Looking for card suggestions

[hiigaran 0]

I've been looking around for cards to use for cameras, and I've come to the conclusion that I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.

 

This is currently the card I'm looking at: http://www.lightinthebox.com/sv/16-kanaler-dvr-videoinspelningskort_p211144.html

 

I'm assuming it's a decent card due to the 480 FPS capabilities which mean it can take 30 FPS per channel if all 8 are used, but I have no idea if there are any other factors involved with picking a card. The FPS matters, thats obvious, but what else?

 

Also, if that card isn't good, what suggestions are there for good ones?

[SunnyKim 2]

That seems 16 Channel DVR for PCI Interface. Pretty much old one and could be very expensive.

No more production. 480 /30 FPS means 16 Ch, all in real time, recording and preview. As PCI interface is to be limited, 16 Ch of each CIF size is within its bandwidth. So the quality would not be acceptable in the current viewing standard or trend. You may try http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.X960H+card&_nkw=960H+card&_sacat=0&_from=R40

[hiigaran 0]

Alrighty, so what's the significance of "960H"? What does that mean?

 

I might go with this one, then:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Security-CCTV-8CH-960H-Resolution-PCI-Port-Video-Record-Capture-DVR-Card-/271341106815?pt=US_Surveillance_Digital_Video_Recorders_Cards&hash=item3f2d30b67f

 

I'll give it a few more days, in case I find something better. Do you know if this card is compatible with Linux?

[SunnyKim 2]

The card that you picked up seems to be a good one. 960H video format capability comes around for 3 years now. That means the chip set itself is new and carrying more new advanced image processing techs. It also has a larger resolution in horizontal width (960HX 576V for PAL or 960H X 480V for NTSC) than the conventional D1 sized (720H X 576V).

But note that PCI bus allows 4 Ch channel X 960H video data transfer over PC's system memory. So for 8 channels, Half 960H(480H) can be the maximum. For 16 channels, Quarter 960H (480H X288V) can be the max resolution that can be passed over the PCI bandwidth.

Also note that most of cards manufacturer or chipset makers do not support Linux. They only support Windows because PC should be the platform. And PC is the most cheapest solution, ever, for compression/storage and most powerful CPU.

Can I ask what kinds of application in your mind?

[hiigaran 0]

My intention is to use ZoneMinder as the software handling the cards.

 

I have two PCIe x1 slots, so I might look for something that uses those. Assuming the price isn't that much higher, of course.

[SunnyKim 2]

If you are to use PCI_E card, there would be almost no limit for video size, say 8 Ch X 960H Resolution, each 30 FPS in real time. I never looked at Zone minder which can compress and decompress up to 16 channels all in real time. Please let me know if they can. Then I will recommend a card for that application

[hiigaran 0]

I gave up on trying to get ZoneMinder to work. Linux gives me a headache. Currently running iSpy in Windows 8. IP cameras are already working, and tomorrow I plan to test my existing cards in it.

[hiigaran 0]

Couldn't get my old NV5000 card to work on Windows 8. iSpy showed nothing on the video feed, but it looks like a driver issue, since VLC couldn't play any footage either.

 

So, looking around some more for cards, the next best option I could find is about 2.5 times more expensive to buy, compared to the PCI card I linked earlier, but two of these on PCIe should work fine, no?

 

http://www.dinodirect.com/jvs-c960e-audio-and-video-compression-card-monitoring-card-monitoring-card-960-times-576-wd1-p8092512.html

 

I'm hoping they will work with iSpy, because if not...well, let's just say that I hope Chinese isn't the only available language for the software it comes with. Apparently it's compatible with Windows 7, but so far I haven't been able to determine whether it works on Windows 8. I suppose if worse comes to worse, I could 'obtain' a copy of W7, but hopefully I wouldn't have to resort to that.

 

EDIT: Or how about this:

 

http://www.prylstaden.se/kameraovervakning/overvakningskort-pci-16-kanaler-25fps

 

Exactly how bad is this PCI bandwidth limitation? If the only PCI card(s) are DVR cards, how much bandwidth is actually required?

[SunnyKim 2]

Hiigaran,

 

You did not answer my questions in my previous threads.

Please read and get back to me.

The video cards that you picked up now needs the PC's software to compress the video data that was being captured and delivered to PC's system memory over PCI Bus.

 

I do not know exactly those iSpy and Zoneminders. But they seem to be software decoders, which decompress the compressed bit stream from IP camera or HDD (already compressed).

It seems to me that you are on the wrong side.

[hiigaran 0]

Both ZoneMinder and iSpy should be able to handle as many cameras as you can throw at them.