steve6690

I've had look at the x-vision site and the screenshots of the x-vision software look totally different from the Geovision GUI. http://www.y3kcctv.com I just checked out their "x-vision" remote demo and it links to a Geovision webcam interface.

Yes, I seem to remember a previous post stating that it's not quite as simple as saying that all VIA boards won't work with the higher spec Geo cards. Apparently it's a Northbridge/Southbridge issue. One of them can be VIA but the other can't. I forget which way round it is though.

That's why I'm thinking of an NForce 2 m/board next and trying it with a GV800. I don't think Geo give enough info on this subject so the easiest way to go is to just build an Intel system, however some people (me) like to support Intels competitors. It's not critical that my system is up and running though as it is more of a hobby to me. I like to fiddle around . If it was a "critical" system I'd use Intel.

I forgot to mention that point. I don't have SATA drives so I have changed the IDE ribbon cables for good quality round ones by Coolermaster which I can recommend. A decent CPU heatsink/fan is worthwile too. It's worth making a good job of building a PC for a DVR which runs 24/7, even down to using a good quality thermal paste (Arctic Silver 5) between heatsink and CPU.

My GV250 seems to be fine. It's in a VIA KT400 Gigabyte m/b with Athlon XP2800+ BARTON. As long as you avoid VIA mainboards with GV650 or higher cards you should be ok with Athlons. My next project will be to ditch this mainboard and go for the Gigabyte NForce 2 chipset board and see how a GV800 - 8 or 16 port runs with the Athlon. Very expensive board in the UK though which is a pain. There have been previous threads on this forum relating to this topic and it seems to have been comprehensively covered by persons much more knowledgeable than myself. I'd recommend a well-cooled system though. I use a ThermalTake Xaser 3000 case and it is excellent for this job. Steve

Since upgrading to V6.0.4 my PC restarts itself randomly - anything from once a day to 6 times a day. It only happens when the Geo software is running. I've eliminated memory failure and tried changing the PCI slot for the Geo card. (I've always kept Slot 1 free). I've installed the latest ATi drivers for my Radeon 7500. Anyone else heard of this problem occurring ??

Soon after my last post the system started crashing again. I have finally, definitely found the problem now. The Thermaltake case I recently bought has a CPU temp display and a small temp sensor which you tape to the bottom of the CPU. The two thin green wires that feed the sensor then run out between the pins of the CPU and to the front of the case. I took the cooler off the CPU to renew the thermal paste. When I took the CPU out I saw that there was a small nick in the insulation of the sensor feed wire. The bare wire had been shorting out against one of the CPU pins. I've now stripped it out. Uptime is now a week and still going strong. I'd just bought a new graphics card as well as I thought the old one was causing the problem. Just a word of warning to anyone buying one of these excellent ThermalTake cases........

Won't the Geo Center software fit the bill ?

The Sungjin rep also is a rep for Baxhual (something like that) cameras from the UK,he makes a packet now. Seems the days of wholesale are grinding to a halt... wont be long till Geo opens an office or gets a rep here as well. I'd imagine that's going to be Baxall - they make cameras and associated CCTV equipment

have you disabled all the camera inputs that aren't connected ? Click on "Configure" then "Camera/Audio install" and then click the "Activate" button. Make sure that any camera inputs that are not connected are unticked. The system will reboot itself if it doesn't see a video signal on an input that is ticked. I've just tried disabling all my inputs and the system starts up ok.

Have a look at this site. http://www.rfconcepts.co.uk/cameras2.htm They advertise that they export worldwide so they should have PAL and NTSC cameras (or so you would think). Failing that, they might tell you who actually manufactures the camera so you can source it locally. I have their CC50 4.3mm 480 TVL colour bullet cam which I can recommend. I'm using it as a driveway cam at the moment. Go to : http://81.86.129.112 if you want to view it live. It's camera 1. Leave the user and password fields blank. Steve

Did this occur during daylight or was it dark ?

Thanks for the help. I've just looked at the spec sheet for the camera and it doesn't have an IR cut filter. It is a Vista VPCMH/LV 1/2" HyperHad"with night-time IR illumination" . There is an ExView version of the cam which has an IR cut filter and would have suited me better but now I think I'll redeploy this one to cover my car parked at the front of the house. I learn something new everytime I visit this forum.

