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peskypete

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Everything posted by peskypete

  1. peskypete

    Geovision 800 newbie questions

    Hi Jeff, I am not the best person to reply, but I'll try and give you some of my experience/knowledge. I have a gv-800 card running the V8.3 geovision s/w (no dongle). I can't remember what the dongle is for - maybe it's needed if you have an IP camera. But... I have a ptz camera, a cheapo 'night vision', and a box style camera. You can check em out here: http://peterjenkins.selfip.net The trick with quality is two things, basically - 1. Lighting 2. Lighting! Well, it's also resolution too. I think for night time, you need to spend a few hundred bucks on either a quality, low light camera, or you can use floodlighting. For my driveway, I use a couple of motion sensitive lights, which, when triggered, will also trigger the motion detection s/w (nice). That cam is a box cam with a decent lens (wide angle and large F stop). I got both items off ebay and the lens was like $20, but is one of the wider apertures you can get (F1.2 I think). That setup gives you a decent low light solution. The PTZ is strictly for daylight use only. I got a used Sony EVI-D30 off Craigslist for $100.00 I built an outside enclosure for it and stuck it up in the corner of the roof. The cabling for controlling it, off ebay, plugs into a serial port and the Geovision s/w recognizes it, even though the camera is not listed (it's set up as a Sony EVI-D100) The Attic camera was set up to check for rodents, I haven't bothered to take it down since solving the problem! I just run the Webcam server and I am able to access the cameras remotely, without the need for setting up the computer as a 'server'. The only issue I have is some networks (like the one at work ), don't allow the video feed to come through. I have the computer in my attic, so I use a remote desktop program to access it and the Geovision s/w. That is nice since I can change my settings from anywhere on my network - even externally, though I haven't tried that out yet. It's just a barebones box up there, with a cheap video card, which is not connected to a monitor, of course. Let me know if you have any q's, and I'll try to answer! Pete
  2. peskypete

    Buy the Original Geovision Card

    Curious. Do these 'pirates' copy the electronic design by either, reverse engineering the pcb or just copying the individual layers of the pcb's? Either way, that's got to be tough to do. If Geovision boards have proprietory chips, then that would make it virtually impossible to duplicate. Or are they designing from scratch, making the design 'appear' to resemble a Geovision board and selling it as a Geovision product? It seems that it would be easier to just sell it as their own product. Then there's the software side of things... If these people are that smart, why go to extremes to make a copy? I guess the brand "Geovision" makes it worthwhile.
  3. peskypete

    Buy the Original Geovision Card

    The fake boards and software do not have any support, which is really a large part of what you are buying with the Geovision product and the main reason why the real product is the only thing you should purchase. If you are buying a security product, the last thing you need to be worrying about is reliability. If you purchase a system that is 'flakey' and you can't resolve the issues as there is no support system in place, then you just wasted your money. I personally have received great support from Geovision, their staff from the on-line site are knowledgeable and curteous everytime. I was tempted to buy a cheaper card from ebay, but only because I thought it was a genuine Geovision product. Since the price seemed too low, compared to dealers, I ended up getting a used card (still got a bit of a price break) after getting the barcode verified by Geovision. Hope this helps ![/i]
  4. Hi, I have ports open, can access locally, but when I try through a proxy server, or from my place of work, I get the 'Can't connect to server' message. Please try it and let me know if you can access it from your location, to help me trouble shoot. http://peterjenkins.selfip.net Thanks!
  5. peskypete

    Need someone to check webcam please!

    Well, my nephew in the UK was able to log in and view the camera images, so all must be ok. If others can't get on, then it must be a unique situation, I guess. Pete
  6. peskypete

    Need someone to check webcam please!

    I would love to have a stable version Rory - do you know if 8.2 is better? That's what came with the card originally, and I was able to get 8.3 from Geovision tech support, but now I can't find their support site... I bought a genuine card so that I could get reliability, but I'm not sure I have that, or it's the way I have my network and system set up properly, but jeromephone was able to access the cameras, so it should all be setup ok , though I still need more people to confirm
  7. peskypete

    Need someone to check webcam please!

    Hi, Those ports are open (port forward). Not sure what "NAT" means though. Will only work with IE (I think) and you have to d/l the activex control when asked, though if you have the menu bar on th left and the blue video window, then you did that already. You have to choose 'Liveview' and '1 window' from the left menus. That should load the camera(s) Peter
  8. peskypete

    Need someone to check webcam please!

