Odd image distortion-anybody seen this before?

jjleprikon · Post by **jjleprikon** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 10:14 pm

I have had my ZM box built for about 3 weeks now. I have 3 cameras that have all been working fine. About 2 weeks ago I accidently fried my hard drive that stores the images I have the OS on another disk. About a week ago after I replaced the drive and had it running again, I noticed several images like this being generated. I think this is a camera problem, because if I power down the camera it looks fine again, then starts to gradually go bad. Heres a few examples: good, bad , and worse. Before I replace the camera, I just thought I'd check and see if anyone has any ideas. I would hate to replace the camera, find I still have the problem, then come here and have someone say they know how to fix it. I don't seem to have any problems with either of the other 2 cameras though. Sorry I don't know the brand and model of the camera, but it has a varifocal lens with auto iris. It has been been unseasonably cold recently (about low 30'sF) but the camera is indoors. There is nothing on the lens, and apparently nothing on the CCD. Nothing was changed with the camera.

jamescollings · Post by **jamescollings** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 9:02 am

Do you have any other way of testing the camera? I have found that I can plug mine into my portable DVD player and view the image on the screen. Very useful for pointing the camera in the right place without dashing back to a Web browser. In your case, it would prove that the camera is/isn't ok. If it runs ok, then you should look at the video card.

jjleprikon · Post by **jjleprikon** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 3:42 pm

Excellent suggestion, I was wondering how I was going to aim the cameras when I mount them. Right now everyting is still sitting on my work table. I have an 8 channel card, so the other cameras which are working fine with no distortion are all working off the same card, but I think I'll try another channel while I'm troubleshooting.

lazyleopard · Post by **lazyleopard** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 3:43 pm

Only time I've ever seen a camera do anything even vaguely like that it was because the camera managed to get a sustained peek at the setting sun, and something in the camera electronics overheated...