McJannet

Dear Forum: I have a system that records MPEG4's without watermarking, and I'm wondering that if I use the Nero SecurDisc product (http://www.securdisc.net/doc/SecurDisc_1206_Online.pdf) will I end up with a disc that is admissible in court? Regards: Dave McJannet

Well, I've gone and done it, put in the Kalatel and now don't know how to control the PTZ's through WaveReader. Any one have any ideas short of pulling it in favour of a Dedicated Micro box? I'm hoping that one of the Kalatel boxes (protocol converters for Pelco, Panasonic and Philips domes) can connect to another box that converts to JVC. Maybe I could get the GSC-2000 system controller for JVC that works for the JVC TK C676E, with any luck using the same protocol as the TK C675 and do away with WaveReader. Any suggestions on how I can salvage some margin on this job? Regards: Dave

Client has an application where he desires to be able to identify sex, hair color, clothing color and clothing type in order to advise security personnel who they are looking for inside a large compound. At 1,000 metre distance. (Perimeter surviellance) Which is about a 2,000 mm lens on a 1/3 inch camera. Any suggestions, megapixel cameras with a smaller lens perhaps? Regards: Dave

Thanks for the telescope idea, but it has to be mounted on a pole with PTZ in a petrochemical facility near the ocean. Talked to the rep, who pointed to Fujinon and am now interested in this lens, which is 40 - 2200 when fitted with 2x converter. http://www.fujinoncctv.com/pdfs/cctv0904/C55x20D-ENSE11.pdf Anyone ever use these, I'm interested in camera suggestion (must be day/night) for example a 1/2" Ikegami ICD-848P? Regards: Dave[/img]

Hello Forum: Moving along on the microphone selection side I have come up with something from New Jersey that is of interest. I am trying to determine if this microphone is compatable with my hardware. I'm interested if anyone has a different angle on this: Any chance of a DVR recording two channels of audio associated with a single channel of video or, any device that will mix signals from multiple microphones into a single audio signal? RegardS: Dave

Dear Forum: I need to record 4 channels of audio with a DVR, microphone selection is an issue for this noisy, roadside application where we are trying to record a conversation. Does anyone have any experience with noise cancelling microphone pairs where one microphone captures background noise, the second (directional) captures background noise plus conversation and the noise is removed electronically. Need an unbalanced output (ie: rca jacks, not din connector). Closest I can find is: http://www.spysupplystore.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PSM-2&Category_Code=mics-101 which is a battery powered portable spy solution - looking for something a bit more industrial. Regards: Dave McJannet Sydney Australia

Keith: Thanks for the input, I think I'll go shopping down at Jay-Car, see what they've got along this line. I'll be plugging it in to one of these http://www.barix.com/products/annuncicom_ip_network_intercom.html (actually six of these, and another six to decode at the CCTV rack). Regards: Dave

I was just looking at some Panasonic equipment that does exactly this. Start with WVNP240 network camera: -Built-in MPEG-4 and JPEG digital signal output at VGA image size with up to 30 fps. -Power over Ethernet (PoE) IEEE 802.3af. -Progressive scan type CCD image sensor. -Internet Protocol: TCP/IP, UDP/IP, HTTP, FTP, SMTP, DHCP, DNS, DDNS, NTP and SNMP. -Built-in network interface (10Base-T / 100Base-TX) for remote monitoring by PC. -Sensitivity of 1.1 lux (0.11 fc) at F1.2 optional lens. -Built-in SD Memory card slot for FTP backup. -Built-in electronic zoom function (1x, 1.5x, 2x, 2.5x and 3x). Then for existing analog cameras, use Indigo Vision encoder such as 95009-6000 Then, perhaps some Indigo Vision VideoBridge software. Just had the rep over today, demo worked very well. Regards: Dave

Data centre and comms room types may like the equipment provided by AKCP. Probably because of the SNMP and email notification features (email sends a jpg snap shot). They stream jpgs though. http://www.akcp.com/index.htm http://www.akcp.com/company/cameraprobe8.htm Regards: Dave