    Ok That's great! That means the reason I cannot access it by proxy or work is some other unique restriction (port blocking?) by these servers. Thanks v. much! Pete Did you try the pan/tilt/zoom function of the backyard cam?
  9. peskypete

    Need someone to check webcam please!

    Well, you can't be Rob Merritt then! You must work for him. Pete
  10. peskypete

    Need someone to check webcam please!

    Ok That's great! That means the reason I cannot access it by proxy or work is some other unique restriction (port blocking?) by these servers. Thanks v. much! Pete
  11. peskypete

    Need someone to check webcam please!

    See my last post (edited) Did you get your asses handed to you against Poco this weekend? Bummer on the disconnect! I know how much you LOVE Geovision
  12. peskypete

    Need someone to check webcam please!

    I get the GV login prompt at the above link. Thanks for helping out - If you log on (guest) do you get the video feed though? That's where it will say 'connecting to server...' then fail (for me). (You play masters btw??) Oh yeah, Of course you do! - I played with you this Summer R.M. Cheers!
  13. Hi, I had a problem with V8.3 (bandwidth control error kept popping up). So I decided to resort to V8.2, after a few uninstall/re-installs!! Now the ptz controls do not move the camera. If I temp. disable the ptz from within the general settings menu, I am able to use another program (BDLCAM) which sends cam commands via com1 to the camera and the camera moves correctly. Thus I KNOW that the connection and camera is ok. I have noticed that the camera does move on the rare occasion, through the geovision ptz control panel, but it is so rare and unrepeatable. It is set up for a sony D100 camera, but it's like the protocol is not quite right. The only thing I can think of is that when I uninstalled/reinstalled, the command protocol got messed up. (Maybe a registry entry is not getting properly uninstalled). The camera was operating flawlessly, even when I upped to 8.3. The problem exists when I went back to 8.2. It also now exists if I up to 8.3. Any suggestions?
  14. peskypete

    PTZ controls not working after re-install(s)

    Thanks for the suggestion. I tried some other things, including wiping the registry as best I could, plus deleting all geo*.ini files and several re-installs, but all to no avail. I was convinced that the program wasn't sending commands to the com port. I then deleted the BDLCAM program, thinking that something related to that was the problem. I then tried another program, Sony's own utility, EVISa1.exe, to see if that would also control the camera. It worked too. Then I went back to Geovision and tried again and... it started working! I can only deduce that using Sony's program 'reset' the camera. I had previously already tried powering on & off the camera directly and through BDLCAM to no affect. So back to normal finally!! Update: Interesting - Today I was using Geovision to manipulate the camera and it 'froze' again! I opened EVISa1.exe and initially could not get that program to move the camera either. Then I clicked on the 'reset' button (within EVISa1.exe) and I was able to regain control again.
  15. peskypete

    Error trying to view ViewLog

    Sometimes when I access the Viewlog and playback a video, the program freezes. The freeze/hang happens randomly. The only solution is to C,A,D, and close Viewlog that way. Going back into Viewlog and playing back the offending video file is now ok. I check the videos everyday, and this happens quite frequently. Ran the exe to clean the DB, but it says it doesn't need cleaning. The main software is running all the time, so that is not affected. Since the videos can be viewed, with Viewlog ok the next time, it's not a corrupt file. Using 8.2 Anyone else get this problem?
  16. peskypete

    Emailing larger image than 320x240

    Hi all, Is it possible to get a larger image emailed (upon motion detection)? My video size is 640x480 so why wouldn't that size be an option? (Geovision Rev. 8.2) Pete
  17. peskypete

