GeoVision / Avermedia: Are these the best consumer DVR Cards

[mpr86 0]

Mods please do not move this to a GeoVision / Avermedia subforum.

 

I previously posted on looking into purchasing a 32 channel DVR from eDigital Deals but was told that is not the way to go.

 

I have decided instead, to build a Dell server: Dual Core (Or should it be a single core?), 1 TB HD, 2GB of ram etc.

 

Upon looking, it seems this forum really covers the GeoVision / Avermedia base well. Are these the most common / stable / best software DVR cards out there?

 

I am interested in getting two 16 channel GeoVision 480 FPS GV-1480 and installing both of them in one single system.

 

Is this feasible? Is this the best route?

Thanks!

[UMDRanger 0]

Geovision cards are not stackable, but are networkable by the control center program.

 

Not sure I'd use a Dell for Geovision.

[mpr86 0]

Doh no way to stack at all? What restricts them from being stackable?

 

What would you recommend if not a dell? Home made?

Geovision cards are not stackable, but are networkable by the control center program.

 

Not sure I'd use a Dell for Geovision.

[rory 0]

As mentioned, 16 channels max with GeoVision. It is a Hardware Drivers, and Software Restriction.

 

I would not use Dell either for Geo, always better to build your own, and it is cheaper.

 

If you must use Dell, check out Video Insight DVRs instead:

http://www.video-insight.com

[Integratek 0]

I have decided instead, to build a Dell server: Dual Core (Or should it be a single core?), 1 TB HD, 2GB of ram etc.

 

It's an overkill machine.

u should use a 32 channel dvr card with h.264 hardware compression, so the card is doing a hard job leaving to pc just to record.

 

Single core Pentium 4 is more than enough, 1 gig of ram etc.

there's no good reason to use any prebuilt server for dvr - buy a case with quality 500+ watt power supply, intel MB, p4 cpu, 4x 500gb harddrives - install RAID-5 - what you need is fault tolerance and hard drive speed, 1 gig of ddr2 and get some professional just to assemble it and install OS - windows xp or 2000 - should still be cheaper than a Dell "server".

 

basically there's no such thing as a "workstation" or a "server" or a "gaming machine" hardware wise.

meaning that it is depends of software you are using. get a prebuilt dell workstation and put it on-line as ftp server or buy an ibm server and use it just to play games.

server hardware should theoretically be more reliable and more productive than workstation, however today's workstations are as fast and reliable as servers bought 2-3 years ago, and 3-4 times cheaper.

[rory 0]

Also see this thread for more info on what others are building:

http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=8059

 

BTW, new versions of Geo should have 2GB of DDR2 now, at least DDR2-667 but even better DDR2-800. 8.12 and the newer ones use ALOT of memory. CPU, go dual core if you want to also be able to playback without any issues. Yes, P4 with 1GB will work, but for only $100-150 more (approx) you can build a much faster machine, which, BTW, will be much cooler also - basically, if you are on a strict budget, then P4 with 1GB it is.

[drvnbysound 0]

... so I googled and came across this post ... it looks dead so I wanted to revive it

 

I am looking into a couple of options for a GeoVision card (particular model still undetermined as Im still evaluating my needs and trying to decide how "future-proof" I want to be).

 

That said, I have seen that all of the GeoVision cards have varying recommendations for PC hardware which is perfectly understandable. One card in particular (GV-800) has a recommendation for a P4, 3.0GHz w/ HT (old technology). I am considering building a custom PC, which I would also want to future-proof, and I am stuck... I can get a 3.0GHz Dual Core processor for the same price as a 2.6GHz Quad Core. That said, how much does the clock speed of the processor matter for the GeoVision cards? Can they actually utilize the processing capability of a quad core? Would there be an advantage of using one vs the other? Opinions please....

 

On the other hand, I actually have an older P4 w/ HT. Unfortunately, its only 2.8GHz. This is obviously under the recommendation . Does anyone have any idea what problems I would experience by trying to use this machine? Basically, its an old machine that I dont really use anyway, so I could potentially task it as a DVR for now, saving the cash for building the custom DVR machine at this point if it would still suffice. If my needs grew later, I could look at building the custom PC at that point.

 

I would still need to investigate futher details of the old PC.... I believe the GV-800 recommends 1GB of RAM. RAM comes in all sorts of colors and flavors - so RAM performance is also a variable. 1GB of DDR3 1333 > 1GB of DDR 400. Does the type/speed of the RAM matter at all? I dont think that is specified on the GeoVision site at all.

[rory 0]

Hi, yes especially with the Combo cards you can benefit with the Quad core, according to Geo. Im using Core 2 Dual Core 2.2, and 2.4, or greater now, and Pentium Dual Core 2.5/6, and it still works great, mostly real time recording, if not it is close to it (eg. 15-20fps can be seen as real time by the human eye), and using smart motion recording.

