Help needed for dumber than dirt newbie!

[alducks 0]

Ok..I knew nothing about CCTV until I 'acquired' a few cams from a liquidated company I worked for. Now I've been volunteered to research a way to hook up one of them for the neighborhood I live in to monitor the trash bins and boat ramp...lotta trespassing going on.

 

The problem(other than not being an electrician):

1)cams are analog, or CCD, with coaxiel input

2)have a donated PC with a Kworld 883 Video Capture Card

3)want to capture the video from the cam onto the server which has something like the freebie Cam Wizard software having motion detector ability, and save the pics on the server hard drive.

 

What do I need to do to make this configuration work? We're trying to make it work using the cams we have rather than going to expensive digital cams, and don't want to buy expensive DVR equipment.

 

Also, I have several power source adapters(tadpoles)...if it's not marked on the cams, how do I know which adapters have the proper amps to use?

 

Ive experimented around some and so far have not even been able to get a pic from the cams to show up directly plugged into a TV--is there a trick to getting that to work, so I can test the cams for operability and resolution?

 

Sorry if this kind of prob has been addressed on previous threads...I looked around some and didnt see anthing directly related to my situation.

Thanks for any help!

Al

[kandcorp 0]

Al,

 

What brand and model cams are they?

[alducks 0]

The one Im trying use is an Ultra..Pro Series..Color DSP CCD high resolution 2531 CR..also has one of those automatic adjustable iris/lens. It has the quick-connect coaxiel connector...not the screw on type. Has switch on the back: Video DR or DC Drive. Also SW switches: 1)AES or AI/MI; 2)OFF or BLC

 

CAn you tell me what these switches do?

 

I have several more, but it will be later in the week before I can get to those.

[kandcorp 0]

Check this out_ http://mace.com/support.php?page=glossary

 

AES = Auto Electronic Sensor

AI = Auto Iris

MI = Manual Iris

BLC = Backlight Compensation

 

Video DR or DC Drive all depends on Type of lens. Basically that cam is compatible with Video DR and DC Drive Lenses.

[alducks 0]

Ok...thanks for the link to the glossary...switches make sense now. Have you got any suggestions for connecting it to the PC?

[kandcorp 0]

Does the Capture card have a RCA or BNC input or just the TV/CATV input. And how far is the camera going to be from the PC?

 

What is exact model number of Kworld card..they have a vs833 or 833 or etc.

 

[alducks 0]

The card is a plain 833 as best as I can determine.. .view product here

 

It has an RCA input and a screw-in coaxial connection..I would have to find a BNC adapter to fit on the end of the cable that goes to the cam.

I dont anticipate the cam being more than 20 ft from the pc

[kandcorp 0]

Well you would utilize the RCA input on the card. I would suggest getting a precut 20-30ft siamese cable with a BNC (for the cam) on one end and a RCA (for the card) on the other. Or you can just get a female/BNC to male/RCA connector if you cant find a cable with those specific connectors already on them. Siamese will bring both Video and power through it. It basically has one line of RG-59 Coax for video and a pair of 18Guage for power. Now where is the camera going to be mounted...Inside/outside. Do you have a housing if its going to be outside.

 

I am still trying to find exact camera info. I need to see if it is a 12volt or 24volt so we can determine the power supply.

Any other numbers will help on camera.

[alducks 0]

It is a 12v cam..and it will be mounted outside most likely in an outdoor housing. The only number that I havent given you on the cam is the serial #:190035 and a CE on the serial #/model # sticker.

 

You're saying to hook the cam up to the RCA input on the card? Does that mean the TV/CATV coaxial connection will not work for a cam or TV monitor application?

[alducks 0]

Edited November 2, 2005 by Guest

[Thomas 0]

The F-Connector is probley going to look for an RF based signal (The card you have is a TV-Tuner card.) and the RCA isn't. CCTV signals aren't modulated (because you're only sending one down the line.) but TV is.

[kandcorp 0]

It probably wont work through the Coax input, it requires a different kind of cable (RG-6) and a different connector. Also, that input is for CATV and goes directly through the TV tuner built into the card. You will have to use the composite RCA input.

 

As far as using the COAX input for a monitor, cant be done. It is an INPUT and will only receive a CATV signal. For your monitor you will just utilize the VGA output that is on your computer's video card. The computer may have an RCA output on the video card but it all depends. Most likely you have an onboard video Output that is just VGA, so you will have to use a computer monitor or something that has a VGA input.

