Disappointed in Record Quality GV1240

[3RDIGLBL 0]

So I have a GV1240 Combo card that as you know costs a lot. I expected a kick a$$ card. But on the contrary it's horrible and I stress that unless someone can straighten it out.

 

First in order to get a really decent live view you have to put the DSP overlay on. If this is the case then why make it an option and not make the best possible live view out of the box (no option). Ok so now my live view looks decent but the recorded video is absolutely horrid. Jagged edges on cars and ghosting of vehicles in motion...I mean it is bad. I called tech support and spoke to a gentleman name Allen. He asked me setup questions like record quality (set to the highest BTW) and is at 720x480 non-interlaced and using GEO MPEG4.

 

He asked me to send him an avi so I did. He called me back and said there is nothing they could do. I stated that my low end DVR's record a 100% better than the GV1240 and he agreed (weird!). He stated the DSP Overlay does not transfer into the recorded video (WHAT?) so the recorded video will not look as good. SO I asked why did I pay top $$$ for a card expecting top quality when I get a better recording from a few hundred dollar embedded DVR.

 

He said to contact my supplier and figure out if I can return it if I'm not happy. I did that and working it out.

 

So I don't get it. Why is the recorded video so much worse than the live view. One would think that is should be great quality to give to the cops etc...Even my print view is bad showing massive jagged edges. I can attach pictures but it won't help the cause here. The RECORDED video is much worse than live.

 

Also the recorded video looks better when viewing from Windows Media Player than through the Geovision video/audio log viewer which is BTW v8.2 of the software.

 

I've been reading about some similar instances but is it really this bad? I would expect a PC based system with much more horsepower to have a much better quality video.

[CollinR 0]

This is a combination of a variety of issues.

What display are you watching this from?

What is that display's native resolution?

Is this a 4:3 aspect ratio?

What is your Windows desktop resolution? (should be same as display's native resolution)

What resolution did you install Geovision to run at? (might try 800x600 )

 

The analog cameras which you most likely have are limited to D1 resolution 704x480. Your Windows PC and display are capable of multiples of this resolution. Further 4:3 aspect ratio PC displays are getting harder and harder to find.

 

Your video is interlaced and you must have deinterlace rendering turned off. First reset your recording resolution to 640x480 deinterlace then in the playback go into settings and enable deblock / denoise and deinterlace.

 

When you playback in WMP it will use it's settings which does deinterlace thats why it looks better in WMP.

 

NO matter how you play it full screen on a 1920*1080 it's going to look bad as it's been basically zoomed in 250% and stretched horizontially an additional 50% to fill the screen.

 

Running Geovision at 800*600 makes the square video section on the left much closer to the 640*480 the video actually is.

[3RDIGLBL 0]

Thanks for the reply CollinR.

 

I have a 4:3 tube monitor with my desktop in 1024x768 resolution and I have GEO set to this display also.

 

I will try what you suggested setting the desktop to 800x600 and 640x480 recording to see if this cleans it up a bit as well as the other items.

 

My camera is an intensifier series like the Speco which has a spec of 540TVL unsure of actual pixels.

 

I'll report back. Thanks again

[3RDIGLBL 0]

Gee I think it is worse. Here are my settings. The recorded video is so darn jagged and unclear it makes no sense. It looks nothing like the live video. I think these are the settings that control all this let me know if I'm missing something please.

 

General Settings:

Panel Resolution checked and 800x600 selected

Enable de-interlace render check marked

 

Camera Record Setting:

Recording quality: 5

Video resolution: 640x480 de-interlace

 

Video Source:

NTSC_M

640x480 De-Interlace

 

A/V Setting

DSP Overlay checkmarked

 

Recording System Configuration / Display:

User aspect ratio 4:3

Camera/Image Setting are all checkmarked

- Apply Deinterlace render

- Apply scaling render

- Apply deblocking render

- Apply text overlay...

- Apply text overlay's POS...

- Apply camera name render

[3RDIGLBL 0]

So no one else has GV Record issues? I don't get what I am doing wrong. Even taking a snap shot of a live view shows a very jagged photo and is nothing like what the live view looks like.

 

Is this normal for GV? I was a bit concerned when the tech I spoke to said there is nothing else that can be done and is part of the GV design. If this is the case I don't know why people would purchase it as part of a professional DVR setup. Could I have a defective card? Not sure what else to do as I can't sell a DVR that has this bad of a record quality especially when a couple of my no name brand sub $500 embedded DVR's are many time better quality.

 

One thing I found unmatched with GV so far was the streaming video. I find it to be very fast and the streaming quality very good, the features of the card are great also now if only it could record in high quality.

 

Thanks

[kensplace 0]

Not tried a 1240, but do use a 1480 and cant say I experience the problems you are getting.

 

What are the specs of the PC used, is everything up to scratch, as recommended by geovision for a minimum system?

 

Could you post some examples of the quality?

[3RDIGLBL 0]

Could camera type affect the recording quality. I seem to have different quality recordings depending on the type of camera.

 

The camera in question currently attached to my GV system is a Panasonic WV-CP284 and I think I read on the forum some place about Panasonic chipsets giving problems to GV systems but I'm not sure if this is part of the issue or if it was a different issue all together.

