Gator

There are a couple of ebay sellers of 600TVL WDR board cameras that can accept c-mount lens. I bought one and I'm impressed with it's performance. The trouble is you never know when you order on ebay & china. And these are not inexpensive at $75. It would be more friendly to package into small objects than a box camera. With a box camera, you know what you're going to get. There is also a 25mm and 50mm MTV lens that threads into these board cameras if you don't go with c-mount. I haven't tried the 50, but the 25mm was pretty decent. edit One of the 600tvl boards on ebay is the same board that's in the CMB-24VF dome. I don't know if the firmware is identical. I think you could do a great project with this part. Look closely at the vendor's photo for the "M" on the monolisa chip.

Build a board camera into something that belongs, such as an outdoor low voltage lighting fixture. One of those would already be water proof. Use more of the same fixtures to provide lighting.

Wow Rory, you got that camera up just in time. They're already casing the joint.

LOL! I was thinking the same thing.

I want to view my geo cameras from a remote location. The geovision is connected to the internet through a wireless internet provider. This network consists of trango access points and customer premises equipment transceivers. I believe the link uses mac addresses to control traffic flow. IPconfig shows default gateway as 192.168.100.1. Is there any service I can use to connect my geovision computer to this WISP and access it from outside this network? I have not had any luck with dyndns or the included dipmap. If I ping the WISP IP, I get no response. I believe the network address translation is in his network router, so I don't have access to set up ports. I set ports in my wrt54g3g, but it's no help. I looked at Hamachi, but a youtube tech video said it wouldn't be adequate for video images.

Is there any way to use the GV-800 for converting VHS tapes to MPEG2 for burning to DVD? I have version 8.2. The continuous recording mode breaks video into sgements 1 to 5 minutes long. The save to AVI results in 320 x 240 even though 720x480 was used during capture. The save avi option is missing choices on image size.

I gave up on this approach. I was hoping someone knew of generic drivers to run the gv-800 chipset. I had the camera side set to 720x480 and that's what showed when playing back videos within 8.2 application. When I went to save as avi, there weren't any resolution options showing where the instructions say different resolutions should be offered. In any case, the capture seems to be limited to 5 minutes continuous recording. Instead, I'm going to add a PCI-e capture board to my other system.

I already have the GV-800 and the videos need to be on the computer for editing anyway.

I think you should pass on this job. To do this correctly will be very expensive. You would need to construct it similar to a cellular tower installation. Everything has to be bonded to everything else. You need to bond the tower, shelter, video, camera power, power for the monitors etc. All of it needs to pass through a bonded ground bulkhead. Video and power will need arrestor devices and surge suppressors. Everything has to be connected to everything else so that differences in potential won't exist when you take a direct lightning strike to the tower. The ground resistance may be 10 ohms in good soil. A 50,000 amp hit will produce 500,000 volts. If the tower, shelter and people are all enclosed at that same potential they are safe. If there's a mistake somewhere in your plan, you can get lethal potentials between various items. Chances are you will lose the camera anyway because of the electromagnetic impulse. An approach that may work is to protect the tower with static disipators. Those are like a porcupine of wires attached to the top of the tower. The discharge the static from the atmosphere so potential doesn't build high enough to cause a strike. Some are very effective at avoiding strikes. I wouldn't consider it adequate for protecting life as a substitute for bonding and grounding. You can find some examples on emerald-wireless. Click on their links for grounding and the other link for coax. Does your client have the budget to do this job correctly? If not, don't get involved. There is a chance for loss of life or the facility if this is done incorrectly. The design should be reviewed and approved by an engineer who routinely does this kind of work.

I was reading the archives and came across a thread discussing image quality issues with the GV800,650 & 250 when various cameras with the HQ1 chip set were used. I wanted to know if this is resolved using Geovision 8.3. I was considering the KPC-N600NHDC10 camera. Can anyone give advice?

I've been given a dead motherboard that just needs some capacitors and MOSFETS changed in the CPU power supply circuit. It's an old Rambus system with the Intel 850 chip set. I have a Pentium 4, 2.4GHz processor to install. I was wondering before I go to the trouble of building this system, if I am likely to be successful running a GV800-4 board on this, or do I need to look for a different mobo. I would like to stay with the socket 478 since I have the processor already. Does anyone have any experience yes or no on this chipset or this mobo? Thanks.

I don't understandy why you bothered to answer. You surely did not lend any help here, but puffed your chest in false pride. I did not ask what is a crappy mobo. And clearly you have no clue, as a P4T-e can hold it's own against mainboards five years newer. When I recommended the P4T-e to my friend in 1999 it was the best board on the market. I asked if this mobo, which has an Intel chipset, would run a Geovision GV800-4. Clearly you have no clue so you should not have answered my question. You do not use "crappy motherboards". I don't think you know crap when you see it. You're arrogant, but useless.

I don't know if the one I bought is the same as the current offering you are considering. I returned mine to the store the next day. It was horrible.