I have a Vista Day/Night 1/2" CCD camera which appears very similar to Baxall cameras (do they make them I wonder ?). Is it usual that natural green subjects such as leaves, grass etc appear very light and washed out. ? Browns, blues, reds etc seem to be ok as do green-painted surfaces. The problem seems to be confined to subjects that contain chlorophyll. Thanks Steve

That's very cheap for a complete system (or expensive if it's just the Geo card)

Ah, but now I have no hair

Seems to be ok now - after re-installing XP and Geo software (which didn't cure the problem) I tried new motherboard bios and chipset drivers. I have 512 Mb of RAM and after a couple of hours of operation the amount of useable memory would fall to around 60 Mb and the system would be noticeably slower. Since carrying out these upgrades it seems to hover at around 250 Mb and is still at that level after 30 hours continuous operation.

I was just referring to the original scenario in the thread i.e where a shop employee (allegedly) or sneak-in thief turns off the DVR and then helps himself to cash from the till. A determined man with an axe is obviously gonna win the day though, hence my suggested backup of covert cam covering the DVR and instantaneous e-mailing of JPGs. Not ideal obviously but should be enough to catch an employee out.

rory - they can't physically get inside my case to nick the hard drive. That's part of the appeal of the TT case

I'm not in the trade unfortunately although I use a home-built GV250-8 at home. I have seen ads for pre-built Pc DVRs in the UK and they seem to use bog-standard beige cases. I'm convinced that my last hard drive - a Seagate Barracuda V- failed due to inadequate heat dissipation. Sometimes it was too hot to touch. No such problems now though. As regards the PC being switched off by a burglar/thief, I suppose there's not a lot you can do about that. Sure, the ThermalTake case prevents access to the on/off and reset switches but they could just pull the power lead from the back. I take your point about not having a camera covering the DVR. I'm no expert, but even I have a camera pointed at the spare bedroom door to record who enters the room as that is where my DVR is. The system e-mails JPG images immediately to my e-mail account via ADSL. A burglar would have a hard job nicking the PC as the case weighs aroung 20Kg on it's own before you add a PSU.

The first step might be a decent case. ThermalTake Xaser III V1000C for example. Comes with 7 (silent) case fans and is perfect for a system running 24/7. It's key lockable too which should prevent people fiddling around. About £65 here in the UK without PSU and it's worth every penny. http://www.thermaltake.com/xaserCase/xaser3/xaser3menu.htm. The colours might put you off though. I just bought a blue one and it's very nice. It's meant I can run the CPU fan at a lower speed - 4300 rpm as opposed to 5700. The fan was so loud before that it sounded like a vacuum cleaner. The hard drives mount at the bottom of the case directly behind two intake fans which suck cold air directly over them.

I spoke too soon. The problem is still there. I think it might be time to build a seperate PC dedicated to the Geo system and network it with the PC I'm using now.

I'm using the latest version of DirectX 9 and the graphics card is a Ati 64Mb Radeon 7500. I think you might have cracked this problem for me though. Uptime is now 22 hrs and still going strong

I believe it's a V2 card - it's a GV250 - 8 port, no audio, purchased Jan 04. I only have two cams installed but I've just noticed that "limit port" was set to 8. I have changed the setting to 2.All the other cams were de-activated. The reboot that occurs is a full PC restart exactly as if you were to push the reset button on the case. One thing I did notice was that on the "system configure" the tick-box for "Enable De-Interlace render" used to be grayed out so I couldn't select it but after changing to 6.0.4 I was able to tick the box so I did. I unticked it yesterday and the Pc ran for a whole 24 hrs before re-booting itself. I'll see how it goes with the "limit port "setting changed. There's always V 6.2 I suppose (when it comes out) or I could roll back to an earlier version if I get no joy. Thanks once again

I don't think it's the PSU feeding the cams because I've tried using seperate supplies to each cam and the problem is still there. I wondered whether it's a mains supply spike but it doesn't appear on more than one cam at any one time. I'm starting to think that it might just be an anomaly with the Geo card.