Stuart

Thanks Soundy again for great advice

I need some assistance in finding a solution for making from my DVR whick is on the third floor of my home to Televisions that are on the first and second floors. It would appear that VGA is the best solution but I was curious about using CAT-5 for such long runs. Yet, are there any adaptors to go from VGA to CAT5 on the DVR and then from CAT5 to VGA on the televisions? If someone feels that CAT5 is not my best option then feel free to give me advice.

Thanks for your response. Such a switch would make using CAT5 doable and I conducted some research on the KVM extenders that you mentioned and found them to be a bit pricey. Unless I am looking in the wrong place or viewing the wrong item the prices are upwards of $200. Kindly, is it possible to add a link for locations to purchase these switches?

I need to either, change my entire run of cable or possibly change the end that connects to video on my camera. The end is apparently bad because when I touch it or if it moves slightly even in the wind I lose the signal (not the power). Is it possible to change the ends on these cheap cables that has power and video in one cable? Any assistance will be much appreciated

Many thanks; this will be my first attempt in repairing cable and I wanted to be sure I was not wasting my time. I have followed your advice on this forum and saved a lot of time. I have also utilized your site to retrieve replacement owners manuals and thanks for this as well.

Opps! Thanks Soundy, you have assisted me many times before on this forum. I forgot to mention that the conncector is a BNC connector, does this change anything. I used the word cheap because the cabling came with the camera. Do I still have to solder or will I be able to use some sort of crimping tool?

I guess you are correct about the component out (not). I actually used an adaptor on the BNC connection and plugged into my television's component input from it.

Thanks for the information. I am not familiar with that type of device-what heading will I look under in searching for it?

I am experiencing a foggy dome inside a PTZ camera that has heater and blower. It appears to fog even if the temperature is above freezing or below freezing. I was told by one person that the heater might be too warm and another told me that the dome might not be tight enough. I have since made sure that the dome was good and tight-any suggestions or experiences?

Right now I have a single monitor hooked up using the VGA output from the back of the DVR. Yet, I think it also has the composite output as well.

How do you connect to the additional monitors using cat5. I too, want to connect to several monitors.

Many thanks; I will attend to the other remedies as you suggested and keep the heater on.

I will try both of your remedies; one more question: Could it be possible that I do not need the heater and it is the heater that is causing the moisture by keeping the inside too hot for my Washington DC area?

I am a bit confused about the difference between IP cameras and the cameras that I currently have installed to work with my DVR. This is my issue: We recently installed 6 AXIS 211 IP cameras in our community running from Comcast Cable network. Currently we are only able to view one camera at at time, but desire an interface so we can see all cameras on one screen simultaniously, such as I have on my DVR. Axis sells what is called a "camera station" that enables such a feature plus recording. Is there an alternative for such software that is free or very cheap that will allow viewing and recording from an internet connection?

For 6 cameras Axis wants around 800 bucks for the software, but this does not include a storage device.

I purchased 2 of the Nuvico CV-SD21N-L night vision cameras and I am having problems with power/video connections. These cameras are listed as duel voltage cameras. If I connect them to my existing Siamese cable they will not operate or show an image on my DVR. When I connect the 24 volt included power supply and hook them to my television via a BNC/composite adapter they work okay. When I connect them with a 1500m 12vdc power supply and connect them into a wall socket and connect them via BNC/composite on my television they work okay. At first I thought I had an issue with my DC power supply box So, I tried connecting the 1500m 12vdc power supply specifically to the cable that I wanted to use the Nuvico on. No picture!! Now I do not know if it is power or video is causing the problem. This is a dilemma, because I have 6 other cameras operating off of identical cable and connections. Actually I connected a spare camera to the very same cable that has very high resolution and over 40 leds and it worked just fine. I cannot isolate the culprit here! Is it the video or the power connections that is not compatable with these cameras? Or, is it my DVR, which by the way operates very well with my other 6 high res infrared cameras. Please assist!

Thanks, I too had considered the cable quality as suspect. Maybe the Nuvico cameras require a better quality cable than the other generic cameras that are using the same cable. First, as sugested by the last response, I need to make sure that it is either video or power that is the real issue.

Well, the camera works fine when I bring it inside and plug it into the wall via 12 v or 24 v adapter, and use my television. It is when I connect it to the existing cable outside that it does not work, even when I replaced the power supply with the 1500m adapter. Your ideal of taking a monitor or television outside to the actual place where the problem is might be a good one to isolate the issue to one place. Kind of weird that other cameras work fine off of the very same cable. Bye the way I also tried a lower miilamp dc adapter inside the house with the televion and the camera would not work. It only worked with the 1500m or the 24 volt. Thanks man!!

I too am curious about the difference between Auto Iris and AES. My question is this: which application will produce better color and better clarity if they both were installed on identical cameras for comparison? I would appreciate some assistance with this, because recently I have come across some issues with (advertised) AES on some dome infrared cameras, but the color was just not there. Someone told me that auto iris would give me a better picture. Thanks!

Could someone please answer this tech question for me: Assuming that both of these cameras are of the same quality, which would give me a better (daytime) viewing image for the same application. 1. Sony 1/3 CCD with 420 TV Lines 2. Sony 1/4 CCD with 480 TV Lines I would appreciate any assistance I can get, as this is beyond my ability to compare.

I am learning more and more all of the time. I see such advertisements of 1/4 ccd with 480 tv lines all of the time. I know it does not mean that the add is true or correct. You would think that there would be a rule of law aginst such false ads if in fact they are false. Thanks again for professional inputs.

If my DVR has a PATA hard drive, could I replace it with a SATA hard drive. I currently have a Samsung SPO842N 80 gig PATA hard drive and I want to upgrade it. I am looking at the Seagate SV35 SATA 500 gig drive. Will it work?

Are there any difference between an internal hard drive that can be obtained from Staples and one from a CCTV store? Does it have to be a CCTV type of harddrive or does it matter?

If an IR camera specs state 1/3 Sony 520 TV lines, does it necessarily mean it will be less than 520 TV lines for daytime viewing?? My issue is that it appears that a couple of my cameras that states to be 520 TV lines has good night vision, but the daytime image is not as clear as I would expect a 520 TV line camera to be, especially when I compare the images to a couple of my cameras that has 420 TV lines. If anyone can provide me a bit of insight on this I would appreciate it.

Many thanks for the reference materials. It took me a while to get to all of it and study it but it was very enlightening. I now see how I have been wasting my time reading the Ebay ads (in some cases) as most of it is plain ole repetition posed to outdo the next highest resolution.