108 • Technical Specifications Genie Monochrome Series-GigE Vision CameraComputer Requirements for Genie CamerasThe following information is a guide to computer and networking equipment required to support the Genie cameraat maximum performance. The Genie camera series complies with the current IPv4 Internet Protocol, thereforecurrent Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) equipment should provide trouble free performance.Host PC System• Pentium 4 system (or AMD equivalent) with 512 MB system memory.• System motherboard without an embedded graphic card. Avoid using onboard video cards as they maycompete with other components for shared memory.• High performance video card as either an AGP bus or PCI Express bus.• Operating System: Windows 2000 SP1, Windows XP, and Windows Vista are supported.Network Adapters• GigE network adapter (either add on card or on motherboard). The Intel PRO/1000 MT adapter is anexample of a high performance NIC. Typically a system will need an Ethernet GigE adapter to supplementthe single NIC on the motherboard.• PCI Express adapters will outperform PCI adapters.• Network adapters that support Jumbo Frames will outperform adapters with fixed packet size frames.Laptop Information• Laptop computers with built in GigE network adapters may still not be able to stream full frame ratesfrom Genie. Thorough testing is required with any laptop computer to determine the maximum frame ratepossible (see "Older Laptop Computer Networking Issues" on page 122).Ethernet Switch RequirementsWhen there is more than one device on the same network or a camera-to-PC separation greater than 100 meters, anEthernet switch is required. Since the Genie GigE camera complies with the Internet Protocol, it should work withall standard Ethernet switches. However, switches offer a range of functions and performance grades, so care mustbe taken to choose the right switch for a particular application.Ethernet to Fiber-Optic Interface RequirementsIn cases of camera-to-PC separations of more than 100 meters but an Ethernet switch is not desired, a fiber-opticmedia converter can be used. The FlexPoint GX from Omnitron Systems (http://www.omnitron-systems.com/)converts GigE to fiber transmission and vice versa. It supports multimode (MM) fiber over distances of up to 220 m(720 ft.) and single-mode (SM) fiber up to 65 km (40 mi.) with SC, MT-RJ, or LC connector types.Important: The inclusion in this manual of GigE to fiber-optic converters does not guarantee they will meetspecific application requirements or performance. The user must evaluate any supplemental Ethernet equipment.
