video security - cabling?

[ep]

hei all,

we would like parts of our house secured by some cameras (Webcams).
A workable solution is running iCatcher together with USB cameras.
But USB is rather restrictive with cable length. Maximum length seems to be
27 meters, including repeaters, which is rather expensive.
Would there be a possibility with coax cable?

thanks,
bertie

[Si Ballenger]

On Fri, 18 Jul 2003 13:09:26 +0200, "ep"
<520097910350_N_O_R_U_B_B_I_S_H_S_P_A_M@t-online.de> wrote:
hei all,we would like parts of our house secured by some cameras (Webcams).A workable solution is running iCatcher together with USB cameras.But USB is rather restrictive with cable length. Maximum length seems to be27 meters, including repeaters, which is rather expensive.Would there be a possibility with coax cable?thanks,bertie

For a video run of any length, you probably need to use the
standard analog NTSC (composite) video signal cams. These runs
can be over a hunderd feet just using something like cat3 phone
wire.

[Eagletron Inc.]

The main considerations are how many cameras you're talking about and
how far they are from the computer. USB 1.1 has severe distance and
bandwidth limitations. One camera can get 30fps at 320x240, even up to
150 away with a $100 CAT5 extender, but when you add the second
camera, you drop to 5 or 10 fps. Add another and you'll likely get a
USB bandwidth error. You usually can't use two of the same type of USB
camera on one computer. Multiple USB cards don't solve the problem
either.

If you want 30 fps at 320x240 for 3 or 4 cameras simultaneously, get
a few Hauppauge WinTV GO capture cards for $50 each and some cheap
NTSC board or dome cameras and use COAX to put the cameras up to 1000
feet away.

You have to be very careful about what software you use for motion
detection and capture with cheap capture cards. CamPanel is a free
download that works with multiple simultaneous inputs (USB, Firewire,
capture cards) and does digital video recording, motion detection,
alarms, email notification, etc. You can get it from

www.trackercam.com

Hope this helps.

TrackerCam Development

[ep]

Thanks very much for the info indeed! :-)

bertie

"Eagletron Inc." <sales@eagletron.com> wrote in message
news:9827bec0.0307181425.63129017@posting.google.com... The main considerations are how many cameras you're talking about and how far they are from the computer. USB 1.1 has severe distance and bandwidth limitations. One camera can get 30fps at 320x240, even up to 150 away with a $100 CAT5 extender, but when you add the second camera, you drop to 5 or 10 fps. Add another and you'll likely get a USB bandwidth error. You usually can't use two of the same type of USB camera on one computer. Multiple USB cards don't solve the problem either. If you want 30 fps at 320x240 for 3 or 4 cameras simultaneously, get a few Hauppauge WinTV GO capture cards for $50 each and some cheap NTSC board or dome cameras and use COAX to put the cameras up to 1000 feet away. You have to be very careful about what software you use for motion detection and capture with cheap capture cards. CamPanel is a free download that works with multiple simultaneous inputs (USB, Firewire, capture cards) and does digital video recording, motion detection, alarms, email notification, etc. You can get it from www.trackercam.com Hope this helps. TrackerCam Development