Gi'day CCTVer's: I'm setting up my office demo iLevo PowerLine Broadband system, and am using ACTi IP cameras and software. It's working pretty well, getting plenty of bandwidth even though there is a fair bit of noise in the lower end of the frequency spread. I'm starting to look for projects and am finding a fair bit of interest, but I'm wondering if any one out there has any experience with this sort of system that they might want to share. Our intention is to use this for perimeter surveillance, large building CCTV and campus style CCTV where new installs typically entail expensive trenching. So if anyone has some pointers on issues like electrical install, attenutation minimization or system design I'd be really happy to hear from you (instead of learning from my mistakes, which seems to be my major learning mode sometimes). Regards: Dave McJannet Sydney Australia

Well I can say with certainty that the market in Australia is well behind that in North America and in Europe. But we are seeing Corinex, Schneider and Mitsubishi in the local market - but not a lot of action due to (I think mainly regulatory uncertainty and a feeling that the technology is not yet mature here). There is a fair bit of documentation at the manufacturer websites, which will also point you to the industry association and the chip manufacturer. www.ilevo.com www.corinex.com Regards: Dave

Gents: The problem with KVM is that it compresses the video, which recompresses the CCTV images, which sort of totally distorts them. If you're going IP, best to stick with max two monitors per PC unless going for the really high end video wall. I think that most pc's now come with video cards that can handle dual monitors. This way you get a bunch of processing power per screen, and pc's are relatively cheap. Regards: Dave

Just took a look at your website and you've already got the IT / IP thing figured out. I met a TAC trainer several weeks ago, they have recently been bought by a very large global company and have what seems to be pretty technically competent staff. Their systems are big (if you need to ask how much it costs, then you can't afford this stuff), multi-site, international, total remote CCTV access. Johnson Controls integrated access control into their building management systems and so you can expect really good energy management features without too much effort. I figure that access control / security / cctv / intercom / energy management / time & attendance will all get together in a modular, distributed system with networked cctv storage close to the cameras using fibre, wireless, bpl, adsl, whatever IP technology needed to network the whole thing together. It's been a couple of years since I got into putting DVR's on-line so the markets are well on the way to integration now. I think the most important thing to focus on now is network security, so that all of your projects don't get taken over by the IT department. Anyway, that's what my crystal ball in Sydney is telling me today ... Regards: Dave

It seemed to be the ffdshow component designed to view movies, applying all effort to making a single video stream look good. However, when remote viewing with only about 250 kbps available the ACTi Streaming Activator actually works rather well. Regards: Dave

I've got my Inspiron 5160 mP4, 3.02 GHz, 512 Mb, 32 Mb video card whose CPU max's out when three ACTi IP cameras set on 1.2 Mbps MPEG-4 each are streaming to the ACTi software. So I need to put together a better system, but what is important for decoding the MPEG-4's? Is it processor or video card or RAM or some good combintation of everything? 1. Processor selection: P4, xeon, etc? Dual processors? 2. Video card: does it do anything? 3. RAM: I guess that 1 Gb is minimum, is 2 Gb better? 4. Monitors, I run in dual monitor mode - does this affect anything? Are there any custom solutions using multiple single board computers in a chassis? Essentially I'm trying to figure out how to show a matrix of 16 IP cameras, each at CIF reslolution and 25 pps - is this economically achievable? Regards: Dave

Perimeter surveillance such as this is an ideal application for Broadband over PowerLine (BPL). Other good applications are heritage buildings (walls are thick sandstone so wireless is out, can't cable due to heritage restrictions) and campuses (BPL replaces trenching). For more info, please see: http://www.ilevo.com/en/system-products/200mbs-products/ (This is what I'm using with ACTi IP cameras now). Regards: Dave

