Doug

The passwords and other settings are in the dvr2.ini and the capture.ini files in the windows directory. Deleting or renaming the dvr2.ini file will reset the passwords and also the location of the file system used for storing the video, it will not delete the video but you will have to tell the system where the video is stored using the dvr file system installer(don't select reinitialise or you will delete the stored video) Deleting or renaming the capture.ini file will reset all the other settings, motion settings, resolution etc. In some versions the file may be named dvr.ini instead of dvr2.ini Doug

At best MTBF allows you to guesstimate when a drive may fail, it has no bearing on the % of video lost if and when a drive fails. If you have 480gb of video on a single 500gb drive and you lose the drive, then in all liklehood you have lost 100% of your video, if you have 480gb spread over three 160gb drives and you lose a drive, then you have only lost 33% of your video, regardless of the MTBF. Doug

Another point to consider is that if you have one 500gb drive and it crashes, then you have probably lost all your recorded video, if you used 3 x 160gb drives then you would only lose a third of your video, which may or may help. since sods law will dictate that all the important video is on the crashed drive anyway. Personally I normally use two 320gb Seagate or Western Digital SATA drives for video storage in the machines I put together. Doug

Its unlikely that two cables would fail at the same time as you updated the software, if you've moved the DVR during the update process then its possible that you've dislodged or loosened a connection on the back of the DVR.Also you should check that the camera cables are connected to the correct leads on the DVR and that you haven't unplugged the power supplies to the cameras. Doug

To set up different passwords for different cameras control setup user either add or modify select the options you want this user to have access to select the cameras you want this user to be able access from the list of channels on the right hand side of the screen click OK Note: The cameras must be enabled in the device menu first Doug

Do they show a blank screen or a screen with a logo on it?, if so they are probably not enabled in the setup. If they show a blue screen with "No video" or "No video signal" or something like that then they are enabled in the setup but there is a problem either with the wiring/cameras or power supplies. To enable the cameras Control Setup Device check the boxes of the cameras that you want to enable also set the event recording frame rate and resolution you require The event recording rate is the frame rate at which the cameras will record when motion is detected, the recording rate is the rate they will record when motion is not detected depending on the schedule settings. Note that both recording rate and event recording rate are dependent on the settings under the schedule tab, if the schedule settings are not set correctly, recording will not occur. You should check under "schedule" that the recording mode you require is correctly set. Most people set them for "motion" or "Higher frame recording on event" There are many other settings you need to check, including the recording quality, motion sensitivity and motion mask. You can find these settings by going to the device setup page and clicking the + icon next to the camera in the left column. Then click on the individual camera and set the recording quality and sensitivity. Click on the zone settings and it will display the motion mask, clear any areas that don't want to trigger motion recording by clicking and dragging the mouse. Yes, this is my occupation and no Dallas is a little too far, sorry Doug

Login using admin and no password. select control select setup select user select add enter your user name and your password in the boxes select color adjustment.search,event log, multi access,network, backup and save image-do NOT check the admin mode box. I would also recomend adding a password to the admin user Also do not use a code that has admin attributes assigned to it to log into the server except to make changes to the system as you will not be able to log in remotely, you will get a error message "multi-access" denied Doug

I hear Brut is making a come back, splash it on all over Doug

Here is what I have seen in the past, its not so much that the power supply can't provide enough power, nor that the cable runs are so long that there is excessive voltage drop, but rather there is some sort of interference between the power and the video and/or ground when powering multiple 12 VDC cameras from the same source. My experience has been that it occurs more when the cable runs are of greatly differing lengths. I believe it has something to do with the video ground and negative being common at the camera, but at the head end the video ground is probably tied to the chassis of the DVR and then to an electrical ground, while the power negatives are all common, but floating with respect to ground. I can't say for sure that separating the camera power supplies will work in this case, but I have run across this at least a dozen times when using UTP and multiple 12 volt cameras, and separating the power and/or grouping the power has resolved it in every case. Using a quality active balun at the head end will probably also resolve it, but that's a more expensive solution. At some point the dealer is going to have to try something if he wants to resolve the problem, he may as well start with something that will cost little in parts and very little labour. It would take less than an hour to try this, just remove all the cameras both positive and negative from the power supply and connect one up, if the picture is still bad then you know that isn't the problem, if the picture is clear then keep adding cameras until the problem occurs, my guess is that most of the cameras can be left on the Altronix and maybe 3 or 4 will end up on individual wall warts, or a second PSU. If it resolves the problem, all well and good, if it doesn't he can move on and try something else. Doug I dont think its the power. He is running 18-2 for his power runs. Here is the box. http://altronix.com/index.php?pid=2&model_num=ALTV1224C It is rated at 437.5ma per channel. The cameras only need 150ma at most.

I've seen this before using cat5 12vdc cameras and a DVR, what has worked for me in the past is to power the cameras from individual "wall warts" rather than all sharing the same power source. You may not have to power them all seperately, sometimes just removing two or three will resolve the problem, or try a couple of power supplies and group the cameras according to the length of the cable run, keep the short runs on one supply and the longer runs on another power supply Doug

Does anybody know of a source for a non widescreen 32inch LCD monitor for a PC based DVR TIA

Most motion sensors are passive infrared and don't emit any infrared energy other than a LED to indicate when motion has been detected. Doug

I'd go with the router as suggested earlier in the thread, its simple to install, easy to use and inexpensive. Doug

Every tool is a hammer, except a screwdriver and thats a chisel Doug

I use welders glass # 5 Doug

I'm looking for opinions on which are the better WDR cameras on the market (box camera) Thanks Doug

A gated ghetto??

Anyone using RealVNC version 4.1.1 should take a look at this and download the latest versions. http://secunia.com/advisories/20107/ http://www.intelliadmin.com/blog/2006/05/security-flaw-in-realvnc-411.html Doug

Sorry I didn't read your original post correctly, I missed the part where you mentioned that you had already added the ports to the exceptions list Doug

Go to the windows firewall settings and add the ports in the "exceptions" section Doug

Its a Magic Radar or a clone, the software looks like eyemax from Unix CCTV. Two places that I know of that sell the Magic radar boards are Unix CCTV in Los Angeles (www.telpix.com and www.eyemaxdvr.com) or 24 seven in Monterey Park (www.24sevendvr.com)., Unix has lower prices but 24 seven has better customer service and tech support. Doug

In older versions the geohealth.ini file located in the windows directory had a line "usesoftwatchdog=1", if I recall correctly changing the 1 to a 0 would disable the automatic reboot. I don't know if this applies to version 8 but you could try it. Doug L

I have 12 GV800 V3 boards and 4 GV800 V2 boards for sale. These are all genuine Geovison products and have been removed from customers machines. Approx age six months to 18 months old. They are in perfect working order and were removed due to the customer wanting the same product in all of their 70 locations. I would prefer to sell them in one lot, but if that doesn't happen I would sell them individually.

What is the opinion of having automatic windows updates on DVRs running XP, is it a good thing or can it cause more trouble than its worth ? Doug

Baluns are designed to be used with a single twisted pair, doubling up or using split pairs will cause problems. The longer the wire, the more acute the problems will become. Doug