v2comp

According to Chicago inspector Cat5 Plenum cables, which by the way we have used, are no exception and need to be in conduits. I see no reason why, but can't argue with city inspector.

We always secure cables to avoid runs on top of drop sealing, but last job here in Chicago really took a wind out of our sails. We have been nailed by union electrician who send electrical inspector on us, and yes we did get a violation. Now picture this, by the code of City of Chicago all cables must be run in conduit including low voltage (communication or any other type) of cable on commercial buildings. We are being forced to do the job over and I am talking about 44 cameras long runs too, how you would feel about that. I never liked electricians, but this incident just made my feelings a bit more sour toward those F….. All those codes are different from City to City it is hard to keep up with it, especially if you have to take in consideration cost of install, after all most customers do have multiple quotes and you want to be competitive if you want the job. You also do not now if other quotes are following the codes or not. What a mess.

Hmm… the only thing that may cause this problem is if your DVR is set to DHCP and your PC has static IP assigned. Now you wrote that you have port forwarding set in your router to specific local IP address. If your PC has lower IP address than your DVR, after you turn the PC that IP will become available for any DHCP device on your network. DHCP addresses are assigned from the first available (lowest) to highest. If your PC is off the router may reassign that ip to your DVR effectively braking your port forwarding table. Anyway just check your DVR’s IP when your PC is on and when it is off.

What is the best solution for wireless long-range more than 1-mile? I have used microtek Minilink wireless ethernet system with mpeg encoder/decoder set and all I can say, it is expensive and offers disappointing performance. Video compression (D1) 740x480 mpeg4 looked not as clear as wired connection (not even close to). There is also slight delay, makes it difficult to control PTZ. I used PTZ cam from Merit Lilin that has outstanding picture when wired, but not with wireless setup, it makes me wonder… what is the point of using high-grade cameras with wireless transmission? I should have go with less expensive cam and achieve same results. Could someone direct me to better wireless equipment?

Thank you very much for your opinions here. I wish DVR manufacturers could at least consider developing DVR recorder for uncompressed video to take full advantage of good resolution analog cameras. I could add terabytes of HD space set the frame rate to 3 fps on motion only and be happy with it. In my opinion it is by far more important and usable to distinguish fine detail from the low frame rate video than have live video feed with crappy picture.

I have been looking for high resolution DVR for a long time now. Have anyone ever came across one with higher than 740x480 recording resolution. I need DVR with close to live view recording resolution. I do not care of frame speed as much as resolution here, and I am aware of limited storage capacity. Any info highly appreciated.

I am dieing to get a test monitor with MP3 player and blackberry.

Just get new video card with RCA composite video out. Most of the new cards provide multiple video output formats now. You may need RCA to BNC adapter to connect the RCA video output from the video cart to standard BNC input on your CCTV monitor. I agree with survtech, the video resolution may not be that much different. Resolution is limited to whatever your capture cart can support. That is why I stick with standalone DVR's. Live video is much better.

Check [edit by mod-store link removed], make sure you read the complete info about it. Good Luck.

The system you have found sounds like a great deal. I am just little concern about quality; after all you do get what you pay for. You should stick to non-pc based DVR and make sure it uses MPEG-4 compression. I have checked the part number for the camera, and it is not really Sony camera. Whoever advertises it as Sony camera is actually misleading potential costumers to lure them into buying no-name cameras as brand name ones. Since the cables are PNP make sure you get the right lengths and test each cable before installation. If your budget is limited than the bullet IR cameras are your best bet.

What brand and part number is your capture cart?

Advantech DVR’s are actually PC based systems. I have checked manufacturers web site for available software downloads, unfortunately they do not have download for your part number. I would take the cover off your unit and check the part number and name or anything you can get from the actual capture board. I think they are using third party capture boards anyway. If you get lucky you may find something on the capture board and google around to see if you can find download for this particular board. Going to your second question, I have installed many, many systems and found that most users are disappointed with the back up from CCTV digital recorders. Because of the shear amount of data video requires, there is no practical and fast way of back up DVR video on regular basis, instead it makes a lots of sense to just focused on absolutely critical data. Here are my tips: Only back up video of activity that is of your concern, so it wont be overwritten and lost forever. Always back up to regular VHS tape using your regular VCR ( yes, the old good VCR ). You may ask me why would I want to back up using the old VCR technology. The answer is quite simple, if for any reason you will be asked to provide video evidence (police or court) they will ask for the tape. Now if you save the video to your computer or CD-R, you will need to find a way to transfer this to VHS if needed for evidence. If your DVR works fine, I would stick to it, just get your self a VCR place it on top of it for back up if needed. I honestly think that all these disk drives that come with current DVR’s are just waste of money. I hope this will help.

Have lots of overstocked amplified microphones for audio monitoring as standalone or addition to camera (power in and power out to camera connections) $29.00 each. Send PM if interested or have a question.

How many do you have and what is the pricing. Thank you.

Contact your Internet provider for outgoing server and proper settings. You will definitely need user name and password, that is for you email account.

You could set up the geovision to ftp images in your preferred intervals. Go to web cam setup utility and specify your ftp site.

First of all, if you want good low light performance use infrared bullet type of camera. They are not considered practical for commercial installations, but are great solution in DIY residential installation. If you are thinking about installing infrared camera indoor looking outside thru window (at least that is what I think you trying to do), consider rethinking this idea. Camera mounted indoors pointing outside thru window will produce glair and reflection in the glass especially at night where infrared will bounce back and overexpose image. It is like trying to snap a picture of your self in the mirror with the flash on.

How about coleman cable. US made is the way to go.

I have to say that some of the posts here are listing prices on rg59 Siamese Coax Cable that are outrages. We are not buying bulk and get 500ft rolls for $118.00 and that is for US made good quality Coleman cable. As far as the pre-made stuff, I agree with BurstElement, it should only be used for DIY installation. The price difference is not significant if you of course get better pricing on coax cable.