scorpion

What have you found so far??

Thank you RickA for the recognition of my website. I appreciate it. I am completly baffeled about the 0 file size. I cannot tell if it is a router problem, or if it is a firewall issue where a port has not been opened, or what it may be. I am wondering if Daryl733, or if BurstElement may have some input on this issue?

I enjoy helping people, and I am glad that I can take techno jargon, and make it somewhat understandable. We as installers have our own list of cameras that we stick to for camera installations. Camera that have great specs on paper never make it to the list after we try one, and find that it does not meet what it says it should. There are cameras on my list that do not belong on that list by it's written specs, but OH Boy do they work! It nice to have those "hidden" gems that can save money, or perform where one would not think it could perform. As a DIY yourself it is difficult to design your own system. It is pretty much just like buying shoes. What is the difference between the $100 pair, and the Wally World $10.00 pair? Ever buy a pair of shoes and the sole just came off? The glue did not stick? When did they start gluing soles with glue? Ever bought a pair of bargain shoes that fit so good, and you have never seen them for sale anywhere now that you want another pair? I would never meet Donald Trump with a pair of cheap dress shoes, and I would never go digging trenches in Gucci loafers!! LOL!

For automotive shops with the "road rescue" vans, and trucks, and for plumbing, HVAC, electrical companies, and so forth here is what I do. I take a cheap worthless wireless camera. To make it effective I place the receiver in the window of the home, or the shop. The camera is mounted inside the van, or trailer. When someone is in front of the camera the video is received by the wireless receiver, and then the signal travels by wire back to a DVR. Pros, and cons. Pros The cameras are cheap. The do a decent job if a million dollars is not being protected. The are moveable, and flexable They have IR, and they can see someone at night once they are inside. Cons Trailers need a power source of somekind. You need to run a wire from the building to the trailer. hook it up to the bumper power connector so that it is not so obvious. Trucks, Vans, and Cars may need a large cold cranking amperage battery. Interference from 2.4 Ghz phones, or 802.11X internet wireless routers. Interference if to far from the receiver as they only have a 100 milliwatt transmitter. If you are concerned that someone might simply unplugg the power connector to the trailer then buy a land mine that is used for PaintBall games. The intruder will be splattered by what ever color you use! Hey police. Look for a guy dripping in red ink!

Where did you source that LCD monitor? Thanks! See you on the forum!

I receive my DVRs allready set for NTSC. I have never had to change one myself. I have absolutely no idea how to do it. There is nothing in the manual that I can find!! I am sorry that I cannot help you. Here is how it is down for another DVR. Maybe this might give you a clue as to how you can change your DVR? This is for the AVC 781, 782. The 760, and the 761 automatically switch themselves. 5.3 SWITCH N/P SYSTEM (ntsc/pal) 1) Press “Powerâ€

I would use a cross over cable to verify that the DVR works. The router may confuse you during trouble shooting.

Got pitbull?

The reason your DVR, and your Laptop are not working together is because you will need to use a cross over cable. I know you know what this is, but for the viewers of this post who may not be aware of it I will explain. There is a transmit, and a receive on the DVR, and there is a transmit, and a receive on a computer. If you take an ethernet cable, and connect it to a DVR, and a computer directly with only the wire, then it will be "wired" wrong. The receive will be talking to the other device's receive, and the transmit will be talking to the other device's transmit. To avoid this problem you have to use a cross over cable. Now the transmit of each device is talking to the receiver of the other device, and the receiver is listening to the other device's transmit. Now your DVR, and laptop (computer) should work!

You can have your monitoring company do a video verified responce to save you on false alarm charges. Most police treat Burglar Alarms at the same urgency as a "barking dog" call. They will get there when they get there. Video verfied should be an instant responce depending on your police agency, and their responce protocalls.

