Comart Systems Linux Based DVR

[CCTV_Suppliers 0]

Hey guys, want to share my first build of non-major brand system build ever...

 

It is very funny that a problems caused by one of our manufacturers lead us to development and a build something totally different...

 

Quick background.. We were selling systems from a Korea based company called Digital Logic. They built systems for basic application – Linux based, very stable, easy to use and easy to operate DVR systems for many years... Few months ago, well, they packed their bags and left the country and left quite of few customers, including ourselves, in the limbo...

 

We never built a PC based capture card systems before – not that we did not want it, rather most of our customers did not care for them. When Digital Logic came around over 6 years ago, they provided a system that filled a very specific niche market that we never really done much about. Before we knew, we already sold over 500 systems and it was expanding...

 

Well, that was the good news... the bad news was that when this company left the market, we almost held the bag until we received help from few people that make the difference...

 

First off, thanks to Rory... all we had was a simple part number that did not produce much of results in Google... Rory did make the suggestion who the maker of the capture card was and here is the manufacturer - http://www.comartsystem.com/AM/ - Thereafter, everything was just downhill..

 

After contacting this manufacturer, who also is a Korean based manufacturer and was located 15 minutes away from our warehouse, we confirmed that Digital Logic boxes were using their capture cards... that was the second positive result that we encountered.

 

They immediately identified the software as well – The company who is making them is yet another Korean company... Because their application is riding on the Linux software and they are using latest kernel, it was easy to add or change components in the older or newer system and the drivers are already available. They also make Windows based application – the same touch and feel, but I rather stay with Linux based solution – stability does count in so many levels.

 

After few weeks of tinkering around with few of the defective systems, we realized also that Digital Logic was always using the same software that they started using 6 years ago... even though newer versions provided more versatility and ease of use... Happy to tell you that after going on this motion of finding the right capture board maker, the software and playing around with the system to understand its limitations, now we can repair and even build similar systems for the same platform.. As matter of fact we are using a totally different Intel chipset motherboard from ECS than what Digital Logic or even Comart Systems recommended and it is more stable and faster than any of the systems we ever had....

 

If anyone cares for more info for this system, please let me know. I am not familiar with Geo or any other similar manufacturer based solutions... but it is interesting area that somehow now makes sense to get involved.. Costs aside, I care more for stability, ease of use and then ease of operation for end users and this model somehow did capture my interest even though it was based on a necessity. Comart Systems also have cards from 4 channel to 16 channel that push 30FPS per channel... and that is yet another area that we will explore.. not that it is important for out end users, rather experimentation to view and playback at that rate is something that I have not seen with our conventional equipment form major manufacturers.

 

Rory, I did tell you that you were instrumental to get this fix for me didn't I? Thanks man... I only hope that I can return the favor one of these days.