james.wilson Posted August 1, 2008 Posted August 1, 2008 Introduction From The Manufacturer The Rapport II and Rapport II-Pro are attractive stylish portable testers, designed for the serious CCTV professional.Rapport II-Pro is a multi-functional CCTV tester with a built in 3.5" colour TFT LCD monitor. Its compact and innovative flip top design makes it the ultimate "must have" piece of test equipment. Seven different test functions are available, these being a Video Test Monitor - includes a Video Signal Generator, Multimeter, PTZ Controller, PTZ Analyser,UTP Cable Tester and a DigitalVideo Recorder. The Rapport II has six functions as shown above but without the DVR. The efficient integrated Lithium Polymer battery gives the user in excess of 4 hours continuous use before it requires charging. The Genie Rapport 2 is the update to the popular Rapport Field monitor. The Rapport 1 Suffered from poor battery life and IMO a screen that didnt compare to say the computar CRT based monitor in terms of resolution to aid focus setup. The Rapport 2 includes the following features:- CCTV Field Monitor Video Signal Generator Digital Multimeter PTZ Controller PTZ Protocol Analyser UTP Cable Tester Tools such as these are now essential for the lone engineer setting cameras up etc and the Rapport 2 aims to include all those essential tools in one easy to handle package. Design, construction and packaging The plastic of the Rapport 2 Feels suitably solid, and the hinge mechanism feels suprisingly and reasuringly smooth. The device has no rubber protection and IMO would not survive even a small drop, obviously the hinge would be the weakpoint. There is a lanyard included to allow hands free operation (if you have a stomach to balance it on!) There is also a yellow CAT 5 attachment that resembles a Balun. Included in the box is also a manual, unfused test leads for the multimeter function, and a uk plugged brick type charger. As this outputs 12v DC Id assume most engineers will add a cigarette adapter to allow in the field charging. A cigarette charging lead would have been a welcome addition. I must say the unit does look the part and looks like the specialist professional bit of kit its supposed to be, unlike some test monitors which resemble in-car dvd screens from argos. The connections around the unit include, 2 x BNC for video in and out, 4 x spring loaded terminals for RS 485/422 data, A charger dc in socket, and a cat 5 8P8C socket. The unit arrives well packaged in a 230mm x240x 100mm box, with foam cutouts for all accessories. Strangly the carry case listed on the genie website is not included. General Use After charging the unit for the recommended time and powering the unit on, you are presented with a screen showing ,product version, firmware version, last selected PTZ protocol and current Battery Charge, It is not immediatly obvious what the battery level means as max /min is not displayed, i can only assume that 4 bars means its fully charged. Using the mode button selects all the functions in a cycle, and holding it allows access to other menus such as system config, sleep time etc. Using the Rapport 2 in its main mode (Field monitor) provides a blue sceen on no video or the current connected video. It appears the device auto detects PAL and NTSC but defaults to NTSC on no input. I have no NTSC cameras to test this, but connecting a PAL source immediatly changed the display to PAL. Pressing the IRE button gives a breakdown of the Sync and Video Voltage which will be helpful when setting up the amplifier. In use i found the screen OK but it did not have the detail or resoltion of the Computar CRT test monitor to enable pin sharp focusing. Cameras with a lens wizard that open the iris fully for back focus adjustment would be easy to setup, but other cameras requiring a filter kit wouldnt be so easy IMO. The picture was more than acceptable for an LCD though. Pressing 'SET' in this mode makes the unit output some colour test charts. These are the std colour bars, Green screen, Blue screen and red screen and will be again very useful when setting up amplifiers or active baluns. The Multimeter option allows, DV Voltage, AC Voltage, Resistance, and continuity. All modes are autoranging and provide a graphic progress bar and the actual reading. The PTZ Controller mode allows you to select required PTZ address, Protocol and Baudrate and PTZ speed. PTZ features available include, Focus Far & Near, Zoom Tele & Wide, Up down left and righ, Goto preset x, Store preset x, Goto tour x and Dome Menu access. Available Protocols in the review unit are:- VCLTP, VC2500, Pelco-D, Pelco-P, KTL-ASC, KTL-DIGI, Yujin-PD, WONWOO, WV-CS850, Fastrak, SPD-2500, SCC-643, Supremacy, AD RS422, SJ-100, SJ-1000, DYC, DY-SP360D, DY-255RXC, ORX-1000, VICON, LG Multi. On speaking to Genie it is unknown if the unit can be flash upgraded to support additional protocols. They are currently looking at adding BBV protocol. As we use Dennaed domes we have no support for these. Also Up the coax telemetry is not supported. This feature is probably the units second most useful feature and performs very well. There are 2 leds under the screen marked as TX and RX and show the current status of the 485 data line. The UTP mode is used with made of CAT5 leads with 8P8C connectors. Connecting one end into the unit and using the yellow rubberised dongle, this test shows if all 8 connection are correct and not crossed over or open circuit. It is not a full UTP tester ie detecting range to short etc. Documentation The manual that comes with the rapport is brief but does detail all options, most features are easy to find without the manual and as usual for an engineer i didnt read it until i couldnt work out how to access the ptz configuration menu. Operation is easy enough once your used to it, but i didnt find the unit particulaly intuative. I feel the manual could do with a bit more info, but was not written in chinglish which was welcome, and was not multi-lingual. Conclusion Overall the unit is well put together, looks excellent and does the job. A rechargeable test monitor is an essential piece of equipment and at that it does a reasonable job. For a pure test monitor IMO the Computar unit is better, but with all the other features of the Rapport 2 i would choose it over the computar. The means to be able to program domes locally, check 485 data and its video generator features are IMO a brilliant package. If i could improve it, id like it in a rubberised case, as it seems a bit delicate and appears it wouldnt survive a drop or a serious bang. The screen has no rear protection so if left in a toolbag i feel the screen would suffer. But assuming you get your own carry case with protection then its an excellent tool. Better PTZ protocol support and FSK Coax telemetry would be hugely useful. On speaking to Genie I found them very knowledgable about the product. And the call was answered quickly with no call queue etc. Video Of unit attached Appearance = 8/10 Features = 7/10 Value = 7/10 Build quality = 5/10 Security = N/A Manuals = 2/10 Support = 9/10 Good PTZ Control, CAT 5 tester Bad Screen Picture Quality, No carry case. recode.asf securitywarehouse Security Supplies from Security Warehouse Trade Members please contact us for your TSI vetted trade discount.
james.wilson Posted August 3, 2008 Author Posted August 3, 2008 Moved to review Section, to discuss this review please create a new topic securitywarehouse Security Supplies from Security Warehouse Trade Members please contact us for your TSI vetted trade discount.
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