Jasper

I think many people have the same problem. I have Comcast and they have 4mbps download, but only 384K uploads. Of course this is a consumer account, which also costs less. If you want more speed on the upload your going to have to pay for it, unless you have more ISP options and somebody else offers a better upload speed There is no ISP that can offer you a higher upload speed at any cost This should be changing in the near future as Broadband ISP's provide more bandwidth for uploads, but it all depends when they make the change in your area VST_MAN, have you done that? What ISP lets you do that? And isn't that a little cost prohibitive? How does that work?

These pictures were taken after closing. There is some more light on the other side of the bar than the photos show. Unfortunately at the time of the photos there was no one there to show me the location of the switch. My main goal is to record all activities behind the bar and be able to see all the entire bar counter. I am not trying to pickup anything beyond the surface of the bar and beind the bar. They only want to see transactions between the customers and the bartenders, not anything else outside that area. That is the reason for 4 domes instead of 2. The other 2 domes are primarily to see the ends of the bar. Although thinking more about the ends of the bar I realized I will be observing the bartenders from the rear, rather than the front or side like the other 2 cameras. Thus some funny business can still take place without the camera catching it. Yikes… The alternative might be two mount a couple of bullet camera’s high outside the bar area pointed down to see the bartender from the front. Although that area is a false ceiling, Jeez Louise… Maybe I need a fisheye lens There has to be a better way and I just can’t see it. 4 cameras seems excessive, but that is the only way I can figure to insure full countertop coverage.

I would like opinions on the following: I am thinking of installing 4 of these: Extreme CCTV WZ46-B5VA4 B&W, 1/3'', 570 TVL, Varifocal, 4-9mm, Auto-Iris, Surface Mount http://www.wizkidoptotech.com/products/index.cfm?img=12&area=2 (Had bad link to wrong specs, corrected now) The idea is to cover then entire surface area of a bar. The direction of the cameras will be as follows: \ Toward middle of bar / far end counter top \ front end counter top / toward inside of bar And should I be looking for the 2.6-5.8 or is the 4-9mm lens better for this purpose? I need to use domes due to a low ceiling. A large wood barrier is in the middle of the bar, thus 4 cameras. I already replaced the ceiling fans with surface mount diffused lights. Here are a couple of photos to give you an idea of the application. (Thanks Rory)

Around how much are you willing to spend for this system? We need a budget to work with before making any kind of suggestions. That will determine more than anything what you would be able to put together. You have the computer system this is powerful enough to be used for a DVR. So, how simple and how low cost?

I like the price. They sure have come down in price over the last few years. You don't ever have to worry about a fan going out and frying your card with that heat sink. Nice card for the money. And Rory tested and approved.

Did they use this camera in a dome? I have never seen these little camera's outside a dome in a casino, of course I don't see as good as I used too. What are the physical dimensions of this camera? I would like to put one of these above a cash register in a bar, but am concerned the picture might be grainy. Also without an IR/Cut filter I am wondering if the neon signs nearby would totally distort the color? I would like to use color if I can, but black and white seem to have less problems with this type of lighting?

Thats good to know, so I didn't waste money after all. I just bought the new GV-1240 Combo Card. This Video card should be fast on a PCI-E 16x speed bus. I am curious, I know I gained audio on this board, but this real time display, how do the other non-combo cards compare to this card. This is my the fist GeoVison card I have purchased.

If C7Installer got away with running a Radeon 7500 I wouldn't worry too much because that is an old card. I have one. I just bought a X600 ATI 256MB PCI-E, which is probably way overkill. It's not like your playing intensive state of the art video games on your computer. If you know a Radeon 7500 works, you can pick those up cheap these days. I wish I would have known that before I bought this expensive video card that I didn't need.

Find out if he has a PayPal account and send him some money, it can't hurt. He may say only 200 more posts, instead of the normal 500.

Boy, talk about trying to get rid of a customer when the tech support person doesn't have a clue how to help! If you contact GeoVision again make sure you don't get that person again, they obviously did not have a clue on how to help you. So they gave you that lame degrag the hard disk bull crap. They should be walking you through a methodical trouble shooting routine, things like: 1) check devices under my computer and make sure there are not conflicts, yellow splats will show up next to an item if the driver is screwed up for that device. 2) Chkdsk /f - scan and fix error in your file system, done from dos command prompt. 3) Run a utility program to check that RAM is ok? This is just a few things and not real good examples of the proper order, there are so many things that can cause a system to lock up, but they should be running down a list of some kind. And they should be doing it in the order of the most likely cause and be moving down the list. I hope the rest of the tech support staff is better trained or knowledgeable about the products they sell. They might as well outsource to people who have used the product if they can’t do better that how they handled you. Unfortunately this is very common when calling companies for tech support. They throw the people into the job with little or no training and expect them to help people

Yep, if you buy a brand name you are bettering your chances of hitting than missing, trying those cheap cameras out can get real expensive. When you are reading specs on a camera, who are going to believe? The no name brand with nothing to lose, because they have no reputation anyway or a branded product that wants to keep their reputation by always trying to produce a better product then the “No namesâ€

Regarding bypassing the Windows Logon screen, I know in XP you can use Run, type in "control userpasswords2". There is a check mark that can be removed to allow the computer to load to the desktop without any password required. This is easier than the registry edit, especially if you would rather not mess with the registry.

Tanks, my fellow insomniac

I am wondering if I could adapt a phone cord style cord leading to a couple of old analog black and white cameras to work with a Geovison Card? I forget how many wires the cables have, but it’s enough for video and audio for each camera. Is there adapters available for sale or would I have to make them up myself? If it doesn’t take too much money to make the adapters I would like to do it temporally so not to tip off the bartenders that a new security system has been put in place. They know it is tape now, but they also know it’s not on most of the time. Then I can put the newer cameras in a short time later after we catch a few people doing stuff they shouldn’t be doing?

