GV 8.3.3 works on X58 chipset w/i7 proc, 64bit, except audio

I had a customer request a server that is expected to have a long technological lifespan.

So I researched and pieced together a rather wonderful and stable machine consisting of:

(NOTE: This is an IP GV-NVR server setup)

Windows 7 Pro 64 bit

Gigabyte GA-EX58 ud5 (Ultra Durable / thicker copper traces) MB

http://www.gigabyte.us/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2961

Intel socket 1366 2.66 i7 920 proc

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=37147

Running @ 2.86Ghz because the MB automatically OC'ed it (I did return it to stock 2.66 but it did not remedy audio problem) and through testing appears to be very stable @ 2.86 so I left it alone.

6 Gigs of OCZ PC1600 memory (with hopes of GV writing SW that addresses more memory in the future) (Don't use this memory unless you know how to manually input timing speeds - USE CORSAIR because the MB doesn't automatically detect OCZ timings!)

Speedstream 4160 DSL modem in bridged mode to Netgear WNR3500 Rangemax router

Netgear WNR3500 Rangemax Gigabyte Router

http://www.netgear.com/Products/RoutersandGateways/WirelessNRoutersandGateways/WNR3500.aspx

plugged into the Gigabyte port of a NetGear FS726P switch

Netgear FS726TP

http://www.netgear.com/Products/Switches/SmartSwitches/FS726TP.aspx

24 port + 2 Gigabyte port PoE switch (For some reason it didn't seem to supply enough power to the AcTi 8511 PTZ camera, I had to supply power the 8511 via its stock PS to get it to work properly)

2 AcTi 3511 Day/Night IP camera's

1 AcTi 8511 PTZ

1 Vivotek IP7161 IP camera (which has a phenominal mic that must have been plucked from the bionic womans head!)

OK, this whole GV-NVR kit is running smoothly. It's processing and storing video stored on its own dedicated partition without any problems.

The only problem is with the audio, I CAN get audio using the camera's proprietary softwares. (The Vivotek audio is unbelievable as mentioned before)

Through the Geovision v8.3.3 SW is where the problems occur;

First the AcTi camera's:

When I tick the Enable Audio and Record Audio boxes in the GV camera setup configuration window I get 2 loud "pops" and then this crazy "digital noise" sound.

The adjustment sliders to the left have absolutely no effect on the noise problem. Even sliding the adjusters on the Sensitivity and Gain down to zero have absolutely no effect on the sound, or the volume of the sound!

I blamed it on the external mic I had and went out and purchased a new logitech PC mic with the same results.

I realized that AcTi requires that you use "mono" mic's so I went out and purchased a stereo to mono 3.5mm converter jack which had only 2 contact area's making it mono. (Both of the PC mic jacks had 3 contact area's on the male part of the jack as if they were stereo mic's) This did nothing to remedy the problem.

Do I have to purchase amplified mic's for AcTi camera's?

According to AcTi it requires an 8 kHz Unbalanced 1.4Vpp/1Vrms 3.5mm jack and even the cheapest mic's sold here in the US have twice that frequency response! (16kHz)

So you might conclude that the mic's I'm using are exceeding the camera's frequency threshold.

Well here's the clincher! When I powered off the 8511 and removed the mic and powered it back up and kept audio enabled in the Geovision software the "crazy digital noise" was still present! (Anyone got any idea?)

Second, the Vivotek IP7161;

(Much shorter story! )

As I mentioned I get very sweet audio using the Vivotek software. So the camera is transmitting AAC codec audio flawlessly over the network.

When I go to the Camera Config screen in Geovision, the 2 sliding adjusters for Sensitivity and Gain are operational (or,, well,,, are moveable) but the 2 tick boxes for enabling audio and recording are grayed out rendering audio from this great camera useless through Geovision v8.3.3. I could use this single cameras microphone to cover the entire establishment but I can't enable the audio in GV. And the Audio in the "Audio1, Audio2, Audio3,,,,," section is also grayed out for this camera.

Note: I have updated the realtek drivers for this motherboards sound chips.

Note2: Everything is working great except the sound therefore I didn't disable hyperthreading before writing this post. I will repost after disabling HT on Tuesday April 20th with the results. With everything else working I doubt it will make a difference but you never know with these pesky machines.

I promised (and gambled a little bit) that I could deliver a technologically advanced system for this guy and now I have a rather disturbed customer as a result of this problem and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Mick

(Afterthought --- 6 hours later)

I just remembered a problem I had in the past. I had a mic problem with a PC with very similar distorted digital sounds which was caused by the computers' sound software set to digital input instead of analog. By switching from digital to analog in the systems sound software the problem went completely away and the mic functioned perfectly. But this can't be the problem because this is an NVR and all the audio is arriving in digital network packets?!? So am I listening to sound packets that the geovision software isn't assembling correctly???? By The Way --- If a person speaks loud enough near a mic, the speech DOES come through although it is terribly digitally distorted. They kind of sound like angry aliens.

Hi Micksgonefishin,

It sounds like it could be a short somewhere inside the machine that could be causing your issue. Open up the machine and check to make sure that the wires plugged into the sound inputs on the motherboard are correct and pushed in all the way (sometimes machines have mic / speaker inputs on the front which need to be plugged into the motherboard - this is where you need to check).

