filburt1

I'm looking to set up a CCTV security system for my house involving two cameras. My car has been vandalized three times now (once involving $900 worth of repairs that my insurance covered) and I want to both prevent future vandalism, and failing that, catch and get evidence of the offenders. What DVR would you recommend for the given requirements? Support for two cameras (up to four in the future) 30 FPS recording for each video stream, meaning I can play back an individual camera's recorded video at a full 30 FPS. This does not mean recording in a "quad" mode where the actual video is a grid of four cameras (in the case of a 4-channel DVR). I want to be able to view any camera's feed at any time (live or previously recorded video) at a full 30 FPS. This is by far the most important feature. Internet/LAN viewing is highly desirable. USB I don't care about. Dedicated DVR, not a PC with a capture card. From my searching, it looks though I'll want a 4-channel DVR with embedded Linux. The problem is there are so many and the prices vary wildly. I also don't know of a reputable place online or physically (Maryland) to buy one. For retailers that sell security DVRs without hard drives, is adding a hard drive as simple as buying one and just plugging it in, or do I have to format/partition it first through some tediously difficult process? If it's simple, it would be much cheaper to buy the DVR without a drive and then add one; a 300 GB drive is regularly less than $100. Budget is very important. From what I've seen, each quality camera would be $200 but the DVR can easily exceed $1000. Any thoughts? Thanks. I've been overwhelmed with my days of searching.

In that case, I'll post a thread in the Computers forum (unless it's appropriate to continue this one, only discussing DVR PCI cards instead).

2.6 GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM, 250 GB SATA HDD, Windows XP. The case varies, but it will be adequetly cooled. I have built several computers before so I doubt I'll have any incompatibilities, but while looking for motherboards, I did specifically avoid ones with SiS-powered video, as well as trying to find one with AGP so I can add a dedicated video card: in this case, a Geforce 4 Ti4600. edit: I still prefer a DVR, even if it will be slightly (but not excessively) more expensive as it will be more reliable, use less power, and be optimized to do its one purpose.

I wouldn't terribly mind a computer-based solution, but only one that I build myself. I parted out a capable system for $500 that is a fully-functioning computer and would only require a suitable capture card, but I have yet to find a suitable card that seems reliable, reputable, and also matches the requirements of said DVR. I just prefer a DVR, at least for now, because it would be a dedicated and stable solution.

While I understand basic video concepts, I'm not sure how they apply to security DVRs: most likely, the hardware (plus possibly the hard drive and its interface) doesn't have the power nor bandwidth to encode the video fast enough. Essentially, I want a DVR that can record two to four streams at full framerate or at least something close, not a lame jerky 7.4 FPS as advertised for some DVRs. Recording at 120 FPS but in quad mode is pointless IMO as you get a quarter of the resolution per camera.