The more I think about it, that cable has to be standard telco wire, hopeuflly with the same colors. Your colors are right for standard telco. The jacks are RJ-11 so they can only hold 4 wires. I have never bought a power supply from Rat-Shack. Too bad they were not 12volts, I have all kinds of those power supplies. They are only using 2 cameras so the power supply would probably only need to be 1amp. I searched the internet for that foucs system and couldn't find any specs on anything. Just that some people are still selling the same model.

Thanks. I would have tried using a 12volt power supply and would have been wondering what I did wrong. I should notice some improvement of video quality over using the VCR. Maybe they might want to keep the existing cameras. Only reason I say that is because I'm a lot bigger than I used to be and I'm not looking foward to crawling through that attic to run the cable. That's for those small, young, light weight types, of which I am no longer a member.

Yes, it is an old Focus Observation System with the Telco type wire. I did not know that the monitor was supplying the cameras 15 volts. I gather I would have to use the monitor to power the cameras, splice the wires for the video and audio. I could use some old RCA cables with BNC adapters connected to the splice for video and plain RCA for the audio? Rinky Dink, but it might work for the short while I want to do this. After I get all my stuff together I will do the job properly with the new cameras, cable, etc. I just want to slip the Geovison system in there and try to use the existing cameras for that initial element of surprise.

One of the most important things about buying a camera other than the quality, is it the right camera for the application? Here is just some of the general information I have picked up along the way. Color cameras are best suited for really well lit areas, inside or out. If you want to see a persons face when the sun is behind them you need back light compensation. If you don’t want a camera to be overcome by light you need a camera with an auto iris. A method of reducing the amount of light coming into the camera, to prevent the camera from being overpowered by too much light. These are simple examples, as there is much more to learn to really understand the differences between cameras when reading a specification sheet. We all wish we could take them for a test spin first, I wish. The point is, figure out the type of camera you need for the application, then go hunting for cameras looking for the characteristics of what you think you will need. I’m all for quality, but if you have the wrong type of camera for the application in won’t matter.

Yes, you need to keep that equipment within its tolerance range or bye bye. I didn't realize the power situation you were dealing with there. Is this a low priority with the government or what? I imagine there are many things we take for granted here that are not available there, for the mere fact your on and island in the middle of the ocean. How does the regulator shut down your equipment? Does it just kill the power to the equipment? Are you selling UPS's to your clients for their equipment or do they just by new equipment from you when it breaks

Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR) Automatically corrects low and high voltage conditions, allowing you to work through brownouts and overvoltages without discharging the battery. This saves battery life, increases uptime, and improves your productivity And you can define the lower and upper limits to your own specs. I have been very satisfied with this UPS, it has saved me several times.

Yeah, unless you need the specifics features that are offered by that expensive UPS you can buy 5 of the APC UPS listed above. Plus each APC unit has more than 3 times the battery power of this other unit. Guess I would need an explenation of why that one is so much better

This is a very nice APC unit I have at home. http://www.apcc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=23&tab=features It easily setup with a PC and once you configure the voltage tolerances and other features you can then use it for a stand alone DVR. It will remember all your settings. It keeps track of every time it goes on battery backup, which could be for to low voltage, to high, brown out, power outage, etc. If you use it with a PC it has a good management program that comes with it. The software tells you how many watts of stuff you have connected to it and estimates run time for you. You can program it for audible alarm or only between certain hours or no alarm at all, just battery backup. It connects to a PC through a USB port and can shut down your PC automatically before the battery goes dead. Highly Recommend. I also have a smaller APC and Belkin that I use if anyone wants info on those.

Does the club owner have varying levels of light where you are going to try that Sanyo camera?. What type of scenario are you going to be testing it? A doorway? Is the model you are talking about? Sanyo VDC-D1184VA Surface Mount, Day/Night, Hi-Res, Vandal Proof Dome Camera That is a very nice camera, (expensive) High Res, IR/Cut Filter, nice varifocal range, good low light sensitivity. I was thinking about buying at least one of those, but changed my mind after we talked about it. So I will be real curious to know how it works out. I’d love to have at least one really good quality color dome. I’ve seen some color Pelco cameras in a friends bar and they looked fine. And it wasn’t well lit. That’s why this color camera in the bar stuff has got me so confused. I am used to adequate lighting or very low light situation where I used something like a .005 lux camera.

I am attempting to install some color domes in a fairly well lit area behind a bar. I was wondering if I could get some opinions on which of these two cameras are best. Or suggest another camera? http://www.wizkidoptotech.com/products/index.cfm?img=17&area=2 Extreme/WizKid Specs http://www.spytown.com/nunvseomvaco.html Nuvico Specs The Extreme has a built voltage regulator, but is rated for 1 lux, compared to the Nuvicos .1 lux, are these truly accurate specs. The Nuvico also has a 3 axis Gimbal. Would a 1 lux camera produce a clear picture with a light fixture using two 60 watt incandescent bulbs mounted the same height as the domes? 1 light fixture very close to each dome. Approximately 7ft ceiling height or less to a bar counter top which is probably around 4 feet away from the cameras and light source. Which one would you buy? And for what reason?

If you can find a good AVI file editor you can just edit out large sections of video out and the just save the pieces you want. Then Join the files together. I have done this with an MPEG-2 editor, but not an AVI file editor, but I know there are programs that will do that. If you run accross a more automated method let us know.