Erron S.

That's pretty cool! I remember when the 'entry level' flir was over 10k not very long ago. I'm not sure about residential though? Certainly for the port security personel and government.

Anyone else going? I'll be in booth 3006...

It looks to me that the polycarbonate lens has begun to degrade and is now not passing the IR light through. There are a number of IR cameras that use 2 seperate lenses on the housings because of this. That's my best guess anyway...

This cable will allow you to connect component video devices to TVs or projectors that have VGA inputs This cable will not display a picture if used to connect a computer to a TV or any device to a computer monitor. Oh, whoops... Just did a quick google search on that one...sorry.

All wonderful advise. I'll add this as well. Every 4-6 months, pop the lid off and blow out the dust. This helps a whole lot to keep everything working well. Don't install in areas where people smoke, ever. I've seen drives take a dive over and over again only to find out it's on the desk in a convience store and the manager sits there in this 8'x8' room smoking all day. Clean and cool are the keys to success with any type of computer hardware.

That's the tricky part, finding a good value and good quality at the same time. If you get one with IR's, you can always modify it to work. You can isolate the lens from the IR's with something as simple as cardboard if you are using them indoors. Or, just go black and white for a better low light capability. There's just so much out there in that price range, (that I typically stay out of) that you'll have to try out and see what works for you.

You mean something that will take the VGA out from your laptop to the TV composite input? If so, they can be had for under 10 dollars. http://www.national-tech.com/catalog/vgatorcacomponentvideocable.htm

Dan, Did they ever move the cameras at some point? Typically if an installer used a 24VDC output power supply it was because the wire run is so long that by the time they get to the camera it's close to 12VDC. Let's see, you need an inexpensive camera it sounds like. They are everywhere now-a-days. From the 30 dollar special (retail) at Harbour Freight to the Ebay specials there are plenty to choose from. Even companies like Security Camera Direct will have more than a handful of cameras that cost less than a steak dinner.

I want one! That is really, really cool. Not to mention my wife would actually like the looks of that camera. Very cool stuff! Where can I buy one in the USA? Edit: I see the US office now.

There are a number of cards and DVR's on the market that can do a lot of compression. The real question is how 'loss-less' they are, or how good the un-compressed images turn out to be. Having sold more than 15 different brands of card/DVR's in my career I have yet to see one that gives the image quality and relatively small file size of the proprietary Aztech compression. A little reading material here.. http://www.3xlogic.com/aztech This also holds true on megapixel by taking an already compressed megapixel image and re-compressing it to obtain smaller file sizes with very little loss. There's a nice file size chart for you to look at here... http://www.3xlogic.com/megapixel Of course this type of system has a bandwidth throttle on it so you can define how much bandwidth the system uses so you can ultimately define how much you are going to use on the network. I also remember the Telexper unit as being one of the ones that would send a 16 camera display with very small network requirements. I also remember a couple of units, don't remember who made them, but they would send the 16 camera display as one image. The entire display was refreshed at one time and it wouldn't let you drill down to a single camera image, but it worked very well, even over old school 28.8k connections. Anyone in here remember who made those? Hope that helps, or at least steers you in the right direction.

Standard or Megapixel cameras? Over what type of connection, or how much bandwidth do you have to play with?

As far as I know, you'll need -something- on the other side (the store location) to respond. We typically do this with our DVR as the acknowleding device, but it sounds like the DVR's you have in place don't do this? Without going to a full blown intercom system like Intercol, you may be able to use a freebee system like Skype. You would need someone or something to acknowledge the call on the other end, but I'd bet you could program their VOIP phone to auto answer for this scenario. Just thinking out loud, hope that helps in some way.

Do you know how much current the cameras are pulling? Have we exceeded 8 amps for all of the cameras? (80% of the power supply)

What are you asking? How well the website works or how user friendly the website is?

I do agree with the 3% of all camera sales are megapixel. Consider this though. That includes all cameras, from the Sam's Club specials to the $35 IR camera from Harbor Freight. While these cameras can and will tell you when you're buddy pulls up in front of the house, it's not going to give you a plate number or a clear enough shot to give to the news station and police to put out an APB. There are a number of reasons to use MP over analog (which I kind of touch on it my blog) but really the main reason I see business owners buy and use MP cameras is clearly for the image quality. If they are going to spend X thousands on a full blown system they really need to be able to identify what they are looking at and have useable video. This could be a criminal, money denominations, a license plate, or the difference between someone putting something into their pocket or scratching an itch. I would also say that a number of MP cameras are going into locations that have had analog for years and they have had their frustrations with the image quality along the way. It's typically the difference between 'the guy with the blue hat' and the 'the guy with the blue hat and UCLA logo on it'. The absolute best way to sell it is just show it. I didn't want an HD TV until I -saw- one. I never thought standard TV to be all that bad, but now normal TV is hard to watch in comparison. Know what I mean?

The world is a' changing though. The banks I've quoted, speced, and sold have begun to go the way of the newer technologies because the conviction rate and image quality has been so poor in the past. Cost of megapixel? http://www.3xlogic.com/blog Cost of Storage? Tiger Direct has their 1.5 TERABYTE drives for sale at $119. That's if you buy one, I wonder what the bulk rate is direct from Seagate? You have to recompress megapixel to transmit it effectively or you're exactly right, the bandwidth just isn't there yet. Check out the graph at the bottom of this page. http://www.3xlogic.com/megapixel

Thanks Soundy! Very cool.

