rory

here's a post ) Some Kalatel DVRs . .. http://www.geindustrial.com/ge-interlogix/kalatel/prd_digital_rec.html

hi thanks. I tried your email but it came back, should I try again? Rory

Have you used many Ganz Cameras? Are they as good as Sanyo? I like their housings, and i currently use the computar lenses. They seem cheaper than Sanyo?? Cheap is what we need here in the bahamas due to high customs tax, but i also still need quality. I dont like the look of their mux, prefer black/charcoal colored like with Kalatels, but maybe i can use their quads. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks Rory

yes, i do like the features Sanyo has in its regular cameras, and its domes. I hooked up 1 panasonic and it had some good backlighting. Didnt like the look of them i saw on the web, but this one looked 'normal'! I havent checked out Ganz yet will take a look now. Its expensive though for us to buy from asia, since we are so far away, but you guys are right there Maybe i should move! I have some family over there, my brother is supposed to be moving there soon, getting his australian citizenship straight now

thanks, this gives me something to play with. Looks like ill need a router in the end anyway, but ill still play with the DHCP to see how it works. Thanks Rory

whhoops, ok non pc based, If you dont need recording just get a BW multiplexer, or quad if you dont want to spend the cash on a multiplexer. If it is more than 4 i recommend a muliplexer either way. Any brand will do. Use some of those provideo BW bullet cameras, a 19/20" TV, an ademco alarm vista 15p pack, some Optex outdoor PIRs. The siren will go off, and you look at your TV. Only thing is it doesnt come up on the TV which area it is, so youd need to look at the alarm keypad. U could get a full english keypad that has zone description in plain english instead of just zone numbers, and have that next to your TV or near it. There are other ways to do it, I havent done much observation systems so maybe some one else can jump in with a recommendation for a non pc based way.

Hi, yes they are all in one embedded systems, non PC, Kalatel. Ive actually only installed one PC based, as I dont sell them generally. But i am looking for a good brand now. The one i installed was actually pretty good, though required windows XP only! I cant remember the name, something like Remote Eye. I did it for someone else as they knew nothing about computers, and like you said in another post, i tweaked the heck out of that PC! All the rest ive installed are the Kalatek DVRs, DSR-2000 and the newer StoreSafe. They hold up really well and never have had to go back to service them. Occasional Internet problems only as our local ISPs arent all that great.

Hard Wired would be the best choice as even wireless is not all wireless, you still need power. I personally dont use the PC based systems, though I have installed one or 2 and they are fine for a home system, and they do have alot of integrated featuers such as built in alarm sirens for motion, and if you have a home PC it would be the cheapest way to go for the system parts. They have built in alarms for motion detection using the image pixels, so no motion detectors are required. 4 Provideo BW Bullet Cameras @ $80 each, would be a good choice. Then the system of your choice. You could use a multiplexer with a single channel DVR (for recording), the multiplexer has motion recording built in, or you can install some outdoor PIRs from Optex, and connect them to the DVR/Mux so when there is motion the alarm goes off. Gets pricey, so the geovision would be the cheapest and easiest way. I personally have the Provideo Bullets, an Extra 19" TV, and 4 sets of Optex Yard Beams connected to an Ademco Alarm System and a loud siren, at my appartment. I am just using tape right now until i get some more cash.

hi, thanks. Yes i am using a hub only. I have several online using a hub only with no problems. Just the cable company wants extra cash for extra IPs. They used to allow one static and one dynamic for no extra charge but they got greedy. Im getting a router as i was told you can assign one port to point to a certain device using the static IP. Then all will be able to get online. But if i can do this home system with jus the hub it would be better, just dont think i will be able to. The DVR is not going online, just the computer, and they dont need a static IP for the PC. Thing is the StoreSafe has this DHCP built in as an option to a standard IP address. What I need to know, is how do you set up the PC, which is already connection to the internet through the hub, to connect to the DVR using the DHCP option. I dont know anything about DHCP. I imagine igts just connecting to a name instead of an IP, but i tried that and no luck. Do i need an extra network card for this to work?? Or do I need to add another connection using the same IP? OR, i guess i probably cant connect to the local DVR as the computer is already online as cable is always on. Thanks Rory

you are very right. I have windows Xp and ME, both tweaked. XP is soo slow in its default setting, even on a 2+GHz with 1000mb DDR with a good video card. I take out all the flashy graphics #1 which slows it down, color settings to 16 mill instead of 32. 800x600 instead of 1024+, disable system restore, disable auot updates, and much much more...Some people dont know how fast it can be. Dont forget all the added software loaded on start up with brand name pcs.

