Upgrading Home Cctv

[Guest Meethoss]

Hi Guys,

I'm new to the forum so first of all I'll say hi My dad has 4 B+W CCTV mini cameras around the outside of his house already setup to play on a security monitor in his kitchen, which outputs to a standard tape recorder. Obviously you'll immediately notice that the problem with this setup is the recording device - he can only record for about 4 hours which is useless if he goes away for a few days.

Being a Computer Scientist (Web Developer being my job title) I feel that a good solution to this would be to use some old parts to build a mini PC and get a video capture card to connect up all the cameras. I could then install an OS and some software to setup areas to view on the images and pick up any changes in frames; if a change is picked up it could then start recording, upload a copy to a site, E-mail/text my dad and he could check it online or whatever (he already has a wireless ADSL connection).

Now this all sounds simple, and it essentially is, but I'm having trouble with the camera connections. They are 5 pin mini-din in a 6 pin formation, except one pin is not used (pin 1 in this image). Now I need to find either a card that I can plug these four connections in to, or something that can convert them in to something that another card uses e.g. most cards I see are BNC so I'm guessing I can get a mini din to BNC connecter or something?

Additionally, something else that I noticed was that these connections have been "tagged" on to the camera wires (there are three wires visible so I guess not all pins are used) so maybe I could just take them apart and put on a new connection?

Sorry I do not know what cameras they are or anything - the monitor it plugs in to has the model number TOM-105 but not sure who made it (I have the manual at home though).

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Steve Pickett

[Guest]

Much easier would be to buy a 960hr time lapse VCR, maybe off eBay, and just plug it in as the existing one is.

Home-made-for-a-budget-of-not-a-lot DVR's are generally not that reliable tbh.

[antinode]

Sounds like you have a Micromark system? I've got one of the cameras from such a system, so I can try to get you the pin out of the DIN connector so that you can make a suitable cable up. IIRC there's +6v for power, video out, audio out, common and screen.

[Guest Meethoss]

Sounds like you have a Micromark system? I've got one of the cameras from such a system, so I can try to get you the pin out of the DIN connector so that you can make a suitable cable up. IIRC there's +6v for power, video out, audio out, common and screen.

To be honest, I'm not sure what cameras they are. I had a look yesterday but all I could see was on the front of the camera a marking stating 3.44mm - there were no other markings. It'd be great if you could find me the pin out - I could at least give it a try. My electronics is a bit out of date (B in A-level Electronics 4.5 years ago!) but I can always give it a try and see what happens. I'd just need to have some idea of what connection I can use with what interface card, if you have any suggestions?