DV Cards and Eyeline

[stockspex]

I like most of NCH's software and have recommended it to several of my colleagues the past few years, especially AXON, VRS, IVM, and Eyeline.

 

Recently, I've upgraded my own surveillance system and added a 4-port DV card (from Avermedia) and installed all the drivers and firmware updates. Eyeline recognized the CCD camera I installed on one of the ports (the 1st of 4). But as I add more cameras (via BNC port), Eyeline still just recognizes just 1 cam (ergo 1 cam per card?!).

 

Is this really just the case or do you have a workaround driver or patch of some sort to recognize a 4-port DV and designate each port as a separate cam? Hi NCH guys, I'd be glad to help you code updates into Eyeline if you need any assistance on this.

 

Johanne Lim

IT consultant

Philippines

[Guest nchto]

I'll pass this information on to the developers for you.

[Roller]

interesting issue, would like to know more about this issue. Did you manage to use the other ports with cameras as well, what did you do ?

[maleksa]

I am facing the exact issue now. I have a 4 channel DVR card and Eyeline seems to be displaying only one channel . I just cannot get it to display all 4 channels (all of which has video feeds coming in). Would love to get it to work with 4 channels (or maybe more?)

[joe206]

This is the only reason I haven't downloaded this program yet. I hope this is resolved soon. I'd really like to try this software but can't take the hit of losing cameras.

[Skeeta]

I'm with Pappy, I have an eight camera system already. I don't like the software that was supplied with my DVR cards. I'm sure most of you feel the same if you have used it or are using it. Pico20000!! Not the pirated software but the actual software from the dealer. It's even registered!! LOL!! I am constantly looking for new programs to replace the Pico. I thought this might be it until I read the forums here to see that only one camera will show. That would leave out the other seven I have.

 

 

Doesn't look good for us, being this post was opened a couple of months ago and there doesn't seem to be an answer just yet.

[Skeeta]

I guess this is one of those questions you would need to pay for support to find out what's up.

[r4vi]

There are two type of DVR cards generally found:

 

1 - 1 X BT878 chip - used in a round-robin-access setup between the inputs

2 - 4 X BT878 chips - used in either 1-chip-per-input or round-robin setup, good for 4-16 inputs (or sometimes even more)

 

I have found that a number of DVR programs will not access the first type of card properly - they are not written to cycle through the inputs, so they either won't touch the card at all, or only read input 1.

 

Most DVR programs will access the second type of card with no problems - each input (1-4) has its own capture device installed in Device Manager, so the software can access each of the 4 inputs simultaneously. But if the card had say 16 inputs with 4 chips, then you are back to square one again...Stuck with 4 inputs only.

 

I would venture a guess that EyeLine falls into the first category - not polling each input in turn. I will test this out in a couple of days - I have access to both types of cards at my workplace, so after the weekend I'll see what I can find out.

 

From what I have seen so far on these forums, NCH tech support don't really provide any feedback so to speak as to how their software works - as their income model is based on support, they don't seem to believe that they should provide feedback...(disclaimer: I can't speak from a first-hand viewpoint in regards to NCH and am not passing judgement with my preceding comment)

 

While I have no problem with their chosen model, there is a place for providing basic feedback to users of the system - users whether they pay or not need enough information to be able to go away and nut things out for themselves, to a point. Otherwise they just walk away and find another package, either a free one or one they can buy outright and access useful online support information including forums with active developer input.

 

How NCH find that balance I have no idea! I'm glad I don't have to work that out!

 

I would suggest to the EyeLine developers they maybe look at some source code from say ZoneMinder to get an idea of how to access the multiple inputs - just don't steal the code guys, it's under the GPL! But there's nothing wrong with trying to get some pointers - GPLed code is all about free speech...

[r4vi]

OK - I tried a DVR card today with 4 X BT878 chips - perfect, no probs. Windows installs 4 devices for these types of cards (this one is a SZT 160)

 

I'll try a card with 1 X BT878 ASAP