Geovision 800 newbie questions

[jeffedit 0]

I purchased a GV800 16 channel card. I have 4 analog cameras on the BNC to multipin connections running v8.3 software. All seems to be working ok, I can view cameras online and on my iPhone. Motion recording is running. Now I feel like my cameras basically...suck. Question is I want to add 1 or 2 local IP cameras (maybe PTZ) to the system. I have looked at the compatible camera list, but I don't understand the whole dongle thing. Do I need to purchase a dongle to run non-geovision IP cameras? Doesn't make sense to me since I bought the card, I thought it would do everything.

Also, what are all the other apps on the included CD for? Control Center, DVR...I can't even remember all the applications in the setup screen but I looked in the manuals and online and I didn't really find anything that would explain what each one is used for. I obviously have a small setup so I probably don't need the other applications, but I would like to know anyway. And is there other software that I can use with the Geo800 card that will handle analog and ip cameras and allow me to view on my iphone or a custom web page. Any help on the dongle and app explanation is appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Jeff

[peskypete 0]

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