Hi there,

i am about to purchase a camera system to monitor
5 rooms in a bar. However, i would need to be able
to get the camera signal into a third party application,
meaning that every camera signal on the capture
card is available as a separate device/signal
for the operating system.

I am unsure if the camera signals are only available to
the Geovision software and not for third party apps.

Does anyone know if this is possible with the Geovision GV-250 card ?

Thanks for your advice !

Can I ask what you gonna use it for?

JD

I'm working on a multimedia installation for a club.

They have 8 Video Projectors, 4 TV sets and 4 Cameras. The videos shown
on the projectors should some time show a live camera from one of the
other floors. This however should not be fullscreen but mixed with another video, that's why i would need to get the camera signal into another program)

Hi!

I would strongly recommend if possible to use signal distributors that multiply your signal from the cameras before you send them into the Geovision server if possible or use a Geovision Combo card that have a Spot Monitor/Call Monitor output and take the signal from there.

Another way that we have done is to use the webcam solution and embedd the video into a webpage.

But the best video quality you get by taking it directly or thru the spot monitor port.

JD

Sorry, but i'm pretty much a newbie when it comes to capture cards.

What exactly is the spot monitor port ? It seems the card they're using here
doesn't have such a thing (GV250).

Do i understand it right and i might need a second card, that provides
the realtime capturing capabilities like this one and connect it to the one i have ?

henrys.co.uk/cctv/geovision-GVDSP.htm

thanks for your help !

lets do this from a different angle.

What is your input options where the video is going?

JD

Hi, easy way would be to use the GeoVision loop out card since it is just 1 camera out to each monitor. Like Join said, best quality would be direct from the DVR, even better, direct from the camera; not over the network. You could also just bypass the DVR all together for the projectors using a T-Connector for example, and it will then be real time, as the GV250 with the loop out may slow it down (not sure if the loop out is like the DSP where it is the raw video or not?).

The spot will be real time but it will only do 1 output. There is also the Multi Quad Card though, sort of matrix system, but it is costly.

Back to the original question, you could use the LiveX ActiveX Control, that comes with the DVR software. It can be dumped into any 3rd party application, though you would need the full version to get all the public routines. Each individual LiveX Control is a connection to a single camera, so for example 4 of them would be needed to connect to and display video from 4 cameras.

See these 2 free applications for further information:
http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=9767
http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=9762