survtech

Cheapest? That would be by building one yourself!

The smaller the number in mm, the wider the angle of coverage so a 2mm lens will see a wider field of view than a 4mm lens.

Welcome! I'm not from the U.S. either - I originally came from CT

They use compression F connectors. For BNC's, I don't know. I have seen some head ends using compression F for patching. I can relate that compression is the only way to go with mini coax; three-piece just don't hold very well. For RG59 or RG6, three-piece work quite well, but I would still recommend compression for outdoor use.

That could be but the cable TV industry has used them for years!

Post that suggestion on alt.security.alarms so we can all watch the fur fly. Here's a simple question that illustrates where the rubber hits the road. Would you use your fingernails to strip CAT5 cable to connect smoke detectors to the master alarm panel? Best, Christopher As Sarah Palin says, "You betcha!" I have done it for years.

It's really easy to keep from nicking CAT5. Just use your fingernail(s) to strip it instead of a stripper!

Not hardly. Although I admit that some here use twist-on connectors, many dont; including pretty much every casino I've ever been to!

Those look an awful lot like the Thomas & Betts Snap-n-Seal connectors. A lot of electricians use them. Here's a link to their distributor locator http://www-public.tnb.com/ps/dls/dls?ca=corp

I agree. It sounds as if the power supply is a bit weak or the power cable is too small. Try measuring the voltage at the PTZ that's giving you trouble.

Darned expensive and not much choice of focal lengths!

2.5¢

Try Marshall Electronics http://www.mars-cam.com/optical.html.

The biggest potential problems with installing the parts into your existing enclosures would be the proximity of the power transformer to cables and other devices and the potential shock hazard from open 110VAC connections. Transformers throw out a lot of EMF that can leak into audio, video and other circuits. The higher the voltage, the more likely it is to cause interference. That's why I might recommend locating the transformer outside and running the lower voltage into the enclosure.

3000 feet is way too far for passive baluns. It is also way too far for RG59, RG6 or possibly even RG11. In fact, it is even too far for twisted-pair with one end active. For that distance, you'll have to use either active-active twisted-pair (an active transmitter and an active receiver) or, like Ilkie says, fiber.

Brandon, That assessment would only apply to limited situations. I can envision some places within our casino where megapixel could replace multiple analog cameras. On the other hand, there are many other applications where that would not be true: I don't foresee using one camera to cover multiple gaming tables, for instance.

Altronix makes all of the parts for AC and DC power supplies. For the voltage converter/regulator part, you can use the SMP7; which will convert 28VAC to 24VDC or 12VDC @ 6A (http://www.altronix.com/index.php?pid=2&model_num=SMP7). You would also need a power transformer. Look at the Altronix T2428175 for in-enclosure (open transformer) mounting or the T24175WP or T2428175WP for transformers in enclosures (http://www.altronix.com/index.php?pid=2&category=17). You may also need a fuse block (Power Distribution Module). The PD8 has 8 fuses (http://www.altronix.com/index.php?pid=2&category=13). They even have the nylon spacers and other accessories (http://www.altronix.com/index.php?pid=2&category=20).

Happy Holidays Ilker, 900 ft? RG11? Most cable manufacturers say 750' to 1000' for RG59 and 1,500' for RG6. Methinks you are being a bit over-conservative. RG11 is darned expensive and imo, overkill. He could also look at a cable compensating video amplifier but they also tend to emphasize the noise. Amplifiers aside, the best bet (most cost-effective) is to use RG6 or twisted-pair. West Penn: #815 RG59 - 0.68db/100' @ 10MHz #806 RG6 - 0.52db/100' @ 10MHz #811 RG11 - 0.35db/100' @ 10MHz Considering that the spec is at 10MHz, the losses at 5MHz would be somewhat lower. Most analog CCTV has the lower bandwidth.

Rory, We use a number of different brands and have a/b compared picture quality to RG59 favorably. I don't know what kind of crap baluns (or maybe the CAT5?) you have used but we are quite happy. And I do know the difference!

And just in case, you might want to run fiber, too!

I would run CAT5/6 now. You can still use analog cameras with baluns if you wish. If properly laid out, you would just add PoE switch(es) to convert to IP later.

Yes, M-JPEG is basically a series of JPEG still images. It is still real-time and can run as many frames per second as a streaming codec. h.264, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, h.263 and others are streaming codecs. Most of the streaming codecs do have the capability of acting just like M-JPEG if their compression is set for I-frame only (vs. IP, IBP, etc.). I-frames are also basically complete JPEG images and B-frames and P-frames are predictive frames that don't contain all picture information.

You basically have two choices: either replace the 12VDC power supply with a 24VAC one and use 24VAC-to-12VDC converters at each of the DC cameras or install a 24VAC power supply for just the PTZ.

You know I did not try the different settings. Currently it is set on option 1 which is static. To be honest I figured that meant a fixed camera versus a PTZ which is always moving I'm currently away until after the new year but when I get back I'll try option 2 to see if that helps. Do you not experience the same issue? HAH! You've run into the same issue with the software here as I often do. Entering the word PTZ" causes the software to hiccup and add part of what appears to be a definition ((Pan Tilt Zoom) capabilites.">). Perhaps an Admin can fix this problem; along with the other problem where typing beyond a page height causes scrolling to become a problem - you can't see what you type.

Or... 720x480 (NTSC) 720x576 (PAL) In analog, a full screen width is 720 pixels but that includes the horizontal blanking bar. The actual displayed area is 704 pixels.