 

I have an internal camera as well where the record quality seems to be better but anyhow here is a screen shot...the original uploaded is 1024x768 but it seems that image shack resized it to 640x480.

 

 

Look at the vehicle in the background. Seems to have a trail behind it. At times my recorded video gets really blocky and if I pause it or back up a frame it will clear up.

 

My PC is a Gigabyte system running an Intel Duo Core and it has 2G of memory. I have a 500G AV drive and I'm using the internal video card which is Nvidia based with 512MB. The person I spoke to said they have a number of video cards and he said they didn't find any different in quality of the video I send them. So for some reason it is just recording in subpar quality.

 

Thanks

[mcs 0]

I have used all the cards int he range, been using them primarily as my dvr since 2004..

 

I would suggest check your power supply, check your cabling and connectors, make sure you don't have interference or induction on the cable.

 

I use Samsung primarily as my cameras, and know a guy whose primarily used Bosch and has changed to Samsung, cause its the BEST!!!

 

 

I haven't had any drama with the cards, as long as the pc is up to spec ( I over spec mine),

I get better recording images off the dvr generally then live view, unless your using the spot monitor on a crt ot tv..

 

You should be getting good quality @ 680x480 being so small, I havent used that since 2004...

Is this PC dedicated to geovision (dvr), what OS is it running,

 

 

Is it legit card, not clone?? Have you checked this..?

Sounds like a dodgy card like I had from hong kong ages ago ( trying to cut corners) I got burnt

[3RDIGLBL 0]

I honestly do not know what else to check. I think I've checked all the settings that could be causing this and my current settings are in my post above. Do these look right?

 

It should not be my PC specs that's for sure. I am running Windows XP latest updates all installed. No AV running on the machine either.

 

My actual resolution that I was recording in was 720x480 but by suggestion I brought it down to 640x480 with no improvement.

 

I do have a legit card bought from an authorized source and all the software works without issue. Posted in this forum are horror stories of clone cards not functioning properly with the software and I don't exhibit those issues. Just the record quality is horrible.

 

Maybe I'll do a full uninstall of the software, change the card PCI slots and reinstall the software again. I can't see any other reason as I seem to be the only one really complaining about the record quality. I don't understand it at all. In my eyes it's just not worth the money right now unless I can work through this issue.

 

Thanks

[mcs 0]

I wouldnt uninstall the s/w

 

Just power down, d/c the power cable on the back and press the power button couple times to empty the cap,

 

then open with static resist environment,

Remove the geo card and plac eit in the last slot at the bottom, then power back up, it will just ask for the drivers again.

 

 

if you could post full screen shots would be better

 

screen hunter is a good prog and just change the settings to jpeg instead of bitmap..

 

I have alot of cameras installed 48 on one site with 3 16 channel gv900 machines, and havent had issues like your describing,

 

whats the monitor your viewing on??

lcd / crt???

[3RDIGLBL 0]

I will get to this next week as I am leaving for vacation for a few days but to answer your question on the monitor it is a 17" Samsung CRT monitor.

 

I truely appreciate your responses to help me troubleshoot this thing. I will give your suggestion of moving the card over to a different slot a try next week.

[3RDIGLBL 0]

No luck. I moved the card over to the other PCI slot and besides it asking for the drivers again it has made no difference.

 

GEES! I have no idea why everyone states good quality recording with their GV cards when I just can't get a decent recording.

 

Everything is just so darn jagged and yet all my setting seem to be in place.

[cctv_down_under 0]

Change your video source properties in Geo to one that supports SW interlace....IE 640x480SW instead of just 640x480 and upgrade your video card

[LittleScoobyMaster 0]

No luck. I moved the card over to the other PCI slot and besides it asking for the drivers again it has made no difference.

 

GEES! I have no idea why everyone states good quality recording with their GV cards when I just can't get a decent recording.

 

Everything is just so darn jagged and yet all my setting seem to be in place.

 

Just wondering how this turned out for you?

 

The card you have is the one I drool over every day by viewing photos of it on the web but if it is as bad as you say, perhaps my drooling is misplaced.

[3RDIGLBL 0]

Sorry, haven't logged in for a few days.

 

I got this working beautifully now. I'm really not sure what fixed it because I ended up formatting my drive, reloading XP and GV card and software. I had given up trying to figure it out so I decided to start over.

 

Everything is working great now. I wish I had known why I was getting such bad results.

 

I am planning on building another system shortly with this same card. I was looking into getting a different card but there is just so much support for GV that I will stick with it. Biggest issue I find is that it is not a very intuitive interface and to use all the features remotely you have to open up a crap load of different port numbers...would be nice to just have to remember one port but hey can't get everything I guess.

 

Chuck

[quaidorsay 0]

Congrats Chuck!

 

I had that problem before, but usually with fresh installs help. I also have had really bad nvidia or ati drivers (depending on machine I build) screw things up and the only way is to have the latest Direct X drivers and Nvidia or Ati Catylist drivers.

 

Also some settings on my cameras have aided in the enhanced picture qualities (I use Sony Starlights quite a bit)

 

But with your original picture quality isn't as bad as you think it is. But yes, we do pay quite a bit for the high end GV 1240-1480+, 2008 cards.

 

Regards

 

Joey