IR Over Cat5e to Sony EVI-D80 Confusion

[jaredabe]

With the help of a neighboring STS who's done this a few times, I am installing 2 Sony EVI-D80's at our Stake Center for webcasting. I've run 2 Cat5e runs to each camera - one for video, the other for control. I'm fine on video. I'm confused on control. My STS resource had me purchase a Xantech DL95K IR Receiver Kit and somehow I'm supposed to wire this kit over CAT5e to my cameras. Can anyone help clarify the exact adapters / termination I'll need to do at each end to make this work? When I asked him all he said was "cut and solder."

Appreciate any help.

[michaelfish]

The link you provided is for an Infrared Repeater which takes the signal from a I/R remote and sends it through the CAT5 cable to the emitter. The emitter is usually stuck the the back of the camera where the I/R receiver port is.

You would point the remote control at the pick up sensor and the signal would be repeated through the CAT5 to the camera.

Are you planning on using the I/R remote which came with the camera to control it?

If this is indeed the case, cut the I/R emitter cable in half and extend it with the CAT5 cable. Since the CAT5 cable has 8 wires in it and you only need two, you could use the 4 white striped wires as the ground and the solid color wires for the signal. The path would be like this: I/R receiver to box, box to cut emitter plug, cut wire with plug to CAT5 wire, CAT5 wires to the other cut wire with emitter, secure emitter to the camera's I/R window. This could be done for both cameras using two of the I/R emitter ports.

(BTW IMO, this repeater system is an overkill - you don't need 4-ports)

[jaredabe]

Appreciate the reply! Yes, I will use the remote that comes with the EVI-80's. Wow, your solution seems like a way more straight forward approach. I was going to terminate the cat5e cable to the VISCA RS-422 (green connector) at the camera end and then terminate the other end to an ethernet to stereo 3.5 balun (Xantech manual says you can use a 3.5 stereo input) and plug that into the I/R box. But I wasn't sure that would actually work.

With your solution, I would just need to strip and solder the cat5e to the cut emmiter cable and secure the emitter to the camera I/R window. Simple. I knew I was over-thinking it. Now to watch some cable soldering videos.

I'll post back with the results. Again, thanks for your help!

[michaelfish]

You don't need to solder the wires, just make a tight, secure connection and insulate it with the black electrical tape or use some wire nuts. I prefer to just crimp my connections but you probably don't have those tools.

If you want to solder, use can use a cheap pencil type solder iron. Strip and bare the wires about 1/2 an inch. Twist them together. Use the soldering iron to heat the wire (not the solder). Start melting the solder on the WIRES closest to the heat (tip of the soldering iron) and work back away from the iron towards the insulation. The goal is to have the solder flow towards the heat source and cover all the bare wire surfaces. BTW, don't touch anything until it cools. Good luck.

[russellhltn]

Before he goes to all that work, what's the difference between IR and wired control? I seem to remember folks saying it was hard to have fine control with IR. So hard wired was preferred.

[michaelfish]

The main difference between I/R and wired is the amount of control. The wired VISCA protocol allows for more precise control of pan/tilt/zoom and access to other camera functions not available on the handheld wireless infrared remote.

The Sony wireless remote controls only zoom (2 fixed speeds), pan, tilt, automatic or manual focus, back-light, 6 preset positions and power. A nice feature is that one remote can independently operate 3 separate cameras.

In contrast, the Sony RM-BR300 joystick controller offers a wide range of additional adjustments not found on the wireless remote like servo pan tilt and zoom speeds (it's BEST feature), control of brightness, iris, shutter speed, gain, white balance, red/blue color fine tuning, etc. The controller can also operate 7 different cameras. This is accomplished via wired RS-232 or RS-422 protocols (usually over CAT5 cable) but requires data communication via a computer or joystick controller. Free PC software can be downloaded from Sony and there's even a program in one of this forum's posts to control this camera via PC.

