mikethomas10 0 Posted June 2, 2011 Hello all - Im hoping someone here can help... I am part of a crew that has helped install 16 systems into a series of cookie cutter restaurants. All the restaurants are similar in layout and equipment, and all 16 systems were built the same. The dvr systems are built using windows 7 with 2 pci-e digivue 8 channel cards, for 16 total cameras in each store. The cameras are your standard bullets and domes, all running into a box that powers up 24 cameras. In most locations, only 5-10 new cameras were added, and those are the only ones running on the new power box. The rest were left 'as is'. It must be stressed that at 15 of the locations, all using the same type of built system, everything is running fine - clear pictures. However, in our 'problem' location, we are getting severe ghosting on every channel. The older system was also a pc-based dvr, and worked just fine - no image quality issues. However, on the new system, even the old cameras have the ghosting issue - and they were untouched (plugged just from the old pigtails into the new). We plugged a portable monitor into the cameras at their installed locations, and the image quality was perfect. We also plugged the monitor in at the end of the cable line (at the dvr) and there is no image quality issue. The issue only shows up when the cable goes into the pc itself. We have tried 2 different pc's at this location (the other ran vista). On fresh installations of both, the image quality was significantly better (though minor ghosting still showed). However on both, the image quality has gotten much worse over time. At first, our new pc and the new power box were plugged into a UPS. This has since been taken out of the location. We have tried various outlets for both, tried moving the pc, etc... all to no avail. We have tried different sets of the digivue cards as well (switching in one of the older single 16 channel cards instead of the 2 newer 8's). The only possible difference is this restaurant location literally shares a parking lot with a power plant. If this is a problem though, the only question is, why didnt it bother the old dvr system? Any help or suggestions would be welcome... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nimrod 0 Posted June 2, 2011 This problem does sound tricky, try to get some pictures to post here, nothing like seeing the problem. Rereading your post again i am thinking camera power supply issue. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikethomas10 0 Posted June 2, 2011 Here is a pic - hopefully it comes through. The white moves on the actual, but from the static picture here you can definitely get the idea... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikethomas10 0 Posted June 2, 2011 All those long white lines (I see about 6 in the picture) also move. They seem to be defined ghosting images of actual images in the shot. Then the more cloudy interference is with it as well. Thoughts? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikethomas10 0 Posted June 7, 2011 Just an update. We were told it could be a ground loop problem so plugged it into a battery backup and ran the entire system on battery. The same problem continued. Anyone have any additional ideas? Looking at it live-in it really 'looks' like some kind of frequency interference. Any ideas on that angle maybe? Any help or ideas would be appreciated. Thx Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tomcctv 187 Posted June 7, 2011 Just an update. We were told it could be a ground loop problem so plugged it into a battery backup and ran the entire system on battery. The same problem continued. Anyone have any additional ideas? Looking at it live-in it really 'looks' like some kind of frequency interference. Any ideas on that angle maybe? Any help or ideas would be appreciated. Thx what i would do is change all BNC connectors. you could have a bad ground on 1 or 2 of the cameras. what happends if you start to plug a camera one at a time into dvr ??? also seen this on 16 way power supply were it had a bad neutral to some cameras (bad solder on board) and the camera is picking it up though BNC Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikethomas10 0 Posted June 7, 2011 We tried swapping out the pigtails themselves, but the same problem continued. And when we plugged in the portable/ remote video monitor at both end of the camera/ cable the pic is perfect. That being said, we have not tried the 1 at a time trial to see if its 1 bad seed causing all this. Will definitely do that next. Thank you very, very much for the response. Any other thoughts? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tesc_cctvpro 0 Posted June 7, 2011 We tried swapping out the pigtails themselves, but the same problem continued. And when we plugged in the portable/ remote video monitor at both end of the camera/ cable the pic is perfect. That being said, we have not tried the 1 at a time trial to see if its 1 bad seed causing all this. Will definitely do that next. Thank you very, very much for the response. Any other thoughts? It's very difficult to determine from this picture if the problem is ghosting or humbars. A very common cause of ghosting is improper termination. All 16 channels? Humbars could be indicative of a ground loop issue.... I cannot say definitively from this image which it is? Run standard tests on your cables - if you can eliminate cable fault you have eliminated 70% of the potentials. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
3RDIGLBL 0 Posted June 8, 2011 Are you running DC to the cameras or AC? If they are dual voltage and you're running 12V try 24AC. If the cameras are 12V only then try an AC to DC converter. Fixed all my ground loop issues at one site I had. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tesc_cctvpro 0 Posted June 9, 2011 Run standard tests on your cables - if you can eliminate cable fault you have eliminated 70% of the potentials. I mean't to say test the cable including termination - there are standard tests that can be quickly done, to identify if signal propagation meets the expected measures - i would do these tests before changing all connectors, or replacing any hardware. 70% of the problems we find with images relates to termination and continuity along the cables and some very simple tests can eliminate or identify this as a specific problem. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikethomas10 0 Posted June 14, 2011 Where can we buy that? And anyone else, will it work? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tomcctv 187 Posted June 14, 2011 That being said, we have not tried the 1 at a time trial to see if its 1 bad seed causing all this have you tried that simple test first. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikethomas10 0 Posted June 14, 2011 We did try that this last weekend. Same problem persisted. I'm inclined to believe the cards are picking up interference, but not sure how 'possible' that is. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tomcctv 187 Posted June 14, 2011 We did try that this last weekend. Same problem persisted. I'm inclined to believe the cards are picking up interference, but not sure how 'possible' that is. hi. so just with one camera pluged in you get the same problem ?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikethomas10 0 Posted June 14, 2011 Correct, one at a time on each bnc. The post on the overlay is very indicitive of this continuing problem. It does seem to have that look to it. Any thoughts perhaps in that direction? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
