Hello all:

I have attached in image of what is occurring on the fourth channel of my Zoneminder setup.

I have tried four different cameras. When any of the cameras are connected directly into the PV-143 card, with a 3 foot cable, the image is perfect.

However, when I connect it as you can see in the attached image, the image becomes "wavy". In the attached picture, it is running through a 50ft. cable.

Is the problem with the length of my cable? Or is the cable itself likely damaged?

Please note, the camera I am using on channel four is an older Panasonic analog b&w camera running at 24v AC. My other three images working perfectly are newer Q-See cameras running at 12v DC.

Thanks for your help!

That is interference. Are you using unshielded cable? Is the cable ran next to cables carrying AC power?

I had the same issue but much worse when I was still using analog cameras out in my garage. I have power and unshielded CAT5 lines ran to the garage. Analog signal over CAT5 which is ran next to AC power made the image unviewable. My only cheap solution was to build a zoneminder box to put in the garage and basacally turn the analog camera into an IP camera with the garage zoneminder box.

You will have to find a solution that will work for you.
If your camera does not have shielded wire from the camera to the zoneminder box try using shielded cable.
Try relocating the zoneminder box closer to the problem camera.
Buy an IP camera to replace that old analog one. Wired or wireless IP cameras will work much better than an analog camera and have a much larger and clearer picture. IP cameras are well worth the money even if you can only buy one or two at a time.

I've gone from cheap x10 b&w cameras to cheap foscam knockoff cameras to full POE Axis cameras. If you can afford it get a POE IP camera with a POE switch or injectors. You run 1 cat 5 wire to the camera and your done. No interference and you can scale up without buying more analog cards.