Help with planning a Geo DVR setup

[CT 0]

Hi, first post and am looking for some help as the amount of info it hard to get straight.

 

We have a system in place right now. It consists of 8 cameras that feed to our current DVR, its a Swann cheapo. We used to have time laps VCR so its is better somewhat. The cameras arn't great but for now I would like to upgrade the DVR to a PC based unit.

 

My question is which Geo card would be best, we don't record any audio nor do we want to. For now 8 cameras is fine, but what would be needed to upgrade to more cameras later if we get a 8 cam card, can we add another card or does the card have to be replaced?

 

Also, we have a spare Dell PC that we couldn't use for a different project that I would like to use. Its a Dell 1100 series with a P4 2.8 Ghz, RAM is light with only 256MB but I could upgrade that and the Hard Drive would need to be either augmented with another or upgraded as its only 80GB.

Would this system work or not, I think I might also have to add a graphics card so hopefully it has an AGP slot or PCI-x.

 

Thank you for any help and I'm sure I will have more questions as I move forward. Looking forward to this project. Also, where would be a good place to purchase both the DVR cards and in the future cameras to replace the current ones we have.

[CT 0]

Also, some more quick info.

 

The setup was installed originally by a local company, the equipment we got was used from a bank system that had upgraded. I checked one of the cameras and its a Panasonic WV-BP314 I did a Google search and can see that its been discontinued. Is this still an acceptable camera if used with a Geo setup or are they too old. The picture seems fine on what we have now so hopefully they are ok. We have 7 of these, didn't check all the model numbers as some are outside in protective cases.

 

We also have 1 color camera that I can't find any info on. Its a NAVCO Model 4300. Any info on this one would be great.

 

I am looking at upgrading the DRV first as that seems like the weakest point right now and I'm looking forward to setting it up. I've built computers before and love them so its kind of a cool project for me to try.

 

Thanks for your help.

[vf702 0]

The Dell 1100's are pretty stripped down. They have three PCI slots inside and generally run with onboard graphics.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim1100/EN/SM/techov.htm#wp1043338 You could use a PCI video card like the ATI Radeon 9250 (256MB PCI version runs about $80) it should be able to run one of the mid-range geo cards. I have been able to run GV-650-8's off of upgraded Dimension 3000's without a problem.

 

If you have the money you may want to do it right from the start and go to a better computer. You could get one of the hybrid cards. It all depends on your needs.

 

check out this link for a good example of frames per second

http://palmvid.com/templates/fpsdemo/frv.html Geo has the ability to "smart record" and record on motion. This prioritizes recording on the active cameras, making the 240 and 480 fps cards overkill for almost any application unless real time recording is regulated.

 

GV-250 - 20 frames per second (spread amongst all cameras)

GV-600 - 30 fps

GV-650 - 60 fps

GV-800 - 120 fps

GV-1120 - 1120 fps (combo card that also has an RCA video out for CCTV monitor)

GV-900 - 240 fps

GV-1240 - 240 fps (combo card)

GV-1000 - 480 fps

GV-1480 - 480 fps (combo card)

 

As far as where to purchase. I believe that it is against forum rules to post links to anywhere that sells below retail pricing, so I can't link to where I have purchased from. Geo has a listing of sites here http://www.geovision.com.tw/english/7_0.asp. A good google search will locate many other stores. Be careful to check for any complaints filed with the BBB before you send your money anywhere and don't buy anything that is "like geovision, geovision OEM", anything with pricing grossly below other sites, or almost anything you find on ebay. Ebay is filled with fraudulant cards that won't work.

[rory 0]

Good Pointers vf702

[CT 0]

Thanks for the help, the info on the PC was exactly what I was looking for. I will probably look into building a PC for this project, that way I know exactly whats there and it won't have anything that isn't needed.

 

Now, for the Geo cards you listed, you said on the first one the FPS is spread among all cameras, I'm assuming that this is the case for all the cards not just the first one. If that is the case then I think either a GV-650 or GV-800 would work great, especially with the Smart record or record on montion prioritizing the recording.

 

Now I can move forward and start looking at the pricing for these boards.

 

Also, anybody have advise on the cameras I posted above, are they suitable for now or will they show there age we we upgrade the DVR and have bad image quality, I couldn't really find any specs on them only that they are discontinued.

 

Thanks

[CT 0]

Another quick question for you guys.

 

Will the following processor work for a system with a GV-1120 card. My other spec are all good just wondering as I saw that a 800mHz FSB is required for the combo cards and I just completely missed that. Its not a big deal to send it back and get the right one just some wasted time.

 

Intel Pentium D 805 Smithfield 533MHz FSB 2 x 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Dual Core,EM64T Processor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116001

 

Thanks for all your help,

CT

[CSG 0]

Requirements for the GV-1120 Card

 

Note: GV-1120 is currently not compatible with VIA series chipset motherboard.

