KB

Hi, you can certainly wall mount the Axis 215, not directly, but using a bracket and dome. The there is an available adaptor plate for the Videotek DBH24 with the DBH04 wall mount bracket. As an example see Axis 215 wall mount. [edit by mod, store link removed, rk] To answer your other question, Milestone software supports this camera (with a new driver pack) and all other Axis cameras. We use both (plus the Sony and Panasonic variants) and find Milestone to be the best of the lot. KB

We've had good experience using Milestone. The fact that it supports the greater majority of the IP cams we use and install is good. They also turnaround drivers real fast. Maybe we've just been lucky, but we've never has a single crash with Milestone software, but fair-to-poor experiences with most other software.

Yeah, Rain-X does the job.

Totally wrong. Most IP Cameras when view over IE, relys on ActiveX on IE to connect and view the cameras. It'll only work on IE with Windows. Not MAC. Some I know, uses Java Applet. This supposely would work in both WinTEl and Mac. Depends what camera you're using all Axis and Panasonic IP cams can be viewed in Safari, though Sony have poor support. The best recording and viewing software for the mac though is SecuritySpy. KB

Some manufacturers make this easy. Axis, for instance, have software for a PDA called Axis Installation Monitor, which makes focusing as easy as following a slider bar on the screen. If you can connect the PDA to the camera either through the network, wireless, or with an ethernet card and crossover cable, you can move the lens levers until the software says stop. It works pretty well. though, if you don't have the software and have stayed with the lenses they supply (on some cams), focusing can be a tricky business.

For ref on the Axis 207w: Axis do a vandal resistant indoor housing for the 206 and 207. I'm not sure if the 207w would fit, but you might be able to make this watertight with a bit of sealant if you're really strapped... It's pretty cheap I think. CMOS is generally better outdoors and will handle direct light, while CCDs will burn out with direct sunlight.

True... Have you felt the Panasonic WV-NP1004 after just 15 mins of operation? Almost burnt my fingers off

I'm not sure what's being asked here, but I read it as "is PoE built in to an IP camera a useful feature for integrators/suppliers to have?". If that is the question, the answer is very much YES! PoE saves masses on cabling and makes an IP-based camera installation a doddle. It's as simple as that. The main problem for me is that the current standard most often doesn't inject enough power to supply both a camera and a heated or cooled housing when placing a camera outdoors. I particularly like Mobotix cameras as they can be placed outdoors using PoE without an additional housing. The new system from IQeye should do this as well. IQsentinel I think it's called... KB

Hi Rikky, I have lots of experience with Axis cameras and this particular camera is pretty awesome. They've got a live demo at network webcams which I think gives you pretty much full PTZ access. The 35x zoom is superb and the digital zoom is much improved over the 231D. It's fast, too. Off the top of my head it does 450 degrees a second. Great if you've got it doing a guard tour, or set up to follow an intruder. It's even got 2-way audio, and I guess you'd expect that as it's not a cheap camera! KB

Why not try something like Windows Media Encoder? If you can get a video source into that you can easily achieve a reasonable quality 30fps stream even with as little upload bandwidth as 128kbps. KB

I agree. Don't think it's wise to try to safe money by cutting licencing corners. It's a dead end. What happens when there's a problem? Who do you contact? Nobody. I would recommend going with a major manufacturer from that point of view. However, to connect to your PC from the Internet you can use Windows Remote Desktop, or something like UltraVNC. KB

Hi... Do you do analogue, or IP CCTV? KB