8.3.4 Cards and Issues

[rory 0]

2 issues I am having with a new GV-1120-16 card, comes with 8.3.4 software.

 

1-In playback after a couple seconds of a 2 or 3 minute clip, the video will stutter a little bit, almost like it was trying to do pre and post recording, but its not, or at least it should not at the intervals it is doing it. The video plays back, but you can actually see the time frames slow down or stop as the video also stutters a little, then they speed up again. Basically I havent seen this happen in all the other Geo's ive set up over the past couple years. Live video is fine, playing the raw AVI seems to be fine also, but I need to do more testing on that.

 

2-Remote video has black thicker border on left side. Seen this before with Sony HQ1 and Panasonic ccds. But in this case it is a Sony Superhad. Also a DVR I setup a month ago, another 8.3.4, had the same on all 16 cameras which were all different types, mostly Sony Superhads. With that one I didnt notice the stuttering issue as above.

 

I first used another motherboard, I could not use the PCI-E x1 as it went over the memory, so I used the PCI-e x16 but had these issues so I decided to sell that board and buy this new one that which has the PCI-e x1 in the right spot. I think I used 8.3.3 with that first one, though the DVR card came with 8.3.4. Im not 100% sure though. Anyway I used 8.3.4 with this new one, and still getting the same issue.

 

So my next step is to try 8.3.3.

If same issue occurs with the stuttering, then I may try 8.1.2 if it would work with the 8.3.3 or 8.3.4 drivers. I know that the 8.1.2 drivers dont work with this card, already tested that. I dont need any of the new features in 8.3.xx btw, i just need a card that works, as all the 8.1.2 ones I have out in the field do. Plus the 8.1.2 software is much faster in general.

 

If none of that works, another thing I might look at is the OS and setup. This is tweaked the same way I have always done them in the past, but In this case I will then just format and load a full untweaked XP Pro on and try it with that.

 

This motherboard by the way has an Nvidia chipset, the previous one had an Intel Chipset though. Both had the same issues. This motherboard actually has video memory built in of 512MB. There is one thing though it has a buffer for that as well, I might try disabling it instead. However I used this same identical Nvidia board before with an older GV-1120 card using 8.1.2 and it was fine.

 

Something else I was going to look at was the power supply, it came in the Qpack2 Cube case, it is 500watt but really crappy. Not sure if that could be causing this issue though, But I might try a different one anyway if all else fails. The DVR card does connect to the power supply afterall.

 

The system itself responds very fast, Intel 2.7 Dual core, 2GB memory, Geo is using approx 600mb, other memory being used is only around 90mb, so there is much left over, plus a large page file. Ive used much slower PCs in the past without this issue. Hard drive test came up okay, max speed around 100. Outside of the issues within Geo, overall its very fast and stable. There was one other thing that did alarm me a little but could be expected, I left it on for a few hours without AC on and the room got very hot, well over 100 degrees fahrenheit, CPU was around 51 celcius. But I can disable the BIOS CPU fan control and just let it blow full speed, as the BIOS had it down half speed, can work that out with better fans etc also, but the issues I had were actually when the AC was on and it was around 35-40 celcius anyway.

 

Any other ideas are welcomed, otherwise I will report back with my findings

[rory 0]

So what I found out is in the raw video file it is actually jumping .. it goes really fast for a couple frames ..

Anyway .. I reloaded full XP PRO and still doing it. So I downloaded 8.3.1 and installed that driver and software and its not doing it now .. strange. Wonder if its just a bad card or firmware on the card. Put in a message to Geovision USA, see if they reply this time.

[Harrar 0]

We've upgraded a few sites with 1120's from 8.3.1 to 8.3.4 and haven't seen the symptoms you describe. These are older boards which came with 3.1 As you said, it may be a firmware upgrade with the newer 1120's.

 

Curious how GV responds to your query. In the mean time I'll be checking the firmware rev's the next time I'm at one of these sites.

[rory 0]

Yeah I used 8.3.3 on some 8.3.1 boards and no issues either .. thats what has me baffled.

 

Only difference from other PCs I have here is:

1-low profile Kingston DDR2-800 memory - dont know why they sent low profile but otherwise it works fine.

2-The Apevia Qpack2 PSU sucks, sata cable (the only one) for the HDD power, the wires came out and broke just with a simple bend, so Im using the IDE power output with a Sata adapter. Dont see how that would cause this issue though.

3-Card is PCIeX1 so its connected to the crappy PSU .. perhaps?? But then why work in 8.3.1?

 

I dont have a spare PSU here, but I could take mine out of my P4 PC and try that, its not much but should be enough to push the Cube system .. at least it has Sata power connectors. Im also wondering if its not a spread spectrum issue in the Bios .. would be a first but read something about that before. Actually not even sure if this mobo has that setting would need to check. Weird thing is the Bios didnt even have the Speed Step feature listed until I updated to the latest Bios. Didnt make a diff anyway as it was always and still is at a steady 2.6Ghz.

 

I was only charging $150 to build this for someone I know .. never going to get the money back for all this time .. but anyway at least it might help someone else to know whats up. If I have to RMA it, thats going to be annoying, and costly from here .. thing is I have another client with an 8.3.4 card sitting in the box waiting to be installed in a new PC also ... OUCH! I wish I had another PC here to test this one here in .. but I dont .. that would at least rule out the hardware ... I already ruled out the software .. other than the GEO software that is.

[rory 0]

Never heard back from USAvision so contacted the Taiwan support yesterday, no news yet.

Until I get this fixed I cant suggest a Geo card to any clients.

[rory 0]

Geovision, are you going out of business??????

Ive contacted your support by the contact form on usavisionsys.com and emailed support on the geovision.com.tw site, no word back at all. Also i emailed someone on this forum claiming to work for you with the usavisionsys.com email and his name (tim), and that came back unknown user. What is going on???

 

Anyway .. thanks for no support. You guys are totally awesome.

[rory 0]

Looks like it might be a simple issue after all I went through .. the hard drive.

Tested it with my USB 5400rpm drive ... didnt get the problem.

Then tested it again with the main hard drive, got the problem.

Did this several times, changing the recording path back and forth.

Then changed the drive to an old 80GB sata one I had here, no problem, that I could see.

 

I still wonder why it doesnt do it in 8.3.1 but does in 8.3.3 and 8.3.4

Also I ran several tests on the drive and they came back okay.

And its really quiet, cool, and the OS otherwise runs fast.

 

Anyway .. the main hard drive was brand new, but OEM. Its the first time I used this particular one, its the Western Digital AV drive. So I just bought a new one, only one I could get here right now, a Western Digital Blue 500GB .. will see how that is. It cost me $115 local.

[Todd 0]

I've dealt with your issue many times over the last year. Each time it was the hard drive doing exactly what you mentioned. I've put a few posts up about it.

 

I've come to the conclusion....at least for now, that for what ever reason you need to use the western digital Black series or the seagate XT series. both of those have been problem free Those are both higher performance drives. Not sure why they work and not others....just glad they do.

 

Too bad on the "Blue" drive. Comp usa and Newegg have had them for $39 around here. Bought one Saturday for a system drive for $49 on 500gig from microcenter.

[rory 0]

Yeah it was just so strange as I ran all kinds of tests on the HDD, but I didnt do any really long tests though. It seemed fine using the OS and other apps, nothing noticable at all, not even loud.

 

The cost is higher here due to more expensive shipping and then customs duty.