mr.surveillance

I saw something simular in the security products magazine earlier this month. http://www.videogenix.com/brochures/iPulse_07.pdf

All systems are different. If there is a particular system you should contact the manufacturer. A large matrixed system will vary in operation from different manufacturers and models. A casino, shopping mall, law enforcement or resort will all have different equipment, setups and policies. "It would be like trying to use the shop manual for a 67 vw bug to service a 2007 dodge charger."

Try a bigger power supply on one of your affected cameras. At least 1.5 AMP 12 VOLT REGULATED. If it is only hapening when the IR is on and is consistant odds are your power supplies are inadequate.

I have been using a 7" TFT LCD car monitor with a 4AH gell cell that has a power pigtail w/fuse to test cameras and for customer viewing use a 25' plug & play cable. I use a 12 volt 500 ma un-regulated wall wort and a cigarette lighter adaptor for charging the battery. (This has been in use sucessfully for over 3 years) When practical and possible I like to focus using my 13" Panasonic monitor. (bigger picture better focus)...

I have never purchased them new but have bid on and won used silent witness cameras on eBay: They were top notch institutional grade cameras and have been in service at a customers property for over 4 years.

Here in the East Bay Area I have several customers running AT&T DSL using 16 channel mpeg 4 DVRS sucessfully with a typical continuous upload speed of 659+ Mbps, one remotely watches locally and from Mexico the other from Greece. I have another that watches locally and has Communistcast cable that is sometimes faster but is inconsistent. Here the DSL seems to be more stable. In North of the Bay Area, (Lake County), They only have cable and the only word I can use do describe their uploads from their DVR's is moody...

If the problem cameras have built in infra-red illumination I would suspect insufficient power.

If installing 12 volt cameras I usually use a 12 v gel battery with a fuse & pigtail and a 13" monitor or a 12 v 7" car monitor. The gel battery also supplies power to the car monitor.

Don't try it: The dog got excited, fell through the ceiling tile and now has a broken leg. The mouse got loose and ate through one of the cables and now theres no picture from camera 4. The mouse ate through a piece of romex while the cat was in pursuit, and both have been electricuted. Still can't find the darn monkey, I think he's stuck in the roof vent. What do I do now?

We used to use a large Radio Shack remote contol 4x4 (with lights, cheap ebay wireless camera and various cable attachments) Unfortunatly it disappeared one day from a customers place in the famous town of Oakland, Ca. I currently use the fiberfish rods but plan on customizing another rc 4x4. ( I may put a car alarm on it)

I agree the HRC-420 leaves much to be desired along with being light hungry. I've used HQ1 domes from Intellicam and was not impressed. The KT&C cameras have been good but I would burn them in for a week before installing. If you don't need the 3X zoom.. I have had great luck using the model OL70 (.1 lux 420 tvl made in Korea) and have sucessfully done various lens changes on these too. OR for extremely low light the B7221CXS (.05 lux 480 tvl)

I have sold many of this type both fixed lens and varifocal. They are great camera as you can mount them almost anywhere. There are screw holes in the base, remove the lock ring, (loosen the lock screw(s) and unscrew it), which will free the camera from the base allowing access to the screw holes. Below picture is a pair of the fixed lens type mounted to a cinder block building. One way or another, you always pay for what you get!

DVhost: That machine should, (I said should), overwrite the HD continue to overwrite the whole drive, (over and over and over)... I've sold this machine under various name brands in the past and have had no problems with the overwrite function. There is a firmware upgrade dated 4/24/07 ver. 2.0.11 so you might want to check to see if it needs an upgrade. I was selling this machine as a bottom end promo and found it to be unsatisfactory, even as a promo. They worked fine, but the end result; the video sucked... As far as the smoke you mentioned it brings to mind a conversation I had years ago with a kid working in the local auto parts store and he told me "All electrical parts contain smoke, if the smoke leaks out of the part there is no way to put it back in so you just have to change the part" One way or another, you pay for what you get.

How about hooking a relay to the power controller where the DVR is getting its power and have it switch the battery power directly to the DVR. This would eliminate the voltage drop from the controller. Just a thought that passed through my brain. One way or another, you pay for what you get.

Try using 10 ga wire directly to the battery, (using a fuse of course). The cold weather will result in a lower battery output and I am also assuming the DVR has internal voltage regulation which will also give a minimum drop of .8v for the semiconductor junctions. Most hard drives require 2 amps at 12 vdc + or - 10% to start. Most mobile equipment is designed to work from 12.5 to 13.8 vdc. If your aux battery is tied to your charging system, battery isolator recommended, try starting the vehicle then firing up the DVR. Good Luck and have a happy new year! One way or another, you pay for what you get.

Most of the small lcd monitors are only good for seeing if you have a reasonable picture. If you cant preset the cameras in the shop or they drift from vibration the only thing that will show weather or not you have good focus is a 9 to 13" tube type monitor. (YES I sometimes have to bring a 13" Panasonic PRO monitor to see if the focus is good.) You cant tell if the focus is good with a 2.5" monitor...

If you are using a wide angle pinhole usually about 5' with a slight doward fov. (using a typical 3.6mm pinhole lense with a 1/3" chipset) or a KT&C door viewer camera, (2.5mm about 4' height) Stay away from the cheap cmos cameras!!!

A Multiplexer will record full screen, giving you the choice of live view or playing all or any one screen (some have pip)... A Quad will only record all 4 or or one to the tape or DVR. (if you record all4 you will only get one screen with four pictures 1/4 of the screen) and crummy resolution... A multiplexer rapidly switches the cameras encodes and decodes them on playback so you can see all on one screen or chose different cameras full screen when playing back. One way or another, you always pay for what you get.

Are you wanting to record one camera at a time? If so a camera switcher or an AV switch will work. (The picture will probably momentarily jump when switched) If this is not what you want to do you will need a more elaborate setup. One way or another, you always pay for what you get.

Hardflip, I looked at the pictures and am not familiar with this machine. Does the motion detection show a grid in the setup menu? there should be one for each camera. If so you will need to turn on the portions of the grids you want to detect and set the machine in motion detect mode. Wireless cameras usually suck, especially if you are using motion detection. I hope this helps. One way or another, you pay for what you get.

I havent used these models but have sold & installed Yoko cameras in the past and they were excellent performers. Have you tried connecting the cameras directly to the monitor to see if it is the cameras or the DVR. What kind of cables are you using, plug & play, RG59 siamese or ? Do you have adequate lighting? Have you tried adjusting the lenses? Wide angle lenses will have less detail unless what you are watching is close. If you use tighter lenses you will get better detail but your coverage area will be decreased. Does your DVR have camera adjustments? What kind of DVR do you have? Some of the budget mpeg4 DVR'S I've tested have had terrible video from live and worse from playback. One way or another, you pay for what you get.

What is the make and model of your DVR?

A possibly cheap solution. Would a video distribution amplifier for an automotive system work? ie: Pyle PLV2 or simular...

I've installed these on buildings with the views crossing each other. The video during heavy rain was pretty good. (yes drips were visible)

I usually put a sticker on the DVR and or DVR lock box. In most business locations I post several signs that say surveillance cameras in use that has my business info on the bottom. WARNING: I have posted them in several laundrymats that I've done. My business phone number was on the signs. I got many calls from this. The big problem was the calls were: " The washing machine just took all my money and won't work, The dryer wont't dry my clothes, etc." My phone number is now only in the room where the equipment is. The signs now just have the name of my business and the city and state. One way or another, You always pay for what you get.