scottj

no kidding Rory, sad very sad It's probably that cctvshack guy...haha He is the only "businessman" I know that can live off of a 3-5% margin.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=88756&item=5769633694&rd=1 Looks like someone already started selling cards on ebay. Just an FYI Hermin, you might want to make I-View aware (if they aren't already) of Intellectual Property Rights.. also Hermin, I owe you a phone call which I will do on Monday. Sorry for the delay. scottj

yank the netgear router out of the equation and see what happens. If you see video all of a sudden, you have a port blocked or the router is hosed.

Try XLR Microphone cable

Is your customer willing to pay for pin drop quality sound? If you need to stay in the Louroe pricing level, then I would recommend a Crown PZM11-LL (line Level) wall or ceiling mount kit. It is a pressure zone microphone, not a boundry. We have used this setup with the geovision DVR and it works fairly well considering. Im not a Kalatel expert by any means, but I do know that one of our customers replaced 30 units with our systems to achieve better sound quality. Ambient noise will always be there, unless you use an extremely expensive microphone and have a way of cleaning up the audio (equalizing, sampling rate, etc.) Scottj

I have used Luxriot, but I cannot be certain that it will support the ACTi cameras or not...hmmm I will take a looksee

You could use a MPEG4 Transcoder (video decoder) to convert the signal back to analog video, then use whatever DVR you are comfortable with. I am not certain which IP software packages are out there that will support the ACTi products, maybe one of the other guys can help. Just an idea, not the most cost effective. scottj

i know that some of the Walmart stores use WREN products, but then again there are thousands of stores. One of the largest providers of DVR's for chain stores is Checkpoint Systems, they do the target accounts and have some Home Depots as well.

cctvshack, I am not trying to make you look like the bad guy, I just used your pricing as an example of the price ranges we see with DVR's, especially geovision based systems. I completely understand that you have to do what you can to stay competetive and make a living. My primary point was that we seem to see the largest variance in pricing with geovision based systems versus other manufacturers on the retail market. Unfortunately we live in a non perfect world of consistent pricing, but fortunately we have other avenues besides geovision when we run into these situations. Did not mean to insult you to have you labeled as "Dealer #3", I do understand you have to do what works best for you. scottj

You are correct, MSRP is not enforcable, but they can be "recommended" as a means to determine market value of a product. And yes I am aware that Geovision cannot tell a dealer what to sell their products for. All I am attempting to explain is that the market for a geovision product has way too much variance. The guy selling a DVR with a geovision board for a 10% margin ruins the market for the product across the board for other businesses who carry the same type of system.

cctvshack, I just looked at your website, nicely done. Apparently you must sell a plethora of PC based geovision DVR's. Especially with those prices. Let me ask you this..... Why do you sell your systems so cheap? I know what a system cost to build, and it is obvious that you make very little off of the actual system. We couldn't make our overhead at those prices, nor would I bother to sell at that type of margin. Amazes me really. I would imagine that you bank of the fact that people will buy options at a realistic margin? This is just another example of the price inconsistencys that we see with geovision products. Unless a person chooses to operate their business out of their home, I don't see any value in Geovision anymore. Geovision does not protect their market by dictating an MSRP that their distribution channels must abide by, absolutely zero protection. This takes the phrase "Professional DVR" away from their products in my opinion, especially now that a 14 year old can run an online store out of his parents home selling their products. Shame really....**s the market for businesses who can offer service and support versus a kid selling a cheap PC where he stuck a card in and then disappears. Im surprised Geovision has lasted this long. Not to bash you cctvshack, but if you have been in the industry as long as you say you have then you know the end results with products like these. I wouldn't get out of bed to build a DVR for a customer knowing that I was only going to make a couple hundred bucks, unless I was moving 1200 units a month. Just my opinion, nothing personal. scottj

We use Lowell racks for our equipment. They have a really nice finish with smooth corners. Very sturdy and great casters if you go that option. http://www.lowellmfg.com Scottj [/url]

Actually....DataAve is correct from a Non-Dealer perspective. PRICE is the most determining factor in choosing a system. Now from a Dealer/distributor perspective the most important factor is the amount of potential liability a system will deminish...PRICELESS This is what seperates the end user customers from the Dealers...Sales 101 Then again, some of us dealers save time by not defraging our hard drives hundreds of times. Last I heard, that was Poppy****...haha (Only kidding DataAve) scottj

ISC West is huge, ASIS is basically another ISC WEST, ISC East is ok..... This is a very good forum in my opinion. I am wondering if any of you guys/girls have ever considered having a smaller scaled meeting once a year? Sort of a meet and greet that allows the dealers and distributors that use this forum to meet the users? it would be small enough that people would actually have time to talk with one another without feeling rushed, let the end users make suggestions, let the dealers show off their expertise..... Just an idea. You could count me in for sure. I know there is a travel expense here etc, but think of the things you have learned just reading through these posts that have probably saved you hundreds if not thousands...What do you guys think? scottj

