Dirk_D

Keep in mind that a surge protector protects equipment from strikes coming over the grid. If lightning directly strikes the camera ... poof!!!! Best, Christopher that was tongue in cheek. I'm not too worried about lightning strikes. I was a satellite installer (among other things) for >12 years. I saw maybe one get hit. Out of thousands. I don't think it's a threat. If I owned a stadium and I lost a $10K camera: BFD - I'd just replace it. JMHO, of course Maybe I'll start advertising "free lightning strike replacements on all our outdoor cameras" just to differentiate my co from everyone else. Insurance, as the pros here should know, is not to be taken lightly; it should be handled by a pro, just like your taxes should be handled (or combed over) by a CPA. I'm much more interested in the megapixel camera / DVR aspect of this thread. I'd love to sit in the "eagles nest" control room at one of my local stadiums & see some of these amazing cameras. I wonder, do they allow for digital PTZ at any time - that'd be cool.

look up ISC East - there is an enormous networking potential there, as well as classes offered. I've gone to ISC West for the last several years - there are all kinds of exhibitors showcasing everything under the sun. Check it out. I haven't taken any of their classes but I bet it'd be fun. This might be helpful too: http://www.iscwest.com/en/ISC-Education-Online/Webinars/ http://www.iscwest.com/ (April 5-7 2011) http://www.isceast.com/ (November 2011)

since the thread has taken a turn towards insurance etc, my vehicles have a policy that's called "commercial inland marine" that covers gear (up to a set $ amount) in transit & at the customer's premesis before it's signed off. As for a camera being stolen, even a $10K one at that, I would expect it would be covered under the building's general liability policy, along with fixtures etc. Lightning strike? Maybe they'd better be filtered through one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-BE108200-06-Protector-Telephone-Protection/dp/B000HPV3RW?tag=gpse-20 It's a $200,000 insurance policy for connected equipment for only $14.99!!! edit: I just googled "commercial inland marine" and some of youse might find it interesting. It seems like a good option for this industry (I sell in others as well). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_marine_insurance

Larry, can you set me up? Dealer Please.

lol christopher, but in my case I don't really get to choose anymore - I just run around like a head with my chicken cut off.

is anyone running external hard drives in Raid1? I just happened across an eSata cable this week & it encouraged some excitement - RAID1 with a break away hard drive. The "problem" I was up against was the short cable limitation of sata, but the eSata cables are up to 6'. So my plan of attack is this: have 1 TB drive in PC, maybe 15 gb partition for the OS, 15 gb partition for "long term storage", and the remaining ~900 gb (930 gb is what shows up on my 1 tb wd drives) for the database (aka video files). In the event of theft, hopefully a drive would be left behind, and in the event of failure (assuming the store manager realized one of the drives has failed), the manager slaps in an extra drive & the mb rebuilds the array. I know the array can be taken out with one wrong keystroke, but I'm trying to make it bomb proof. Issues I've had: -External hard drive enclosures - I want it powered off of the computer's power supply. I tried an external enclosure that had a power button. I bypassed the power button, but it didn't spin up quick enough to be recognized by the system "please insert system disk" or something like that. My workaround this was to take my longest sata cable (~3'), & screw in a 5-pin din jack on the back of the DVR, soldered the sata power leads to this jack, made a cord that had sata power & the 5-pin din plug, & stuck the hard drive in a 12VDC 9 port power supply. I know I could run an external HD case pwr supply off of a UPS, but I don't want people to have to reach under their counter or even know that it's there in certain cases. I have no idea of the ambient temperature in this power supply, but thought about running an 80mm fan off of one of the 9 channels (hole saw ~3" hole screw in a fan guard) if it was an issue. I found a link here to a "speed fan" utility that is supposed to monitor HD temps etc, I wonder what kind of alerts can be programmed to alert via email or a simple pop up message........... this is something I plan to experiment with. Another idea I'm toying with is having just a ~250gb hard drive in the dvr (os & storage), & an external drive (esata, USB, firewire) that contains the database/video files. I don't know how slow the search/playback will be, and if it's even fast enough for my systems. How would I go about testing practical write speeds to know if these other technologies (firewire & usb) would be fast enough? I guess USB 2.0 is as fast as IDE? If so, IDE worked fine so USB may work fine in this instance too. I haven't messed around with "add mirror" in Win7 yet, so maybe I could mirror an internal SATA main drive with a USB (external) drive.