 

System Requirements

 

OS Supported

Windows 2000 / Windows XP / Windows Server 2003

 

CPU

Pentium 4-2.4C GHz, 800 MHz FSB (minimum)

 

RAM

2 x 256 MB dual DDR400 SDRAM (minimum)

 

HDD

80 GB or above (recommended)

 

VGA

ATI Radeon 9550 or above (recommended)

 

DirectX

9.0 or above

 

You processor should meet the requirments

[CSG 0]

Although your FSB is a little on the slow side, not sure how much of a difference that will make.

[rory 0]

the 533 should be fine .. just make sure the Video card is the right one ..

[kao 0]

I would highly recommend using the 80GB drive for just he OS.

It has been my experience that once the Geovision starts recycling video (when the hard drive is almost full), that the drive becomes very fragmented. If the drive with the OS (and usually the Geovision program) becomes too fragmented, the whole system slows down too much.

I'd recommend getting 1 or more drives just for video data to be saved on.

[rory 0]

i usually just make the OS a 10Gb partition .. Fat32 ..and the rest NT .

[CSG 0]

Rory,

 

Why should the partition or drive for the OS be formatted in Fat32 instead of NTFS? I don't see FAT32 mentioned anywhere on Geovisions website. I'm not sure if FAT32 is an option when formatting with an XP cd,, i know W2K it is.

[rory 0]

Fat32 is on XP CD also .. its just faster than NT. It is actually recommended by Geo also as the OS drive ... though thats not where I got it from.

[CT 0]

thanks, I considered getting the smallest drive I could find that was still nice to put the OS and geo software on but for some reason didn't, will go the route of making a 10 GB partition for the OS and geo and use the rest for video files, I went with 2 320 GB SATA drives so that should be enough space and if it isn't and I need more I still have room for atleast 1 drive probably more but if I need alot more space I may just add one of those new 750 GB Seagate drives just so I only have to add one more drive, that should be more than enough space, 1390 GB minus 10 GB partiton for OS.

 

I also upgraded to the GV-1480 because the cost difference was so little when your talking about that much so I may really need the extra space now.

[rory 0]

Cool, yeah im getting around 9 days on 640x480 high quiality setting on a 16ch 1480 with 13 cameras, set to motion only ... they are a night clubn so they eat up space when open 4 nights a week, and staff is onsite 24/7 so there is always motion somewhere ... its 750GB ...so you should be fine ..

 

Just set up the 10Gb when you format, then when in windows set up the other partitions. .. you just create a folder in each one and name them like Video#1, Video#2, etc .. name doesnt matter just need a folder.

[kao 0]

i usually just make the OS a 10Gb partition .. Fat32 ..and the rest NT .

 

Never thought of that. I love learning these tricks on this site!

[CSG 0]

I checked the Geovison documentation, they recomend a seperate partition for the OS, and they recomend NTFS for both partitions.

 

Also, on XP pro, when formatting, booting off the CD, I don't see a choice of FAT32, only NTFS fast format or NTFS.

[rory 0]

I checked the Geovison documentation, they recomend a seperate partition for the OS, and they recomend NTFS for both partitions.

 

Also, on XP pro, when formatting, booting off the CD, I don't see a choice of FAT32, only NTFS fast format or NTFS.

 

When you Partition it you will see FAT32...

[CT 0]

I did the OS install today and it only gave me the option of formatting in NTFS or FAT. Didn't say FAT32. I will double check it in windows when I have a chance Friday if I have time. Anyway, thanks for all the help, hopefully it will be up and running and switched over sometime this weekend.

[rory 0]

Yep FAT is FAT32 ... should say FAt32 though (cant remember off hand) ..

[CSG 0]

I just ran an XP pro SP2 install off the CD and there was 2 choices, NTFS fast or NTFS. No fat/32, unless that option is supressed when formatting large drives (500gb)

[rory 0]

always there when i do it, though ive never done a 500GB drive.

 

Also, if there is already a partition you wont see it i think, this appears once you delete partitions and create a new one.

 

Course you may also have a newer windows CD than I use ..

[CT 0]

Mine let me do FAT for the 10 GB partition I put the OS and stuff on, then created partitions on the drives and formatted those in Windows using NTFS.

 

Also, quick question, just got the system up and running. Now, can you set the system to record at like 3 or 5 FPS around the clock but to bump up to say 20+ FPS when it detects motion? I can't seem to figure this one out, I would prefer the have something being recorded 24/7 at a timelaps setting and then jump to almost real time when motion is detected.

 

I can see where you can choose one or the other it seems, just not what I'm trying to do. I have Geo 8. someting, can get the version number at work Tuesday.

 

Thanks

[rory 0]

with version 8.02

 

 

also ..

 

[CT 0]

OK, but now when its on the motion detect time span does it record anything if it doesn't sence motion. ie if it doesn't see anything moving it isn't recording, right?

 

I want the system to record at like 1 FPS every camera no matter what all day everyday. Then when the system sences motion jump to like 25 or 30 FPS. We have a bit of people moving around during the day so I might tone it down a touch to just 25 FPS. Want to try and figure it out before I set it up wrong and it doesn't record anything.

 

Thanks for the screen shot, that looks just like mine, I think mine is 8.01, I might update but probably don't need to.

 

Also, on mine the box that says Frames/Sec.: SMART is greyed out and can't be checked.