I deleted my question about finding Geovision manuals online. I guess they aren't available without having a card in hand. I'm trying to decide which model to buy and the marketing literature doesn't tell enough to make the choice. Maybe someone who has used the various cards in systems can help. I want to monitor three or four cameras to begin with, but I expect that after some experience with the system, I may want to expand beyond four inputs later on. I probably will never need more than six inputs. Is there any difference in motion detection performance between the GV600 and GV650 cards? My thought was that with a different frame rate, the motion detection function might perform somewhat differently. Is the frame capture rate a configurable function? In other words, can you slow it down below the maximum available speed? Is there any advantage using the GV650 vs the slower GV600 if smooth motion video presentation isn't necessary? Has anyone used this board with an Intel Pentium 4C, 2.4GHz, dual channel memory, PC800? My system uses Intel chipset ICH5 and Intel Canterberry 875P Southbridge. Is there any conflict with dual monitor configuration? In the archives, I read of some slow-down with the Intel 845 chip, but I haven't read of an outright failure like I experienced with the NV3000 card in my system. If I have an 8 channel card, can I choose six cameras for display, or would I have to choose 8 and have lost screen space? Is the frame rate set by the number of cameras selected or is it set by the number of board inputs? In other words is the FPS scaled across 2/4/6 or 8 inputs, or is the rate fixed by the number of inputs the board accepts? Can a camera input that wasn't being watched be selected on the fly based on alarm inputs? If a back door motion detector alarms, can that door's camera be automatically be selected for viewing and recorded if it was previously off? What is required to have the system issue X-10 commands? Can commands be associated with the camera that sees motion? For instance, if camera 3 has motion, can the system issue an X-10 command that turns on lighting only in that direction? Can the card issue X-10 commands as result of alarm inputs from motion detectors or photoelectric sensors?

Thanks so much for all the answers and also for the link to the knowledgebase articles. I think the second audio channel is enough reason to choose the GV650 over the GV600 for my application. I wanted to be sure these wasn't a disadvantage to buying the faster card for a dated computer. Since the frame rate can be set per camera, I hope that means CPU utilzaation might be tailored to the capability of my computer. It sounds likeI guess the next thing to do is to buy the card and spend some time learning my way around all the features. I would like to use motion detection feature to turn on outdoor lighting. I think this can be done by wiring a Geovision relay card to an X-10 Powerflash module. If there is a way to send commands through an X-10 interface module from the RS232 port, that would save me an extra card slot. I'm sure Visual Basic would do it with the ocx driver, but I haven't touched VB in six years or more and I wasn't good at it then, lol. I know X-10 isn't a favorite for quality installations, but I already have quite a few X-10 modules, maybe 20 or so, collected and many of them are already wired in the house. So I would like to put them to use again.

I received my nv3000 card today. I don't get video displayed from any of the four inputs. The setup screen indicates there are no cameras connected. The computer is a Pentium 4 C, ICH5 chip, Intel 875P Northbridge. It is 2.4Ghz with dual channel memory. It has two NVIDIA graphics cards, one PCI and one AGP. The graphics drivers are up to date and it works perfectly with the Haupauge TV Media board. I have uninstalled the drivers and the application and reinstalled it. Is my card DOA or is it a compatability issue with this all Intel hardware?

Thanks very much.

I've been reading of problems running two monitors from a single card if the two monitors are different resolutions. I use two LCD's (Samsung 971P). I use one in portrait mode at 1024 x 1280 and the other in landscape mode at 1280 x 1024. That works out well for some internet pages, photo editing, spreadsheets etc. The NVIDIA drivers support this when using two separate cards. Will the ATI dual output cards allow me to set each monitor to it's own resolution and orientation? I read some cards supporting two monitors require both to be set the same. I was looking at AGP 8x cards, including the 9950 you mention and the x1650.

The nv3000 works with the PCI graphic card unplugged. Good catch Lolo Wolf! Since I can't get by with a single monitor, that doesn't solve my problem though. My AGP card has a single output and the PCI provides the other output. I guess I could buy a dual head graphics card but that costs as much as a different capture card. I am also not impressed with the motion detection. It false alarms often even with the sensitivity turned down. It only beeps once during an entire capture cycle. The Gotcha software I've been using beeps the entire time there is motion activity. That is very helpful in knowing if it's a false trigger or something worth looking into. The false rate is unimproved. Playback is much poorer utility because way too much is recorded and it takes to many click throughs just to have a look. When the password protection is removed, it still posts the password screen every time. Reviewing the captures, many of these alarms show absolutely no scene change. How does the Geovision or for that matter any other card compare?

I updated to the latest software, version g. I pulled the Happauge card out also and tried it again. It has no video and it locks the system after clicking on command buttons. The software locks my system, even with the NV3000 card removed. The system has been stable without issues, through several clean installs of the windows XP Home, all the graphics cards, Winnov AV capture card, modem etc. I'm throwing in the towel on this. More tinkering is more likely to lose my data rather than solve the problem.