branded cameras makea big difference, if you buy the right one. with digital video the qualit of the picture is only as good as the camera itself. that said, though just because you buy a sony or ultrack doesnt mean its going to be a better picture or last longer than a cheaper provideo bullet camera . it just depends what you need and what you are happy selling/using. testing many brands of cameras will help as someare better than others for different situations. I havent seen one company that makes one full line of great products, mostly just they make a couple good ones, and same with the others. Id stay far away from the noname brands like some cheaper companies sell as theirs, when they actually are just bought from asia and had stamped their logo on it. I had many problems with some cameras like this in the past, and some with the major brand names also! For instance Sanyo cameras are inexpensive (compared to others like sony, Kalatel, etc), and give one of the best pictures i have seen yet, with 520TVL in color. Though i wouldnt use them for every situation.

Yes they would need the same brand of coded multiplexer. But how would you give evidence to the police with the all in one, burn it on CD right? Same with a single channel DVR connected to a multiplexer. With tape however you are stuck with the police having the same equipment or taking it to a person that does that for a living and has all the different decoders, people have been doing it that way for years with tapes. Tapes = Pain in the but! The all in one is still a multiplexer, just that you dont have that cable to the recorder which looses video and speed. You have to spilt up the signal either way. Both single and all in one you can connect to a PC and burn evidence to CD for the police, to play on any computer anywhere without having to install any software, at least with the kalatel DVRs. I have done this many times for a local nightclub here with the single ch. Cost wise its cheaper in the US for 2 seperate units, at least when requiring large hard disk space like 320GB+. I guess because they arent as good as the all in one

From a book i have: (LTC Training Center) I know some of it is outdated like multiplexers are digital now, and you can choose fields or frames, maybe AVCONSULT can double check this info too, i didnt write it. I think the book is kindof old maybe 2 years though i only bought it a year ago, But the concepts are the same. Basically multiplexing is high speed switching of full size images. -------------START CLIP---------------- "There are two specific forms of multiplexing available. The first, "TimeShare", is used with all types of video transmission, ie; coaxial, microwave, fiber optics, infrared, etc. The second, "True Multiplexing", is available through Fiber Optics only .." "Video cameras do not produce continuous flow pictures as they appear on the monitor. In actuality the camera produces sixty individual fields of video. Each field is half of the frame or final picture. In other words, if a camera produces 600 lines of horizontal sweep or resolution, only half of the lines are painted onto the monitor at a time. First all the odd numbered lines, then the even lines. Each picture is called a field and and the two half pictures pictures combined are called frames. This combining of fields is called 2:1 interlacing and is a very common practice and feature of most quality video cameras. The final word is that a total of 60 fields or 30 frames of video pictures are produced by the camera each second. The timeshare multiplexer takes advantage of this individual picture theory of the camera by combining specific, individual fields or frames of video from a multiple of cameras into a single continuous run. As an example let's look at two cameras being multiplexed together. Each camera is producing 60 fields of information. The multiplexer will take the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th etc, field from Camera A. It will take the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, etc, field from camera B. These individual fields will then be coded and sent to the recorder or de-multiplexer as a single video signal." "If we were to view this combined signal as it is produced on a monitor, it would switch so fast between camera A and B that the picture would appear to be double exposure. The de-multiplexer is a unit that is attached to the output of the video recorder and/or in front of our monitor in the same manner as a switcher. It will read the encoded video signal and allow only those fields or frames of video information pertaining to the cameras to be viewed." "One very important point here is that some video multiplexers work with fields of information and some work with frames of video information from each camera. This is important when it comes to recording the information. A unit that works with fields of information will only reproduce a video picture of half resolution compared to what the camera actually made in the first place. That is equivalent to normal play back on a video recorder. In other words if you are working with a 600 line resolution camera, the de-multiplexed picture will only be 300 lines. A frame multiplexer will carry the complete video picture, so no loss of resolution will occur but more time will be lost between cameras." ----------------END CLIP-------------- and a note on fiber optic multiplexing: ---------------START CLIP----------- "With fiber optic transmission, we take the electronic video signal and transform it into pulsed infrared (IR) light. This IR light is then injected into a piece of glass and allowd to travel to a receiver. The fiber optic receiver takes the pusled IR light and transforms it back into the electronic video signal. You must also understand that light travels in waves and that the length of the light wave determines the colot of the wave." "We measure light in nanometers which represent billionths of a meter. Since different length light waves have different characteristics of travel when injected into a fiber, it is possible to inject multiple wave lengths simultaneously and seperate them at the other end. This gives us the ability to multiplex up to 25 seperate, real time, video signals into a single fiber and break tjem apart at the other end. The major advantage of this type of system is that there is no time loss of the individual video signals. " ---------------END CLIP-------------

