DarrenHD

I have this DVR as well. A major drawback is the lack of 16:9 aspect ratio support. The software only supports 4:3 so if you have a HD Megapixel camera hooked up you are only ever going to get a 4:3 image displayed. Also their software as you mentioned is limited in screen resolutions. I find it also sluggish over local area network - it doesn't give very good frame rates especially with multiple HD cameras hooked up. This reason alone is enough for me not to buy this (had I had a second chance). Aver technical support is ok but they can be very slow and even though they may acknowledge bugs it may takes months for them to address them (or they may never).

I was getting email replies from Robert Diaz (tech support), takes him 1-3 days to reply and his answers really didn't help. He didn't really offer any solutions, just confirmed the limitations. Then i tried the live chat on their website and talked to someone named "Jen" who was a bit more helpful, she again confirmed the limitations of screen resolution and aspect ratio, but said they were thinking about adding that. So in the end no promise of any fixes, no time frame, but at least they know about the issues. I'm not holding my breath for any resolutions or updates, but as I said I will slowly move to a PC based solution with all IP cameras that are at least 720P. A good analog camera can give you a good image, but even a cheap 720P camera (like the gazillion on ebay for <$200) gives a more crisp image from what I have seen so far.

I heard that last year during a training webinar (which they no longer do) when people were asking for moveable windows. There are some features I love about Aver DVRs & software, and others that are really annoying. But, I can say that about every brand of DVR I've used. I'm thinking the feature you want should have been there from the beginning though. Seems silly to not be able to get the correct aspect ratio out of a surveillance product. I need to ask - if you save video and convert to avi or mpeg is the aspect ratio correct when played back in a video player like WMP, VideoLan, etc? I haven't tried that yet, but I was told by Aver tech. support that the only way to see the proper aspect ratio is to export the video and play it back. The software that came with the one IP camera I have has an option to "display image with aspect ratio" which is basically what Aver needs to add. I don't think it would be that difficult, to add a bar at the top and bottom of the image (lets say a 720p image) to give it the right aspect ratio. I agree it's a feature that should be there if you are claiming you are supporting MegaPixel IP cameras. I just assumed that the DVR would display the image properly. I paid 500 bucks for this DVR and I'm upset that it doesn't have (what should be) a brain-dead essential feature. Also, the FPS performance of my IP camera, when viewed through the Aver DVR is pathetic. I get like <5 FPS in either the direct VGA output, the webview, or through the CMS3000 software. If I view the same image through the IP cameras' own software I get a pretty fluid 30 FPS 720p image. I think what I will do eventually is to use all IP cameras using the same software (like 4 IP cameras of the same brand that use their own software) to get the best performance and just use a computer instead of a DVR to watch the preview and record the video. I still have 4 analog cameras (one of which is a pretty decent 480TVL outdoor PTZ camera with 27X optical zoom) so I don't really want to replace that - as outdoor megapixel IP PTZ cameras are expensive... Also, Aver tech. support told me support for adding additional IP cameras is "on hold"....whatever that means. I think (but this is a guess) that they will soon discontinue the current Nano models and basically drop support and updates for it.

Just an update, I talked with Aver tech support and there is no way to change or force an aspect ratio. So you'll have to live with squished images, which is a real shame. They are "thinking" about adding that feature to a possible future update, but I'm not personally holding my breath

While that may be true, I can find no way to tell the software to display the incoming video image in the proper aspect ratio. I've tried all sorts of screen resolutions and no matter what the software automatically fills the image to the window and does not allow you to specify if it's an incoming wide screen image or not. Most software has an option to allow you to "display image in aspect ratio" and will enable bars at the top and bottom to allow the image to display in the proper way. Does anyone have a 720p image displaying properly in Remote Console, iMatrix, or CMS3000?

Try the CMS3000 software - it will utilize higher resolutions. You can download it here: http://www.averusa.com/surveillance/support/downloads.asp?product=CM3000%20Standard You have to pick CMS3000 standard from the drop down for it to show up. I agree the software is not the greatest. Did you hook up any 720p or 1080p ip cameras? I have one 720p camera but I can find no way for the Aver software to display the image in the proper aspect ratio, so it's squished into a 4:3 window in the software.