[kandcorp 0]

As far as Power Supply for the camera. You should be safe using this

http://www.spytown.com/12vdcpowsupt.html

since you are only running 30 Feet.

 

And your cable can be custom made through Spytown as well. Talk to Howard @ spytown he should be able to get you your Power Supply, Cable w/ proper connectors and outdoor housing.

 

Andrew

[kandcorp 0]

Another thing to think about is the actual recording of video. Off hand I dont know if that card is capable or has the proper software to that. Like Tom said it is a TV-tuner card. Most of them do have a recording type software that is used for recording TV, like tivo. But can it be used like a DVR....I dont know you will have to check out your manual. Also, where will it record to. If there is only 1 hard drive in the computer you will probably have to make a seperate Partition dedicated just for recording of video. And what happens when HD is full, will it just stop all together or start back over from the beginning of Partition. How big is your HD?.....I'll stop here check those things out and let me know.

[kandcorp 0]

Is this the card?

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815100116

 

Check out the pictures and let me know. If this is the one, I am pretty sure you can achieve what you are trying to do. I believe it comes with the "POWER VCR" software which you will probably use.

[kandcorp 0]

Is this the camera?

http://www.safe-mart.com/diulprosewcc.html

[alducks 0]

Is this the camera?

http://www.safe-mart.com/diulprosewcc.html

 

yes...high resolution color with the 6.0 auto iris lens

 

also, the card you linked to in your previous post..IS the card...and yes, Power VCR II and Power Director 2.5 software is included.

 

The PC has a relatively small HD capacity, but I am just using it to figure out how to make the cam work like I described, then we can install it and the software in a PC with enough space that we wont have to worry about it filling up anytime soon.

 

As far as what Tom said--F-connector=screw on for cooaxial? RF based signal=RCA plug will or wont work? I understand that it is a tuner card but I bought it because it had the TVCATV connector which I thought was needed to use coaxial cable in order to hook up the cam to the PC...apparently that type card is not needed. Is there another comparably priced card that would work better?

 

To summarize so far: what I need is a coaxial cable with a BNC connector on one end and an RCA connector on the other...plug the ends into the cam and the card...connect the 12v power supply..install the Power VCR software, and the pics should show up onscreen, at which time I can figure out whether or not the software will record the pics as needed?

 

Thanks for your patience...

Al

[Thomas 0]

Yep, an F-Connector is the screw on type. I can tell you that the odds of that software having motion detection is somewere between .00001 and 0.0.

[kandcorp 0]

Yes the F-conn. is the Screw in connection on your card and can only be used for TV. WILL NOT work with camera.

 

 

The RCA input on your card WILL work. That is what your SIAMESE (rg-59 plus 18AWG) cable will plug into from the camera.

 

Your summarization sounds about right.

 

 

Im sure there are some other cards you could go with that are made strictly for DVR purposes, but most companies dont make a single channel DVR card usually start at 4 channel. And for a decent 4 channel card you will spend between 150 - 300.00.

[alducks 0]

Thank you both for your help...after I get the suggested connections and hook it all up, I'll post an update..I know you'll be on the edge of your chairs..

 

btw, I was hoping the Cam Wizard software I downloaded might be able to do the motion detection trick..once I get the cam pics to show up on the PC..probably a long shot.

[kandcorp 0]

No problem at all.....I am grinding my teeth with anxiety..

 

Please post once you have finished and again if you need anything else feel free to post or ask Howard @ Spytown he is a really nice feller.

[alducks 0]

WElllll...cant get the video capture board to work...then I hooked the cam directly to a VCR, and couldnt get a picture that way either. This is getting aggravating....guess I'll give one of the other cams a shot and try to figure out what the heck is the board problem.

[rory 0]

Are the right drivers loaded for the card?

 

What error are you getting?

 

Rory

[Securitymaster 0]

Try updating DirectX, that fixes a lot of problems.

[kandcorp 0]

System Req for your card:

 

Pentium-III 800 MHz or higher (recommended)

128 MB RAM of system memory or above (recommended)

PCI 2.2 Compliant Slot

Graphics Card (Must support DirectX 9.0c)

Sound Card (AC97 compatible sound card)

1GB Free HD Space

CD-ROM Drive (For software installation)

Microsoft Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP

 

 

Also check out this:

http://www.kworld.com.tw/en/download/download_pvr-tv883.htm

Seems they have added some recent updated drivers in the last couple months. Might want to get these since they have from what I saw, a lot of fixes.