bryan1656

Okay.. so it seems that my learning basic html for websites may have a use in programming access control systems?? I could enjoy that! For us access control total-newbies, would anyone who has experience with access control mind giving us a run down on some of the different systems out there, their pros and cons/strengths and weaknesses in your opinion? I'm really interested in this area, but I'm still a little overwhelmed at where to start.

Any feedback on the Speco TN series? http://www.specotech.com/cart/products/productDetails.asp?prodID=836 I tried a search, but everything I found was on their IP series. I need a decent, yet very economical, "workhorse" for convenience stores, etc. Any feedback, thoughts, or points in the right direction would be very appreciated.

Here's one: 0.0003lux, 600LOR, b/w, 3.7mm pinhole lens, BNC out, 12VDC, 100mA [ Ooops. I forgot about the "no linking rule". I'll resend it to you via PM. ]

The various board cams using the Sony ExView and SuperHAD CCDs are good kit. They go all the way down to about .0003 lux as of this posting. This should be enough for almost any ambient light. Otherwise, an IR LED lightsource may be a good idea to light up your target area, if visible light is not possible. For residential interior installs in a security application, I also like the ones that are made to look like alarm PIRs, or smoke detectors. They don't always have the same CCD and/or low-light quality... however, a thief or attacker will not be operating in total darkness. These units are easy to install and service. Many also integrate with alarm systems, motion detection, etc. Many use built-in flash memory instead of requiring a home run to a seperate recorder. HTH

tmartin, I've been exactly in your position many, many times before. Cooperman is spot on in raising "best evidence" issues. You'll need to seize the original tape as evidence. (Best Evidence Rule) If you need any forensic video, the tech will also want the original. However, for playback immediately after a crime in order to try to identify the perp... it is a whole other matter. And then, you've got to find a way to get a workable copy to the prosecutors. Then THEY have to figure out how to get something to work for the defense. And if the Def doesn't want to plea, theyve got to figure out how to show it to twelve people and two alternates who couldn't get out of jury duty. You might want to touch base with the DA's Office to see what guidance they can give you. All in all you've been steered in the right direction here. A Good time lapse VCR and a decent mux shold get you good to go at least 75% of the time. I'd also recommend a good video printer so you can print captures out to get to the media. You might also keep an eye out for some other stuff to help you take digital stills to transmit by email, etc. to other agencies, the press. Try hitting up the local Wally World. Get someone in loss prevention or their ITF. They are often very good about donating investigative equipment like that. Alot of other retailers are good with this, too since thier LP folks like to stay on the nice-nice with the po-po. Hit up Target or any other big retailers in your area. You might could hit up any local CCTV guys. If you're working homicides on a burglary budget, you might be able to work something out where an area CCTV tech will be willing to be "on call" for you and let you use their gear. If you want some referrals on LE specific video training, or if there is anything else I can do to help -- hit me on me email, private message, or hit my website for my phone number. HTH

Cooperman and SecurityMonster are spot on. If your objective is to prevent theft of pilferable items, then identifying some, or even all, of your current thieves is only a short term solution. If the current thieves are employees and are fired after being identified, then what about the next batch of workers who are their replacements? Are you going to keep hiring, training, and then firing people? At what point will the process of identifying thieves and replacing them become more costly than your inventory losses? While a hidden camera may help you identify and terminate employees for cause, you need to address the long term loss prevention issues. As alluded to above, you may want to look at some access control measures, some tighter inventory control, employment background checks, employee training and awareness training, etc.. - an overall solution to the problem. CCTV would be a good part of the solution, but it needs to work within a comprehensive loss prevention strategy. Hope this helps.

