bob321

Same here. Except we use FTP (foil shielded UTP) because we run cables close to power cables.

What special rs485 connector? -- Mine just has terminal screws on the actual rs485 to serial adapter.

Hmm, yes, strange, I'll ask Maybe tree movement isn't enough? - I left live view on screen and a car just drove past and the framerate did go up - the car movement was quite smooth. Yeah, the interface is pretty. I noticed in the event on the left you have previous and next event buttons and you have under the buttons a calculation how far ago the previous and next events are from the event you're looking at - sexy

Got a reply They said if the DVR is behind a firewall then you access it through their servers and they set up yourdvr.xanview.com for you. This service and the monthly charge is optional and if you want to use dyndns and others, you are more than welcome to do so. As for the live framerate, they said it's dynamic and increases up to 15fps on live when there is motion but when there isn't, it is reduced to 1fps to save bandwidth - neat! There is presently no live audio over Internet - they said this is coming later this year.

Hey, I used standalone DVR solutions until now and wasn't very happy with them - I am looking at Avermedia and Geovision and those look very nice. However I'm unable to use their web interfaces on Firefox or Safari on a Mac. I'm going to be opening it exclusively over web so I don't really care much about good desktop software - half the time I'm either on a Mac or somewhere where I'm unable to install any additional software. Can someone recommend any DVR or DVR software that is: 1) Complete package, I want to be able to view audio/video archive over internet, live view, etc. 2) Doesn't require activex.

VideoInsight got back to me saying they do not support audio over Internet at all -- Only on the network client and monitoring station. Very fast reply though.

No, once again you are mistaken. Even if you look at the MPEG2 part3 which recommends using AAC multiplexed in an MP4 container - this is completely incompatible with recording audio from IP cameras. There is nothing built into the codec, nothing built into the container and nothing built into the collection of standards that will let you record the G.726 audio from an IP camera. You don't need to tell me to google this, I've done my research - you should do yours EDIT: Yeah, so whatever VideoInsight are doing to record audio, it isn't just something that's done by default - I'll ask them for a sample of audio/video recording.

I know how the process is done, you are mistaken. MPEG4-AVC/H264 codecs do not incorporate audio - they have nothing to do with audio. The general defacto standard is to use the AAC audio codec with H264 in an MP4 container but most IP cameras use G.726 and others.

What? -- mpeg4-avc or h264 has nothing to do with audio recording. A video codec cannot record audio, you need to use an audio codec like aac/mp3/vorbis and a container that supports both audio and video like mp4 or avi. No one is forcing you to use a container or record audio and most don't. Also, the downloaded video is very jumpy - it is around 5fps from what I can tell and occasionally it jumps 10-15 seconds, I assume when it can't see motion. A jump in 15 seconds means you just lost that 15 seconds of information. For a video this isn't critical, you can still generally see what's going on, for audio it is. I don't see how they would record audio unless it's a completely different process. I'll ask.

I'm talking about on the actual downloaded video, not just viewing on the website.

You're right, I looked through them again and Microsoft patched the scary stuff. So as long as you know what you're doing, you can run a secure Windows DVR. I did most probably use the wrong software. I'll check out Geovision, Avermedia and others As you probably can tell I'm not a huge fan of Windows though. Stopped using it around windows xp beta back in 2001.

That's fair enough, but one thing is misconfiguring the OS, another is there being 30 known huge gaping holes where anyone who cares enough can kill your DVR. Short of blocking all access over Internet, there isn't that much you can do. EDIT: OK, looking through them again, microsoft did patch the ones that were really scary and I'd say you can block all of these. But you still need to be on your toes and really know what you're doing - which lets face it most admins don't Want to give me an external IP to a mission critical DVR and see if I can crash it? For one they are normally smaller and I donno, I tried one of those ebay cards and had a few crashes and access over network wasn't great, I pretty much ended up using the DVR itself to access CCTV - so hiding it somewhere wasn't an option. Maybe I should try the Geovision stuff - that looks great. If you know what you're doing you can keep pretty much any DVR going - but in a CCTV environment, to me I want something that I can't misconfigure. Something that will record regardless of my, or my user's incompetence and I find standalone DVRs are more suited for this. Not all standalone DVRs, but many pretty much guarantee that you won't miss that recording no matter what your users do. I haven't used Windows based DVRs for very long so I might be totally wrong about this

Hmm, accessing the system through them would be quite crappy. I'll send them a question asking about this. Also, yeah, the live framerate is pretty poor, I'll ask about that too. - Also, no live audio? The interface is pretty sleek though, I like it. What looks pretty cool is you get an image every time something happens, so glancing at the table quickly, I can see what happened the last 12 hours without having to even watch the video. Also, when I click on the video, the framerate is pretty high and there is audio recording.

