SambaNoodles

Can they not contact the guy who installed the system for them? Looks like you need to act quick if they are overwriting their files every couple of weeks. Can't you contact the software makers and figure it out for yourself. If not, there is bound to be MANY individuals here who know how to solve your problem. I'm sure the original poster can understand why some people may be a bit skeptical of his story.

That's what I thought originally. But like I mentioned before, when I plug into my portable B/W television (using the same rg59 cable) the video is perfect. What's up with that? Also, keep in mind that these cameras are about 6 years old.

Hi. I have some 6 year old mini-dome mintron cameras which I've tried plugging into a GeoVision DVR. The output on the screen is EXTREMELY grainy-noisy, to the point where the video is completely useless. However, I take the same camera and plug it directly into my $20 old black&white analog T.V, and the video is crystal clear. Now, if I use any *new* mini-dome camera, the video output on either DVR or T.V are BOTH perfectly fine. When connecting to either the T.V or DVR I go through the same RG59 cable, so that is not the issue here. What's the deal? Do the analog T.V's do a much better job of filtering out noise than the DVR capture cards do?

o.k...i uploaded to another server:

When i try to upload an image as an attachment on this forum, I get an "Upload Error". My file size is only 9.6 Kbytes?

Anyone know the difference between the linksys SFE1000P and the Linksys SRW2008P? They are both advertised as Managed 8-Port Ethernet switches with 2 Ports reserved for Gigabit Transfer. They also retail for about the same price. What is the difference?

And if we are only considering cost, is it really worth going for a POE switch. Can't most IP cameras be powered with a regular 12V DC power supply if required? In that case, why not go for a standard desktop gigabit ethernet switch (you can get a 5-port GigE switch for $50 these days), and just power the camera with a $10 12V-DC power supply? This vs. almost $300 for a decent managed POE switch.

Actually the price is almost identical now. However the 1000P comes with a 60 month warranty, compared to the 2008P which only as a 12 month warranty.

O.k...I might have answered my own question. Both these products are now sold and operated by Cisco rather than linksys. There is lots of documentation on the Cisco Website. It seems that the SFE100P offers 10/100, with 2 Gigabit uplinks. The SWR2008P has *all* 8 gigabit ports. Keep in mind these are both Power-over-Ethernet switches.

I heard GeoVision is about to release their new hardware compression card GV-4880. Apparently this is the successor to the GV-2008. Can anyone confirm this? How many cameras can one card handle? When is the release date?

There are a number of dvr cards out there that specify the minimum system requirements should be 2GB of RAM. And this is for a 16-channel or 32-channel system. What happens in the case of a 64-channel system? For your typical software compression DVR cards, how much memory should one expect to need for each channel, assuming D1 compression? And what about in the case of more "intelligent" dvr software that do a lot of post video processing and analysis (e.g. face recognition, crowd detection etc?). Would they not need a lot of data to work with (hence, a higher RAM requirement)?

Hi. I want to put together a 24-camera CCTV system for a retail store. The max budget is U.S $4000 (that includes cameras, all hardware, software cabling). I hear that IP-based systems have come down in price. But am I able to put together a 24-channel IP based system (including software) on a budget of $4000? If not, then what is the next best option? Previously I have installed an 8-channel GeoVision system using analog based cameras with a PC-based DVR. But it seems GeoVision cards max out at 16 cameras? Any other recommendations?

Back to the original question. I've struggled with the same question before, and have done quite a bit of research, but have only actually installed a few systems over the past year. So I can only speak from my limited experience. My take is this: (specifically as it pertains to dvr cards for a PC) In the PC-DVR world, there are so may products to choose from - which is normally a good thing. However, there are so many fraudsters peddling garbage products that it is easy to get scammed. It is safer to stay with the brand names. As far as brand names are concerned, the market leader is GeoVision. They are one of the few vendors that tend to consistently make rock-solid products. However, their products also are more expensive than just about anyone else. And the reality is, you are mostly paying for their reputation. They charge more because they know they can. They seem to have a real arrogance about them - not unlike Microsoft in the mid-late 90's. And they don't offer much in the way of technical support....but again, their products do speak for themselves. So, for an enduser, I'd say go with GeoVision if you want to be sure you are getting a first class product.

O.k...I called Sales at Geovision, and they confirmed that the GV-2008 is about to become a discontinued model. The GV-4880 will replace this card. This will be a PCI-Express card. According to Geovision, It will be released onto the market in a couple months.

Hi. I need a camera that monitors the street that the building enterance faces. However, I do not want to install an outdoor camera for various reasons (vandalism, very rough weather, no permission to drill holes etc.). Instead, I want to install an indoor camera, mounted on a wall facing a single-pane glass window which itself directly faces the street. The camera lens can be mounted as close as 1 inch away from the glass. Will this work? Do I have to worry about reflections from the window? What sort of camera should I be looking for? I need to be able to monitor both day and night, and the street does have reasonable lighting in the night. Thanks.