As already noted, for most small businesses, cost is a HUGE factor. I prefer stand alones for most applications that I deal with. Other things I look for: Ability to burn a CD/DVD. If something happens, the video needs to be able to easily handed over to investigators, attorneys, insurance adjusters, etc. The system should include player software on the disk so that it can be played on any computer. 30fps, or equivalent I want the option of being able to record at "full speed" on all cameras Then I start looking at things like memory, encoding, software features, etc. For most small enterprise customers, I'm trying to sell them a DVR to avoid the problems inherent with VCRs.. namely poor tape management. Considering that VCRs have a max recording resolution of, what, around 240HLOR, the image quality on most DVRs is an improvement. That's important when a forensic video tech is trying to pull a tag number in a kidnapping and murder case.

eBay?

accord2002, I can't help you on any ideas for that lens. Sorry. But I just have to say "HOLY CRAP!!! B&H is doing CCTV now!?!?!"

If we restrict discussion only to OBL, then I believe most of the blame can be put at Clinton's feet, if we are going to reduce blame to only one person. OBL declared his Jihad against the US around 1998 and that same year bombed US embassies in Africa. Clinton, in the midst of serious draw downs and reductions in the US military and intelligence commnity, vowed to bring the matter to justice. He then limited US intelligence and military efforts by requiring that OBL be taken alive. He strictly disallowed lethal force and further severly restricted assets available that would be neccessary to capture him. I think grave mistakes were made by numerous administrations over the years, in not properly apreciating the threat.. or hopefully waiting for things to boil over on someone else's watch, or sometimes limiting response due to political expediency. Even Reagan, back during his tenure, in reponse to the bombings in Lebanon, pulled the troops out instead of taking a hard line. His priorities were, posibly correctly, placed elsewhere in the Soviet Union. I recall that it was widely predicted after the fall of the U.S.S.R. that fundamentalist Islamic terrorism would be the next great threat to the U.S. - and those predictions proved to be true. But who knows? I recall people predicting that we'd get invaded by China, too. and that hasn't happened. At any rate.. I think the problem of Islamic terrorism goes too far back, and is too large of a problem to be laid at the feet of any one single political leader, regardles of their political party or other shortcomings.

and that was only back to 1972...

9/11 was in the works way before that. It is much to big a problem to lay at the feet of any one particular President. December 1972, terrorist hijack a plane in Rome demanding the release of other Arab terrorists. February 1979, Afgahni terrorists kidnap the US. Ambassador to Afgahnistan and demand the release of religous leaders. Novemeber 1979, radical Islamists take seige of the US Ambassy in Tehran and hold US citizens hostage. April 1983, Islamic terrorist bombing of US embassy in Beirut. October 1983, Islamic terrorist bombing of Marine Barracks in Lebanon. March 1984, Islamic terrorists kidnapp and murder US Embassy official. June 1985, Islamic terrorist hijacking of TWA flight. October 1985, Islamic terrorists hijack the ship Achille Lauro. November 1985, Islamic terrorists hijack Egyptian airliner with numerous US citizens on board. December 1985, Islamic Terrorists attack El Al and TWA ticket counters in Rome and Vienna airports. March 1986, Islamic terrorist bombing of TWA flight 840. April 1986, Islamic terrorist bombing of disco in Berlin populated by US service members. February 1988, US service member kidnapped and murdered by Islamic terrorists. April 1988, Islamic terrorists bomb a club bomb a USO club in Naples. Really... I could go on and on... but I think I've made my point.

Neatness counts. Ditto hermin on the EMT!!

I have extensive experience working child sex cases. There is something very wrong with a mother that is willing to subject their child to abuse for no other reason than to gather "100%" evidence. 1) She needs to report this to police and child protective services so they can begin an investigation. 2) the child needs to be interviewed by a special child forensic interviewer as part of the LE and CPS investigation 3) she needs to talk to her attorney about getting a temporary modification to her custody and visitiation order Let the cops and child services do thier job on collecting evidence. Getting a 7 year old wired up is about the worst idea I've ever heard.

WOW! CONGRATULATIONS!!! It is great to see a small shop growing and doing well. I know gov't jobs can be a huge PITA to get, but when you get a GOOD one, they can really kick things up a notch. I'm glad to hear about your success!!! [/b]

I'm sorry to hear about your loss, dusan. My deepest condolences out to you and your family.