Nice. If it's an issue I can always use it in my office & cough up the dough for the model with the atom processor. I almost ordered a similar unit at random about a month ago anyway. This is one nice thing about being a business owner, I get paid to play. Of course I just work half days too most of the time (12+ hours)

Soundy, re: NAS, I ordered the Synology DS209 http ://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822108028 I've read a few reviews & a lot of specs, and some reviewers say these are slow, while some specs say 300 MB/sec, all of them on gigabit lans - it just makes me wonder if it'll be fast enough to record & playback without "knowing" the hard drive is outside of the box or otherwise flub up performance. Here's one review: According to Synology, performance for Windows XP transfers are 11.46 / 39.09 / 48.31 MB/sec (upload) and 27.75 / 49.49 / 52.53 MB/sec (download)

thanks I'll be sure to post up if there's any updates. I'd also like to thank you for the ideas regarding the network scsi etc. Killer forum, glad I found it.

So Here it is - it's mounted in a 9 port 12 VDC power supply, 5 amp transformer, with 5 ir cameras connected to it. I have a custom 5-pin-din connector soldered to the PC's power supply, eSata to Sata cable, and yes, that's hot glue helping secure the cables in place on both the hard drive & on the back of the DVR. This is a one-off, I like how concealed the hard drive is but I'm not sure if heat will be an issue - I don't expect it to be but I'll duplicate this setup to be sure. The MB isn't RAID compatible, Raid1 is what's ideal for this situation (IMHO, of course). I had a setup like this back in 04/05 but it used an external enclosure & eventually failed - I just slapped the HD in the case while repairing it a couple of years ago.

I'm looking into IP camera technology to be connected to divis hybrid DVRs. What cameras give the most bang for the buck? Indoor? Outdoor? Here's the one I'm considering: Vivotek FD8161 http://www.vivotek.com/products/model.php?network_camera=fd8161 Any other suggestions so I don't have to fill my shelves with more crap like usual?

Can I play? "Dealers"

where is your store?

I'm surprised nobody has brought up day/night IR cameras - here's what looks good to me: Vivotek FD8161 http://www.vivotek.com/products/model.php?network_camera=fd8161 I recently picked up a vari-focal (NTSC) IR dome cameras that actually rock - up until this point IR was ineffective at best. These ones actually work: http://www.unixcctv.com/_e/SUPERDOME_Infrared_Camera/product/ID-5635V/SUPERDOME_IR_560_with_2_8_12mm_AVF.htm This IP cam looks interesting, but not sure how compatible it is at this point: http://www.unixcctv.com/_e/Camera/product/IM-V22/PRIME_PRO_MEGA_2_MP_Weather_Vandal_proof_IP_Infrared_Dome_Camera.htm One thing I've noticed is that these vendors advertise "VGA Quality" instead of 640x480, just trying to trick a sucker.

I've demo'd hundreds of DVRs. My shelves are filled with thousands of $$$$$$ of embedded units & cards that I've not liked and I won't sell. I go to ISC west each year. I like what I'm running & it's easy to support, so I doubt I'll be switching to another platform anytime soon. I will check out the companies you mention if they're in Vegas next April. So assuming your fav IP cams will work with my system (I'm pretty sure they will), do you have a rec for me?

So you're suggesting the machine essentially be a NVR, with a remotely located storage unit, with no hard drive in the DVR. I'll have to consider this. Seems like I'd have to have the iSATA device, the switch, & the DVR all on a somewhat-beefy UPS, if not 2 (remotely located network storage) DiViS, AFAIK, has no limitations on IP cameras. No license fees. I haven't got my hands on an IP camera yet so I have no idea what kind of limitations there may be. I'll have to check with them on Monday. I will install the IP cam patch later tonight or tomorrow - I'm going skiing after I finish this novel. Last night I finished one unit but it's from ~04-06, & Aventura Technologies put some sort of hardware block on it so it's unable to accept the new software. I should probably just throw in a new card, it's not like there's a shortage of them around here. I have 2 more machines that need attention this weekend - one of them I need to install my 5-pin-din sata power jack/plug so I can remotely install this spare HD - it's going in to replace its prototype next Tuesday. Here's the IP add-on IP camera patch, 7th one down: http://www.divisdvr.com/divis/sp_program.asp and Here's the manuals - DVR Main is the main one: http://www.divisdvr.com/divis/sp_manual.asp

