sf22

I know you mentioned "generic" but are there any models of the IR eyeball style you like?

I called AMD and he said the reason for the disclaimer about having matching monitors on the quad card was because the display port adapters were passive. He suggested looking at the cards using the HD 5670. I found this Sapphire dual card that is fanless. It can also support 3 monitors if you use an active display port adapter: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102902

Thanks, I was ready to order the quad video card with mini display ports and I took a look at the data sheet for it and it has this note: Important: When using mini DisplayPort-to-singlelink DVI adapters, quad output is divided into two pairs (displays 1 and 2 and displays 3 and 4). The displays used in each pair must be identical (with the same manufacturer and model number) and must be identically configured (with the same resolution). However, the display pairs do not need to be identical to each other. http://www.amd.com/us/products/workstation/graphics/ati-firemv-2d/2460-mv/Pages/2460-firemv.aspx#4 I never saw a card that had specs requiring same manufacturer and model monitors. I am going to call AMD tomorrow to see if it is accurate. They also have a similar board with quad DVI but it has a fan.

I pretty much ignored display port because I never encountered a monitor that used it. I will be using that card for the current project. I will be using DVI-HDMI converters, powered HDMI splitters and HDMI cables. Say you had a 40" flat panel mounted in an office hallway. I know this is subjective. How many cameras could you expect to display (using control center) and have a decently readable result?

I am trying to avoid small fans. Aside from being noisy they seem to be the #1 failure item in systems that run 24x7. That card seems like a good fit if I can't find or go with a fanless card. I found this fanless dual DVI: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125328 Also the quad card I mentioned is a little spendier but would only require a motherboard with one PCIE16 slot: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814195099&Tpk=100-505610 It comes with 4 mini display port to DVI dongles.

Thanks for all of the info. I ran this past the owner yesterday and he likes the idea. Initially we will likely go with 2 sets of 2 large flat panels with a possibly of going with 2 sets of three. The cable lengths are 50' for the furthest group so I am thinking HDMI cables. I am thinking of using powered HDMI splitters and currently looking at video cards. As you noted earlier a Matrox video card would be overkill. ATI has an interesting quad fanless with mini display ports that isn't super expensive (ATI 100-505610) The common dual fanless cards seem to have a DVI and a HDMI port so I can use the HDMI directly and use an adapter for DVI to HDMI.

Thanks for the screen snips. If you had say multiple remote monitor installation as I described and lets say you assign the displays to the monitors you want can you then hit the "F" key on each to make them go full screen? Also it is practical to set this up if you can't see the remote monitors? Say the PC running control center is in the computer room and the remote monitors are out in the hall 50' away and you only have 1 locally attached monitor? If you make a DVR a client of control center does it limit any local operation at the DVR (manager goes directly to the DVR and wants to run viewlog etc)? Thanks for your help.

I am looking into the Geovision Control Center. I have a few questions about the displays. Say for simplicity there are two displays attached to the PC with a dual video card. I create 2 matrices of cameras. Lets say I want to display one matrix on one monitor and one on the other. Is this done using the multiple desktop feature of the OS or via the Geo control center? Can I run the displays full screen similar to tapping the "F" key on the Geo software? If I scale it up to the 4 display max do I just need 4 separate video outputs (say 2, dual video cards)? Thanks

Thanks, My memory of doing this with composite was on much smaller size monitors.

Thanks for the completely different angle. I will look into it. What do you think the main advantage would be of doing it this way? Because of the ability to create displays any way I want or for some other reason? Just curious about the 4 displays in security. No need for that here because they don't have dedicated security. Do you have a video card that supports 4 monitors/desktops and you build each desktop? At the location where they want to do this they just want to see all of the cameras so if the owner or a manager is walking by they can get a quick feel for what is going on. Multiview is available on the computers in their offices if they want to do something in depth.

I am updating an older PC 16 channel Geovision system with a newer one. Eventually its "twin" in the same rack will also be upgraded. Currently the systems connect to a KVM and a single monitor. The new motherboard has VGA/DVI/HDMI outputs. They would like to install two new flat panel monitors (probably 40") connected to the system so that other folks in the office can quickly look at all of the cameras. This would get duplicated when the other DVR is replaced. One monitor location is about 40' and the other is about 60' cable feet away. I am wondering what is a good way to get a video signal to both monitors. I see that they make HDMI amplified splitters which would certainly give high quality. But I wondered about doing it with composite. There are HDMI composite converters or I could also install a video card that has a composite output. Any thoughts appreciated.