It is an indoor. Here is the link: http://www.cctvproducts.com/sonelssminfi.html I get about a year out of them then the picture starts to turn yellow then about a month after that it goes black. Ok, ive seen them on sonys web site. i was considering using them at one time, ill stay clear for right now. Sounds like could have been a lens problem, or maybe power issue. Were you using the supplied power supply? Though that should have given out earlier than a year. Ive had a couple cameras go on me also, but they went quick, didnt last more than a month. maybe the domes you had were just lemons ..? I went to replace an ademco alarm control once, and the new one i replaced it for was bad, and the 2nd one i replaced it was didnt work either , both new out of the box. 3rd one worked As for cameras, Kalatel's GBC ceiling wedge mount cameras, i had to send 2 back that had bad power boards from day one. Unfortunately it takes about 2 months here in the Bahamas to get any product back from being fixed by a manufacturer, so far with a few different brands. The distributor never simply replaces them unfortunately, and shipping and customs make it longer. Now i take the bad camera apart and try to fix it myself first, last 2 times wires were just loose inside, maybe from being hit or something. ..

Finally someone has come through with this great idea! I have looked everywhere and there really is no general CCTV forum's out there, until now. Google's newsgroups are limited. Maybe there should be a NEW RELEASE thread here also, for info found on new CCTV equipment released. Could be useful to us system designers, and newbies also. There are some web sites that display new items but you need to scroll though lines and lines of other security equipment to see relavant to CCTV. Ill put a link to this forum on my site, ASAP. Rory

I think he means go with seagate or maxtor, as their hard drives are normally stronger or last longer. Maxtor has some larger hard drives too I believe, and Seagate has faster ones. (not sure been out of the PC hardware game for a while). If you were in the Bahamas as well as a UPS, id suggest a Line Conditioner, as a UPS will not protect you from damage to hard disks and other hardware due to low voltage dips, etc. Ive seen computers literally fried even with UPS installed. We have some of the worst Power Equipment in the world here. Ive had a line conditioner for 5 years now, and never lost anything, everyone i knows that do not use a LN have gone through harddrive after hard drive or mother board after motherboard, or power supply after ..you get the point. As i also worked in the alarm service business for 5 years for a major monitoring company here, ive seen i with every type of electronic equipment; Hard Drives are just very fragile. The computer stores here have burned equipment on display for clients to see what not having one can leave you with, BUT, that is here, FIRST world countries have better Power equipment. Our power goes off at least 3-5 times a week, sometimes 2 hours, or as long as 2 days. Its soo normal here that we are 'kindof' used to it. Basically its government spending money in the wrong places. On another note, you may want to look at a standalone machine, still with UPS and LN, as its soo easy to setup and almost totally maintenance free.

I dont know why the cards dont support audio, but maybe it hass something to with the fact that linux does not support alof of technlogy or hardware that windows does. Though it would be nice. So there are no Linux DVRs that support audio?

dude those are the prices in thr US, dealer prices to us, the dealers get them cheaper and sell them to us integrators at those prices which are straight out of the manufacturers price sheet, and us integrators sell them for list price (or less). i wish they were cheaper, phillips is about $500 more in the 4 channel market, Ultrak/Honeywell even more, some others even more. Things are just way more expensive in the US i guess than australia? Then its double the price in the Bahamas from the US! PC based (windows) systems are cheaper but i wont touch them, people here cant take care of their computers. Can you send me some info on what product you sell/install which is the price you are mentioning, i could be very well interested. Seriously. I dont know what it would cost to ship, but as a high price example I could always just check with UPS or Fedex. If listed as a computer from the seller, we get it duty free (as it contains somewhat of a computer and hardd rives it isnt a lie thanks Rory