The general rule in the U.S. is that "the eyes cannot trespass". Very good post by VST_Man, If I might expand a bit.... .....you can look out your window, or stand in your front yard and look around.. so, you can point a camera from your property and view them via a camera just as you could use your own eyes. In the U.S. one does not have the same "reasonable expectation to privacy" from being seen while out in public, or from the view of the public through open windows. Various "peeping tom" and "video voyeurism" laws address intent as well as expectation of privacy. While a person has no right to expect that someone will not look in thier uncovered windows as they walk down the sidewalk, when a person physically enteres the private property of another in order to look through the winows, it may fall under various "peeping tom" statutes. Video recording of people walking down the sidewalk is one thing. However, a lady as a reasonable expectation of privacy beneath her skirt. If soeone toes a camera hidden in a gym bag under her skirt to catch a panty shot without that ladies permission, then they may be in violation of various "video voyeurism" statutes. Even inside your own home, you may be limited as to your ability to record video of people without thier knowledge or consent. If it is part of your security system, and you post warnings/notices on entry doors etc. then this protects you. It is also a whole other matter to secretly record your housekeeper stealing from you as opposed to secretly taping a roommate undressing, or your girlfriend while you have "intimate relations". Again.. much of this hinges on the the subject's expectation of privacy, as well as on the person's intent in making the video recording. Laws on this vary from state to state, and even from Federal Court District to Fed. Court District. Different states have differnet state laws. And the various Federal Judicial Districts each have somewhat varrying interpretations of the law and of case law. As very well noted above... audio is a whole other matter. Other people's conversations should be considered private and protected by default. However, there are many expceptions to this. It might be a good idea to consult with a private attorney, or perhaps contact your local prosecutor's office to ask them. Prosecutors cannot give private legal advice, but they may be able to advise you on whether or not certain things are illagal, or not. HTH

yeppers... I've done quite a few vehicle installs - they can be tricky. Keep in mind that 12V NGF is an average... it'll actually fluctuate sharply anywhere from ~7V to as high as ~20V, in some cases. DVRs can be *very* voltage sensitive. If at all possible, run a "stand alone" system off of batteries. If you *have* to run off of the veh battery... make sure to do some good voltage regulation and install good circuit protection. Having no idea what the intended use is for the cameras, I can't comment on camera selection. There are plenty of mobile DVRs out there... it seems like there is a new system every few months. I don't feel like I have enough direct experience with a wide range of them to be able to personally recommend one over any other. Here's a link to what looks like a fairly comprehensive list of units that I've seen - http://www.globalsources.com/manufacturers/Mobile-DVR.html Oh yeah... be careful playing around any computer modules in the car...you let the smoke out of one of those, and it costs maga bucks to get the smoke put back in... same with the air bag..(darn magic smoke!)

I'll admit to being confused. There's KTC as seen on the Kalatel stuff... then there is KT&C that has KPC in their model numbers... with KPC , I believe, indicating something like Korean Products Company, or something - made by KPC using alot of Sony chips, duistributed by KT&C (and others). And then there is the whole Watac/Genwac thing with Watec Company Limited vs. Watec America Corporation. yeah... I get confused.

