CCTV_Badger

Wow, a good healthy debate! Just to add another opinion into the mix... Like others have said, I'd keep well away from screw terminal baluns, the cores of CAT5 were never designed to be stripped, never mind wrapped around a screw terminal - Unless the balun is wrapped up in cotton wool and not even looked at by human eyes, the cores will almost inevitable snap. RG59 has its uses, great for short runs, if you NEVER want to upgrade the system to IP - And you don't mind signal loss or interference over longer distances. CAT5 (With a semi-decent balun) can transmit your video, power and audio up to about 100m or so, or with some JB's you can squirt two video signals down a single CAT5.. OR if you power the camera locally and use a four channel balun, you can have four cameras down one CAT5! I've done enough installs to know that pulling a single CAT5 through a loft is a sure sight easier than 4 coaxes. But back to the guys problem, given that you're familiar with crimping RJ45 ends, and you're happy there no issue with your crimping tool (You can get dirt or gunk trapped between the teeth, or even rust... ) then the problem can only lie in a few places; Dodgy balun - From my experience, you can get slightly dodgy batches of them, but I wouldn't expect that high of a failure rate, unless you are really unlucky. Other place could be the CAT5 you are using, is it true CAT5? I.e solid copper? Or is it copper coated aluminium? The latter can be a little more brittle than solid copper, or you may just have a bad drum/box of cable? The way to prove it out would be to use a pre-made rj45 patch lead known to be working over a short run on the bench.

Hi, The camera in the link is indeed from China as the other guy pointed out. I'd avoid that style of bracket arm, unless you have no other choice other than to mount it from underneath something, go for the wall mounted option, the style of bracket in the link are always weak thin castings, and are a total pain to align. As well as being almost impossible to re-align in the future as the tiny little grub screws always seize, they can tend to 'droop' as well. Don't pay a huge amount of attention to the specifications - The manufacturers do tend to lie a little about IR (Infra-red illumination) distances, to be same I'd assume half to three quarters the specified distance. The price on the site you linked to is WAY too high for what is really an entry level camera. Best bet to find a store on the Bay, making sure of good feedback and so on, but you should be able to pick something a bit better than that up for around £50-£60 INC VAT. As the price on the link is net of course... The spec I'd go for would be; 600-700 TVL (This is also a point of lies! Anything above 520TVL is more lines than the DVR or monitor can display anyway!) 2.8-12mm varifocal lens. - Gives you loads of options on setting up the shot. Wall mount version, with good solid bracket, no thumb screws or that rubbish. IR Illumination - 40-50M should cover most situations, unless your camera is miles away from the subject matter. Of course you also need to consider the recording, do you already have a DVR? As it doesn't matter how good the camera is, if the recorder is rubbish you will only ever see rubbish!