Help needed: Geovision picture not clear

[teddybear 0]

I have recently installed 6 cameras and a Geovision system. The Geovision card I got is the 600, and it is installed in a pentium 4, 2.8GHz system.

 

The problem is, I notice that if I connect the 6 cameras directly to a TV screen, I can see picture much clearly and sharper than if I connect the camera to the Geovision card running the geovision software.

 

Is this normal? I'm not satisfied with the display as the resolution seems to be much worse than if connected to a TV screen.

 

Please advise. Thanks.

[G22 0]

Same thing with our GV800 setup. We have pretty basic CRT monitors though which no doubt contributes.

 

Prob the best option for GeoVision is to buy the Real Time Display add-on card, but they are expensive... here anyway... costs the same as the GV800 card we bought.

[rory 0]

I cant speak for Geo Vision, but this seems to be the same with all the PC DVR cards I have tried.

[G22 0]

Not to ferget... it is the Better Digital Surveillance System... so really there should be no problemos.

Edited March 31, 2005 by Guest

[rory 0]

its better if you had a 50" HDTV Plasma or LCD

[teddybear 0]

For my computer, I'm using a flat LCD screen. But still the image is quite poor. Anyway to improve it? Or are you saying it will never be as good as TV screen? I'm sure if I connect the camera to an analog VCR, I can get much better quality than the Geovision.

 

My worry is that eventhough I can see the screen whenever someone walk by, the picture is not so crystal clear that I can tell who it is. This certainly defeat the purpose of theft identification.

[rory 0]

What type of LCD screen? Alot of them dont produce a good picture for a computer anyway. Best to try it with a Tube and see if it improves. The High Res Dell LCDs are good but they cost in the $700+ range.

[G22 0]

I might start with a better Video Card. Perhaps also start GEO in 1024x768 monitor display mode (in the config settings) as well. Make sure the LCD is in its native res mode as well.

 

Then if that did not satisfy me and I had the extra dollas, I would buy the Real Time Display Card as well as a decent CCTV monitor.

 

And if that did not satisfy me... I would start slappin ppl around.

[G22 0]

...or perhaps get a BNC T splitter and run one into the GV card, then the other into a CCTV monitor, or other 'TV' and see how much signal loss if any there be.

[rory 0]

i think your biggest problem is that its probably a cheap LCD ..?

 

And like G22 said, if its not in its native res .. so make sure it is 1024x768 if its a new LCD.

[teddybear 0]

So are you saying that the problem is on my PC monitor setting? If the setting is correct, then I should be able to see the image as clear as I would see on a TV?

[rory 0]

Dont know, just saying, make sure it is 1000x768. If it still looks bad, try a regular TUBE monitor. If it is great on the Tube, then its the LCD. How much did you pay for the LCD, what brand is it? Cheap LCDs will not give you good quality, thats the drawback to them, you have to buy the more expensive ones to get good quality images.

[cctv_down_under 0]

Whoaaa!!! so many things..

 

1/ On the Geo you are looking at a digitised image processed by a chip and then rendered by a video card to go to your LCD, it will never compare to a straight analogue input.

 

2/ SIZE BABY you will find that by defualt Geo is set to 320x240 (pal) and when on your telly it is 768x576 (pal) quite a difference, you can adjust your video source on the Geo for 640x480 if you like and choose SW interlacing this will increase the quality of your viewing.

 

3/ After changing the size you then can change the rendering and interlacing options if your video card supports hardware overlay, and THEN change the recording resolution as well, I AM BETTING u will ask..."why does Geo set it at such a small resolution by defualt?" well best way to explain is to run a frame count on 320x240, then run it again on 640x480 and watch how many frames the PC Drops, so in order for them to say 100FPS they rate it at 320x240, so in essance the kalatel or Divar might only record at 50FPS but in reality its more like 100FPS because they are recording at 768x576 (pal) or close to it, this is a cheating way to make the machine sound fast.

 

4/ yes the Real time card will help, the reason is that on your 600 card you have 1 chip, rated for 25FPS Pal, and then you have several cams running through it, the Real time card has (oops cant remenber) but i think 16 chips rated for 25FPS pal, so it can handle the pace without problems, the other thing is it works like an overlay and looks very similar to an anologue display, just not as good.

 

5/ using a standalone will allow you to get very similar to the same as what you see on your telly (if you get one that displays a full resolution that is), but you will probably have to sacrifice recording rate becasue the procerror is not as big to capture the frames, unless you go for hardware onboard compression...and that my freinds is a whole new story again!!

[rory 0]

finally the GEO expert drops in

[teddybear 0]

DVR_Expert_Australia,

 

Sorry for asking so many questions as I'm a newbie to DVR. So what you are saying is that even if I change to the best monitor display, the picture will not be as good as on a TV due to the digitization of the image and the display of the video card.

 

I'm just wondering if I use a handheld digital camera and switch it on to movie mode, I can record very crystal clear video file. These are digitized image as well. Why can't this happen to DVR? I don't think Frame per second has anything to do with the clarity of the picture right?

 

 

 

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[cctv_down_under 0]

Bite me Baby!!! wanting to change my name too but cant.. no longer a DVR expert, hardly much to be an expert about with Standalones....but its all good, wish i could change my name though

[rory 0]

take a look the 640x480 thread i replied to, it also compresses the image, imaging recording at no compression, how big that recorded video will be..

[rory 0]

just create a new one, like Bosch_Australia or something ..and dont use this one anymore ..or ask larry or herm to delete/merge the old one ..

[cctv_down_under 0]

Your right about FPS!! as for your digi cam, sure yes its a high quality image, but minimal compression, imagine trying to capture 25 of those images in one second and then at that resolution, have a geez at the size of your clear file, multiply that by 25 then by 60, then by 60 again and then by the number of cams you have connected and you will geta n hourly storage figure tnd then you relaise why the chip only does that sized resolution, ohhh and it would be boocooo more expensive!

 

hay if you want resolution then best bet is to go for megapixel I.P. cams, if ONLY you have the bandwidth

[cctv_down_under 0]

firstly change the video source to 640x480sw, then egt rid of your cruddy LCD and get a good CRT, then you will see some small improvement, but not close unti the DSP card is introduced and still not as good as raw analogue

[cctv_down_under 0]

i asked larry, got no response..... will ask herm next time he is in here, hay ur always here, I am sure you know how to do it, I dont want a new one, i am coming second in POSTS LOL

[pingsquare 0]

i think your camera plays a part too. Resolution(TV Line) for your camera plays a big part. Its not noticeable when u connect directly to the tv but its really very obvious when u connect to the video card. Next is your lens.You should be able to get crystal clear view if you use at least 8mm lenses with a decent camera.if you are using like 4 mm...or wider ones...etc...then u will not get crystal clear as the details when u look at the screen become smaller and hence u feel the lack of clarity...this is what i have experienced.Perhaps u can give it a try..

[teddybear 0]

Wow...megapixel I.P. cams, that sounds interesting. I guess I need to start looking for fiber so that I can run around the whole house.

 

Just a question, does a standalone DVR have better resolution than a PC based system? In the worst case, I just go and buy 6 VCR which is supposed to be very cheap now, and use each VCR for my individual camera. Is this dumb or what? Any better solution?

[rory 0]

VCR will be worst quality, 250TVL average.

 

Yes the stand alone will, depending on which one you buy.

 

but you sacrifice fps.

[qman 0]

DV!!!

 

Man, I can't merge it, only larry can do it.

 

And why would you want to change your name?

 

it's famous!!!