SeanMort

Thomas is right. A physical check should tell you whether it's good coax or not. A simple resistance measure of a fair length, say 5 - 10M, of good quality co-ax should serve as a yardstick by which to measure all other co-ax you get in future. Measure the centre core and the screen and put the specs & "test" in notice form in your store, along with a stripped down section of the good co-ax for a physical check. This way when your supplier delivers to you, you (or your storeman) can quickly compare a batch sample and accept or reject the cable right there and then. It's like I said, it's not easy replacing dodgy cable. Dodgy equipment is a simple swop-out.

Found the problem !! Opened the unit up for a second time and discovered the ribbon cable to a third drive (designated as a backup drive) was not quite seated properly. Re-seated it and got the footage. Thanks for the overwhelming response though !!

I agree with Cooperman on the test for the distance. 200' is peanuts. But as he said, get it in writing. Another thing here, and it's really for larger fiber jobs but still applies; when it comes to getting someone to do the splicing/jointing, inform the person/co doing this, upfront, that you will not pay for any splices that exceed a set loss factor, and also insist on an OTDR trace printout for each fiber run processed.We use a minimum factor of 0.3Db per splice @ 850Nm on a 50/125 cable. Anything above this is a re-splice at their cost. It happens sometimes that the person doing the splicing has red-eye from the night before, does a bad splice, and kills the optical budget in one or two splices !! I'm not totally familiar with the gear you want to use but, because it's going to be so close, you need to be aware that the receiver end-box might be overwhelmed by the incoming light source and may need to be attenuated. Most well-known brands can compensate for this with AGC, but I have seen others that cannot, even with AGC. Attenuation is no big deal though, just a couple of attenuation washers on the fiber connector. Are the units analog mux units or digital ? On this distance the cheaper analog stuff should do well. Try get the GE Fiber Options CD as it is a wealth of information on the subject and doesn't only pertain to their products.

Put it on fiber in the same route. Seriously, if you want no nonsense, this is the way to go. HV won't affect it at all.

You need to find out three things; 1. Multi-Mode / Single-Mode ? 2. Distance 3. Cable condition (fiber joins, kinks, bends, physical condition) Ideally if you get the existing spare fibers (4 - 6 of) checked with an OTDR (Optical Time Domain Reflectometer) this will indicate most or all of the above. It usually costs to get this test done so be aware of this. Maybe the local Telco guys can help you on this. The important thing is knowing if the "road" you plan to use is OK. You will also need to know about the cable hardware stuff. PM me and I can mail this to you. Now for the gear (and this largely depends on the info above); Putting 8 cams onto one fiber is normally no problem, but these multiplexer end-boxes cost a bit. Obviously single channel gear is way cheaper. For your purpose I would look at using two 4 channel units using two fibers, as this is cheaper than an 8 channel type. As for the PTZ, normally sending the video and data seperately is cheaper if you have the spare fibers to do it, otherwise a single fiber end-box will do, no problem. Just be aware of one thing though; transporting video/data signals over fiber is expensive, but you can be smart and economise if the situation/design allows for it. What I mean here is that if there is an opportunity to site the head-end gear (Mux / DVR / Matrix) on the other side of the fiber from the control end then all you need to transport down the fiber is the keyboard data & monitor/s video (less fiber gear needed). The operation wil be totally transparent. As for manufacturers my preference, in order, would be; 1. GE - Fiber Options (they have a great free CD that'll show you the ropes) 2. IFS (also now under the GE belt) 3. American Fibertek 4. COE (UK based)

Sorry ... meant to say screen braiding not sheathing ...

You gotta be careful when choosing RG59. Some manufacturers think RG59 is a brand name or model number, or simply 75 ohm cable, when in fact it is a specification for a specific purpose. The result is dodgy cable with all the right markings on it. Here is a recent tale of woe of mine: We recently purchased some cable from a supplier at a regular price, installed it into a 26 camera installation, and found that the camera pictures all looked slightly washed out. Now this job was a pressure install from the get-go, so my chaps didn't question the cable from our supplier (complacency set in I guess) because Mr Customer needed the system going pronto. All of the runs were well within limits, and the cams were high-res GE models that give excellent pictures. Got the pattern gen & 'scope out and found that the sync pulse was badly mishaped and the peak-white excessive. We skinned back a little piece, held it to the light and we could practically see through the sheathing !! The centre core was lightly coated copper over a steel center (we rubbed it down with sandpaper) and had a DC resistance of 5.7 ohms for a 15M piece. We compared it to some previously purchased cable and measured a DC resistance of 2.2 ohms for the same length!! We ended up replacing all the cable and the pictures were crystal clear. The downside was that we lost on labour to re-install on account of us employing contractors due to rush-job and other teams all busy. So my message with RG59 is; no matter how reliable your supplier, always check the cable, because its the one thing mostly overlooked that'll kick you in the #ss !! PS The supplier took all the cable back and credited me for it with a nice letter of apology (still lost on the labour ). Seems he bought elsewhere due to over demand.

The Servision is one of the units available to me that I had in mind. I've tested it out and it's a great little unit. In fact GE over here is OEM selling the product. The other is a South African product called FleetVue that comes ready packaged (shock mounts, power conditioning etc). It's also purpose designed for vehicle applications and has a host of other features. Go to http://www.visioncatcher.co.za . The real challenge of course is getting remote views on the move to a PDA. There are several routes to go in this country for true mobile data use: 1) GPRS - don't waste your time for bandwidth, but it is available in just about every mobile network area 2) 3G - works great but gets fairly expensive for video use, falls back to GPRS if in a marginal area 3) I-Burst via mobile networks - works great, but is more useful in semi-mobile applications where there's coverage 4) Sentech's services called V-Sat and MyWireless - V-Sat = $$$$ and MyWireless = polaroids are more reliable.