I tried the card in an AMD system and it works there. The system I'm trying to install it in is an Abit IC7G, socket 478. It has other gremlins too such as lockups and not exiting properly. It's pretty disappointing. Are there any other four channel cards that work properly in a system that's only a few years old? I need motion detection that will provide a real time alert.

The cameras are enabled, but the preview screen shows no camera connected. The auto scan cycles through four enabled inputs indicated by the buttons along the right of the screen, but there's no video displayed. Or if I select four image mode, the four indicators light. The computer does have a live internet connection, but I don't plan to use this remotely. I'm trying to view it on the local screen. The background is deep blue, almost black. The setup screen shows a picture indicating no camera. I have analog camera slected for camera 1. Device manager shows the card is "working properly". I have a Hauppauge TV card which can pass video over the PCI bus and that works fine. TV is off at the moment. So the PCI bus should be okay for video. I have dual monitors. Both are NVIDIA cards and the drivers are up to date.

We had some vandalism recently, so have decided to step up home security. There have been some home invasions closer by as well. Now that I have a new Mossberg at hand, it's time to set up to a proper early warning system. The most important feature of the video warning system is to provide early alert of approaching threats. Low false alarm rate is important. There will be too many false alarms from wildlife as it is. Seeing recoginizable faces is less important than getting early warning with low false alarms. They will be identifiable if they ever enter our home later on. Four or five years ago, I bought a Genwac 1/2" 902H Camera when someone else was casing the neighborhood. I used Gotcha video capture and a winnov A/V board for the dedictated PC system. It sort of met the requirement. I tried a super HAD from Supercircuits before buying the 902H. The PC-1xx (I forget the exact model now) HAD was pretty disappointing, so I sent it back. It looked like broad black crayon raster instead of an image. My capture software couldn't deal with that much noise. The Genwac 902H is fuzzy but may be adequate ito cover one direction with 300 watts of lighting. I need something similar in another direction. I have two intersecting roads where intruders would likely enter, so that is where I want to focus my design. I'll be replacing the winnov single channel board with an Aver NV3000 four channel card. I expect to cover the front and rear doors with some sort of low light bullet cams lighted with motion detecting lights. I would like those adequate for recognizing faces, but they can be properly lighted. The front will be covered with my 902H. I need another camera that will cover the side yard. Trespass would likely be from 400 foot distance with about 200 foot of property line. I'm looking for advice on camera selection for the second low light camera and also for bullet cameras for the front and rear doors. I was considering the the KPC-S190SWX for the two bullets at the doors. I read a post here that the 190 kind of disappointed (didn't seem to really have super HAD performance). I really can't chose what to use for the long range camera facing the side either. I would prefer not to box up an indoor camera, but I have room if that's necessary. I will add some exterior lighting. I think lighting will be somewhat detering, in that it will encourage problems to visit neighbors first instead of starting here. Lighting seems essential, even with the Genwac 902H, so I've given up on covert detection. I used X-10 devices in the past while out of town two months to run lighting and window blinds on a random schedule. I plan to bring them back out of storage and set them up again. I would like for the NV3000 card to send lighting commands to X-10 lighting modules. But it's been five years since I fooled with visual basic. Has anyone here used the Aver cards to send lighting commands via X-10? I know they have added a card that triggers commands on relay contacts. I'm still reading the NV3000 manual while I wait for the card to arrive. I think I need their audio board to get relay contact outputs. That would waste the last precious PCI slot that could be better used for more cameras later on. What data is offered on the undocumented header pins? Can the NV3000 software launch a brief aplication that sends lighting commands to X-10? Larry

How would the GE B&W camera compare with the Panasonic day/night for problems with flare or dyanamic range problems? The Genwac I have is in the same range for low light sensitivity, but it suffers with bright headlights.

The WAT-902H, 1/2" B&W that I have for comparison is disappointing with it's behavior when cars drive by. I don't know if it is HAD or exview technology inside because that wasn't advertised. It was and still is in the $300 price range for a bare camera. So it's not WalMart bargain basement stuff. There is no way it would produce the license plate capture mike demonstrated from his PC-23 in another discussion here. I think that camera was $129 or so when I bought my PC-33C's, but I no longer have the catalog. My other basis of comparison are my PC-33C color cameras ($250 range four years ago) and two camcorders. One of my camcorders has "night shot". It's pretty unimpressive. Extreme CCTV is well beyond what I can afford. At the other range of the market we tried a Harbor Freight camera that was supposed to have IR lighting. I thought maybe it might see someone four foot from the door. In dark, it could not produce an image at three feet. You get what you pay for or less. $30 bucks doesn't buy anything. Maybe I can buy a fresh 12v alarm battery with that refund. If I go for a B&W box camera and enclose it in an outdoor box, what are good choices? The KTC-540E you mention says 0.01 lux. The Genwac listed 0.003 lux and it's disappointing. How do I sort out real world performance? I understand that exview sees better by two f-stops in darkness. But I don't read anything about the differences in dyanamic range. That seems to be pretty important. My 902H is horrible in that regard.