What is the wattage of the power supply?

I hear what your thinkin Yeti but the speakers are plugged in directly to the motherboards speaker outputs on the back of the server.

I also get clean audio using two different camera manufacturer's proprietary software outside of the GV v8.3.3

I went and disabled hyperthreading today but to no avail.

I requested a copy of 8.3.4 which was just realeased within the week, I have a feeling 8.3.3 had many issues and mine was probably one of them seeing that the 2 versions were released so close to each other.

So we'll have to see how this new version behaves in the Win7 / 64 bit environment.

I really hope it works with MPEG4 audio this time. 8.3.3 worked great in every aspect on this rig except the audio was just crazy.

Looks like the only updates in 8.4 are really for IP cameras. I installed 8.3.3 on 3 Dells and its working great, well other then 8.12 was Geo's best release .. these newer ones are much slower ... anyway .. otherwise it works good without any errors. Only bug I noticed is on Remote Viewlog 8.3.3 where the address book never shows up on the login screen, so I had to go back to the 8.3.1 Remote Viewlog instead. Im using XP SP3 32bit. I have no audio devices being used on those 3 DVRs though.

One of the cameras is a Vivotek IP7161 for which they are adding another 3 or 4 more to thier supported list.

So thats what I'm so excited about. The added support for the Vivotek camera's

They are removing the IP 7161 from their supported list but the new arrivals are transmitting for what it appears, in the same audio codec which is AAC.

AAC codec is contained within MPEG4. The AAC audio codec is contained within the MPEG4 format on the 3rd out of 4 layers of MPEG4 information.

(By the way this sytem is running AcTi and Vivotek cameras)

So my main point is that my system's camera's are all reporting to the geovision software in MPEG4 which is the movies standard and so is geovisions!

So I'm totally wanting to blame my designs hardware, but it just seems to be a protocol problem between geovision and the cameras!?!

I get great audio outside of the geovision 8.3.3's software!

I am praying that version 8.3.4 will address these problems in a Win7 64bit environment. They claimed that 8.3.3 would support such a system but we're defiantely having problems regarding audio over here!

I've requested a link to the download of 8.3.4 but haven't got the email yet.

I'll let you know if .4 solves the goofy audio problem.

Mick

By the way

! Along with the "disabling the hyperthreading" experiment today I decided to mess with the Netgear FS726TP switch to make sure it is transmitting every bit of data throught the workgroup.

And it is just a stupid workgroup switch.

So outside of Geo audio is fine then yep has to be a glitch with their codecs and 64bit or something. Make sure they have all the PC specs also .. did you contact the Taiwan one or the USA one? There is a rep on here from the USA one but they dont come by too often. You should receive a free card from Geo for being their test pilot (dont hold your breath though!). Hope you get it sorted out.

Hey guys, they are working on it and yes they have agreed to rebate the dongle purchase price. I came back here today to do a bit of brain storming, I'm going to uninstall 8.3.3 and install 8.3.4 and see if anything changes.

By the way this is what the camera settings tab looks like. Notice the lack of audio codec button missing!

It is missing for both the Acti camera's and the Vivotek cams.

under the add camera/audio part is there any audio there?

Under the General Settings -> Camera / Audio Install -> IP Camera Install -> Configure (button) -> Preview & Audio Setting

The Wave Out and the RecAudio boxes do allow checking. When I do check them I get a flatline in the audio monitor with a few loud "pops" every minute or so.

Adjusting the Gain Control makes absolutely no difference! When adjusting the gain all the way down the sound does not change at all.

BUT! I do get very faint audio under a layer of distortion. Everybody sounds like "angry aliens" or like a CB picking up a side band channel but you just can't place what they are saying.

As you saw in the picture the codec button simply isn't available to choose any codecs for any of the camera's. The "advanced codecs" check box is also missing.

You can go ahead and show that picture if you want. Its a public area anyway.

I've checked and unchecked everything in those 2 area's as well as other places. Today I uninstalled 8.3.3 and installed 8.3.4.

The same issue is occuring under 8.3.4.

I'm starting to think it has something to do with the NVR portion of the software, like somethings wrong with the audio Setup Information, like theres one too many spaces in the code somewhere.

I just tried reinstalling the audio codecs portion of the geovision software by running the application "GeoCodecReg" application but to no avail.

Another thing you could do while waiting for them to fix it ..

Maybe disable the IP camera's audio altogether and get a small cheap mic .. nothing amazing .. then hook that up to the PC using the mic input and see if that works at all. Actually ive only ever used the audio ports on the DVR cards with Geo so cant say if that would work .. but might be worth a try?

I realize it will kill the whole point of audio from the IP cams but just a thought to get it working for now.

Man! - Rory!

I really appreciate your concern and input!

I already gave that some thought and I was going to implement it but the customer has cooled his jets (after I rebated 1200 ) and he's willing to wait for Geovision and I to figure this out.

Besides I would have to coordinate the audio with the video somehow. But if he was still erupting like an Icelandic volcano I was going to do it.

Here's a link to a video I privately posted on YouTube for anyone who wants to hear and experience this strange problem.