Sawbones

thats kind of a round up, for auto parts they charge 60% duty plus 7% stamp tax. For electronics its around 35%-45% duty plus 7% stamp tax. Some computer parts are duty free but still 7% stamp tax. Also, shipping, say from NY to Miami could be $15, from Miami to the Bahamas would be $100, just an example. They charge Customs on top of the total price of the parts+shipping. yep its their idea of tax. Holy ouch... that's the most flagrant rape of anyone's wallet I've seen in quite some time. ********* Edit ********* Excepting, of course, the US Congress's recent actions

Luxriot actually supports the Mobotix camera I have... but I may use MxControlcenter to record directly to NAS. I have Terabytes of network storage that I'm not using. I'm going to play with this one to get a feel for what it will do... and I will probably take you up on that offer. I have to figure out exactly which areas I want to cover and measure some distances/angles. One very important thing with Mobotix cameras do not lose the Admin or Supervisor password. There is no way for you to reset back the the default password even if you do a factory default. It is a security measure Mobotix implemented so if someone would steal the camera they can't see the recorded video stored in the camera. And I understand that turning off the microphone is likewise permanent. Why is that?

Luxriot actually supports the Mobotix camera I have... but I may use MxControlcenter to record directly to NAS. I have Terabytes of network storage that I'm not using. I'm going to play with this one to get a feel for what it will do... and I will probably take you up on that offer. I have to figure out exactly which areas I want to cover and measure some distances/angles.

No no... you're not the only one. I've been looking at a solution for the front of my home... and can't quite decide which way to go. Arecont supposedly has the newest H.264 version of their dual-imager coming out, but nobody seems to have it. Mobotix has their Dual-imager models, but I'd never had the opportunity to play with one... and at $1500 a pop, there was no way I was going to buy one, and then find out it wasn't what I needed. I finally had the opportunity to pick up a used Mobotix camera (scratched dome, previously-installed, but still functional), and I've been starting to play with it. I have to say, this thing has more settings than any camera I've ever seen. Mine is a day-only model, but the images are terrific. I'm particularly intrigued by the VOIP capability of these things, but will need to purchase an extra module for my camera to test it out. What model to you have? D22M-Secure (day version) with the wide-angle lens (4.0mm). I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet... maybe mount it in my garage. Incidentally, is the M12 Dualnight the same camera as the D12 dualdome, except the latter is in a dome form-factor? I have a place on my home for a dome... and it has to be B&W for night-time (it will be focused on the parking area for my vehicle). If the dualdome could focus on one area for daytime (maybe a wide angle shot), and another area (with a narrower focus) for night, that would allow me to keep my current PTZ and simply add the Mobotix dome as an additional camera with additional coverage. My existing PTZ is inadequate to cover the area where I park my vehicle, and I also don't think its night performance is even close to the equal of a dedicated B&W Mobotix sensor.

No no... you're not the only one. I've been looking at a solution for the front of my home... and can't quite decide which way to go. Arecont supposedly has the newest H.264 version of their dual-imager coming out, but nobody seems to have it. Mobotix has their Dual-imager models, but I'd never had the opportunity to play with one... and at $1500 a pop, there was no way I was going to buy one, and then find out it wasn't what I needed. I finally had the opportunity to pick up a used Mobotix camera (scratched dome, previously-installed, but still functional), and I've been starting to play with it. I have to say, this thing has more settings than any camera I've ever seen. Mine is a day-only model, but the images are terrific. I'm particularly intrigued by the VOIP capability of these things, but will need to purchase an extra module for my camera to test it out.

Yes... yes indeed. I went through a ton of trial-and-error getting my infrared illuminators exactly the way I wanted them. Fortunately, as a night-shift guy, I have all the opportunity in the world to play with them and tweak things. Not everybody has that luxury... sometimes hiring a pro is the way to go.

Avoid the Intensifiers for low-light; you'll be disappointed. They're great for daytime, but they slow the shutter speed so much in low-lux conditions as to make anything moving absolutely unidentifiable. Fine for static scenes... but that's not why you're putting up the camera, right?