Cooldude, I think I may be able to help a little on this. I'd bet they have the restrictions on their network compliance which is why they can't have the dvr put on their network. I bet they have to have a PCI (Payment Card Industy) complient network. Not only banks but many retailers are going through these changes as well. Take a read here.. http://www.3xlogic.com/pci In addition to the Exacq, have a look see at our as well, especially if you are doing megapixel with extended record rates. As far as cameras, I've been leaning more and more toward the IQ Eye line of cameras. www.iqeye.com They have a few features that make them stand out from some of the others I've seen. The IQ focus feature also you fine tune the lens so you can get every bit of sharpness from the camera that's possible. As we all know, getting an MP camera lens perfectly focused is a little tricky without a hand held device and features like this makes installation a little easier. Hope that helps a little.

Good suggestions VST Man, I'll add a few more ideas as well. I've speced and sold a number of these types of systems actually. A couple of ideas for you and the end user. I would go NVR if possible. They typically cost less and offer room for future expandability. There's also a plus side to having them log in to the NVR and not on each individual camera. Not only can you give them 'user' rights to the system while restricting which cameras they can view but also the ability to remove their access at whatever point you want to. (ie, didn't pay their bill, bandwidth useage, renovations, etc...) There's a host of options that are valuable to an end user using the NVR rather than connecting to cameras seperately. The number of users (on our system anyway) is defaulted to 100 users, but can be changed to whatever you want. It's more of a bandwidth consideration than anything else, in which you can also throttle from the control panel if you have limitations on the network. The NVR I'm talking about is this little gem.. http://www.3xlogic.com/node/31 Since you mentioned VGA quality, I would have a gander at a blog I wrote a few weeks ago concerning megapixel. It sounds like the client is looking for higher end cameras? http://www.3xlogic.com/blog Just thought I would mention a few of those ideas anway.

With a direct 28.8k or 56K output? No way, they hardly had a market place in the late 90's. The closest thing to something like would be -maybe- Telexper for a dvr, or the old 8x8 type systems before they became a VOIP teleconferencing company.

Yep, 100 feet is nothing for cctv rg-59. I'm guessing you have the pre-fab siamese 18/2 rg-59 COPPER cable? The issue is absolutely the t-tap/splitter you are using. You need a distribution amp for sure. You can't split 1 volt peak to peak, 75 ohm terminated, composite video like that. Well, you can, it just won't work very well, like what you have there now.

Let me first say that this is a wonderful comparison. I'm sure I speak for us all when we say 'thank you' for taking the time to do this and show us your results, that's fantastic. I do have to say i'm with VST man on this one. I shouldn't be, I've sold well over 10k of the IR bullets and domes in my career but they have their place. They are often sold as a convience. We need light out there and the camera comes with it in one simple package that's all low voltage. Many times a 500 watt halogen would have been better but most guys are low voltage and not electrical contractors or licensened for high voltage. IR is pro/con technology in my humble opinion. For instance, why are their IR cut filters on some of the higher end cameras? IR in general has a tendency to make images fuzzy and noisy when used with CCD's. (charge coupled device) This is also true and entends to the photography industry especially when talking about hi-res DSLR cameras. That's why IR cut filters are becoming more common place in high end lenses and cameras, they want to keep that light out if possible to preserve image quality. Having said that, IR is a good technology for COVERT applications. Is my driveway a covert application, no. I like light. It not only helps the camera to see better but serves as a deterent to would-be criminals. My house is not a dark spot they can hide in. It's brightly lit and if you walk over here you can see everything including the camera watching you. Ok, ok, I'm droning on and on... When it comes down to it and you can do it with regular light sources, use them. Cost is lower, cameras see better, cost of replacement is cheaper, and it's a light that everyone can use, not just the cameras.

There are a TON of cameras in under that price range. From the Vivotek to IQ Eye, actually EVERY other camera is under that price range. (for similiar product) Keep in mind 1080I is only 2 megapixel fellas. You were saying it was the best image you've ever seen. The Avigilon is the best i've seen.

Really? You should see the Avgilon 16 megapixel. Axis is nice though. I actually just came out of a demo with the guys from Camtron. They have a 1.3MP camera with direct HDMI out. That's pretty sweet right there.

I think it could go both ways, especially for camera manufactures. Most of the 'off shore' manufactures now will not only design and build to specific standards, but then also build equipment that exceeds those standards. Why? Options, options, options. I like to think about it like this.. The first time you saw a Ferrari, you wanted it, right? (pick whatever model you like) The day before, you had no idea it even existed. I think that's true for all product, including the megapixel and 'sense up' cameras. End users that have a dealer come in and bid on a system may or may not see the difference between what they are offered and what they could buy online or in Sam's Club or Costco. Now, show them the megapixel cameras. It's easy to see why they would choose one of the other. I like the Camry example. Why buy something that compares to a Camry when you could just get a Camry? Because it costs less, right? Maybe the support behind the product is less? What if you could get the Ferrari for slightly more? Oh yeah, now we're talking. I suppose my point of this post is people don't know what they want until they see it. Then they have to have it. Which is why I believe that manufactures produce product that has features that maybe someone else doesn't.