1 ch DVR - $385 4 channel Mux - $550 - total - $935 4 channel DVR/Mux all-in-one - $1495 Personally id rather just pay the extra $500 and go for the all in one. This is ok for small systems. But for large systems: both Triplex Muxes 1 ch DVR (320GB) - $2245 First Cost 16 Channel Mux - $1560 - TOtal - $3805 16 channel 320GB DVR/Mux - $4445 Double the price for sale in the Bahamas due to import tax etc. and you can do that with a single channel DVR also See the Kalatel DSR-2000e. Huh??? There is no difference in image size in the Kalatel Units, between an all in one and the single channel. You get more images on the all-in-one as its not going through a cable, even S-VHS cable, and it is less jumpy, but image size is simular enough not to notice any difference. Kalatel's multiplexers (and i imagine most others) are digital now. http://www.geindustrial.com/ge-interlogix/kalatel/prd_multiplexer.html dude i agree with you, the all-in-one is a better choice, just with the US prices some people cant afford it when the mux and DVR (VDR) is a cheaper route to go, for now. Then again i only quote all-in-ones right now anyway, but that may be why business is slow

Cmon thats still pricey, I was trying to be conservative I mean I sell a 4ch 100fps Standalone that records at full PAL resolution and has inputs and outputs plus twin VCR output.... @ $670 Australian $480US and that is fitted with a 80GB HDD and I am expensive!!! I dont disagree that its pricey, thats the pricing on this side of the globe. What brand do you sell so I can check it out .. do they sell them in the US? Im still searching around for a cheaper one, just havent found any as cheap as you mention, in 4 channel. Plus im looking for a brand that allows me to write my own custom software for, which Kalatel does.

Thats cheap, after that I have to pay 35% import duty, plus international shipping! Hey, different economies, different dollars PS. My brother is moving from the bahamas to australia in a few months (family live somewhere I cant remember where)

Good lighting? The Infrared images were taken in pitch dark. The nightclub is very dim, no color cameras would produce a clear enough picture, even the lowest light color camera with all the tweaks. It would produce a more pixelised image which is the norm with those cameras. All the low light cameras i have used take light from other areas of the image and spread it out to the darker areas, thats how low light color cameras work, and why they can generally be pixelised when it is very dark. Sanyo Cameras have the multi zone light measuring system for backlighting. I learned the hard way with the f-sop lens level, i was using a too bright lens, f1.0.95 (i think) lens, and with the 2 large UF500 LEDs, the camera kept switching from BW to Color, so i raised the level and then it worked fine. Sanyo's day night camera, has a switch to change BW mode. Also has multiple back lighting. Its a good camera for the price.Im using it along with 2 ExtremeCCTV UF500 IR LEDs. (http://www.sanyosecurity.com/pdf/cctv/cat/ccd(ntsc)/vcc4594.pdf) The EX82 though, is currently deployed by the US armed forces in afganistan, Iraq, and along with other exreme cctv IR cameras and LEDs, used all over London, and at UN offices worldwide. (www.extremecctv.com)

Do you mean the Thermal? There is a huge difference. The images are the same day and night with Thermal. This means no Color image during th day. Also, you will never be able to make out the persons face, as it only picks up heat. It is a great technology though, but pretty expensive also. It would be great for night time surveillance or long range surveillance such as police helicopters, large industrial plants, etc.

General 1 Kalatel DSR-2000e 320GB DVR @ 5pps - 28 days recording (8 cameras) 1 Kalatel Triplex Color 10 Channel Multiplexer 1 Kalatel 14" 650TVL Color Monitor 1 Cable Modem - Remote Video Cameras 5 Kalatel GBC Color 480TVL Domes, 2.8, 4, & 6mm (store) 1 Existing COP security Color Dome camera (office) 1 Provideo Smoke Detector Hidden BW Camera (cashier) 1 Existing Sony Traditional Camera (storeroom) was not too impressed with the GBC domes for their price (using sanyo varifocal AI now and much happier), but they work okay, give a good digital picture over the internet, compared to the Bosch cameras that had been previously installed. The Provideo Smoke Detector camera is sweet . 28 days recording is pretty cool too, originally was doing 13/14 days on 10pps, then went down to 5pps for longer recording, as the actual recorded video was not really any different, to the naked eye. 6mm installed on door & cashier, 4mm on deli & office door, 2.8mm on wide shot of main store. Will soon be adding 2 outdoor cameras.

US Suggested List Price. There are cheaper ones but you get what you pay for. Kalatel Products listed are actually cheaper than most other high end brands. Yes, they must go they must go through a mux (suggested). Yes it is not as good as an all in one, but it is cheaper and easy to upgrade existing eqiepment. This is untrue. I get great digital recorded images from the single channel DVR, BUTT, this is using S-VHS Cables, and setting the DVR to control the recording speed and not the mux. Without S-VHS then it will not be as good No Tapes, no hassles. Longer Recordings, MUCH Higher quality video, much simpler search and retreival of video, remote video, AND maintenance free There are a ton of reasons to switch to digital recording, and none to stay with VCRs.