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The FPS at 720*480 are quite a bit lower than I expected for a "real-time recording card." Has Geo listed a breakdown of all of their cards anywhere? I would like to compare.

Do you have your system log storing files in the same hard drive or partitian as your video files? If you have the operating system and system log on one drive/partitian and video on another, check the operating system drive to see how much space is left on that drive.

Did you check your card version to make sure that it was compatible with 8.0? Being that it originally had 7.0, it may not have been a new enough card to upgrade. They had a buy back/upgrade program to compensate for that problem.

I believe that NVT has built in ground loop protection.

I have a GV-1120(12) TV out run about 2500 feet using an NVT 214A-M at the DVR side and a NVT 652R at the monitor site. It works pretty well

Hey CameraGenius, how many websites do you guys have. I've found over five so far.

The Geovision Newsletter has a summary of their new products. Has anyone heard a U.S. release date for these products?

They use this type of recording in the movies. It's like a reverse time lapse recording. Tape a ton of images/second on record, then when you playback at 30fps all is clean slow motion.

I looked at longer tapes before going with DVR's. The 10-12 hour tapes were significantly more expensive than standard length tapes. I stayed with 8 hour tapes.

I will try to break this down a little bit to make it easier to digest. NVT, Nitek, and some other companies make baluns that allow a CCTV signal, which is commonly transmitted up a coax line, to be transmitted over an unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cable. Examples of UTP cables include CAT3, CAT5, and CAT6 cables used in telephone systems and computer networks. A CAT5 cable used to connect a computer to a network switch containes four pair of cables inside it. Each pair of cables is two 24 gauge cables that are twisted on eachother. So the commonly found CAT5 cable is actually an overall cover with four groups of two cables wrapped around eachother. These cables also come in a variety with shielding around the cables. These are called STP or shielded twisted pair. For telecom or in this case CCTV signals to travel over the twisted pair, the pair needs to be unshielded. An overall shielding is ok to protect the inside cables from moisture or rodents (in the case of direct burial cable). RJ-45 is a connection type that is commonly used for computer networking. If you have a network cable plugged into your computer, it likely has an RJ-45 style jack, which plugs into your network card. I may be corrected on this part, but I believe that the baluns change the Ohms of the signal from 75 to 100, so that it can pass on the twisted pair cable. They simply change the signal so that it will work on the different type of cable. One balun to change it, then one to change it back. Punch down blocks are a device that has been designed to organize and easily cross connect different pair of cable. In a typical Private Branch Exchange (PBX), such as the private phone system that most larger businesses or schools have, Only one pair of cable is needed to transmit a phone signal. Thus a single four pair CAT5 cable has enough pair inside to run four phones. In large systems, the central phone room has small branch stations. The local phones run to the branch station, which is then connected to the main phone room. Instead of running two hundred separate cables from the main phone room to a distributed closet, a two hundred pair telco cable would be used. The punch down blocks are used to organize the wiring so that when a phone in the north building is connected to the branch station position 56, a connection can then be made in the phone room for position 56 on the north branch to the actual main phone system. Blocks provide minimal resistance to the cable run. For a CCTV application, you can connect an NVT transmitter such as the NV-214A-M directly to each of your cameras. Then run a CAT5 cable to the control site. At the control site, you can use a passive receiver for up to 750 feet or an amplified receiver, such as a NV-652R, for longer runs. The amplified receiver will then connect to a short coax run to the monitor, DVR, or wherever you want the video to end. NVT makes single units, four camera units (NV-413A, NV-452R), eight, sixteen, and thirty-two camera units. You can connect four NV-214A-M's to a NV-452R. The multi-camera units work as the individual units do, just in a more organized case. You also mentioned a DVI output. The outputs on the NVT equipment are a BNC type. If you would want to run a single camera to a plasma TV, you could probably find a converter somewhere, but I do not believe that the resolution of any standard CCTV camera would look very good stretched to that resolution. There are other strings in this forum that have dealt with connecting DVR's to plasmas with some success. I would recommend viewing them.

If only most drop ceilings were this clean and unobstructed. I find that about half of them have no more than a small cavern over them that is filled with insulation (Minnesota), vents, and electrical running all over the place.

I checked Geo's site tonight. They are advertising some new cards including a quad and hardware compression card. Has anyone hear the specs on them yet?

Over 750 feet NVT will not support up the coax type data signals such as Pelco's Coaxatron. If you are using Cat5, you can get a little bit more distance out of it, but anything higher will require the data signal to be separated out from the video signal.

