Forestarius

A few days ago the video image in the video monitoring windows got blocky. The video still recorded fine and looked fine in View Log, it was just blocky when viewed live. I had installed a program called Classic Shell so Windows 8 would have a nicer XP type menu. When I uninstalled it the problem went away.

With XP security updates ending in a few months and a replacement for a GV2008 card being expensive, I decided to see if it would run in Windows 8.1 I downloaded a free 90 day evaluation of Win 8.1, swapped the hard drive on the XP machine (for safe keeping), and installed the OS on another hard drive. Then installed GV version 8.3.2 software. It would begin launching the program then failed. Under Windows "Troubleshooting" I found "Run programs made for a previous version of Windows" (it starts the Program Compatibility Troubleshooter). Then I Went though its list of GV programs, setting them to XP compatibility. But the GV program still would not work. Then I found under Hardware that the card drivers did not install. I selected the three drivers it listed as missing, installed them (just told windows where to find them) and tried again. This Time GV launched and seems to be running fine. I only use it as a video recorder, viewer, and to send email alert pictures. It appears to be doing the first two fine. I haven't set up the email alerts yet.

I swapped Hard Drives today so reinstalled Windows 8.1. I manually installed the 3 drivers first (using Device Manager to point to the GV2008 folder they were in), then installed the GV 8.32 program, this time without any XP compatibility settings selected. It seems to be working fine without the XP settings.

Thank you! That fixed it.

During playback of video on a new install of version 8.301 this icon appears in the lower right of the video. I can't find it in the manual. What does it indicate?

Verizon is my DSL provider and they are going to start blocking port 25 (the standard for SMTP outgoing email) in a few weeks. They say to switch the outgoing port from 25 to 587. It's easy enough to do in my regular email program, but I can't find a place to switch the port number in Geovison version 8.01. Is there a way to do it in version 8.01?

WOW "David Marino reports Incredible home invasion caught on camera" "A homeowner, alerted of an impending home invasion by his security cameras, arms himself and takes matters into his hands last Thursday when four armed suspects attempt to break into his home. The video the owner caught is incredible, and you can see it by watching the video link to the left. You see a vehicle pull up, and four men run out. One of them is carrying what appears to be an AR-15 or M-16, a weapon which could be fully automatic." http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=17e_1234261495 "The robbery happened last Thursday in broad daylight at a home on West Vande Loo Street. All the action was caught by the homeowners outdoor surveillance system. "The victim was able to get back inside his house, close his door, semi barricade it, reach for [a] weapon that was easily accessible," says Pima County Sheriff's Deputy Earl Gieron. The homeowner shot at the suspects. He even put a bullet through the windshield of the suspects car, which is also caught on camera. The four men retreated and took off. All of them remain on the run. Sheriff's officials say the homeowner has surveillance cameras installed all around his house. Dep. Gieron says, "That was just for his own security." People living in the neighborhood heard all the gunshots, and saw the aftermath. Some stray bullets even hit a home across the street. One man says, "I was asleep around noon Thursday, and heard gunshots." Lawrence Cruz lives down the street from where the attempted home invasion happened. "I am very watchful where we live and I think everybody has right to defend their property," says Cruz. Detectives did find the suspect's vehicle at a home near Cardinal and Valencia, but the four men are still on the run. One of the suspects has been identified as 23-year-old Jesus Mendivil. It's believed he was shot in the arm. The three other men are all described as Hispanic males between 17 and 25-years-old. Anyone with information is asked to call 88-CRIME " http://www.kvoa.com/global/story.asp?s=9816982

Running 8.2 on a clean Windows XP install. The only installed security program is Windows firewall. I added the DM mail server program to exempt after the first time, in case it was being blocked. The little mail server icon appears as it's trying to send the email but gets stuck there. I have to kill the process with Task Manager to kill it. Everything works fine for a day or two at a time, then it gets stuck again. Any ideas on what's happening? I'll turn off the Windows Firewall for now.

FYI, I paid $148.35 plus shipping and another $7 for a transformer from a New York company on the internet. Some places want double that for the same thing. It's worth it to shop around. If you do a Google search for "INFRARED ILLUMINATORS" some online dealers show up.

