Looking for collective wisdom on GV combo card & system

[Geoffrey 0]

Hello All,

 

First, let me compliment this board for its collective depth and breadth of knowledge. I've been trolling and doing my research in an attempt to spec out an 8 - 12 camera PC-based system and this board has been an excellent resource.

 

The system will be primarily used to surveill a home based family day care center. All footage will be archived to DVD indefinitely for legal protection (or hopefully Blu-Ray once available).

 

I'll be running three cameras indoor using motion activation. No more than two indoor cameras will be running at any given time (given the way the rooms are laid out and that the children/care-taker will always be together). These cameras will be running at 640x480 and 30 FPS. The other cameras will be outdoor cameras also running on motion detection but that can probably be run at a much lower frame rate for my needs, but also 640x480. The day care operation will only be operational thee days a week/10 hours a day--and the computer will not be used for any other purpose during that time.

 

In the evening, I'd like to use the computer for some light browsing/bill paying, etc, until I get another machine--no email, MS Office applications or heavy lifting like Photoshop. Anyone forsee a problem with that--should probably just shut Geovision down when doing so and delete the extra stuff that comes preloaded??

 

I believe I've decided on the GV 1120 combo card series--primarly so I can pipe the live camera feeds to a couple of HD televisions in the house to view the outdoor cameras at night.

 

Question: Can I split the output signal from the combo card if I boost it? Also, safe to assume the pictures would be someone blurry since I'd be viewing a 640x480 signal on an HD tv?

 

The computer will be a Dell because I get a pretty generous discount on them through my employer.

 

I'm looking at a Core 2 Duo machine (1 - 2 gigs) and a 256M ATI x1300 Pro graphics card.

 

Question (and the more important one): Depending on which Dell I order, the chipset will either be an Intil 965P or Intel G965 Express. Can anyone offer any guidance as to whether either chipset would be problematic?

 

Also, can anyone offer any other suggestions for such a set-up? The cable runs will be anywhere from 100-150 feet, high(er)-res dome color indoor cameras and day/night cameras outside.

 

Thank you in advance,

 

Geoffrey

[cmf 0]

I'm not sure how much help this will be, because I'm running a system that is slightly lighter than what you are proposing. I have a Dell 8300 w/ an Intel 875P chipset, and a geo 1240 card monitoring 6 cameras 24/7 on my residence (all outside cameras). It has a 3.0 GHz Intel pent 4 processor and 1GB RAM. I have it hooked up w/ dual monitors, with one of the monitors being a 17" LCD and set at 1280X1024 resolution, which has the geo system showing the cameras. The other monitor is a 21" LCD that I use to monitor my network servers, and light internet browsing.

 

I also have the tv out piping to a tv that I can view when away from the pc. The system rarely jumps above 80% processor usage when recording is activated and I am doing something on the machine. If I turn off the recording, it jumps to below 25% usage.

I think your proposed dual core 2 processor and 1G of memory and video card should work fine, but again I don' t have the 8-12 cameras that you might.

 

Anyway, I think your Dell should be just fine. I'm a big fan of Dell's machines, to me they are workhorses.

 

Hope this helps.

[griffonsystems 0]

if you want to break out the monitor output to two monitors just use a product like a vga extender (200bucks), i just bought one from black box, to split the monitor output to a 19"lcd and a 37" lcd and it worked perfect. my monitors were about 100ft from eachother in one case and 300ft in another and both came out fine.

 

usually the composite output on a compression card is pretty weak and will give a less than stellar picture on a digital device like a lcd/plasma etc.

 

i dont use geo so i cant respond to your other question but make sure to check the onboard video or video card compatibility with the geo card - the system i use has to have an ati card for example

[501 0]

I'd say your setup should work fine, either way. I have done systems with 1 GB Ram and the same processor and lower and the same Video Card and they worked fine. I have also never had a problem with the Composite Output, I have hooked them up to 21" LCD TV's and they looked fine, just a little stretched because the LCD's are widescreen (16X9) and the picture was set to fill the screen. The cable distances for the cameras should not be a problem if you use RG59 %95 braided copper and not some tin foil junk.

 

On a side note, we have done camera systems for Day cares and they actually offered the parents the service of watching the cameras from work (Multiview) for a fee every month ($5 or something), and they changed the password every month. It worked out great for them and it helped pay for the system. the parents liked it too and it increased their business becuase they offered this service. just an idea.

[Geoffrey 0]

Appreciate the replys--may make the cameras available to parents - but not sure yet.

 

Anyone know the difference between the Intel 965P and G965 Express chipsets - would either make a difference?