Selecting Cameras

CCTV Cameras

Any cameras with composite video output will work with XtraSense. A realtime multi-port video capture card is required if you use normal cameras with video output as shown below. You may need CCTV Video Modular Balun if the camera is far away (>350m) from monitoring computer. The CCTV Modular Balun allows a single composite CCTV video signal to be transmitted via a single unshielded twisted pair for more versatile security and surveillance cabling. Used in pairs, the CCTV Balun eliminates costly and bulky coax cable, allowing CCTV equipment to be connected to any convenient modular outlet.

Network IP Cameras

XtraSense supports any network IP camera with direct image access (has direct URL to capture camera video frame). Preview/Recording video frame rate varies according to network bandwidth and camera's HTTP server response time. Controlling cameras through network is not supported. The software has been tested on cameras from following makers:

USB Cameras

You need to pay special attention to USB cable wiring if you plan to build a surveillance system using USB cameras. Due to the nature of USB design, there is a length limit for USB cables between two devices. There are basically two types of USB cameras, wireless and wired.

How Long Can the USB Camera's cable extend to

The USB specification is rather vague when it comes to specifying the maximum cable length between devices, but it effectively limits the maximum cable length between a hub port and a peripheral (or between hubs) to 5 metres for a high speed device (USB 2.0) and 3 meters for low speed device (USB 1.1). You can always extend the cable by another 5 meters by adding a powered USB hub in between. However, there is a maximum of five USB hubs may be connected in a chain. So overall the cameras can be extended up to 25 meters away. The actual length may vary according to the cable and device quality.

USB hub requirements

To connect multiple USB cameras, the host computer need to have 4, 9, or 16 USB ports. Unfortunately, most computers don't have so many USB ports. A PCI USB card is used to add additional ports to your computer. It is strongly recommended to use a PCI multi-port USB card instead of a external USB hub. External USB hub connects to host computer through one USB port, which may jam the video streams. XtraSense has been tested to be compatible with PCI USB cards. You many have multiple PCI USB cards installed on one computer.

If you still prefer using external USB 2.0 Hub (480Mbs data transfer rate), the USB hub must be Self-Powered in order to drive all cameras. A Self-Powered USB hub comes with own power adapter as shown below.