tell (havent used them yet), they are what sounds the alarm, but youd need to check with Specotec on that. 3. Do the black-and-white cameras have built-in infrared illumination for night? Yes the BW have IR built in, the color does not. 4. Do the color cameras offer any nightvision options? (Some color cameras can switch to black-and-white at night.) No they are 5LUX color cameras so they would require alot of illumination. The BW are 0.1 lux so they can see in low light, but also in pitch dark with the IR (limited I think to 15-20 feet). 5. With multiple cameras, can you view the image from any camera at any time you want, or does video *only* happen when there is motion? Using a loop through and a quad or multiplexer, you can view any camera you want, you are taking the signal from the camera before it reaches the Resicam System. Check with Specotech on this also. 6. Are the motion detectors "smart"... are they prone to false positives from blowing leaves, small animals, etc.? I would imagine they are not 'smart' as with alarm type motions, as they say they do 100 degrees. Id like to know also, so let us knowwhat Specotec says please, thanks 7. How loud is the "chime" and can a louder (indoor) alarm be attached? Can the chime be set to repeat or stay on until disabled--or does it only chime once? Good question. 8. How well do the cameras handle temperatures from zero to 32 degrees Fahrenheit? 9. Is there a maximum cable length? they include a 65 foot cable, but any video cable can be extended manually. Let us know what they say here also, thanks. If you are going to be running hundreds or thousands of feet then you could always hook the rca/twisted pair they use, to RG6 or RG11, but its no fun, and they may have a solution for you. Im not surer if they have seperate power from video, but most likley as their other cameras do, let us know... 10. We have no need for recording, if that makes a difference in any of these questions. Only if you are buying the record it device that triggers the VCR.DVR. Not needed then. -Rob Steward

Infrared only works in BW mode. Maybe you can look at Provideo (www.csi-speco.com) Resicam, built in motion, weatheresistant, BW IR, can connect to trigger VCR etc. Ill take a qyick look again at them and post the exact link.. Ok here is the link, exactly what you ar elooking for ?? Up to a total of 4 cameras: System comes with 1 camera plus the switcher, just add the other 3 cameras. Comes in BW with Infrared or COLOR. You can extend the wire they supply with twisted pair or telephone wire etc. http://www.specotech.com/cart/products/productDetails.asp?prodID=474 Download the page i cut out from their fall catalog, PDF format: http://www.aspbahamas.com/ResiCamCatCut.pdf B/W Resi-Cam Observation System (RESI-200) Our B/W residential observation system has a passive infrared sensor that detects motion and sends a signal to the control unit. Then, an audible chime alerts the user, and the control unit momentarily interupts the TV image (switching to the camera image). The TV viewing interuption can be adjusted or disabled based upon their customized user settings. It features an infrared LEDs that enhance viewing in low light conditions. By using the composite video output, the control unit can be alternatively connected to the auxiliary inputs, PIP inputs, or modulator for whole house viewing. A weatherproof camera, mounting bracket, control unit, 65 foot cable, a UL listed power supply, and control unit-to-TV coaxial cable are included in the The Resi-Cam unit. Resi-Cam Switcher (RESI-10M) This is our AV switcher that allows multiple camera operation for either B/W (RESI-200) or color Resi-Cam (RESI-600) systems. It allows expansion to a maximum of four cameras per system. It features adjustable switching modes that allow multi-location observation. It has a PIR sensor, which triggers a switch to the camera.

Infrared only works in BW mode. Maybe you can look at Provideo (www.csi-speco.com) Resicam, built in motion, weatheresistant, BW IR, can connect to trigger VCR etc. Ill take a qyick look again at them and post the exact link..