dvrtiger

Yes, I think it would do the trick. It's similar to my proposal, but with external switch.

Hm, I'm not sure, but I think that viewer application is written in java...you could have some java issues on your laptop OS ..try to reinstall java with the latest version...

Oh, electronics can distinguish hard and soft power off very easy You see, power on/off button on modern electronics is not a switch directly connected to the mains power supply, it's some form of pushbutton or tact switch. Touching that switch produces impulse for microcontroller which then starts the shut down procedure (stops recording, stops hard drive, etc...). After this process, which lasts for a fragment of sec, controller cuts the power off by means of a relay...

First, go to the Setup-> Storage and check for the existing hard drives. If there aren't any, exit Intellex software and run Drive config on your Desktop. After that, start GUI again.

Such a brutal power on/off procedure is not very 'healthy' for DVR or cameras... it can shorten life span of the hard drive or even damage EEPROM... some cameras, like gantz or sanyo, are quite prone to failures caused by sudden power on/off

Yes, I've understood that you want to stop recording while you're at home. Record is enabled or disabled with the same key, REC, as I recall.

It's impossible that new hard drive requires that much current. Voltages are standard, 12/5V. I've never heard for such an issue before, something is wrong with your new hard drive.

Well, for the given price-quality ratio they are quite good. Some newer models provide 32x playback speeds as I can recall.

You don't need anything so fancy as microcontroller You could make a simple logic flip-flop like circuit and connect it parallel to stop and start record keys. Trigger signal would be from your alarm board-when you deactivate house alarm signal would provide impulse for record stop and vice versa. Just play a little You could use some of the unused pins on dvr for that, and there's a lot of space inside to place this tiny circuit.

Well, I don't use that function that much, but it seems to me that it only resets alarm function and buzzer of dvr...it doesn't affect recording. Pins 1 & 2 (RS 232) and 10 &11 (RS485) are used for external dvr control. Your problem could be solved with a simple electronic circuit but I don't know what's your level of electronics skills...

I agree with scorpion, use AVTech for your needs. Don't repeat our mistake by using cheep chinese no-name generic dvrs with 'superior' performances ...now I have a truck load of them in my service shop, with various symptoms- you name it! And I have one more reason to invent 'nice' names for our boss who decided to use them

I've notice some issues when using new and bigger hard drives on older equipment... usually it's a firmware problem within dvrs, because they don't 'know' how to use biger 16mb cashe instead of older 8mb ( even if it seems quite bizzare)... try to locate new firmware for DVR or you'll have to locate older hard drives...

If your unit works fine, I don't see any reason why you should try to upgrade it...my advice-stick with it!

I've replaced the whole combination, all three cards, but with same results. American Dynamics support told me that they are quite puzzled as I am... If I knew where are the test points on the VACD card I could track down VGA signal to find out what's going on, but I don't have such info...

Hi, I have a problem with one 3.1 unit. I got it into service shop with dead hard drive. I've replaced it and recovered the unit. I also had to replace VGA card with a new one, because it was somehow damaged during transportation of the unit. This unit works fine now, except one 'tiny' problem: it doesn't have live display! I don't have any live output from any of the cameras on my screen during live view mode, but when I start playback mode, I have recorded images from all cameras without any problems. So, it's recording functions work well.All Intellex functions for camera or display are set ok. I'm quite puzzled. New vga card is ati radeon 9200 with 128mb and with the latest drivers installed (the old one was ati radeon 7000, 32mb). I also have to mention that this unit came with non-standard motherboard, I think it was replaced by someone in the past. This motherboard is matsonic model. If someone can help me, I'd appreciate it! Thanks in advance!

VGA card was physicaly damaged so I had to replace it. I've also tried new ribbon cables, BNC camera panel, and new VACD card but without results.

I don't think it's a hard drive problem...in that case, dvr would say something like 'no HDD' or 'disk error'. You can test your hard drive by removing it from dvr and connecting it to a PC, and than you can try to run some diagnostics on it. More likely, something went wrong on the motherboard, bad filter caps around processor area or something like that, what made this dvr quite unstable. Also you should try hard reset as Scorpion suggested, it might be some error in nv memory also, so try this to recover it if it wasn't damaged.

Well, their support for our country is quite bad, almost non-existing... They provide a good support for their other non-cctv products, but for cctv not so. Our firm gets all sanyo dvrs without hard drives installed, so there was no original hard drive installed with it out of the box. Also, the unit can see only one 500GB ATA drive, when there are two hard drives of any size installed, it also fails to see them. I've tried SATA hard drives also, using SATA to ATA converter (that same model of converter we use on avtech/cp dvrs without any problems), but it doesn't see anything with it (including 500GB SATA drives). I could try to re-flash this unit with non-european flash, just to see if this is some kind of a firmware issue...

Hi, I have a problem with the above unit. When I install any hard disk with size different than 500GB I get 'disk error' message. I've tried several hard drives from various manufactures. And the problem persists on several units of the same model. If someone could help me, I would appreciate it a lot. Thanks in advance!

Disk assignment on all disks was set as it should be, new ribbon cables were installed, ide connectors on motherboard were re-soldered as was the whole motherboard re-soldered too. The main issue is that it 'sees' only hard disks with 500GB capacity, it doesn't see smaller or bigger ones. We have several dvrs of the same model in our service shop with the same symptoms. Sanyo representative for our country said that 'everything is ok with these units'...

I suppose it' s some kind of a firmware issue because 4ch and 16ch models don't have such problems ( this model is 9ch unit). It also doesn't accept any SATA-->IDE converters..

More likely it seems like a faulty ATX power supply unit to me. Replace it with a new one. ATX modules are quite prone to failures caused by ageing components inside it, especially on Intellex units on which factory installed modules have barely enough power for normal operation. Also, don't try to run Intellex without the lid for a very long period, because VACD card can become quite hot without air flow!

Your advice worked well, thanks!

Hi, I have a problem with Intellex 3.1 Standard. I've got it into service shop with failed hard drive. I've replaced it, but I'm unable to start recovery process. I always get message 'Invalid destination drive' in the ghost window. I've tried several hard drives, all new from box ( several ATA, and also SATA with and without SATA/ATA converter) but without results. I've also tried another cd recovery set. I have to mention that all other component were tested (using diagnostic software, on another unit and with linux live distribution on that particular unit) and showed ok. BIOS was updatetd with the latest version for D865GBF motherboard. If someone could help me, I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance!

Oh, I didn't know that...thanks a lot, I'll give it a try in the morning