AVCONSULTING

Rory is right. Spend some time on the Extreme site and you will learn all sorts of things about IR cameras. I thnk they are the absolute leaders in IR lighting and integrated IR cameras. Even if you don't end up with one of their cameras you should learn some interesting things regarding IR in general. (I do not own Extreme CCTV stock, nor am I employed by the company or would benefit financially from any Exreme CCTV sales).

Most PTZ dome cameras these day are speed domes. Pelco, Sensormatic, Vicon, Samsung, Panasonic, Bosch, etc are all classed as speed domes. Perhaps you are thinking about the old days when you would buy a Videolarm empty dome and then put in a standard PTZ but that is hardly done anymore. So if you are getting an integrated PTZ system then you will be getting a speed dome type setup.

Jisa is correct that CAT5 would be less prone to picking up hum or other AC interference but CAT5 baluns unless specifically designed will not get rid of ground loop problems. NVT is by far the best of breed in baluns although there are a couple of other brand names that would probably do as well. The very low end $20 baluns are actually only really good up to about 500' when using a DVR although they all advertise themselves as 1000' distance and that would be true if you were using the old analog type products such as a quad, switcher, or straight into a monitor. Problems arise when using DVRs since they are much more sensitive to input voltage and will display poor quality pictures even though you would see a good quality picture plugged inot a monitor. This causes problems with end users since they think a DVR actually enhances the video so they end up blaming the DVR. I would say that for the majority of new installs you would do well to stay with copper braid, copper core coax. It has served the industry well for many years and sometimes low tech actually works as well or better.

Here is a link that has a glossary of terms. It might help when you run across specifications or nomenclature. http://www.vsscctv.com/Glossary.asp?Term=A http://www.vsscctv.com/ABCs-001.asp

The two top selling DVRs among all DVRs both PC Based and embedded are DM and Kalatel, both of which are embedded. DM's sales alone probably equals the entire PC based DVR market. I think the market place has decided which is being accepted best. This not to say that either DM or Kalatel is better than a good PC based but I think the vast number of dealers are fed up with the poor quality of most PC based systems out there. Even Pelco, Intellex and other big name brands have had terrible quality control problems. I lost two customers because of poor Kodicom quality control, one of the biggest PC based brands around. Both customers got so fed up with the failures that they kicked Kodicom and me out. After that I dropped the line and went to embedded since I can't afford to keep losing quality customers.

This might do the trick, it was devised for helmets etc but could provide you with some anti-fogging capabilities. http://www.webbikeworld.com/r2/fogtech/

Let me add that good quality RG59U with 95% copper braid and copper cored (Belden 8241 is one example) is good up to 1000'. The NVT guys want you to believe that the days of coax are over but for most installations you should stick to coax. Baluns are very handy if there is existing CAT5, in some cases even CAT3 cabling and you don't want to run new wire. Also for runs over 1000' they come into play, but don't count out the trusty coax just yet.

What about Mitsubishi, they have a big line dedicated to time lapse recorders? Do you have any links to articles about this?

Here is a CRT style monitor, hi-res, with two video inputs. I agree that the LCD monitors just don't make it when it comes to CCTV composite video. Just can't get the color saturation, brightness, and angle of view that you do with a tube monitor and bright room light can wash it out. Plus tube monitors are way less money. Only downsides are space requirements and you can burn an image on a CRT after a period of time. http://www.vitekcctv.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductID=72

Maybe a small weatherproof camera could do the trick. Not disguised but no big housing and hi-res color with IR. http://www.vitekcctv.com/SpecSheets/VTC-LED667HRCB.pdf

I suggest upgrading to an 8 input card since once you start using cameras it is like crack cocaine, you will need more and more. Maybe the 16 wouldn't be out of the question here. Seriously, it is worth having the ability to expand your system.

Unfortunately I think you are going to be stuck with a PS30 from Pelco. An alternative would be to dump the housing and go with a Videolarm dome with scanner.

http://www.vsscctv.com/PDFs/SiteSurvey.pdf

I think Rory hit it right. Without a clear playback the DVR is pretty useless and it doesn't matter what other features it has. So I'd also rank playback clarity (vs live view) as the key feature. After that it is a free for all.

Unfortunately that is an undocumented and often overlooked feature of the processor. A single processor that is designed for 30 fps will do 30 fps with one camera but the moment a second camera is introduced the processing speed does fall to 24 fps, as stated earlier due to the multiplexing properties needed to handle multiple cameras. Kodicom used to actually list that in their specifications but it got so much negative reaction that I think even they dropped the spec. This is somewhat akin to the raging controversy that goes on around minimum illumination for a camera. Many of the lower end camera makers rate their cameras at ridiculously low levels that have no relation to reality but the average consumer doesn't know this and thinks that the cameras rated with legitimate ratings are inferior when in reality they are far superior.

http://www.marshall.co.za/laserlynk.htm http://www.ita-systems.com/html/products/laser.html

http://www.vitekcctv.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductID=181 Demo Site: http://216.70.136.214/

Unless the splitter is digital you will have to make sure the camera has external sync or the picture will roll. Also on a splitter as opposed to a quad, there is no video compression so if you are splitting the screen equally then 1/2 of each camera's field of view will be lost, you will essentially be slicing half the picture off.

http://www.silicor.com/

This is an excellent site to get started. They are pretty much the leaders in internet video products and have servers that will interface with your existing equipment as well as fully integrated server/cameras. http://www.axis.com/products/video/

Make sure you aren't recording the other 5 channels by mistake even though you aren't using cameras. Check in the menu setup to make sure those channels are zero'd out or there is some non record function for them. Also check your motion detection at night since you may be recording at night because of camera noise. This often happens, especially with lower end cameras. The Falcon system can usually compress better than some of the lower end generic units. If you go on their website you can see the various compression sizes. Does your DVR information show the compression sizes at various settings? http://www.atvideo.com/

Saw a plate couple of days ago in CA that said GOT CCTV thought that was a nice play on the GOT MILK campaign. The Sanyo rep in CA has DR CCTV which is a nice one. My two plates are CCTVKNG and DVRKING, maximum seven characters on CA plates.

Anyone heard of these guys? I'm up against them on a job and the company is using this card in their DVR. http://podicom.com/df4900.php

Thanks, was trying to figure out whose card it was. Great feedback. Yes, I think the local DVR discounter is throwing that card into really cheap boxes and that the customer will end up the worse for it but then it is hard to compete against someone selling a DVR so cheap.

Use a Louroe kit for your audio. Works best. http://www.louroe.com/