Sounds like you havent used a properly setup Windows computer yet. Windows Security updates dont exist in my world, only time Windows XP ever crashes on me is when I make it crash, and the PC DVR goes the same place a standalone goes. http://secunia.com/advisories/product/22/?task=advisories < yeah, no thanks On that page you will find no less than 30 different unpatched ways to either crash, gain access, or block access to any windows xp machine. Not only are Microsoft not patching these gaping holes, they are also dropping support for service pack 2 summer 2010 -- good luck Also it seems every time I boot into my windows in vmware, it asks to reboot to install yet another security patch - are you simply ignoring these? As for DVR location, I would say it's unrecommended to put a windows DVR behind the ceiling or mounted inside a wall without easy physical access - unlike a quality standalone DVR that can operate for years without any maintenance, you will need physical access to a Windows DVR.

Missed this post initially. No, I don't thing you're missing anything... they just don't have any audio in their demos. Can't really tell you why, but I know it's supported. I tried to download a video too and all I got was a low framerate, fast motion, jumpy video where 1 frame a person is at his desk and the next he's near the camera - I'm guessing this is where their motion detection kicked in? Even if audio can be recorded (I still can't find any examples of this?), with videos this jumpy I can't imagine it being useful? I found this website today: http://xanview.com and their stuff looks pretty interesting. They also have a live demo. Your thoughts?

Standalone! Unless you want to reboot occasionally for windows security updates, have to rely on windows not crashing and have to have the DVR in plain view of anyone who needs access to it.

I'm looking for something similar but I've had a very bad experience with systems that promise access over internet. Most I tried do live view OK but trying to find a specific event is a nightmare without knowing the exact time and date. I came across this website today: http://xanview.com and it looks promising. Anyone heard of them? They have a great live demo on the website and the system feels really intuitive and actually usable over Internet.

I had great experience using Cat-5 FTP cable - 2 pairs for 2 cameras 1 pair for audio and 1 pair for power. If you turn one of the cameras off, you see slight interference from the other camera, but with both cameras on, the quality seems great.

I basically use a terminal block, put all the ptz cables in there as well as one to the controller, screw them all together and it works fine. The manual says you need resisters to compensate for different cable lengths but I haven't had problems.

Hmm, I can see it in their specs but not in any of their video demonstrations or live demo - am I missing something?

Their systems don't appear to have audio, neither live or recording? -- Audio is critical Otherwise the system looks pretty good for those not needing audio.

I'm looking for a standalone DVR and the following is important to me: Web Access * I want a complete web interface - I will only use this remotely and can't always install special software to access the system. * Mac support is a must - activeX is a no no. * I want to see recordings both audio/video over internet and it should work on fairly slow connections (say 386kbps upload) without long load times. * Live video over internet is a must, live audio would be nice. Quality/Capacity * 32 channel Audio/Video recording (I don't mind if it's multiple DVRs as long as all cameras are in a single interface). * Hybrid solution, I want to be able to connect both IP and analog cameras. * At least 640x480 15fps recording (h264 would be nice). * At least 3 months recording capacity (don't mind if it's motion detection) Audio * Audio is especially important, if a person walks away from the frame for a few seconds, I don't want it to stop recording (if using motion detection) - there should be some kind of period it will wait for repeat motion. Events * Some kind of "event" system would be nice. I want to see say a representative image for short recordings of a person coming in through the door without having to manually select a specific date/time. * For continuous recording, would be nice to have an image for every x minutes of recording to be able to click on the image to see recording for that period instead of manually selecting time/date - if that makes sense? Can anyone recommend something meets these requirements? - I'm willing to spend a little extra as long as it all works well.