Securame

This is a 18 month old thread, but I will add something to it; I have installed many DS-7204HI-VS DVRs (same as DS-7204HI-S, just with VGA output), and for me they are a great DVR for its price. Ease of use, reliability, software -> great, they can be accessed from mobile devices (like iphone). I would love to see an upgraded/revised model with D1 real time support, but I doubt that will happen. And I am 100% positive that with 7204 I have seen models that had email support, and others that didn't. Never really bothered with FTP, since I have never used it. But I have configured email support when there is movement for some clients; and I know for sure that more than one time, I have looked for the email options, and they were nowhere to be found. Luckily it was for customers that did not need the option, so it was not a big deal. I will add that in about 3 years I have purchased this DVRs as HIKVISION from 3 different sources, branded with 3 different names (HIKVISION, and 2 other names). I am sure that I have used in time many different versions of the firmware.

And this post was about Google Apps...?

Whatever if it suits you well. I do not need to carry any USB drives around for that, or waste even one second pluging it and copying files.

You can't compare Dropbox, with Mediafire, Megaupload, Rapidshare, or any of those, they are different things. I want my files synced automatically. I want to work in one file at home, save it, go to my office, and have the latest version there. Without having to do anything at all. I do not want to "upload" it on a web page, I just want to have the latest version for me to work with. And then if I am on the road, I just turn on my laptop, and as soon as it gets internet connection it downloads the latest version of all files. I am not using Dropbox so I can share files with other people and give them a direct link to the file; sure, I can do it, but for me that is not the main point of Dropbox.

Hey, my referral link was here first...!!! You should just upgrade to a pay account, and then you woulnd't need to refer anyone!

I have to agree with that, just some chinese camera, you could stick any brand name on it. I have actually seen some cameras like this, never liked them, but chinese sometimes make weird designs that will go nowhere. I think the point on this design is just so the camera can have a fixed CS lens that can be easily replaced without taking apart all the camera, but it is ugly as hell.

I use Google Apps, but there is a program I love probably even more than Google Apps: Dropbox This one has indeed improvced my productivity, it syncs files across different locations, computers, and even devices. Most of my work files are stored on my Dropbox folder, and that means I can access them from any of my computers, home, office, or laptop on the road. I even have a Dropbox client on my Android mobile phone, but I have never given it any real use besides trying and saying "hey it works!". Working on a file at home and have tyo go to the office? No problem, save it, and when I get to the office the latest version will already be there. What I think is even better; Dropbox stores older versions of your files, so you can always go back and recover some file you deleted, or some older version of that XLS file on where you erased some important information you needed. You can even access any of your files with a web interface from any internet enabled computer. I do not think I would recomment Dropbox for storing sensitive data, since you have to keep in mind that your data is stored (mirrored) on some other company servers, but for daily usage it is great. In case someone wants to try it out, here is my referral link for signing up. The free accounts give you 2Gb storage only, but with every referrer you get 250Mb extra (and so does the one signing up). https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTU0NTQ1MjY5

$250-$400 PC, choose the card I guess my question wasn't clear; what I meant is why are you pointing him to a PC based DVR, and not a standalone DVR?

"formatted"?? Try it with normal blank media, and not with "formatted" rewritable media.

Why are you talking him into a PC based DVR...? CDN$2300 for a 16ch @60fps system computer, I think that is way too expensive

Where did he say that...?? Foscam IP cameras = toys

^^ Incoming spamer alert....!

LOL

No idea on that issue, never happened to me. I do know them very well, it is the service I use 95% of the time, but I never had this problem. I guess a router should only update DDNS if it sees that its IP has actually changed... I mean, there should be no problem if the router check every 1 minute, 1 hour, or each reboot, as long as it does not try the update the DDNS IP if it is not a new one.

Done!

If your router supports DDNS, I say go for it. I have seen many DVRs that seem to update the DDNS info only on restart, so you either make them restart daily at a given time, or risk having the DVRs disconnected from the world. Using DDNS clients on routers (mainly DSL routers) I think I have never seen this problem, they surely know for sure when the public IP has changed the second it does, and update the DDNS records acordingly.

Google for "Easycap1", 1ch, USB, just make sure the one you buy runs fine under Win7.

I'd like to know that too... I have used many Hikvision DVRs, and from what I know they support iphone, symbian and windows mobile; no Android client from what I can tell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUeZGcS9Ugw

http://www.xinzl.com/english/Products/Mini/200906/20090612143926.html I can tell you that this one is quite nice, veri small, B&W with very low lux, great image under bad illumination, and 600tvl which would fit you for doing D1.

huh? and the question was...?

Am I reading that correctly...? Are you speaking about some cameras you returned almost 2 years ago? 9/18/08 as in september 2008?

I'll give it a try, but I can't tell you when. I do have to do some tests with one of those models, too bad that I do not have any of the same manufacturers MPEG4 model so I can compare...

Ok, maybe I should not have said "really good", but just "good". Of course there are better DVRs, but for small 4 camera setups I think this 2 units are usually enough. They both do CIF real time, 2CIF 12fps, or 4CIF 6fps. Are you just speaking about image quality? Like, at the same resolution/fps, the MPEG4 recording looks way better than the H264 recording? Because I never compared side by side, but I have not noticed bad quality recordings with thiese H264 models, and they are surely budget sub $500 DVRs... http://www.hikvision.com/en/epro2.asp?id=240&classid=194&bgclassid=104&act=b&classname= http://www.cn-dvr.com/products/enproducts174.html

As soundy said, BTWinCap will never work with that card, since it is not using BTxxx chip.