FredB: The 1st rule on wireless video tx is "Don't do it." The 2nd rule on wireless video tx is "Ah, ah, ah... Dooon't do it." The 3rd rule on wireless video tx is "I'm really not kidding. Don't do it." 900MHz is going to be very susceptible to RF interference and will be very vulnerable to RLOS problems. These vulnerablities only increase the higher you go up the freq food chain up to 5GHz, etc. Only some trees? Let me tell you, all the water in the leaves of those trees *WILL* cause problems with RLOS in those freqs. The higher freqs that we see in wireless video have a hard time carying all of the information in that 1V ptp @ 75Ohm composite video signal.... even if you get good distance and good RLOS with absolutely no RF interference.. the signal is still not going to be great. The only time I use wireless video tx is if I absolutely must have live monitoring of the signal and if I absolutely under no circumstances am able to run cable and if the video signal IS NOT absolutely critical. (lower freq audio back up, eyes on target, local system back up, etc.) and this is just when considering ONE signal... you're wanting to run THREE ... which is sort of like installing your own RF interference in the exact same freq range that you are trying to use... PLUS you are going to need weatherproof.. If you absolutely MUST do wireless... then I'd recommend going with directional yagi ants on both ends - and use at least 5watt transmitters - asalready noted, these things will put of some fairly serious heat. And what about signal encryption? Is this a video signal that you want braodcasting"in the clear"? Any encoding/decoding is going to add data on that already vulnerable RF tx. Really... wireless = bad ju ju. Jus my opinion - worth what you paid for it.

I'm thinking fiber optic. Something like this? (example only, not a recommendation or endorsement on specific equipment) 10 Ch. Video Mux w/optional 2 way data, over one fiber core. http://www.commspecial.com/specsheets/ss-3x3x.pdf

KTC = Kalatel Traditional Cameras? Korean Technology Company? Something like that? Anyway... So, if you see KTC in the model number, that usually indicates a KTC camera, many which may use a Sony board...maybe even a Computar lens, or something... and then it may all be branded as GE or "un-branded" as a "no name" OEM. It is sort of one of thse "open secrets" - everything gets rebranded, branded, unbranded... whathaveyou, but they will openly keep certain identifiers in the various model numbers, and they'll openly tell you about using ExVIEW or SuperHAD (Sony) chips.

Oh maaaan! I hope Dip doesn't take his ball and go home. I thought Dip's idea was the cat's pajamas and it really got me switched on!! - Of course, it's pretty poor netiquette to pull your posts. Kasa is spot on that my idea on the float glass betrays my background in photography. That is *precisely* why I cringe at the idea of putting some low-quality plexi between my lens and subject. Plexi will certainly get the job done and I don't think it is a mistake to use it .. OTOH I also * love * the idea of finally being able to use higher-quality float glass in an exterior housing if I want to! Plus, I ain't one of the "big guys" like some here in the forum. I don't do big-huge-fancy projects - I'm a little independant guy striving to tap a niche market with high quality, service, and delivery. Anything I can do to keep costs down for my clients *and* increase my margins at the same time is a win-win. If I can make some housings *AND* use higher quality glass for *less money* than pre-made housings... ... man.. that's like the Six Million Dollar Man - I can build it better, faster, stronger... Anyway... great idea. I hate that there was a miscommunication, and that Dip got his dander up and pulled his posts... now I'll have to go back and re-create the work on that - which adds to the initial time investment - which leads me to back burner the project until I've got some more time to devote to it. :sigh: Such is life...

No problem! I think just about all of us are here because we enjoying learning from each other, and also helping others when we can. One thing- quote: " No IR because it's the front side of my house. I would like it to be as stealth as possible. " If you want "stealth", as in not using much visible light, then you *are* going to want to use infrared (IR). If you want truly "invisible", then look for IR lights sources that are >940nm. Anything less will leave a tell-tale faint redish glow, which *might* be okay for you in your application, but be forwarned. (Alot of places don't list it in thier specs, so call and ask.) The IR LEDs consume less power and don't generate as much heat as the "older" style halogens with a filter. Depending on your electronics background, you may feel comfortable buying your own LEDs and breadboard, etc. and making your own. Some links - http://www.digikey.com http://www.mcmelectronics.com/ again... HTH

Float glass is so named because it involves "floating" the molten glass over molten tin during production. The end result is glass that is almost perfectly flat...but most importantly for our purposes is that the qualities of float glass give it exceptionally high optical transmission qualities. [edited to add the link below] http://www.edmundoptics.com/onlinecatalog/displayproduct.cfm?productID=2402