I think an IR Illuminator is all you need. The few cameras I have with built-in IR LEDs attract bugs which in turn attract spider webs in front of the camera which in turn are lit up by the IR. A separated IR light would prevent that. I have one of these on order now: http://www.vitekcctv.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductID=447

A couple of days ago my router died. As I was swapping it out I noticed that if the GV system was trying to send out an email alert while the router was disconnected the email server would lock up. Verizon has a lot of periodic blackouts here, usually just for a few minutes at a time. If my GV system is trying to send out an email at the same time that could explain the lockup. Has anybody else experienced complete lockup of the mail server program when their DSL is disconnected?

http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=8810893 Don't forget to click on the video link on the right and keep watching as it moves to an outside camera for extra kicking action. " title="Applause" />

My number one camera is on the private road leading to my house. It sends out an email with a picture of the vehicle and a good image of the license plate most of the time. Next are the wideangle area cameras that just see what's going on around the house but are worthless for IDing an unknown person. The front and back door have ID cameras to capture faces. Maybe I can't stop them from coming here and breaking in, but if I have their license number and a good mugshot of them, the Sheriff will be paying them a visit. The key to being a useful system is it has to be able to help track down an unknown person. Without a license plate or good face shot there is no way to ID the person. A system that can't do that for you is almost worthless.

The card came back last week. I put it back in the computer and everything has been working fine since. There was no word on what went wrong.

This morning around 1am Camera Number 3 stopped working. In the video monitoring program it has the "Video Lost" icon in place of the video signal for camera 3. I checked the camera signal coming in and it is fine. Next I thought maybe the fragile looking "D-Type" video plug cable for number 3 was bad, so I swapped the two D plug positions (each plug has the wiring for 4 cameras). Now Camera 3 shows up fine in position 7, but camera 7 in position 3 shows "Video Lost." So the "D-Type Video and Audio Cable" is fine, the problem is in the card. Has anyone else seen this? I still have to get my serial number info and contact GV about this. Hopefully I won't have to do without the entire card while this is fixed.

I'm told the RMA process will take 2-3 weeks turn around to get it fixed or replaced. I'll let you know how it turns out.

This is a gem of a video I found posted on another forum. The clerk was suspicious when the two hooded characters took up positions on opposite sides of the counter so looked closer and saw a shotgun coming out: http://albums.phanfare.com/1563718/2272636#imageID=34942227

The clerks gun was only a .22 and he ran it dry with no hits and had no extra ammo on him. He is lucky the robber with the shotgun decided to run after he fired one shotgun blast at him. The other robber that went to the far right of the counter and out of sight of the camera had a pistol but didn't fire it. The clerk had a super fast reaction time. He figured out the situation quickly. Wearing hoods in June helped clued him in. Other things of note: The guy with the cowboy hat in the first video was in on it and gave the two robbers the all clear to go in. A little girl rode by the front entrance just as the shooting began. The local drunk got up and looked inside after the shooting, but sat back down to chill and finish his drink before the clerk ran out. This happened on a Sunday morning in Dallas, Texas.

Mostly paper and monitors being thrown. First view: http://www.break.com/index/office-worker-goes-absolutely-insane.html Second view, taken with cell phone: http://www.break.com/index/office-worker-meltdown-second-angle.html Alternate links of the same: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yW-CMbp73c&feature=related

I tried several email accounts, but Verizon must be blocking certain email SMTP settings because outgoing is not connecting, unless I send it through Verizons own email server. So I guess I'm stuck with using Verizon for outgoing mail for now.

I can try that. Right now it's on a verizon email with "outgoing.verizon.net" and the SMTP login and password info. It locked up again today and this time when I killed the mailserver a little window popped up and said the local area network was now connected. When I clicked on connection status it said it had been up for 8 days. That was strange. Maybe one was blocking or locking up the other.

The pictures were from a Geovision 800-4 card set to Geo Mpeg4. I think you have to refocus all surveillance camera lenses when you zoom. I've had to do it on every brand including top of the line Bosch and Panasonic's. They are more like old 35mm cameras than modern digitals. Right now I'm using pro type AV surveillance cable with copper shielding and that has the power cord built in and comes in 500 foot rolls. For testing I've also used short runs of other types cables and saw no difference. It really is a camera problem.

I think every camera I've ever hooked up to the TV looked much much better if not spectacular. This time though it was less good than any other camera I've tried and I could not get it precisely focused on anything past a few feet. In the house at 3-4 feet it looked great, but starts going bad fast as the distance increases. Outdoors it is just awful. I have cheap 1/4" cameras that look much better as well as being in focus. I hope this is user fixable.

I've been wondering if the front glass in the housing is acting like one of those special effects blur filters they used to sell for 35mm cameras. I haven't had the time to take housing apart to check on that.

It's been two days now with the Windows firewall off . The DMailserver got stuck again tonight. I had to kill the mail process to stop it as "cancel" and "OK" did not do anything and then restart it. Any ideas on what's going on?