I am using "AVerViewer" on my iPhone 3GS - but it crashes so much I switched to a third party app named "IP Cam Viewer Pro". It's 5 bucks but well worth it and supports the Aver Hybrid DVR. I'd highly recommend that app, although as you point out PTZ doesn't work. Ok, I'd like to update my post as I've been using my Aver EH1008H Hybrid DVR for a few weeks now, and I have a Megapixel IP camera connected to it (in addition to 4 analog cameras, one of which is PTZ). I purchased a Jetview JE-M820BOA HD Megapixel 720P IP camera. Link is here: http://www.jetviewcctv.com/product_info.php?cPath=118&products_id=177 OK, it's a cheap camera, but it does support ONVIF and RTSP. It's not the greatest - it does give me a 720P (1280x720) image at a bit rate up to 120000kbps but in reality if you want any decent FPS (frames per second) you have to leave the bitrate at about 2000. The Aver DVR does see the camera when it's configured as an ONVIF (If you search for the camera it finds that), but it only displays at 0.23 MPixel (so it's some kind of basic camera support when using it with ONVIF compliancy. With ONVIF support I was hoping for full support but I guess you can't assume that, so that was a let down for me). However, using RTSP it does detect it as 0.93 MPixel and it's picking up the H.264 primary stream from the camera. Advanced camera options are not available as this camera is not on the supported IP camera list, but it does work. The problem I'm having is that I can find no way for you to actually display a 720P image with the Aver software (using any of the Windows tools or the native VGA out of the DVR). My 720P image is squished into a 4:3 aspect ratio image. There is no option I can find to change this at all with the Aver. So I'm a bit upset about that. At least I have an image. I have e-mailed the Aver tech support about this in the hopes they can add full support for this camera. Question: Is ANYONE out there using a HD IP camera connected to this DVR? Do you get a proper 720P or 1080P image with the proper aspect ratio? Overall the points still stand from my original email. I have another, different brand, 2.0 MPixel IP camera on order and it should arrive in a couple of weeks, so we will see how well this one works. Edit/Update: I've been trying out the CMS3000 software (which is available on the Acerusa website) and it's ok, if a little confusing at first. Immediately upon starting it I got a Network Service failed to start!). A quick Google search informed me that if something else is running on port 80 then you will get that message - change the Alarm port to 85 or something else in the CMS3000 setup, then it will work. Ok, so I got my DVR setup with it, and displaying as a monitor. Some things I wish it had: -no way I can see to add fps on screen (frames per second) to each of the camera displays - although you can do this in the remote console, you can't in CMS3000, which is strange -you can select 4:3 or 16:10 "Monitor Type" and the software will utilize higher resolutions (assuming your computer supports them) up to 1920x1200. The problem is you are limited to your display layouts, and I can find no way to properly display a widescreen 720p image. You cannot select a 2x2 layout if you select a 16:10 monitor type - that is only available on a 4:3 monitor type. -no matter what I did (even setting video to "High") the analog cameras are not as sharp as the direct VGA output from the DVR. This, however, is not true for the IP camera - it pretty much looks the same via the DVR's VGA output or via CMS3000. -the DVR's VGA output, remote console, and CMS3000 all have differences in the options available which is strange, forcing you to choose what method you want to use. Do you want to display fps? No choice but to use Remote Console. Do you want the best most fluid analog camera output? Use the VGA output from the DVR. I'm still learning the software so hopefully some of these issues are just due to my lack of experience with it. Darren