So you'd put an analog camera into a camera server and a wireless bridge of some sort? How do you get it back into analog form at the DVR end? ************ Edit ************** The DVR is a Dedicated Micros unit, and it only supports a very small range of network cameras, and only at 2CIF resolution, max of 18K per frame. No motion detection is supported on IP cameras, and there is a maximum of 25fps split over ALL IP sources... DM is actually pretty miserable in the networkability department. http://dedicatedmicros.icentera.com/exLink.asp?6302542OT32U57I28598570 You can read it there you're interested...

You need to PM Scruit. He has a mobile DVR setup in his car

Well if your worried about the just the camera on the pole there really isn't a guaranteed way to protect it from a direct hit. If your worried about the spike feeding back to the NVR/DVR and other equipment you could go with a wireless solution. If you run a metal pole into the ground lighting is gonna be attracted to it. With the wireless setup you will loss the camera and the wireless link but there is no way for the lighting to feed back to the rest of the equipment. If we put cameras on poles and there is power and LOS I am selling wireless so we don't have to worry about lighting back feeding. You know, that brings up a question I've been researching (I don't mean to hijack the thread). I've been asked by a local neighborhood to see if I can put three cameras at a couple of remote locations (a couple of gazebos that have line-of-sight to the community center building that contains the DVR), including one almost a half-mile away (that one will be pole-mounted, and an antenna could be placed on top of that pole). They've been experiencing some vandalism. What's a decent economical way to get analog video from those locations to the central building? There's no way to hard-wire them (distance, and they'd have to trench under a large parking/pool area). Does anyone know of a multi-channel analog receiver that could be fed into a standard DVR? All locations have power, so that's not a problem. Thoughts? I've looked at the 900mhz transmitter/receiver combos that supercircuits sells, but I don't know that they do multi-channel. It also looks like you might need a HAM radio license to use them (!).

At least you got the plate... I love the video of the driveshaft turning.

In what third-world country were these installs found? Judging from the grammar and diction, I want to say England... but I can't believe it.

Most are... but they make PATA ones... I looked into one for my older laptop.

Any reason you couldn't use a Solid-State Disk? ********* Edit ********** Whooops... just checked Soundy's link. That's exactly what I was thinking.

I use Surefire for my flashlights..... Not cheap but the best. http://www.surefire.com/E1B-Backup Surefire makes outstanding lights... I probably own a half-dozen of them in various configurations. But you really need headlights, fellas.... headlights are the key to universal love and happiness. I'm partial to the Princeton Tec lights. They're lightweight, and leave your hands free for crawling through attics and over trusses. I honestly don't know what people did before these things.

then paint gun all the cameras and ... take out the main power source, generator, and throw in some higher voltage on the siren wire, man look where we going with this LOL. time to get a moat for my castle also. Gators Heh... if you could catch the "death roll" on some underwater cameras, it would be a YouTube sensation!

Heh... between on-site backup generator and large rack-mount UPS (>15min of run time), they're going to be waiting quite a while.

I found it under your front door mat!! Dang! Now I have to find a new spot!

Yep... I'm trying to decide between that camera and the Mobotix dual-night. For that kind of money, I'll have to see some images before I pull the trigger.

I've done the DVRlockbox thing at work... functions pretty well. The DVR in my home is mounted in a locked rackmount cabinet.

I think some of the Cisco routers do PoE... but that's waaaaay overkill for what you're trying to do.

I have the 7411 and the 1231... great pictures, though IR illuminators are required for very low light situations. The 1231 has integrated IR... but it's weak, and only covers about half the advertised distance.

I use the StarTech ones. You can send a VGA picture over Cat5 to up to eight locations. Highly recommended.

I would say LED or nothing... they're far more durable than the standard bulb type.

Yep... I also fell for the Speco no-ICR day/night camera thing. Never again. If it has no IR-cut filter, it's NOT a true day/night cam (excepting, of course, the dual-imager mobotix and arecont setups)