Thanks for the information, I've been talking to a few people about this today - an overclocked AMD 3800+ with 1 Gb RAM got a pretty good review. I have looked into the ACTi Streaming Activator software, it uses ffdshow to process the MPEG-4 video streams. From the about box: "ffdshow is a DirectShow decoding filter for decompressing DIVX movies." My opinion is that since people typically don't watch more than one movie at a time, that multi-stream processing is not a strength of ffdshow. The forum at: http://fileforum.betanews.com/review/1054056131/1/view indicates that ffdshow is a processor hog. So, basically it looks like the freely downloadable ACTi Streaming Activator is useful for setup, configuration, commission, etc but is not really designed to provde a useful monitoring system for more than a couple of cameras. But I have noticed that systems such as NetVM (D3Data) have drivers for the ACTi IP camera's that I'm using so I think I'll try out some demo's and see how they work out. Thanks again: Dave

prices dammit

To get around transformers we use a pair of ferrite loops, one on each side of the transformer and connect them with a small cable passed once or twice through each loop. In Australia the ACMA is looking at the interference issues, we will comply with their regulations. I think the greatest issue here is with overhead transmission lines in a last-mile application that may also be hung parallel to telco (PSTN, ADSL) lines. For CCTV / Security we are concentrating on in-building and underground cabled systems. Which may still cause interference with ADSL according to some of the submitted opinions. Apart from Amateur Radio and ADSL, there is potential for interference with off-shore shipping and aviation communications, radio telescopes and with some medical devices. System design and documentation will be important with this equipment, which may impose a barrier favoring engineering companies and consultants over small installation companies. Our aim is to provide a certain amount of consultancy in addition to product sales. Frequency ranges may be 'notched out' of the BoP system which reduces throughput but avoids radiated interference. Ferrites may be used to attenuate to the point of practical elimination signal escaping into the grid from a building. Thanks for your feedback. Regards: Dave

Gents: We're doing some ACTi reselling from Sydney - I'm not sure if our ACTi plan includes NZ - but we supply all of our other products to the New Zealand market. We've go a few of the encoders here, but are only using the 5100 series IP cameras now, don't have any analog camera's for the encoders on hand. But these are mpeg-4 encoders, not the JPG source that Dibos accepts. So I'm afraid that you will have no luck with the ACTi products. Regards: Dave

Rick: Triplex has two video processors, can put two cameras on and each camera uses one processor exclusively. Third camera introduces requirement to multi-task processor - therefore global record rate falls from 60 to 48 (here it falls from 50 to either 40 or 42 for PAL - can't recall). Regards: Dave

Good Day CCTVer's I've just come across a nice PowerPoint presentation on one of our supplier's websites that looks at the bandwidth minimizing effect of the L2 Switch with IGMP Snooping. These switches are used at the CCTV system edge to manage CCTV multicast traffic, they effectively reduce backbone traffic by sending the video multicast only to the virtual matrix (es) that are viewing the particular camera. Webpage: http://www.garrettcom.com/igmp.htm PowerPoint: http://www.garrettcom.com/techsupport/Multicast_Tutorial_V3.ppt Hope you find this interesting. Regards: Dave

Hmmm ... Link doesn't work .... But you can go to the web page and click on the Tutorial hyperlink at the bottom which will then bring up the power point. Sorry about that. Regards: Dave

Hi Rory: The GarrettCom managed switch (see previous post in this section) is smarter than your average switch because it minimizes bandwidth consumption - very important with larger CCTV systems. The switch requires management software running on a server somewhere or a level 3 switch to handle the multicast routings. They are modular design, with temp ratings up to 75 Celcius. Rack mount or DIN rail mount. Can combine copper 10/100 Mbps with fibre and make redundant loops. Supports gigabit fibre. Some are suitable for telco applications (-48 Vdc, NEBS). Prices likely to be lower than you'd expect - but the fibre components are expensive. California based. http://www.garrettcom.com Regards: Dave

Hello All: Our new web site is up and running (sort of slowly though ...). http://www.powercorp.com.au What do you all think? Always on the lookout for some good feedback. Still a fair bit of material to add but the structure is pretty clear. Keep an eye on the broadband over powerline section (which is now empty) for some real action: what could you do with a virgin ethernet pipeline at 205 Mbps? We will be exhibiting at Security 2005 Aug 31, Sept 01 and 02 in Sydney Australia. If you're in the area, please drop by. Regards: Dave