cctvfan

Sorry, Nuvico is not the one I've installed. I just came across it while looking for a remedy. I may be wrong.... but I thought even with PC-based, althuogh we can set a different fps for each camera, all are still cap'ed by the upper bound. E.g. on a 240-fps/16-ch system, although each cam has a picklist for me to choose the recording rate, the highest is still 15fps. Even if I set most of them to only 5 fps, it still won't allow me to set the remaining cams to 30fps (despite the bandwidth I've "saved" earlier).

You're welcome. In the past year, I learned & discovered a lot in this forum from others who are willing to share theire valuable info, i.e. people like Rory, ust to name one... By the way, have you thought of using all PAL cameras since you're in a PAL country? My impression is that PAL cameras on a DVR in PAL mode look much sharper than their NTSC couterparts (due to the extra scan lines). I recently worked with some "super-hi res" NTSC cams, i.e. 540-TVL color instead of 480TVL. The extr details are quite obvious, but it just reminds me of what I've seen at some European/PAL country's Live Demo site before. If someone in the UK, etc. can confirm if they are seeing "more details" with their PAL cameras than us, will appreciate it. Thanks.

Just want to elaborate further on Rory's important remark: "...it's the software, not the card" What I've described in my previous post (one setting per processor) is the maximum flexibility that can be provided by I-View and others. But there are: 1) software that only provides "one setting system wide", not per processor 2) software that does not allow any setting at all, but quietly determines from camera #1 whether all other cams are NTSC or PAL (sometimes a stupid assumption). This happens in embedded DVRs too

Rory is right. It goes by the software DRIVER's configuration for INDIVIDUAL video processors on a DVR board. So it's important to note the restriction that arises when more than one video channels share the same processor... e.g. 4-ch board with 1 processor, or an 8-ch board with 4 processors, etc. Consider an 8-ch card with 4 video processors. Although each processor has its own NTSC/PAL initialization, it is shared by TWO cameras (both of which must be either NTSC or PAL). So you cannot have say, PAL on camera 5 but NTSC on camera 6 (else you will get B&W and funny aspect ratio on one of them due to failed chrominance decoding, ...) The above is true with many DVR boards, incl. my latest favorite I-View (which has a separate NTSC/PAL setting in the config GUI for each processor).

DataAve, thanks you >>>>>> Sunday comics!!! Their animated banner starts making sense now. 1) customer rep picks up "order slips" 2) oops, all complaints about unprocessed orders 3) shrugs shoulders "Who cares?" 4) arm relaxed In my case the delay was ~9 days but I don't think I should be paying for LD calls during that week (no 1-800#). Every time I called I was put on hold as if they were flipping through a PAPER BASED ordering system, but still without a reason for the late processing. So I had to call again & again.

I just discovered this UTP based alternative solution myself.... since Rory was asking about 24AWG. http://www.smarthomeusa.com/Shop/MultiRoom-Video/Item/SLI-100/

My favorite is ChannelPlus 3025 TV modulator, accepting 2 video inputs and 5 amplified RF outputs (i.e. up to 5 TVs). Each TV can be have their own IR target for whole-house remote controls. http://www.smarthome.com/7717.html The reason I like the unit is convenience, besides IR extension, it allows me to modulate both the main mon and call mon outputs of the DVR, for viewing on all TVs.

Looking for the best way to playback remotely using I-View. Currently relying on these but each has shortcomings. 1 IE browser playback. Lack of control (basically none) once playback has started. 2 FreeView Pro. Must download clips first, can't search/play from server directly. 3 EzLanPlayback. Work for mapped drives on LAN only. As in 2, need to "re-search" every time before clip search. I hope we could play off server directly, and with full playback control (motion search, pause & step through frames, etc). Did I miss some functions on the system? Most embedded DVRs can do those things.

Rory, Can't agree more with you. Object & smart searches are fancy features, but motion search is essential. It would be embarassing to show customers the need to traverse returned events sequentially, and "in the dark", especially after criticizing their time lapse VCRs.

Typo: "even search is gone" should read "event search..."

Thanks Hermin! The problem is, the control is still very limited. Yes I can start & stop, but even search is gone. On the local server, events are arranged nicely by dates (calendar) and are timestamped. What's more, I can jump between events freely. But on the remote window, a search query that spans a week easily returns 300 events. Two problems: 1/ No info on the time or even date of an event (except each is named like 1 of 273, 2 of 273, 3 of 273, etc.) until I actually bring up the clip to see the graphically overlaid timestamp. 2/ Cannot jump directly to an event. For instance, after finding out 17 of 273 is at 10:00am, and suppose I'm looking for something at 4:00pm, I can't easily skip to say 37 of 273. Instead I have to advance through all events one by one (no need to play each of them but at least have to keep pressing the "next clip" button). I like the I-View card very much. The fast/slow motion playback is great. But the remote playback is a bit limited. Please correct me if I'm still missing something. Thanks.

By the way no scientific proof, but my feeling is only dusts within certain distance from camera gave me that visual effect. Perahps those within MOD (min obj dist) which were not in proper focus. You know sometimes happens to CS lens when they are way off focus, minute impurities on lens show up as large circles (i.e. "baloon") etc.

