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[paul]

I am building a new house and have
therefore have the opportunity to do the
wiring.  Is a wired system better than
wireless? What are the
advantages/disadvantages between them?

[AccessX10]

Yes, wired is always better if you are
concerned about security. Wireless signals
can be picked up by neighbors or other
unwanted eyes. Additionally, wireless
interference can cause signal issues/picture.
If you plan to use your cameras for
surveillance, I would all highly recommend
going with a CCD camera instead of CMOS.

http://www.accessx10.com
Come joint the X10 technical community!

[Go-with-the-flow]

Paul:  Prewire with Cat5 or Cat6 and the
ones for cameras include the Ethernet with
power conductor & connector. There are
cameras that are relatively inexpensive and
provide great performance in PC format i.e.,
MPG2 or MPEG4 direct to your PC of File
server/DVR.  Invest some effort and look
into it.  I believe you will be glad you did.

[barrington]

Certainly prewire Ethernet for networking
if you like ... however, that scenerio will
be fading out now with the high speed
wireless access points that are very
inexpensive today.  I just removed all the
ethernet wiring from our house to sell to
someone less modern.  I can work from any
room without plugging in anywhere, without
sacrificing speed or security.  Even in the
yard, and even on my Clie.

For security cameras the wireless are
easier and more flexible and more
economical than the wired.  If you enjoy
purchasing cabling and running wires then
go for it.  Remember that you might want to
view any of the cameras from any TV and
computer in your home which is much easier
without the wires or expensive switchers.
Make sure you evaluate the cost of all
hardware, and how many locations you want
to monitor from now and in the future.
With wireless it doesn't matter but for
wired systems it has a huge impact on the
hardware and cost involved.

[barrington]

For example, I installed a shed 100 feet
from the main house.  I wanted to connect a
camera.  Since I had power there, I just
plugged in a camera.  Done.  Now from any
TV and computer and remotely I can switch
to that camera.  Work out the logistics and
cost of doing that with a wired system.
Keep in mind that the wired cameras all
connect physically to hardware.  What
happens when the last port is used?  Plan
for that.  Cost?

Our dog just had a litter.  I plugged in a
Ninja pointing at the whelping box, and
this temporary setup (5 weeks) is up and
running in 5 minutes.

The freedom to add, install, move, and
monitor all cameras from anywhere is the
best part of our system.  I can't think of
a single 'pro' argument for setting up
wired cameras.

With more and more networks going wireless,
why would you want to run wires?

[paul]

Barrington:
What about signal loss due to interference
from cell phone or nija tilt scan signal
loss.  I have not used any of these systems?

[frowny]

I strongly suggest using WIRED cameras when
possible.  If you read all the threads you
will see that X10 fanatics are constantly
blaming cell phone, radio transmitters,
etc. etc for interference which are excuses
for why RF cameras don't work as
specified.  The reasons are numerous,
security, signal quality, privacy,
reliabiltiy, etc.

Here at this location I have 16 cameras, 8
were wireless X10 cameras.  I quickly found
that I had to convert them all to wired
cameras.

If you don't know where you are going to
locate the cameras yet, you can run a
conduit from your basement or crawl space
to your attic.  This way you can later run
wires from the basement to the attic and
easily run the wire to the eaves whereever
you chose to locate the cameras later on.
This will give you flexibility for future
expansion or changes.  Keep in mind that
X10 wired cameras have 60 foot long wires
from camera to connector-head.

[frowny]

An 18 guage 4-conductor telephone wire
works fine for the wired cameras.  You will
need: Ground, 12Vcc, Video and Audio
signals (hence 4 conductor)

[paul]

FROWNY
Have you shared the wired cam power source
with the nija which would then be hooked up
to the dvr card?