Hi. I am planning to install a 16-ch PC-based DVR system. I'm hoping to just install and let it run more-or-less maintenence free for years. Given that Hard-Disk failures are to be expected, I would like to install extra redundant hard drives into a RAID 1 configuration. Whenever, a hard-drive failes, I would like the system to continue run flawlessly as if nothing wrong occured. Of course I should be able to get some indication that a hard-disk did fail, upon which I could just hop-swap out the failed drive with a new working one. I plan to physically seperate the Operating System (WinXP) and applications from the data (video footage) on different drives. In total I think I would like to use 4 hard disks in a RAID 1 configuration My quesiton is, what is the best way to do this? I just want a system that I can setup and leave alone for years if possible. When a hard-disk failure does not happen, I absolutley do NOT want the system to slow down to a grinding halt after a new hard-drive is put it in, as it attempts to rebuild the array. I don't want a solution that requires me to install some special software or drivers...just want something that works on its own. Do I use a PCI RAID controller? I seperate RAID BOX conntected via E-SATA or GIG-E (NAS). Do I need a seperate RAID array for the O/S and a seperate one for the data. What have you guys found the be the most robust, fail-safe solutions to RAID? I'm confused, and I need help.

Thanks for the tips. Its amazing how imformative this forum is.

Hi. I want to install a 16-channel DVR system, using analog dome cameras, plus perhaps one extra IP camera. I want to be able to view all 16 channels remotely, while the DVR simultaneously records and offers live viewing to local viewers. The recording and and local viewing need to be at D1 resolution @30 FPS. I was thinking of either going with the GV-1480 or 2 GV-2008 cards to get my 16 channels. I did happen to notice the price of *one* GV-2008 is about the same as *one* GV-1480. So, the question is, for a 16-channel system, why would anyone pick the GV-2008 over the GV-1480, if they can pretty much do the same job? I'm guessing you need some serious CPU power to get 16ch X D1 @30 FPS out of the GV-1480...remember, I need remote live viewing simultanously. If I need something like an Intel XEON 7100 to do what I want with a GV-1480, then would it not be better to go with 2 X GV-2008 with a cheap Intel core 2 DUO? I'm stuck trying to think this one through...

Wow. I guess a picture really is worth a thousand words. Is the Field-of-View just dependent on the number of Megapixels the IP camera provides? Then, I can produce and record images like the one you posted, with the cheapest $250-$300 IP camera? Now I'm thinking I should go with a hybrid solution (4 IP camera, 12 regular). Just to play devil's advocate for a moment, why wouldn't everybody (at least for commercial applications) be jumping on the IP-based solution as opposed to the usual analog-camera DVR (PC or standalone), considering you can significantly reduce the camera count by using IP cameras? If you can reduce your camera count by say 50%, don't you roughly reduce your overall cost for an IP-based NVR system by around 50%? Is the cost of the software the mitigating factor here? In other words, I'm asking... where's the catch?

Based on the replies to this thread, i have decided to reduce the number of cameras to 16. All of a sudden, the PC-DVR based approach starts to look a LOT more affordable. Also, this might be a stupid question, but someone on this thread mentioned that using IP Megapixel cameras would help reduce the total number of cameras required? Why is that? Is the Field-of-View wider for IP Megapixel cameras?

Also, I should mention that a wise old man once told me, for anything PC-DVR related, you can never go wrong with GeoVision. If i'm gonna go with GeoVision, what is the best way to configure a 24-channel system. I notice that there latest card GV-2008 supports a maximum of 8 cameras. How come they haven't built a 16ch card yet that does Hardware compression. If I go with the GV-1480 (which happens to support 16 channels), I'm guessing it will use up too much CPU resources if viewing remotely in real-time, while simultaenously recording, and offering local viewing as well....am i wrong here? Is the GV-1480 perfectly capable of doing everyhing i need so long as I have the right computer hardware supporting it?

Well, I have personally owned the DVR's that Mike recommended and found them to be solid systems. I think for the same money by the time you purchase an equivalent PC-Card that can support 24 cameras at the same resolution, you may find that it is very expensive. Then add a pc that can handle that hardware and the drives for all that storage and it will crank the price back up again. Personally I prefer the stand-alone over the pc-card because I dont have to worry about compatibility issues or other things. But everyone has their preferences. Like Mike said, we would need more information on the types of cameras and where and how they would be utilized to ensure you purchase the correct ones for the task at hand. His is closer to your budget though. Well, I would like to have the ability to view remotely (over the internet) all 24-channels simultaneously in real-time (30 FPS) at a decent resolution. I don't care to store more than one-week of recorded video, and frankly, the recording can be motion-detected, and at a lower resolution if necessary. But the "live" view locally and remotely needs to be good quality. The location where the cameras are installed will have access to an internet connection of maximum 1Mbps upload...which i'm guessing may not be enough. Also, i hate it when cameras fail, so even though i'm on a budget, i do like reliabile hardware.

I'm just a neutral observer here, but frankly, that name sounds made up. I apologize if i'm proven wrong.

Thanks to all for the prompt replies. $10,000 is very steep for my budget. Do you really get your money's worth for this type of system over say, a 24-channel analog system (PC-DVR based). If this is the cheapest IP based system money can buy today, should I expect it to have realibility issues? software/hardware bugs etc?

Hi. That works, but I don't like the warning message that might damage the hardware of my brand new netbook. I would be equally as happy if I could just scan through all the cameras, (one at a time, for a few seconds at a time). Anybody know if this is possible?