If you are going to use a Dell Dimension, consider one of their models such as the 5150 with upgraded video and memory. Their case design has a vented U shape in the front of the towers. I have a few Geo systems running on them. The big gap in the front of the tower creates very efficient airflow through the system.

Like any other piece of equipment, you will benefit from buying a well built piece of equipment instead of the many knock offs that are out there. I have used NVT for years and have had no problems. I wouldn't even think about trying a no name balun.

I am always cautious about Geo from anyone related to Ebay,but this one looks like it may be real (or it could be another Ebay fake). It looks like a GV-800, 4 camera BNC card. Based on the description, it is pretty old. Geo is on Version 8 now, this card is V6.01. This card would not be upgradable to the current version. Many of the Geovision cards on Ebay are frauds. For just a little bit more money, you could get an guaranteed authentic card with the current version.

Here's a couple of thoughts to get you started, first of all, what is the purpose of the camera? Are you concerned about crime deterrance or documentation, or simply looking to cover blind spots from your windows. Do you have a history of vandalisms, thefts, or other misconduct at your house that would require a more covert instillation? Wireless - I believe that there are a few strings associated with wireless cameras and IP cameras that will help you zero in on the pros and cons, however as a general rule, wired cameras are going to be better if it is to be attached to the structure that you are going to monitor it from. If you want a camera mounted on a fence or something far from the house, then wireless may provide some benefits, but don't forget that you will still have to power the camera somehow. I have seen a temporary install with a wireless transmitter and camera inside a housing then the power out to a vehicle booster pack (jumpstart kit). It worked, but if anyone ever saw it, they could have just walked over to it and picked it up and walked away with it. Lighting - Motion activated security lights are great for theft deterrance. They are also much less expensive than a lot of other technical solutions. Some things to weigh include having to worry about the PIR detecting motion that you don't care about and making you check the window every time the light kicks on. Choosing the right light can help reduce false alarms. Black & White vs. Color - This one gets back to the intent of the camera. Color provides more vivid, familiar representations where as black and white, in general, provides higher resolution. Ultimately, this decision relies on what method of monitoring or recording you intend to use. Hope that gets you started, I'm sure someone else will pipe in with some actual camera suggestions

With all this talk about visible vs. invisible illuminators, I think that this is generally not that big of a concern in most situations. Obviously, if a camera is installed within reach of the ground, you may not want it to be visible, but the majority of exterior camera installs are on poles, walls, or rooftops. A few years ago I was working in an area with a history of multiple break ins, the owner had someone install cameras. They were all roof mounted and had visible red LED glow. It was immediately apparent when you got close to the property that there were multiple cameras watching over multiple angles. The property was definetely hardened, and thefts dropped off. This would be no different than the people that place blue lights or LED's on their camera housings. It gives people a constant reminder that they are being watched or recorded. I have seen many commercial installs that are still using quads or switchers hooked up to standard or time lapse VCR's. The observation and recordings are clearly the weak link in these systems, maybe a little red LED glow isn't such a bad thing

Fiber will give you the best options, but is very expensive. You may also consider use of a Unshielded Twisted Pair solution. A CAT5 cable with baluns like NVT's will give you four camera lines (no data) back. If there is ever a possibility of needing an additional camera at that distant site, the UTP solution may be best. If you already have telco cable run for a PBX system, you may have spare twisted pair available to tap into. That will save a lot of time and energy.

Are you using a fisheye lens on the bottom left, or is it the camera sitting far back in a housing? It appears that the center bottom camera is grossly out of focus.

I have some of those model camera laying around at work. I believe that I have a combination of lenses including some made by philips. I will check into it, but it will be a few days.

Seeing that no one else has responded, I am guessing that I am not the only one who did not understand the question as worded. Can you clarify?

I haven't used that specific model, but most housing have a tray on the bottom that the camera is screwed into. Sometimes the tray comes out sideways then upward, so that the screw can be removed, sometimes the tray is actually screwed in. Looking at the spec sheet for that housing http://www.sti-usa.com/pdf/install/7100install.pdf It appears that there is a 1/4-20 x 3/8" screw included to secure the camera to the tray or housing.

You could use a BNC-T split if the runs between the DVR's were very short, however with any additional connectors in the cable path video quality is reduced by a little bit. You would be safer having the video plug into the input of a video distribution amp then the outputs to DVR's. If you are willing to spend the money to have a redundant DVR, the cost of a quality distribution amp would be insignificant.

Replacing that card with a 16 channel card is probably the only solution that doesn't involve risking ruining the card altogether.