dman

That is worth considering. I like having some redundancy and the redundant system in operation. I will look into the Dahua systems. I think I have enough information for now. Thank you all! Dman

Thank you all! This is great feedback. I do have to admit, the Dedicated Micros standalone systems we have in place have been relatively trouble free. The ones we have are just difficult to work with. I think this just steered me to a standalone hybrid system. Since I have one DM system still working, I can repurpose it and have the new one hooked up to the cameras where we need to burn video to another device. Some of the cameras just catch activity from a distance and don't warrant burning video to another device. Does anyone know of any standalone hybrids with a good reputation? Thank you. Dman

I am new to this forum but have been on peripheral of Security systems for a while. I apologize up front for the verbosity of the post. However I find the more information given up-front, the less back and forth later. - Are there many companies that service and install Linux based PC systems? I can do the work but I would rather have a company that can support the system long term. - What kind of hardware would be needed to support 20 existing analog cameras: CPU? Hard Drive? Raid Controller? Memory Video Card(s)? - Is there something else I should be considering? The user Specs: - Work with existing analog cameras - At least one week of video maintained. - The system will be largely un-attended. - I work with Linux in 24x7 environments and like the fact that I don't have to worry too much about downtime. - The system can be easily hooked up to the internet. - I was thinking about using Zoneminder but haven't researched it too much. - Ideally, I would like to save the video to a USB drive to give it to a resident or local authority. - The software (not Linux) should be easy to use. For example keyboard mouse. - Self-Serviceable items such as replacement of Hard Drives etc. - Control sensitivity of individual cameras - Not looking for the cheapest solution but I do want to maintain costs. - Potential to store video backup off-site A little background information: I live in a condominium with 200 units. A security system was installed about 5 years ago. This consists of two Dedicated Micros systems. One is 8ch and the other 16ch. The smaller unit doesn't record to DVD, it uses CD-R only. These 2 units service about 20 stationary cameras including: 2 IR License Plate cameras 2 Indoor cameras 2 Outdoor close proximity cameras for entrance gates 6 Garage Cameras (about 30 yards apart) 8 Outdoor Cameras (about 50 yards apart) These are not used for real-time monitoring, although it would be nice to have. The cameras are all analog. We occasionally review the video footage and sometimes make DVDs to give to the local authorities. I am one of three people that make the DVDs. The property manager gets paid by the hour and it can take some time to create the DVDs. After capturing the video it seems it can only be played back on proprietary software on the PC only. I find the the DM equipment very non-intuitive and very time consuming. Nobody want's to touch the systems including myself. The power supply on the 8ch system is dead. Along with a couple of dead cameras. So, now I am thinking instead of fixing the power, now is a good time to upgrade the system to something is easier and faster to use. I started spec'ing out what I wanted to see, such as keyboard and mouse, and realized that I needed PC based system. I could be wrong though. Thank you in advance. Dman