Samir

I have been in two way radio and other industries all that use VGA screens but never experienced that. Thats never happened to me since there are not usually a herd of wild buffalo wandering past the TV sets that I have plugged into. If you simply don't like getting sore fingers from screwing them in, that I can understand but frankly its a small price to pay. Watch out for those buffalo I've dealt with them in point of sale and traditional desktop computer scenarios. People would move a monitor because they don't know where the cpu is and put so much strain on the cable that it would fray or the port that it would bend the bracket. Somehow, I've gotten lucky that nothing has completely ripped off, but it has been close.

The other thing is the physical way the plug goes in VGA has retaining screws, HDMI does not and can be pulled out easily when clients mess with cabling I actually hate those screws. I would rather a cable be unplugged than the port be ripped off the back of the device.

You could convert the analog signal to digital and run it digitally over the cat5.

Another thing you can try is simply connecting the VGA if the DVR has that. I've never liked HDMI because of the possibility of digital devices not being able to talk to each other. VGA is analog so it works as long as the resolution is within the monitor's resolution range.

Glad to hear you fixed it. As far as the broken camera, contact the manufacturer. You just bought a camera and it had a pink tint right out of the box. You have 4 more of these and they work fine so you know it's the camera.

The domes are all sealed, so I'm not worried about them. I'm more concerned about the DVR and how to secure and power it.

Fascinating technology! I had no idea such a thing existed that natively extends a video signal over regular coax. If there's a coax run from the source DVI to the endpoint, a DVI to HD-SDI converter might be perfect.

Do you have a link to such a product? I've not heard of this before.

I don't know anything about them, but you could always download an instruction manual and see how to disassemble them from the wall.

I understand what you're suggesting now. But there are converters that drive a DVI signal much longer than the original spec. Many over cat5 or put it on a LAN.

I guess you could, but when diagnosing things, I usually try to avoid buying anything unless I need it.

I'd present them with 'opportunity cost' scenarios. If they want more features, they will need to upgrade as lack of access to the current system prevents any changes. Not your fault, and you've done all you can to remedy it. There's also the opportunity cost of a system that completely fails without an adequate backup. There's already a hard drive issue that they're ignoring; a complete system failure leaves downtime if no quick replacement has even been planned. Better to replace it in advance and sell off the used unit. They can run the numbers.

Interesting that you've found IP cams with ftp capability. I didn't think they'd have that. I may want to add IP cams vs analog since we use an ftp server on our lan.

Do you have any other cameras? If so, then swap the camera with one that is working perfectly. If the problem follows the camera, it's the camera. If the problem stays even with another camera, it's something else besides the camera. You can continue swapping pieces between things that definitely work and things you question to figure out what's wrong.

This would be a software error. ntldr is part of the boot sector for the hard drive. Something either wasn't installed right, or went wrong. Can you not contact the seller and get a replacement?

Glad you solved it. Sounds like a buggy app. Too bad they didn't test all the functionality.

Hacking, like every other legal or illegal business, has to have a payoff. Since the stakes are high with hacking in terms of penalties if caught, the prize must be big. Casing someone's home--probably not worth it. Casing a high-end home with millions of dollars of goods--profitable. It's all a matter of how big a target you have on your back.

As far as power for the dvr, I plan to have an outlet installed that will be a super-pain to get to as well as a long-run ups that will help with power outages--intentional or unintentional.

That is my thinking as well. I have a few ideas on how to make the dvr inaccessible to them and yet still be relatively accessible for us. As far as the cameras, the power source is fed with the signal so they can't locally disconnect the power on the camera.

I'm thinking a solution like this might just be too cost prohibitive: http://www.lindy.co.uk/cables-adapters-c1/audio-video-c107/dvi-c110/100m-fibre-optic-hybrid-dvi-d-single-link-cable-p7736

Why did you order a new camera? You have 3 perfectly good ones you can swap this one with to determine if it's a camera or not. Why guess?

What is the equipment on the other end? Is it also DVI? If so, you can use a simple DVI extender that runs over a LAN and then convert it on the other end back to DVI. This would be simple and pretty much transparent.

I don't think it is simply white balance as you mention it even shows pink when switching to ir mode. I would still try to determine if it is the cable or camera. White balance would only be adjustable on the camera, not the dvr (unless things have changed in the last few years).

Well, this could be the camera or the cable, and you need to figure out which. To do so, swap a camera with this one. If the camera is still pink, it's the cable. I have some ideas for fixes if this is the case. If the pink moves with the camera, it's the camera. Try the swap and let us know which one it is.

did you even read what he actually asked for? I was kinda wondering that myself.