thanks for the help here. I have to mull a few things over. I almost pulled the trigger on the QNAP TS-219P but then I realized I'd have to use win7's 'mirror' option which I'm not familiar with yet. Luckily I just bot the OS's book so I'll review that chapter (planned on going through it yesterday). The only RAID I have experience with is RAID1 in my office machine so I'm out on a limb right now. On another topic, what IP cameras would you recommend I look at? They're most likely cost prohibitive at the moment, but that's just what I've seen @ SC black & DWG, I haven't looked too hard yet.

I forgot to mention the velcro (lol). Hey it's in it's infancy. Last week one location had a camera ripped out, within arms reach of the DVR, & they stole the camera and nothing else. Most of my systems go into small (<16 camera) retail & restaurant environments, so their budget is smaller than casinos, but perhaps similar to c stores. I do like your train of thought. If I were to utilize iSCSI would you recommend a product like this: http://www.amazon.com/Iomega-StorCenter-ix2-200-Network-Attached/dp/B002SG7MEG/ref=sr_1_7?tag=gpse-20&ie=UTF8&qid=1290836645&sr=8-7 I'm also interested in venturing into IP cams, so the above device, along w/ the ip cams, could be plugged into a POE switch I'm assuming. I do have a few locations that have the DVR in a secured closet (locked metal door w/ deadbolt), but most of the locations the DVR just goes on a shelf in the office. I have several locations that use KVM switches but that's just because they lack space for duplicate monitor/mouse/kb

lol @ the ghetto fab it must refer to the 2nd hd in the power supply, but it seems like a perfect place due to size, nobody's going to think the HD is in there, and since it's powered off the computer's power supply there's no extra parts to fail (control board in external HD case or it's power supply), & the power supply is required in almost all systems. The beauty of this IMO is that the motherboard has no idea that the redundant drive is not in the case, the software has no idea the drive is being mirrored, & it'd be very unlikely that a perp would get away with both the DVR & the extra drive. I'll have to look into iscsi, but unless it's recognized as a physical drive I'm not sure it'd work with the system I sell & support the most (divis). Thanks for your thoughts, I'll have to look into those options.

if it's anything like divis, you just enter the ip address & the dvr is the server - no iPhone app. Accessible via blackberry / generic smartphone / web.

Not easily. Are the disks part of a raid array (hopefully raid1)? Are they the same model? If they're the same model you might be able to swap the control board from the one that reads 'unallocated' to the one that won't spin up. Another utility you might try can be found on the 'hiren boot cd' The board swap, if possible (same model), will be easiest. HTH

I have about 50 machines in the field that are all running Aventura Technologies version 4.03.04. The recordings this software version outputs, it's codec has been omitted from Windows Media Player - the videos just come up black when I try to play them on my win7 machine. This is a problem. So I contact Aventura Tech support & they don't want to provide the new software, they just want to sell me more boards. The DVRs are functional, and this seems like a waste. I've bought some boards from DiViS, and chances are I'll stay with them for the forseeable future, but something has to be done for my existing clients. I came across this forum today while trying to find a solution to the problem, & it appears that a couple of posters have figured it out. I've been working on this myself all day today with no luck. Can someone help me with this? here's a thread I stumbled upon: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8559

I didn't say that. I don't mean to come off rude but I'm searching for the optimum solution before applying bandaids, so thanks for taking interest. This is a pretty cool site, I'm glad I found it.

I'm looking for someone with experience with DiViS & a private-labeled DiViS machine, as in the linked thread. I'm trying to find & replace the files that make 'security check error' message go away. I'm trying to use DiViS software on AT branded machines like in the linked thread. So - can anyone help me with the issue I'm having? If the issue is unclear then you don't know my problem and you can't help me. So thanks anyway.

IIRC, GV spits out a player with its recording. This system used to work well, now I'm scrambling to save face. Asking a cop with a notebook that may be on a VPN with limited internet access to download this is a bit much. Having to explain to the courts or the insurance company that they need to download a codec to see the video... I'm not always in contact with these people. So I see you're OK with asking these people to add something to their computer. I AM NOT. Please, if someone could address my problem that would be nice. "security check error" <--- this is what I'm trying to deal with.