  Two quasi-1-dimensional S=1 quantum antiferromagnetic materials, PbNi2V2O8
and SrNi2V2O8, are studied by inelastic neutron scattering on powder samples.
While magnetic interactions in the two systems are found to be very similar,
subtle differences in inter-chain interaction strengths and magnetic anisotropy
are detected. The latter are shown to be responsible for qualitatively
different ground state properties: magnetic long-range order in SrNi2V2O8 and
disordered ``spin liquid'' Haldane-gap state in PbNi2V2O8.
