The Ethernet Cable CAT5 CAT6 Fiber Speed 10 ~ 100 Mbps 1000 Mbps Common cables used for Ethernet are the CAT5, CAT6, and fiber optic cables. Their properties are as follow: CAT5 CAT6 Fiber Speed 10 ~ 100 Mbps 1000 Mbps Distance 100m or 300ft 2km or 1.25mi Relative Cost Low Slightly More High There are two ways your network device can acquire its IP address: dynamically or statically. Dynamic IP denotes the use of a router or DHCP server to acquire an IP automatically. This can be as simple as connecting your camera to a router or Internet modem. Static IP, on the other hand, is set up manually by the user, and requires more steps and management. Since each device needs to have a unique IP, conflicts can occur if the setup is not done properly. Dynamic IP nearly never creates IP conflicts, where as static IP sometimes can if care is not take by the person setting up. A drawback that dynamic IP has is that it can change over time. If the IP changes, the recorder will no longer be able to make contact with the camera. This is why static IP’s are almost always used at the end of the installation. It is common practice that dynamic IP’s are used for initial setup to establish communication with all cameras at once, then they are individually changed to static IP’s to finalize the network setup. CAT5, CAT6 Fiber Optics