PictureTel PTZ Camera's & DVR Card

Hello Everyone and thanks for the help.

I've been looking at DVR cards for a home security system viewable over the web. I was wondering if anyone had some answers to some questions I have. First I'll tell you my plan. I want to use some Picturetel PTZ-1 and 2 PZT-2N (these are teleconferencing cameras) run to a pc with an 4 port DVR card and a 4 port pci serial card (for PTZ control RS232) using BDLCAM to control the camera's and ? software for video steaming. I believe this will work but I will need 4 instances of BDLCAM running at the same time to view all for camera's.( Update: I have got BDLCam working for PTZ control but I am trying to use Webcamxp for streaming the video but can't get it to see my DVR card. The Dvr card has a Techwell TW6000 chip and I think the problem is that it doesn't use WDM drivers? Any thoughts?) What I would like to do is just use the software that comes with the DVR card (some form of Pico2000 I think) for displaying all 4 camera's, streaming and PTZ control. The only problem here is I'm not sure if there is a DVR card software that will do the PictureTel PTZ RS232 control. I have gotten the code some someone at PictureTel but not sure of any DVR software that will let me edit the PTZ data. Has anyone had success with PictureTel PTZ camera's and a DVR card? Anyway just thought I would see if anyone would have a better plan. Thank's for your help, Paul

Hi, you would need a SVideo to RCA adaptor and then back to BNC with a RCA to BNC adaptor - not sure if there are SVideo to BNC adaptors available. But the DVR card is RCA or BNC inputs? The DVR Software definately needs the Composite inputs connected, such as RCA or BNC, depending on the card.

I say Svideo as thats what i found on a couple google results. If you have the home page or data sheet/manual for this camera please post it. It seems like it is a Webcam though ?

Unless it has Pelco protocols or something else used in the CCTV industry, you may be out of luck with using a DVR card with these, which is why most of us are stuck using CCTV PTZs.

There is a sony that works though, I think it uses Pelco Protocols, its a video conference webcam PTZ also.

Also, though i dont know WebcamXP in depth, but with most software that work with DVR cards it will still need to see a composite input, such as RCA or BNC, basically it needs a capture card. How are you connecting this camera to the DVR card?

Once the camera is conected to the DVR card as a regular camera using a composite input, then you can treat it as such, and then uninstall any drivers that you already loaded, and look at the following link.

http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2021

I managed to get a Geo Vision card working with generic software, basically what I did is use BTSpy (also downloadable from the same link for the BTwincap software) and save the results as a text file. You must run the existing DVR card software with at least the one single camera conected to port 1 and active, following the BTspy directions, click on the channel as it asks.

Then uninstall the DVR card drivers from the control panel, system, then run Bt drivers installer and select custom, select the text file saved from Btspy and then it should work with generic software, including WebCamXP, among others.

Though i think your main issue is getting the DVR card to even recognise the camera first?

Rory

Hi Rory, Thanks for the reply

Here is some info on the camera http://www.camerapad.com/cameras.asp

The connection on the back is not s video but an 8-pin video/PTZ control (RS232) and power connection.

The problem is not getting the video to work, I have the camera plugged in and with the pico2000 soft ware I can see the video, but can't control the PTZ with this software because PictureTel uses it's own protocol. I can use BDLCam to control the PTZ but the streaming software (WebcamXP) does not recognize the 4-port DVR card because first, it only has 1 chip (Techwell TW6800) that uses port switching and second doesn't use WDM drivers. I think I also need a DVR card with 4 chips that doesn't use port switching and shows up in device manager as 4 separate devices.

I have the command set and protocols for the camera's but need to find DVR software that will allow me (or actually someone who knows how to enter it) to edit the PTZ commands. Any suggestion, Paul

as for the card, only need 1 device in the device manager to show up with the cheap 4 channel cards, 1 for video, and 1 for audio if it has it .. thats what i had for the Geo 250 but it was using the Connexant driver, customized.

Its not seeing the card as the driver installed is specilifically for the DVR software. .. would need to run BT Spy and customize the driver installation.

As for the PTZ part, not sure ..

Rory