WirelessEye

Dunno why anyone would want SP2 anyway... however, you CAN update to SP2 with no problem... I've heard....

Try here: http://www.videolan.org Open Source viewing/recording.

Wireless security is only as good as the technician setting it up. Either really bad, or really good. My advice would be to do a lot of research on the matter, before exposing yourself to a potential attack.

Thermal is nice too, (if you can afford it that is). We've been playing around with a "cheaper" Raytheon Pan-Tilt Thermal, and I must say, it's awesome (wish it could use a standard driver instead of I/O commands though).

We use *high* frequency for our video transfer. Send anywhere from 1-4 feeds over each radio too... Don't know if everyone is just to scared or wireless, or if they don't know anyone who can do it correctly... 900MHz is a non-line-of-sight frequency that is decent at short range where there is a huge amount of physical barriers between your points, but does not have the throughput needed for efficient video transfer on multiple feeds. You can use 2.4GHz, but I don't recommend it. You would have to do a PTP link, and with 3 feeds, you'll more than likely get only 5-15fps(Max). 5GHz is by far your best choice for video transmission, (unless you want to pay for a licensed frequency), as it has the available throughput for video transfer. Since it is a higher frequency it is more susceptable to line-of-sight problems than lower frequencies. Although, we've shot through oak trees at 65ft height and still got a 35 meg link. (At 6 miles) If you do your homework, you can find the "right combination" for video transmission. Don't let nay-sayers discourage you. You can get 20-30 fps at 10 miles with great picture if you do it right. Don't worry about wireless security either, too many people have heard horror stories of open networks and hacking. Encryption methods are abounding for wireless, and our wireless uses military level rotating keys every 15 minutes).

We operate in many different setups. Some off of repeater stations and back to our bases (in our coverage areas), some to remote stations and through the internet. Obviously there is always a tradeoff with quality, as it dependant on bandwidth. Through leveraging more modern encoding technics, we generally get 20-30 fps with very good quality. I completely agree, when you can run wire-- you should. You can't beat the quality. There will always be a huge market for standard CCTV systems. The mainstay behind IP CCTV, at least for us, is portable, temperary surveillance operations, and covert operations. The market share of our clients are home developers, so our systems are put out in the middle of a field with no coax, no copper, and generally no power. So we have to run off of wireless and solar. We are however, doing some car lots now and are looking at some wired stuff possibly, as they are permanent installs.

Our entire system runs on wireless. Some PTP, some PTMP. Some links are over 10 miles, some are 2 miles. We see nearly no difference from the cameras being tested on our wired LAN, than when we put them out on site. Like I said, not too many people can figure out how to make it work properly. BTW- Motorolla Canopy is garbage for video transmission (not to mention too expensive for what you get).

I beg to differ. Just seems not too many people can figure out how to make it work properly.

What Axis server series are you looking at? The 2400/2401 series or the 241Q/S? You can get good deals on the 2400/2401 and still have the "in-picture-click". But the 241Q/S has MPEG-4 now and it is pretty cool, but the 241Q's are about 1,050 and the 241S's are about 750, so you pay for it.

We only use 95% copper-shielded RG-59. Our runs never exceed 45 feet before being digitized and sent through the air. Would a switch to RG-6 give us any added quality?

Nice, uses Sony optics though and I've never had much luck with their night performance. What's the cost on these?

As a web developer, I can tell you that it is probably due to the fact that not everyone has java installed on their computer, thus making your video not accessible. You can either switch to activex, or link them to www.java.com to download the plugin for their computer.

We typically use SDSL lines, which gives us 4 megs up and down. I won't tell you how much we pay, but its under 100 bucks per month. The only drawback is we have to find locations close to the phone company where all the fiber is brought in.

Basically, all you need is a simple, fixed camera. Like a Pelco DSP, etc. hook that into your video server (which will make any camera an IP camera), get yourself a small router to make it all addressable and secure, and you're done. Most video servers have "events" you can define in them that customizable down to the second. They'll ftp images for x amout of seconds to wherever you want before and after the motion.

We use rs232 to rs422 converters with our pelco spectra's, works great.

Hi, I typically don't work with dvr's, vcr's, etc., so please don't poke fun. =) I have a Pelco Color DSP camera hooked to a standard VCR, but I get no video from the camera. I thought there could be an issue with the VCR so I hooked the camera straight to the TV. Still nothing. Do I need an adapter of some sort? Thanks.

That did the trick! (the RCA adapter). Thanks!

Thanx, I'll give that a shot. =)

The camera is working on NTSC. It was borrowed from a previous jobsite. It's flex-voltage (both 24vac and 12vdc), we have it hooked up 24VAC, the green light on the camera comes on. The lense cap is not on. We have a BNC-to-Ftype connector directly on the camera so that we can use standard TV coax connectors. Do we have to use a RCA adapter to get video?

They use Solar? That's interesting. We actually had to have a company specially design a 12VDC dome camera for us. Not to say there aren't any 12VDC ptz domes out there, but we haven't found many quality ones.

We can't use IR illuminators in our applications, as our systems are solar powered. We've looked in thermal as they are low in power consumption, but they want 10k apeice. Ouchie. Anyhow, I hear down the pipe that the new hitachi heads are going to be 26x optical. They are supposed to be released this year. This is great for us, as our cams are currently limited to 23x optical.

Milestone is great for recording, but I don't know if I've ever seen slower video feeds. It's like watching a liquor store surveillance tape.... and that was on a dual opteron computer.... We actually saw the sony optics and slow shudder on a camera we demo'd from rVision. It was pretty good at night, but not nearly as consistant as the hitachi head units like pelco, (which are much cheaper).

I agree, the SNC's are great domes, especially since they are relatively cheap and come with an integrated video server as well. Do they make IR illuminators for the SNC? I've never seen one?

2.4 works fine for video, if you get a low noise signal. Also, don't try passing more than 3-4 feeds, there's simply not enough bandwidth available with a 2.4 connection. Our 5.8 tests show us getting 20-30 megs at 10 miles (avg.) while with 2.4 we were only getting 2-6 megs (avg.). The 2.4 does work welll still, if you setup the MTU correctly, but you have to remember with wireless links, the further you are away from your AP, the greater the latency of your PTZ commands.

Sony is a good solution, but I met with their people at ASIS 2004, and they were by far the rudest people that I've ever met. My company bought a SNCRZ30N camera and it is pretty decent on performance during the day, good image quality, good optical zoom. At night however, if there isn't much light, you're hosed. The lux rating on all of their ptz cameras is horrible. If you do point their ptz at a light in the distance, it will just starburst on you making everything else unviewable. Haven't seen their stationary cams. I hear their software is decent, can't tell you one way or another on that. If you want diehard reliability and generic compatiblility with most software, get a unit with a hitachi head unit, like a pelco. You can't beat the quality optics, or the low lux. I do like the bosch domes with the autotrack, however.