survtech

You connect the control cable to the RS-422 connector on the back of the DVR. Connect the "+" on the camera to the "T+" on the DVR and the "-" on the camera to the "T-" on the DVR. You shouldn't need to use the "R+" and "R-" on the DVR. You can daisy-chain the control cable between cameras if they are not too far away from each other or use something like a Kalatel KTD-83 or a Pelco CDU-T to split the control signal.

A number of casinos use them and report good results. They are a little weak in the resolution department and relatively expensive so we opted for Samsung 21" monitors that, unfortunately, have been discontinued. They offered 500 lines of resolution and have been excellent so far. We have had them in service for 7+ years and are looking to replace them, but can't find a suitable replacement. High-quality CRT monitors are disappearing fast and large (19"-21") 4:3 LCD monitors are next to impossible to find. Consumer LCD TV's are pretty much all 16:9 and most don't display 4:3 analog video well. Check out the Samsung SMC-211F if you can find them - 500 lines. If they are the same size as ours, you will find that they are not rack-mountable but can squeeze into a standard 19" rack if you remove the rear mounts from the rack and pull the uprights apart slightly (approximately 1/8"). We made shelves out of plywood and mounted those to the rack's side supports with allthread. Works like a charm!

3.5-8mm is a CS mount. You shouldn't need a spacer. Try a 2.8-12 or a 5-50 if you want to zoom in closer. Many varifocal lenses are a little "touchy", especially with focus. One trick is to get the focus as close as possible to ideal and lock it there, then use the zoom to tweak the focus. Also be aware that on some varifocal lenses the settings don't work the expected way - focus works like zoom and vice versa. Make certain you have the iris fully open when focusing as this will provide the most ideal setting. Close the iris as needed for best picture after focusing. On auto-iris lenses, use a neutral density filter or a #5 welding glass to force the iris fully open before focusing. You can also use either one on manual iris lenses if the scene is too bright to focus properly with the iris fully open. I know that many of you don't have the manpower for this, but we always use a 2-person team when aiming and focusing cameras. One watches a large monitor, 17"-23", and talks the other through the setup. Unless you can carry a 14" or larger monitor with you in the field, that is the only way to get the focus "perfect". Smaller monitors are OK for aiming but almost useless for focus since they don't have the capability to resolve fine focus.

If you want to get an Arecont, I suggest looking at the Computar/Ganz version. At least they have decent support.

Yes, that should work. If you don't want to build your own power supply, you can buy one. We use Altronix and ARM power supplies with no problem. Just make certain it is rated to handle at least 2 amps per output. Also, if there is a problem with too much voltage drop, say when the heaters kick on, some power supplies allow you to kick up the supply voltage to 28 volts. You can use one pair of Cat-5 for video and one for control.

At what current draw? Fixed cameras usually draw in the neighborhood of 5 to 7 VA. At that current draw, 20 gauge can be run at least 600' and 18 gauge at least 900'. It reminds me of a casino I visited in Northern California. Their techs complained to me that they had a Pelco outdoor PTZ that worked fine during the day and during the summer, but in winter it would shut off every night and sometimes during the day. It turns out they were running 18/2 power cable approximately 300', which worked until the heater kicked on which dragged the voltage down to the point that the electronics shut off. This would be a similar situation and it is better to be safe than sorry. Most passive baluns work fine at distances up to 500' and often even further. We have used them up to 1000'. We have used many brands; with equal results - Vigitron, NVT, GVI and a few others. We just received two from Videobaluns Unlimited that we are going to try out in place of some Pelco active receivers for cameras that are up to 1200' away. UPDATE: The Videobaluns Unlimited passive baluns are no better at long distances than others we have tried. Active receivers cost more but can correct the losses for long cable runs.

Video on UTP (usually Cat-5) needs 1 pair per camera. You could send video from 4 cameras on one 4-pair Cat-5 cable. For most purposes, use separate power cable 18/2 or better (depending on distance).

For 300' at 24VAC, 40VA you will need at least 14/2 power cable or equivalent for each camera. Here is a link to Pelco's 24VAC wire gauge chart: ftp://www.pelco.com/ServiceBulletinsTechTips/TechTips/5973024.PDF Cat-5 will not work for your power. You would need at least 10 strands (times 2) of 24 gauge wire for each camera's power. Essentially, that means you would need more than one Cat-5 4-pair for each leg of the power per camera. See the calculator that tells you the result of combining 2 or more wires here: http://home.hiwaay.net/~rgs/awgcalculator.html Here is a link to a wire length calculator: http://www.video-insight.com/Support/Tools/Wire-Length-Calculator.aspx Cat-5 passive-passive (baluns) video should have no trouble running that distance. RS-485 on UTP (Cat-3 or Cat-5) can carry control signals up to 4000'.