I cannot say that we have ever used any wiring from Home Depot (too expensive) so I cannot judge the quality. What I can say is this....Say No To Siamese unless you buy very high quality wiring, and depending on your distance, DC or AC power, etc. Think of signal cable and power cable as a recently divorced couple. Putting the two side by side (taped, tie wraps, siamese) has potential to cause problems (interference, signal noise etc.) I personally do not have 100% trust in a wire manufacturers shielding procedures, so we generally try to leave some distance between the two. We also rarely have installed the power supplies in the same area as the recording equipment, but most of the deployments we have been on are government jobs. just my preference, not to be taken as a requirement but rather a recommendation. Camera noise is camera noise regardless of the source, we just try to eliminate variables. scottj

SLats never defrag your drive partition that your store your video data on. video is recorded fragmented, so you are actually extending your seek times by creating file seperation. A combination of this and the celeron with 128k cache is probably your problem. scottj

G22, Delete the OCX file from your Downloaded Programs Folder in the Windows directory. Go into the Registry and remove the "GeoVision" folder for both the current local and user directories. The 7.0 version is compatible with systems that have 6.1 or 6.11, so you can update the MultiView to the latest and stil have access into slightly older systems. Unfortunately, the 6.05 version is going to require that you download the OCX file via web browser (again) to have access to that system with that version. This is a prime example of why I wish to steer away from GeoVision. They release patches and version revisions too frequently and it causes confusion for end users. Good Luck Scottj

that is exactly what the dongle is......Looks like a dark green usb pen drive, a little shorter. I can't wait to see the looks on a customers face when someone steals the dongle and their dvr stops working...should be interesting.

The dongles are now available from Geo. In order to obtain the dongle, you will need to submit the serial numbers from the boards you wish to upgrade to 7.0 to Geo. They will enter these numbers into their database before you receive the dongles. Scottj

I am searching for a varifocal dome designed for indoor use. Something comparable to the Lilin PIH2146, but less expensive if possible. I would prefer the camera to be able to utilize both 12VDC or 24VAC, have a 3.8-10mm lens (somewhere around there), 480TVL. If anyone has a supplier they recommend, please advise. I need around 35 of these cameras currently, possible many more. Thanks, ScottJ

i understand what you mean about more and more end users wanting audio recorded as we have faced the same trend as of late. The answer regarding CenterV2, I was referring to live audio and then I noticed that you need recorded audio. I am not 100% sure on that or not, I will ask one of our technicians in the morning as that is a very good question. Have you though about using an IP camera deployment verus a traditional DVR? Typically you can find ADPCM integrated microphones which offer a very good audio quality Live, so I would imagine that the playback would be similiar if using a decent PC with high performance sound enhancements. We have an icantek network camera in our front lobby and we have used it for video conferencing. We have also used Polycom products which are also very good for audio. The more I think about your application, the more I am leaning to believe that you basically just need quality VoIP that you can record offsite via FTP, or Server. Give me your thoughts on this one, you have my interest now and i would hope to be of some use for you here. scottj

In response to DRACONS audio situation......... Audio obviously (for legal liability reasons) can be a very difficult task to manage effectively. We have had customers with very similiar requests. A few things that your client must be willing to accept: 1.) They absolutely must have a very high quality professional sound card in the workstation (PC) for which they wish to view/listen to the playback. It is a must that this sound card has the ability to use software equalization to remove/filter out ambient noise recorded from the location where the microphone is located. A $50-80 sound card is not going to do the trick. About the cheapest quality i would use would be the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum eX. [/url]www.creative.com 2.) SPEAKERS. The 2 dollar cheap PC speakers won't work, they need to dig a few dollars more into their budget. A high performance sound card with cheap speakers is useless. 3.) Microphone: We have had very good success using a Crown PZM11LL wall/ceiling mount microphone kit for audio scenerios. Since the Geovision accepts Line level audio, this microphone is easy and cost effective to install. Use high grade XLR Microphone cable from the PZM11LL to the DVR, making certain that your connections are well shielded and secure. 12VDC, 24VAC, or Phantom power can be used for the microphone. Cost is about $120 bucks. Depending on your length of distance between the DVR and microphone location, you could use Direct Boxes with the PZM11 (non-line level) to create a balanced signal, then convert it back to unbalanced at the DVR. The downside is more cost for equipment and not as clean of an installation as it can be. Regarding GeoVision with audio over IP. We found that using CenterV2 versus an active x web browser viewer allowed for much clearer audio over IP. Limiting the available bandwidth to about 75kb, and disabling the streaming "Live" video function reduced audio clipping caused by network congestion. the video portion of transmitting over IP will take priority for all available bandwidth if you do not set limitations. If you have fiber available, this will not be a concern whatsoever. In summary, we have established deployments that require what you are seeking. I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "tape quality" audio, but we can understand what people are saying over IP fairly clearly. Be sure to factor in the ambient noises at the microphone location. If you have an air conditioning duct close to the microphone, you will have noise. i hope this helps somewhat for you. Im tired and it is getting tough for me to type anymore tonight. I wish you luck. Scottj

This is correct. You will have the ability to have a much better display frame rate while still controlling the recorded frame rate at the 2-4 FPS specification that you are wanting.

The only advantage from a hardware standpoint in going with the GV-800 series board, is going to be (2) additional audio channels. The cost difference is only about 200 bucks between the boards, so you may wish to take into consideration of whether or not you will be adding more cameras at a later time, and whether or not you would like to have a little better frame rate at a later time. It sounds as if all you are looking for is 2-4 FPS per channel, the GV-650 model will be your choice. Scottj