IMO, I found PC control with software difficult to use since you need to look a the computer's mouse pointer (direction and speed of pan/tilt/zoom) and at the same time, watch the monitor to see what you're doing.

(Since the post made reference to an I/R repeater, I assumed he wanted hand-held remote wiring instructions.)

[jimbo3san]

In my many years of doing this I have used the IR Remotes, Joysticks (though not the RM-BR300), and a software solution. My preference in most desired to least desired:

1) Software. Hands down the most precise and responsive control and it is easy to use. I suppose it depends on the software. I use the solution posted by Luis Puster here in the forums. Well written (IMO). I am sure there are other packages out there but this one is written by Luis and is easy to use and easy to learn. It has single step jogging for the PT functions and the speed-of-function from the-distance-to-the-center-of-the-graphic feature is divine! Presets are extremely easy to use and it even has an easy to use simply title-ing functionality. I really like it, a lot! Best of all, it is provided at no cost by Luis Puster. Kudos to Luis!

2) Joystick. Usually, easiest to "hook up" and train others to use...it is a joystick. But I find these to lack the precision of the software and, though easy to use, it can take a lot of steps to switch cameras, etc. Distant shots can be cumbersome to align for the P&T functions. Zoom is usually smooth and precise. I have used two different types, but neither were the Sony RM-BR300 device (very expensive) so I can't speak to this one. The responsiveness of the control seems to have a small lag or delay as well. IOW, from instigation of movement to response of the camera there is a noticeable small lag time. Whereas, the software is highly responsive.

3) IR Remote. Simply put, I can't stand them. By far and large the easiest to use, however. I find it difficult to line up the shot. I am constantly overshooting or under-shooting the pan or the tilt, zooming is O.K. I avoid the IR Remotes completely. Though, if you are looking for the easiest control solution w/o having a lot of technical knowledge, then these are absolutely the way to go!

That is my experienced input...

-Jim B.
(Jimbo3san)

[jaredabe]

Just wanted to follow up and thank everyone for their input and let you know what I ended up doing. I will be controlling the IR via the remotes that came with the Sony Cameras. I essentially "extended" the Xantech IR Receiver kit with the Cat5e cable I ran from the camera(s) to my control area:

Because I didn't want to deal with soldering, I realized that the IR emitter cable is basically a stereo cable (3.5mm jack on one end, IR emitter on the other) so I terminated both ends of my Cat5e cable to stereo baluns. I plugged one balun straight into the IR Receiver and connected the actual emitter cable that came with the IR Receiver to the other balun using a female to female stereo adapter and lined up and secured the emitter to the IR window on the camera. It works like a champ.

Hopefully this can help someone else. Again, thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

[kevdearing]

Hi. This post is really old so hopefully someone will see it. We recently replace our stake's Sony EVI-D80N camera with something better. However it was suggested that we install the old Sony in the high counsel room for meetings, etc. I'm not too technical, but I'm wondering if I can install this camera and connect it to the mini PC behind the TV. The Sony camera was previously installed and connect to our main board/equipment in the library via 2 cat5 cables. There were two convertors coming out of the VISCA ports on the back of the camera - each port had a VISCA cable coming out and converting to a CAT5 connection.
So my question is how would I install this camera in the HC room using a mini PC (no video board, etc.) and the convertors? Is this possible?
Thanks!

[dave.swartz]

Here is my advice if you really need a camera in the HC room. Purchase a Evi-h100v camera from EBay. They have a similar form factor but are HD. I see one available now for $40. It will use the same power supply and mounts as your existing camera. Then get an DVI to HDMI adaptor from Amazon $7 and this camera will now output HD over HDMI. This is much better video than your old camera and better yet you can now use a simple HDMI to usb capture card and its signal is over HDMI.

The VISCA interface you describe is for controlling the camera remotely such as with a joystick. For a small meeting room I would abandon this interface and use the cameras native IR control interface via a handheld remote control. Your existing remote should work with the camera I suggested.