PictureTel Camera's and 4 port card

[P. Totaro]

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

 

[Si Ballenger]

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

Your problem is probably giong to be the capture card you are
using. If it is a single capture chip card then you will probably
be stuck using the software supplied with it (there are some
~bootleg 4-port cards on ebay that use hacked Pico2000 software
that appaently has problems). Probably the best bet is to get a
capture card that has four capture chips on it. These are usually
seen by software as four seperate capture devices allowing the
four cams to be seen at the same time.

 

[P. Totaro]

Hi Si, thanks for the reply

It is a single (Techwell) chip that uses port switching. It shows as a
single device in device manager. I got this 60fps card before I knew what to
look for in a capture card.I am assuming that this chip does not use WDM
drivers and that is why Webcamxp can't see it. My source choices for capture
using Webcamxp are: Video for windows / Direct X / Stream from file / Stream
from HTTP.I guess I need to be looking for a 4 chip card that uses WDM
drivers? Paul

 

[Si Ballenger]

Hi Si, thanks for the reply

It is a single (Techwell) chip that uses port switching. It shows as a
single device in device manager. I got this 60fps card before I knew what to
look for in a capture card.I am assuming that this chip does not use WDM
drivers and that is why Webcamxp can't see it. My source choices for capture
using Webcamxp are: Video for windows / Direct X / Stream from file / Stream
from HTTP.I guess I need to be looking for a 4 chip card that uses WDM
drivers? Paul

If you are looking to make a simple setup, webcam2000 (free)
might be of interest. You can also make a simple external video
switcher for your cams if you have a parallel port on yur
computer. The below page has some setup info using webcam2000 and
the middle link shows how to make a simple webcam switcher.
Bottom link shows a simple webpage for controlling a homemade
pan/tilt web cam.

http://www.geocities.com/zoomkat/webcamsetup.htm
http://www.geocities.com/zoomkat/ppswitcher.htm
http://www.geocities.com/zoomkat/ezservo1.htm

 

[P. Totaro]

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







The problem is, 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

 

[Si Ballenger]

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

The problem is, 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

I suggest you get a card with 4 or more brooktree capture chips
on it. You might get some help from the techwell link below on
getting the card to switch video inputs (you would probably have
to make your own software). Get a copy of the vidcap32.exe from
the below links and see if it recognizes your card. If it does,
then most other webcam applications should be able to use your
card. You should be able to use the BDLCam (for cam control) and
a webcam application at the same time (would need to be running
on different ports) on the same web page. Note that a webcam
application and the pico2000soft ware cannot be running at the
same time under normal conditions. Bottom link shows a way to
send the bytes to the serial port from a web page.

http://www.techwellinc.com/products/6800.html
http://www.natech-inc.com/names/other_programs/vidcap/
http://www.surveyor.com/products/downloads/vidcap32.exe
http://www.geocities.com/zoomkat/byte.htm

 

[P. Totaro]

Si, Thank you once again for the response.

You have given me some great resources. I will try a few things over the
Christmas holiday and let you know how I make out. Do you know of a site
that list DVR cards that use the Brooktree chips? Thank you for all your
help. Paul

 

[Si Ballenger]

Si, Thank you once again for the response.

You have given me some great resources. I will try a few things over the
Christmas holiday and let you know how I make out. Do you know of a site
that list DVR cards that use the Brooktree chips? Thank you for all your
help. Paul

Below is one of the better known BT driver sites. It has some
list of supported cards. Bottom link has a large collection of
brooktree based cards. Best to ask the seller about the capture
card before buying to see howmany and what type of capture chips
on it.

http://btwincap.sourceforge.net/
http://www.bttv-gallery.de/