    DMmailserver gets stuck

    Yes! I am having the exact same problem. I was having to restart my d-Link router once or twice a day, so I swapped it out for a Trendnet brand. Now when I remote desktop to the Geovision server and ptz the camera, it just hangs and doesn't email me the motion detection info. When I try to access the 'E-mail Setup' menu, it also hangs. I have tried a few things after calling tech support for the router, but no sucess yet. I'm investigating... Couldn't get it to work. I switched back to the 'testy' D-Link and I was having the same problem. The only thing I had messed with on the server, was the IP settings. I did this because the Trendnet doesn't allow static ip setting from within the router (the D-Link does). I had changed the settings back (auto ip) so I was surprised that it didn't work (although, surprised wasn't quite my reaction ). I finally got it to work (not hang on attempting to send an email warning) by using System Restore and going back a couple of days. Voila - I'm back where I started, with everything working. So, it looks like it's related to some obscure network setting that the Trendnet router did. I hope this helps you figure out your problem - it's a toughie! Dec 18th Update: Went back to try the Trendnet router again, since the D-Link is a pain because I have to reset all the time. Turns out the Trendnet didn't like the name I had for the mail server, in the Outlook Express config. settings. I had an abreviated server name ("shawmail") that works fine with the D-Link but the Trendnet needs the full path ("shawmail.vc.shawcable.net"). Change this also for the Geovision (General Setting/E-mail Setup/SMTP Server). Hope this works for you! Pete.
  18. peskypete

    DVR. access without monitor/keyboard/mouse

    After trying to figure out why one system has remote desktop & not the other, I finally read that XP home wasn't supposed to have it. I installed XP Home on the video server using same disk. Really odd! I finally tried UltraVNC and it works like a charm! I really don't have any problems with XP Home, and I've done a few installs of it on the same and different systems (due to Mobo changes and Hard drive swaps). I have been using many op systems since DOS (286 machines) and I gotta say XP Home is pretty reliable. My server is also in the attic and attached by a cat5 cable. It also has a static IP. I connect to it through the LAN, but I could plug the CAT5 into a laptop and use it that way too. I have only been running the server 24/7 for a couple of weeks, but no crashes to date. I think the chances of a crash occuring would be more related to bad hardware than XP. Stay away from VIA chipsets!!!
  19. Hi, I would like to be able to power on/off the PTZ camera at certain times of the day. One way would be to use Windows Task scheduler and 'Hyperterminal' the correct protocol to the camera over the serial connection. Anyone done this, this way or another? Pete
  20. peskypete

    Possible to turn on/off PTZ from Geovision?

    Decided it's not worth the hassle. Camera will stay on 24/7
  21. peskypete

    Possible to turn on/off PTZ from Geovision?

    Hi, Thanks for the input guys. The camera does support power on/off, it's a Sony EVI-D30 and uses the Visca control set. GV doesn't include a power on/off option with the PTZ controls, so the macro idea wouldn't work. The shared serial port option sounds like the way to go. I'll investigate and reply in a few days when I get the chance to do so. Getting there.... Pete
  22. peskypete

    Possible to turn on/off PTZ from Geovision?

    Ok bike_rider, I'll eloborate, though this is probably not your area of expertise, but thanks anyway. Geovision uses the COM port to control ANY ptz camera. I can also send commands to the camera using the COM port (via hyperterminal) to P,T, Z and power on & off the camera (make, model is of no consequence). You cannot access the COM port while Geovision is using it, so I have to exit Geovision first. That means I would have to have a batch file to: Exit Geovision, Run Hyperterminal Run a script to turn camera off Enable Geovision again. Then repeat everytime I want to cycle the camera power. Anybody know if commands can be sent to the COM port WHILE Geovision is running, or know of another workaround please?
  23. peskypete

    How to check original GV

    The card has been up & running for a couple of weeks and is 100% genuine. No system hangs. Runs 24/7 in my attic Also doubles as a backup file system, with all my design work (pcb's) and associated stuff (20 years of libraries), gettting auto saved there every day. Only have two cams on it right now and pretty happy with the setup, including the Geovision support of the PTZ Sony EVI-D30. Wish there was away to turn on & off the camera automatically though... Love the motion detection s/w - very controllable. Used Yawcam before which gave a lot of false alarms. Worth buying the card just for the s/w. But the software did take a bit of getting used to, esp. remote viewing etc. Just confused by the fact you need to enable Webserver from a couple of different screens. Also using UltraVNC, which gives me 100% control over the whole computer from any other computer.
  24. peskypete

    Can I get a webserver hit?

    Thanks Ken & Brankorackovic. (Sorry, you too ak357!) Birds are going crazy at both squirrel feeder (default) and bird house! Pete
  25. peskypete

    Can I get a webserver hit?

    Thanks - testing finished
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