Dollars to Doughtnuts

So I'm trying to upgrade my home surveillance system and I keep seeing this Divis/Chance-I card:

http://www.cctvheadquarters.com/livvcc.htm

Would the card above (DiViS-LIV16) at only $700 compare to the Geovision VCC-GV1000-16 which costs $1,400?

http://www.turbocctv.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=TC&Category_Code=VCC

Or is the Geovsion card that much better that it is really worth the extra $700? Or doesn't the DiViS-LIV16 come with any software, or is the Divis software so inferior to the Geovision software that it makes the prices of the boards irrellevent?

The thing I like about the Divis-Live16 is that it has a newer chipset. I've been messing around with the BT848/878 chipset for so long now that it just seems time a new and better chipset should be on the market by now. Hell, my old WinTv boards from almost a decade ago had the BT848/878 chipsets. I even had an old US Robotics camera from 1994 or 1995 that used the same chipset (it even came with the first DVR software I had ever seen called Digital Radar by Connectix).

Why won't the BT878 ever die? It's like a ****roach or something.

I mean hell, look at the 3d video card industry. A new chip comes out every six months with tons of new features, but the BT878 appears to be exactly the same as a decade ago. I must be missing something because this just can't be the case. I don't even remember the order of which came out first. Maybe it was the 848, then a follow-up by the 878, all I know is that I've been waiting for a newer chipset to arrive but it never does. Oh well.

Anyway, back to my original question, is the GV1000 really that much better than the Liv16? The specs look very similar to me. If it comes down to software, since this is for a home system, wouldn't I be better off trying to save the extra $700 by going with the Liv16?

I've used the Chance I software and it is very good. Does pretty much everything the Geovision does and it has a nice GUI compared to the Geovision. It has a nice visual spread of the video that was recorded in the playback screen so you can see at a glance if when any video was recorded in a 24 hour period of time. The playback quality of the video is also quite good. It is a very popular board.

Why does it cost so much less than the GV1000-16?

$700 compared to $1400 is a HUGE jump in price for 2 boards that look very similar to me. Both spec at 30 FPS per 16 video channels but the GV1000 is twice the price.

Is the GV1000-16 just way overpriced or something? If you had to choose between the $700 Chance-I/Div16 and the $1400 GV1000-16 for a home system, which would you choose and why?

Thanks

First you have to see what other board he is getting with the Chance I. That is just a live board for viewing and has nothing to do with recording speed. The Geovision is a 480 fps live and record. Big difference. You have to add another board to the LIV16. You have to also get a CAP board. As far as GUI's go I like the Chance I better since it is a nicer layout, easier to program the settings, easier to use and access features.

Geovisions main problem is that their features are scattered all over the place and you have to be very proficient to use the system. Chance I is simplicity itself. I can teach someone to use most of the Chance I functions in 20 minutes or less and I doubt if that could be done with the Geovision. Of course that is from a sales point of view and not from the point of view of one single user. I think more research needs to be done into the Chance I configuration before making a decision since only half of the system has been mentioned.

Chance-I is limited in many many features compared to geovision, I do believe it is easier to follow though, the less features the easier it is to use the GUI, I would not consider the Chance-I on the same level as Geovision at this stage as so many things are missing from it but as a basic lower end option it is certainly a great product.. I would add that the Chance-I GUI is much prettier than Geo and has less to fit into its menu's and therefore is much simpler to use, we were going to sell it but we found the lack of features as the biggest problem.

they run fairly stable too which is a good thing!

Are the lack of features ones that could be added in future software releases, or are these hardware features whereas the Chance-I hardware just can not do what the Geovision cards can do?

Has Chance-I updated their software since you have done your testing or are they still on the same version as they were when you tested them?

I have seen at least two features and several graphics that have been added since I tested late last year, I think they have done 2 updates in the last few years, not as much development as Geo but you may not need features, do you need control room or PDA for example... hard to say because havent looked at it for a while

I'm not sure what you mean by control room? Do you mean PTZ capability?

I do own a Motorola MPx200 smart phone though and would like a feature similar to this one which currently works on my lame Osprey 100 boards:

http://www.fgeng.com/smartphone.htm

I would hope all software (Geo, Chance-I, etc.) would have PDA/smartphone capability built in but I haven't checked yet.