I do alot of the budget entry level 4 cam residential jobs. I have been crying in my beer since they stopped selling the 13 inch color tv with the built in VCR!! They used to sell in the $85.00 range at Wally World, and they were great for a monitor, and for recording footage off the DVR. Now that they sell the 13 inch TV with a built in DVD player I am sad to see "technology" marching forward! I still buy 13" color TVs with the RCA connector on the front end. They work great, and they usually fit on top of the DVR. I would say pass on this customer, or tell him to provide his own monitor.

First question that I have is what kind of RG 6 are you using. I know that you are using the right kind of wire, but for the DIY that is reading this post I will throw this in. Do not use RG 6 used for cable TV. Cable TV, or Sat dishes are using a higher freq, and the signal travels around the outside of the center conductor. Cable TV, and Sat companies will use RG 6 that is a metal center conductor with a copper coating around the center conductor. This is great for the higher freqs. This is why you will see two price ranges on RG 6. You will want to use RG 6 that is all copper center conductor. A camera's signal is at a lower freq, and they tend to travel on the "inside" of the wire rather than around the outer edge. Copper center conductor is going to be more expensive than CATV RG 6. The metal center with copper coating is easly purchased at any big box hardware store so be careful! You can use a 16, or an 18 guage two conductor wire. Here again look at the wire. Is it silver, or is it copper color? If it is copper colored wired then you should be good to go. If it is silver then stop, and read the specs on the wire. You will want the least amount of resistance as possible. For real short runs it realy does not matter what kind of wire you use, but still do it right the first time. When in doubt use a larger wire. Do not buy that small cheap "speaker" wire to run power to your cameras. Are you using IR? How much power does it draw? How far are you running the wire? You can find the power leads just about at any CCTV site on the internet. Here is a trick for the DIY, or for a budget job. Buy the transformer power supplys that I call "wall warts". Cut the end off. Solder or use the butt connectors to attach your two conductor wire to the power supply. At the camera end attach the piece that you cut off of the transformer. You just saved $5.00 a piece for the power "pigtail" or $20.00 on a 4 camera job! If you have a "boxed" power supply, and you are electronically "savy" then you can connect the two conductor to the screw terminals on your power box. At the camera end you can (if you are brave) cut the power connector off of the camera, and connect it to the two conductor with a butt connector, or you can solder it. I am not supporting this website it just came up on a quick google search. This is for product reference only. You can find these at any hardware store. http://www.crowbarelectricalparts.com/Butt_Connectors.htm What do you think?

Anyone got stock?

What does he use for a projector? One of those three tube behemouth of old?

LOL! You mean for my head? That is what my wife says!!!!

I get it now!! There are two cars on the market for sell. I buy one, and the gears grind when I shift. Answer: Don't shift!! Maybe I should buy the other car instead?

You have selected the wrong illuminator. You have replaced a "flashlight" with a "light canon"!!! If the road is important to you then I would move the illuminator to an area that lights up the road, and not the yard. I would get another illuminator that would light up the yard. How far is that person in the video from the camera? It is not a perfect science, and it depends on the camera, but I would measure the distance from camera to the sidewalk, and then I would double the distance for my IR illuminator distance. It looks like the illuminator you are using can light up at 250 feet? Is this about right? I would like to know what illuminator you are using. PM me if it is a store link. I am glad that you bought LED illuminators, as some people are not aware that other illuminators have bulbs in them that only last 2000 hours, and you have to change the bulbs.

No. I am just a humble "public" servant. Thank you for the kind words! I appreciate it.