 

Definitely you would want to buy a Dual Core now, even if it is just a Pentium Dual Core, which is the cheapest CPU that can handle the Geo 8.3 software right now - 8.3 takes alot of CPU and memory, it is much much slower then the older versions which could have run and I have running on 2.4 celerons (old celerons). I would not use a Dual Core Celeron, the price of the Pentium Dual Core is not much more. Obviously a Core 2 would be better, but we cant always get what we want, depends on the budget. Quad Core and above is up to you.

 

Add lots of Ram, the more the better. If you can afford large fast SSDs, that would be great .. LOL .. I doubt it though so ... 7200rpm is fine .. in fact the new noisy 500GB 7200rpm drives from Western Digital, I clocked it as fast as a 150GB Raptor, approx 80mb average read, compared to previous 55mb read speeds. Not sure of the writes though they were also greater. They were too noisy for me though, but they were fast. Imagine the 220mb Solid State drives (limited writes though, not sure how long they would last until failure if writing everyday), perhaps an 8GB Solid State for the OS (that is plenty for an XP OS drive) and DVR specific or even standard 7200rpm drives for the storage.

 

Ignore the PC recommendations on their site, they are probably old, 8.12software was much faster and required lesser hardware, and same with earlier versions such as 7.xx. The P4 3.0 would struggle with Geo 8.3 software, I have the P4 3.2 and tested 8.3 on here, so thats how I know. the 2.8 would definitely have issues also, at least if you are going to be operating it such as live monitor and playback on the PC. If it is only a recorder you could get away with it. Then you could use Remote Viewlog over the network to view it, though that would raise the CPU cycles somewhat, not sure.

[drvnbysound 0]

Rory, thanks for your response. Taking what you have said, I think the P4 (2. I have is pretty much a non-starter, so Im going to proceed with building a custom machine for the Geo card.

 

I suppose I should follow that up with some more specific information on my plans. RIGHT now, my home is wired for 3 security cameras - one at each corner of the front side of the house, and the third above the front door. I plan to start out with these with the provision that I will add additional cameras down the road - particularly the back yard. Knowing that, I have really been eyeing the 8-channel GV-800.

 

As far as viewing the video. I certainly dont think I would be doing this often - particularly not from the PC itself. I plan to have it in a pretty much hidden away in a rack. What I would like, and know the Geo can do it, is to be able to view the feed(s) on my living room and MBR TVs. Again, I dont think I would do this often, but it's a really nice feature. I do plan to have a home automation panel in the future as well (hoping to do so later this year) which would give me the ability to put in the hooks to have the TVs automatically change inputs and view the video when the door bell is pressed or when motion is detected (exterior motion sensors) in the front yard. I do certainly want the 8.3 version installed as I have already downloaded the GeoVision iTouch/iPhone app and would like the ability to view the feeds while away from home as well - whether through the app or some remote PC.

 

Hopefully this provides a little more specific information on the intended end-state.... knowing the above, would there really be any benefit of using a Quad-Core vs a Dual-Core? BTW I was looking at Core 2 Duos and Core 2 Quads... As said in the previous post, they wouldnt be the same clock speed (3.0GHz Core 2 Duo vs. 2.66GHz Core 2 Quad). Would there be any performance difference?

 

As far as your comments on the HDDs - I am definitely planning to use a separate HDD for my OS. As far as the DVR storage drive, I was considering using a Western Digital AV-GP series (made for surveillance and other A/V uses) 2TB drive.

 

I know you mentioned SSD's above - I just dont think they are ready for prime-time yet for surveillance needs and are obviously much more expensive for some of the higher capacities. While I do have a budget in mind, I'm not planning to build "on-the-cheap"... I figure if I'm going to spend the money, I might as well do it right, and buy parts that future-proof me for quite a few years at least. From what I have seen, ballpark pricing for the above items - the CPU(s) run around $170 for either one, and the 2TB drive is about $200. I figure I can get a GOOD PC done for around $600-$700.

[rory 0]

If you want the TV out using the Geo software, you would need a combo card, or additional hardware.

 

A Core 2 Duo should be fine for your application, in fact a Pentium Dual Core Should work fine also. You don't necessarily need a separate drive (unless one drive fails alone), but a separate partition is suggested. Turn off recycle bin on the video drives.

[drvnbysound 0]

Ahh, so i'm an idiot. For some reason I thought the GV-800 was a combo, but apparently it's a "capture card". After further inspection I think I want the GV-1240A - providing it would provide the ability to record 8 cameras @ 15fps, correct? I believe the Geo site read 120fps @ D1.

[mateck8888 0]

DON'T do a RAID 5, as sugessted by Integratek, without reading this:

 

http://ipvideomarket.info/report/advantages_of_raid6_over_raid5_for_video_surveillance

 

matt