Or analog-to-VGA convertors. There are some inexpensive ones around.

Using "P" protocol, Pelco Spectra IV SE cameras can accomodate up to 256 presets with a +/- 0.1 degree accuracy. See the spec sheet here: ftp://www.pelco.com/ProductSpecs/Pelco_Spectra_IV_SE_Series_Dome_Systems_spec.pdf

If you have an auto-iris lens, you should not have to adjust any controls. Just use the welding glass and the iris will fully open automatically.

If you don't have a neutral density filter, a piece of # 5 welding glass will work. The key is to adjust the back focus with the iris fully open.

I disagree. First of all, you can't use TV splitters at all. They do not pass the video frequencies (typically 0Hz to 4Mhz). TV splitters rarely pass frequencies below 5Mhz. Secondly, if you try to use another "passive" device, like a "T", you will likely wind up with weak video and ghosts and/or ringing (closely spaced repeated ghosts of a vertical or diagonal edge where dark changes to light or vice versa, going from left to right) in the pictures.

No. You can not "split" video signals like TV channels. Your best bet is to utilize the composite output on the computer's video card, feed that to the remote location and leave the DVR program up on the computer in full-screen mode showing the 4 desired cameras (if that is possible with your software). Otherwise, you would have to buy 4 distribution amplifiers to "split" the video signals.

What thread?

No, there are no guarantees. The best you can do is follow good cabling practice and install surge protectors. Unfortunately, lightning can always find ways into a system.

CBC/Computar makes a 1.8-3.6mm wide angle lens and Pelco has a 1.6-3.4mm. That's about as wide as they make.

I'd like mine in plain, unmarked $100 bills, please .

I would seriously look at other manufacturers' lenses. I have seen the problem you describe on poor quality lenses and perhaps that is the case with you. You might look at CBC/Ganz and others' Megapixel lenses. Computar/CBC and others make pretty good Megapixel lenses. And you are probably correct about the lack of iris on the lens. Although I'm not that familiar with Megapixel cameras' lens requirements, in my experience, a lens that lacks an iris is typically lower quality.

Im talking about multiport transmitter/receiver hubs amplified with ground loop isolation and interference rejection, not just the cheap baluns on each side. Maybe so, but his original post said: And you said: No mention of active there. For balun design here are some links. The bottom one is the most common design: http://www.odyseus.nildram.co.uk/RFMicrowave_Circuits_Files/Balun%20Design.pdf http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6917255.html

I don't see a real problem either. Are you complaining about the day shot or the night shot or both? Megapixel cameras are not noted for their low light capabilities so I wouldn't expect much better than you posted there. By the way - that's a pretty coastline. Is that New Zealand? I hope to visit there someday.

Clean up your room. What a mess! Seriously, the wider the lens fov (field of view), the more pronounced the curvature will be. A 75 degree horizontal fov will have slight bending. As you go wider, the bending will become more pronounced. The lens selection for this will depend on the imager size: For 1/4" 75 degree HFOV = 2.4mm For 1/3" 75 degree HFOV = 3.2mm For 1/2" 75 degree HFOV = 4.2mm For 2/3" 75 degree HFOV = 5.7mm For 1" 75 degree HFOV = 8.2mm

My sentiments, exactly!

Cost more - yes. Contain more expensive parts - no. They are all pretty much constructed the same.

I've tried to find detailed information on the atc2k camera and come up with nothing regarding the lens. There are a large number of different types of camera lenses, only some of which are used in CCTV. Therein lies the problem. We can steer you to a number of different lens manufacturers and I am posting links below, but you will have to make certain that any selected lens is fully compatible with the camera, including the mount system, lens spacing, iris type and connections and physical size. You would probably also have to modify the camera to fit an aftermarket lens while maintaining its waterproofing capabilities. CBC America (Computar/Ganz): http://www.cbcamerica.com/ Fujinon: http://www.fujinon.com/ Pentax: http://www.pentaximaging.com/ Rainbow: http://www.isorainbow.com/ Tamron: http://www.tamron.com/