$500.00 ?? NO. If security is of the essence then you will need to spend more. There are products out there that will meet your budget, but they are hobby devices, and they have their limitations, and you will really have to do your homework before you buy. Cheap means someone buying in bulk in China, and reselling it to you, and passing the savings on to you. Savings mean that they do not hire people to answer the phones, they do not hire people to work a help desk, they do not hire people who are technitions that can answer tech support questions. If you go this route then you become your own distributor, and you provide your own tech support. At cheap prices if something fails then you can afford to buy another one. What is good for you? You need to study lens selection, and you need to understand how cameras work. DO NOT BUY A CAMERA, AND MOUNT IT ON YOUR HOUSE!!! You will soon become angry as you have the wrong lens, or the camera is performing a job that it was not designed to do, and you will feel that you have been ripped off. You must look at the job of the camera, and then match a camera designed for that application that meets your budget. 3.8 or 4mm This means that we will pull in more left, and right periphereal vision. We are sacrificing distance, and will not be able to distiguish faces from far away. There is a distortion with wide angle lenses. Things in the distance will look farther away in the video then they are in reality. 6mm This is a good lens. You do not get as much left, and right periphereal vision, but you do not get the distortion in the distance that you get with wide angle lenses. If you are trying to get facial recognition at 30 -40 feet from your house then you will need a 25mm lens or higher. _______________________________________________________ Choose IR bullet cameras carefully. Measure from where you will mount the camera to the area where you are going to be watching. How far is this? Now double it for your IR distance. Most cheap bullets are going to be listed at 30 feet of IR. This means you will want to watch an area about 15 - 20 feet from where the camera is mounted. At nighttime all you are going to see is a black screen unless you light it up with IR, or hire an electrician to install lots of lighting. Look how much they spend lighting up a mall parking lot!! If the area that you are watching is 30 feet from your house then you will at a minimum need a 60 foot IR camera. Have fun converting meters if the camera is listed this way! How to run wires from an attic with drywall walls. http://www.cctvforum.com/cms_view_article.php?aid=48 How to trouble shoot camera problems! http://www.cctvforum.com/cms_view_article.php?aid=42 Here is how to fix your video source problems! http://www.cctvforum.com/cms_view_article.php?aid=41 Camera info http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=6122 What do you think?

http://avssys.net/?s=product&sub=camera&cat=ir&p=vnd49ir Here are the specs on the camera that I like. Apexcctv has a camera that looks like it, but it is an indoor model only. I have heard of people who misunderstood the product, and thought they were saving some money, and then thought they were getting ripped off as they were not getting an outdoor camera.

Press menu select ADVANCE select ALERT go about 4 lines down select MOTION PUSH ENTER Change it to NO Press menu to get out of menu pages. Now you will not hear any beeps when your "cameras" detect motion.

I would recommend geting a unit that already has the DVD writer all ready installed, and then it will have the matching firmware to go with it. If price is of the essence then you can sacrifice tech support, and use Google to search for cheap DVR for those sites that specialize in bulk purchase, and pass the savings on to you. Due to low market profits, they do not hire in house tech support to provide you with the help that you need. Before you purchase find out if their contact us information is correct. Make sure they answer the phone, or answer your email. If these features are important then you may have to avoid the bulk purchase sites, and go with one that has in house tech support. What do you think?

I concur with CacheCreek! Question: If the camera goes out, and takes out the power supply, does this mean that your PC goes down also, or are you using the power supply as a standalone source?

OK! Here is where you test me. How close was I on the camera specs?? How close was I on distances? How would you rate my overall "opinion" of your system? How would you rate my "opinions" to modify your setup? Please remember that I have never been to your house, and I do not see what you see. Anybody that tells you they are an expert, and can give you a 100% system design base on a google shot needs to be taken with a grain of salt!! How did I do?

On the google earth shot Is there any camera that is watching an area about 15 to 20 feet from where the camera is mounted? It appears that most of the cameras are looking deep, and far from where the cameras are mounted. If you are not aware of it I will mention it for at least the viewers of this post. Wide angle cameras are designed for far left, and far right video, or in other words to give you a wide shot. Distance is sacrificed. Anything in the distance will look even farther away in the video then in reality. Look at the cart in the picture. It is actually closer in real life then what the picture is showing. Look at the fence line. You will notice a slight curverature in the video shot. A 6mm lens will not give you far left, and far right views, but it does not have the "distortion" that you see with wide angle lens. For facial recognition you will need a higher mm lens to get up close and personal. Think of the TV news caster on TV. Basically they are just "talking heads", and no body!