Hmmm ... I guess the previous installers repeat business just came to an end !! Is there a chance of just positioning the cams out of harms way, say, a little higher ? We have that kind of thing happen over here quite regularly. What we have done/tried is putting a grating mesh cage (largish holes)around the camera. The grating doesn't interfere with the cams day time view, but you can kinda see the grating holes in the evening. Still have great pics but it's ugly for some environments though. Being a hotel I'd think you would stick to something ike Rory suggested with the Extreme domes. Are the cams connected into a DVR that puts out a videoloss contact ? Put a piezo on the output, both in the area of the cams and at the reception. Plant some cactus under the cameras !!! Only the Jackass team will try it on then.

You still need to control something with the GUI. What piece of hardware is intended between the Human Interface and the camera end of things ? Is it a PC on its own, a PC controlling a video server... ?? Ross, I take it that you mentioned Vista because it is readily available to you and you may be based in the UK ? The RS-232 serial control protocol for the Vista Columbus DVR is open source and it's relatively easy to produce a PC based control panel in VB code (I can send you an example). All you need is to link the 2 monitors to the DVR output. The latest version of this DVR also has a web server component (activeX) that is also open source, where you can use IP for the viewing and control (Rory has coded a program called WaveVue?? for the original version of this DVR made by GE ... whats the link again Rory ?)

It's difficult for some of the reputable companies out there to compete with the Asian Machine, so if you can't beat 'em, join'em. Or at least part of the way, particularly at the entry level ranges. This is why these companies "badge engineer" products on OEM's. The entry level ranges account for more sales than other ranges (bread & butter sales), and if you have a competing product from Asia in this cost sector at a much better price what do you do ? Do a deal with one of the companies listed in A&S, put your badge on it (make sure it's a Sony chip) and you've got a product !! Some of them aren't bad though. I don't think any company out there worth their salt would knowingly put out any product that's dodgy, but you never know. Their sales manager (maybe being non-tech) may have done the OEM deal on a wink and nod, and their poor sales staff have to get the numbers at all costs (you know how it is). If many cams get returned they go looking elsewhere for another source. That's how it's done. As for comparisons, I agree that nothing replaces good experience and a good test. Spec sheets are great for quotes but I want to see the thing working. Would be useful to have a running "top twenty" for "badges" and "originals", or something like that.

Hello Isaac, You would use a frequency spectrum analyser. You could also use a field strength meter (the satellite/antenna guys use them for alignment) if it's in the frequency range you want to check. how's it going with the fiber stuff ?

Howzit Gawie, Perhaps I can help ? PM me your details and I will contact you directly and/or otherwise send mail to sales@selectronix.co.za. There is product available here in S.A. to do the job with a proven track record. Q: Where are you based and are you an end-user or installer ? Sean

Sorry CCTVGEEKNZ but you're a really lucky guy ....

Nah, poor guy has to attend to an urgent service call !!

Dear Justine, Would you like some cheese with your whine ? Go to bed now and make sure your boyfriend clicks all the right options.

Rory, Vista is a product brandname for a security products distributor in the UK called Norbain. They have a OEM'd version of the GE DVR for instance called the Vista Columbus, and Bewator is another security products distributor in the UK. OEM'd products make up a good portion of their product offerings.

Send it in, and get a quote first. Don't go looking for an afro if you don't need one

Ooops, sorry guys !! here's the link: http://www.tecseceurope.co.uk/ look under the transmission section and the guide can be found there.

Just FYI here is a good cable transmission guide; http://www.tecseceurope.co.uk/Pdf's/TECSEC%2005%20Transmission/TECSEC%2005%

Sure you tried the Active UTP Baluns ? The RG11 is good for the distance but just remember that 16X RG11 on an overhead run is going to be heavy and bulky. I presume this will run from post to post on a catenary wire with retaining loops ? ... and there's still no telling what the actual factory environment poses. Do a costing on fiber though. Here in South Africa I can get some fiber cable types the same price as RG11. Just the end boxes and connectorising costs.

If budget's not too much of a problem then look at using the fibre gear,and then the UTP gear. GE makes good products in both categories, but there are others. Co-ax in this environment I would tend to stay away from unless you're guaranteed clean cable runs (slim chance). The problem is not really the use of RG11 over RG59 because all this really gives you is more distance using a thicker cable (minimises the DC resistance in the cable). The interference will still be there if indeed there is some (depends on the type of machinery). Also, how do you intend powering the cameras, centrally or wherever there's a point ?

Rory's right, but with the fibre solution you're guaranteed no interference, even if the cable is run against a high voltage power cable. Also the upgrade path for the future is easier because all you do is change the end-boxes to accomodate more signals without having to install new cable. Just costs a load more. I'm not totally familiar with the NVT UTP gear but have used the GE UTP (active & passive) with excellent results. Problem with a factory is always the electrical environment to consider. The UTP would be my bet. Test each cable run with a cam as it's installed if you're not sure. You may have to re-route if there's interference.

That power panel should do with the 18G wire. As long it can be adjusted down.

I assume this is 5.5V DC ? What's the current draw per cam ? How critical is the voltage beyond 5.5V (say up to 8V .. if you know) ? If it's DC and you put the power pack at the end of a 50FT run you stand a good chance of it not working (the cable core thickness is also important here) due to voltage drop.