Geovision v8.3.3 guinea pig with audio problems

I had a customer request a server that is expected to have a long technological lifespan.

So I researched and pieced together a rather wonderful and stable machine consisting of:

(NOTE: This is an IP GV-NVR server setup)

Windows 7 Pro 64 bit

Gigabyte GA-EX58 ud5 (Ultra Durable / thicker copper traces) MB

https://www.gigabyte.us/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2961

Intel socket 1366 2.66 i7 920 processor

https://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=37147

Running @ 2.86Ghz because the MB automatically OC'ed it (I did return it to stock 2.66 but it did not remedy audio problem) and through testing appears to be very stable @ 2.86 so I left it alone.

6 Gigs of OCZ PC1600 memory

(with hopes of GV writing SW that addresses more memory in the future) (Don't use this memory unless you know how to manually input timing speeds – USE CORSAIR because the MB doesn't automatically detect OCZ timings!)

Speedstream 4160 DSL modem

in bridged mode to Netgear WNR3500 Rangemax router

Netgear WNR3500 Rangemax Gigabyte Router

https://www.netgear.com/Products/RoutersandGateways/WirelessNRoutersandGateways/WNR3500.aspx

plugged into the Gigabyte port of a NetGear FS726P switch

Netgear FS726TP

https://www.netgear.com/Products/Switches/SmartSwitches/FS726TP.aspx

24 port + 2 Gigabyte port PoE switch (For some reason it didn't seem to supply enough power to the AcTi 8511 PTZ camera, I had to supply power to the 8511 via its stock Power Supply to get it to work properly)

2 AcTi 3511 Day/Night IP camera's

1 AcTi 8511 PTZ

1 Vivotek IP7161 IP camera (which has a phenominal mic that must have been plucked from the bionic womans head!)

OK, this whole GV-NVR kit is running smoothly. It's processing and storing video stored on its own dedicated partition on the hard drive without any problems.

The only problem is with the audio, I CAN get audio using the camera's proprietary softwares. (The Vivotek audio is unbelievable as mentioned before)

Through the Geovision v8.3.3 SW is where the problems occur;

First the AcTi camera's:

When I tick the Enable Audio and Record Audio boxes in the GV camera setup configuration window I get 2 loud "pops" and then this crazy "digital noise" sound.

The adjustment sliders to the left have absolutely no effect on the noise problem. Even sliding the adjusters on the Sensitivity and Gain down to zero have absolutely no effect on the sound, or the volume of the sound!

I blamed it on the external mic I had and went out and purchased a new logitech PC mic with the same results.

I realized that AcTi requires that you use "mono" mic's so I went out and purchased a stereo to mono 3.5mm converter jack which had only 2 contact area's making it mono. (Both of the PC mic jacks had 3 contact area's on the male part of the jack as if they were stereo mic's) This did nothing to remedy the problem.

Do I have to purchase amplified mic's for AcTi camera's?

According to AcTi it requires an 8 kHz Unbalanced 1.4Vpp/1Vrms 3.5mm jack and even the cheapest mic's sold here in the US have twice that frequency response! (16kHz)

So you might conclude that the mic's I'm using are exceeding the camera's frequency threshold.

Well here's the clincher! When I powered off the 8511 and removed the mic and powered it back up and kept audio enabled in the Geovision software the "crazy digital noise" was still present! (Anyone got any idea?)

Second, the Vivotek IP7161;

(Much shorter story! )

As I mentioned I get very sweet audio using the Vivotek software. So the camera is transmitting AAC codec audio flawlessly over the network.

When I go to the Camera Config screen in Geovision, the 2 sliding adjusters for Sensitivity and Gain are operational (or,, well,,, are moveable) but the 2 tick boxes for enabling audio and recording are grayed out rendering audio from this great camera useless through Geovision v8.3.3. I could use this single cameras microphone to cover the entire establishment but I can't enable the audio in GV. And the Audio in the "Audio1, Audio2, Audio3,,,,," section is also grayed out for this camera.

Note: I have updated the realtek drivers for this motherboards sound chips.

Note2: Everything is working great except the sound therefore I didn't disable hyperthreading before writing this post. I will repost after disabling HT on Tuesday April 20th with the results. With everything else working I doubt it will make a difference but you never know with these pesky machines.

I promised (and gambled a little bit) that I could deliver a technologically advanced system for this guy and now I have a rather disturbed customer as a result of this problem and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Mick

(Afterthought — 6 hours later)

I just remembered a problem I had in the past. I had a mic problem with a PC with very similar distorted digital sounds which was caused by the computers' sound software set to digital input instead of analog. By switching from digital to analog in the systems sound software the problem went completely away and the mic functioned perfectly. But this can't be the problem because this is an NVR and all the audio is arriving in digital network packets?!? So am I listening to sound packets that the geovision software isn't assembling correctly???? By The Way — If a person speaks loud enough near a mic, the speech DOES come through although it is terribly digitally distorted. They kind of sound like angry aliens.