I had similar experience with dusts, though not spider web, when viewed under IR bullets at nighttime. They looked like whitish translucent baloons flying away from the camera in the air. Quite scary when I saw them for the first time because the smooth and round baloon-like outlines reminded me of Friendly Ghost (a cartoon series I used to watch as a kid 35 years ago).

The same 3 cams are mirrored/hosted at keyscams.com, though at a slower refresh rate, here: http://www.keyscams.com/hogcam/hogcam1.htm The cam title & timestamp banner (white characters with black background) tells us 99% chance it's an Axis cam or video server. Looks like the MPEG4 models given the streaming speed. Anway, just my guess.

What's the best way to feed NO/NC sensor inputs to both the DVR and alarm system panels, without having to build an isolation circuit? Although just simple relays, still lots of hassle and time. Are we going to see newer DVRs soon with built-in isolation and courtesy "looping" outputs for alarm input terminals ....... that can be safely hooked to the alarm panel) ? Much like video loop-thru. Alternatively (before the above DVR enhancement), are there existing products that "clone" a NC/NO input to drive two devices safely? Any tips will be appreciated!

I've noticed since a long while I'm getting yellowish and bluish images from Samsung and Sony cameras, respectively, particularly in dim lights, as if a colored filter were in place. (The Sony cam is day/night, but not the Samsung) But I happened to "pull the plug" for one Samsung cam earlier, and after powering up again, to my surprise & delight, the color bias is gone. So I did the same to one Sony cam and the same happened! Are the white balance circuits supposed to have memory effects (assuming the problem is to do with AWB). If so, are we supposed to power reset the cameras from time to time (I hope not). Never heard of "watchdog" feature on cameras like DVR Thanks.

For the Sony day/nite camera, I agree it appears to do with d/n transitions, although I'm getting the problem not just DURING the transitions as in your case, but AFTER as well. After repeated d/n switches, the cumulative color bias just stay there 24/7 for months, until I pulled the plug yesterday. As for the Samsung cam which is NOT a day/nite camera, looks like some "non-recoverable" white balance adjustments just won't go away ----- could be due to similar root causes that affect the Sony camera (By the way, the Samsung cam uses Sony SuperHAD internally).

Looking for a high-sensitivity PC-type mic (PREFERRABLY small enough to be disguised for covert app.) to be hooked up to the audio of a PC DVR. The trouble I'm having with most PC mic's is that the sound pick-up is very poor for sources more than ~5 feet away. I need a mic that works well for up to 15 ft because that's the size of the room under surveillance (pin-hole cams). PS I've already set the mic's recording level in Windows to maximum. Thanks in advance.

Wow! Pretty impressive: the size, the price, and the built-in preamp, ... I've bookmarked it for my next project that needs sound. Thanks!

Thanks for the tips! I didn't know you mean bookends literally. Since you were putting it in quotes, I thought it's a nickname for some real brackets for security cameras. I just grabbed a couple of bookends from my bookcase (SteelMaster Lit-Ning, made in USA St Louis) and they fit PERFECTLY one of my surface mount domes (the National Elec one which has a square non-circular base). It's EXACTLY 4.75" x 4.75", and the large cut-out area in the center allows me to run wires from the back of the dome. Awesome! Thanks for your creative idea!!! Going to Staples now to restock a few more

What is the proper way to mount a vandal dome (flush-mount) on dropped ceilling tiles -- those used in an office? Are we supposd to let the tile bear the weight of a dome, or do we need to suspend the dome from some structure above? If so, how, given the dome does not have any special mounting accessories for this purpsoe. Thanks.

Baywatch, I wish I were living in the UK. I was at Home Depot yesterday (a home improvement store in North America) and the closest thing I found was brackets for framing backyard fences. Very ugly for my purpose, and still won't work out well (funny holes, etc.) I'll start hunting for the "book ends" you've described in the security stores here.

Rory, thanks for checking. I'll take an easier path (cheating a bit) and relocate the cams to either walls or pillars, so I can wall-mount instead. But these relatively cheap domes don't have a 3-position swivel base, and must be mounted "face down" due to the lack of degrees of freedom. So I still need to make myself a angular adapter (unfortunately, the manufacturer doesn't even produce a pendant mount accessory). But for me making an L-shaped bracket is MUCH LESS CHALLENGING than cutting a circular hole on a drop ceiling tile - FYI I can't even install pot lights

Sam, i'm so sorry, I only realized just now that you were asking about *digital* cable....

I've used the 2-channel digital modulator from Channel Plus (model 3025). Two channels allow me to have both the main monitor (say 16-split) and the call/spot monitor outputs on all house TVs. The only restriction is that the two cannot be on adjacent channels (so, for instance, I needed to have main mon on Ch92 and spot mon on Ch94, but not 93). The box accepts your cable company's RF as input, while mixing in the modulated channels. I've also used another cheaper brand (Asian generic) which does not do the mix-in. So I needed to use an external RF dual-splitter (with input/output reversed) to mix in the modulator channels myself, before feeding to the house TVs.