I just picked up one of these AverMedia Nano Hybrid DVR's model EH1008H. I'll give my feedback on it. First, this is my second DVR - my first DVR was a cheap one but a good one, 4 channel Analog that could do full D1 recording on all 4 channels. I wanted to upgrade to some IP cameras but keep my analog cameras so that's why I went with the AverMedia Hybrid. This DVR does work, and hasn't crashed on me yet, but here are my complaints: 1) I guess you do really get what you pay for, as this is the cheapest Hybrid DVR I could find, and for sure it's an entry level DVR. There really isn't many advanced features that you have. You can set it up and get everything working, but don't expect advanced options at this price point. 2) the preview monitor (VGA out) is limited to 1024x768 resolution. That's it. There are no options to change that. My old cheap analog DVR could go to 1440x900, so this is a disappointment for me. Most if not all monitors you can buy today are wide screen 16:9 or 16:10 so this is frustrating to say the least stuck at 1024x768 which is a 4:3 aspect ratio, not to mention this DVR supports megapixel IP cameras which are also widescreen resolutions, so limiting it to 1024x768 to me just doesn't make sense. 3) You can't record full D1 with 4 analog cameras. It seems you can do D1 at 15fps only on two at once. A shame, again, since my old DVR could do full D1 with all 4 cameras at 30 fps. 4) The software is a bit confusing. There is imatrix, isetup, remote console, etc etc, and they all look similar. You figure it out and it's not too hard but at first it was annoying. They should have just put everything under one application instead of having multiple separate apps. 5) the AverViewer iphone/android app sucks, it doesn't take good advantage of screen real estate, and often crashed on my iphone 3GS and the buttons in the app often didn't work and i had to touch the (small icons) multiple times before they would work. (as an aside, ip cam viewer works with this DVR and is well worth the purchase on the app store and I've since deleted AverViewer...). 6) When viewing 4 cameras on the preview (from the VGA output of the DVR) the software crops each camera image from what looks to me about 3-4% on each side, effectively making your image smaller on each side (top, left, right, and bottom). That is extremely annoying because when you view the camera one at a time, you see the full camera image. in 4 camera view, you're missing that 3-4% on all sides and if your camera's field of view is not that wide you really notice it. I have emailed tech support about this but so far we are at the stage where they ask stuff like "Did you reboot the DVR, did you re-load the firmware?"...sigh...but I guess you have to go through level 1 tech support before you can talk to someone who really knows their stuff... obviously this is their software automatically cropping the 4 camera view. This may be a show stopper for me as my old DVR didn't do this and it's annoying not seeing the full image in 4 camera view. 7) The windows software has no proper minimize/maximize ability and it is designed for 1024x768 so you can't even re-size the window or really move it around. You can go full screen (which still is only 1024x768, so it's not really "full screen", unless your computer's native resolution is actually 1024x768, but I suspect most people don't use that resolution, especially on any laptop purchased in the last 4 years) or normal size only - normal being a 1024x768 custom window with no normal windows controls (minimize/maximize/close). In addition, the software constantly asks you for your password - when you start it (which is fine), but any time you go into setup, and even when you exit the software. Over time this gets really frustrating and there is no option to adjust that, especially when you are right on the DVR only using a mouse and the on screen keyboard. This could be a pro or a con depending on how you look at it, but the remote software viewing via web browser or their software app on windows does not affect what the preview monitor displays. So they are separate - if you change the view on your windows PC the preview monitor output won't change. This is different from my old DVR - if I changed the camera layout on the PC it would also change on the preview monitor. I personally liked that, but I also like how it's separate on this DVR. I'll call it a personal choice/preference on this one. 9) This is a general comment, and probably true for most DVR's, but don't expect good quality or fps when you are viewing remotely on your iphone, ipad, or remote computer. The "remote" view (even if you are on the same network at home) uses the secondary streams from the cameras, which are lower quality). The only way to see the highest quality views is from the VGA out on the back of the DVR. I'd like the capability to view the primary camera stream on my computer (on the same LAN), even if I had to disable the preview from VGA. I don't know of any DVR that does this, though, at least at the consumer level. Overall this DVR works, but it's a budget hybrid DVR and you won't get advanced functionality or tweaking from it, it has fairly annoying software quirks and poor out of the box mobile app support (although as I mentioned ip cam viewer works with it). I'll continue talking to their tech support about the cropping issue, and I have yet to hook up a megapixel IP camera - I have two of these babies on order so we'll see how this DVR performs with 720P IP cameras. It will be interesting to see how this DVR scales down a 720P ip camera image on the preview (VGA out) and if it crops it at all, and how this will look with a mix of analog and IP cameras in a 4 camera view. I would probably still recommend this DVR - if you need a Hybrid solution and don't have alot of cash. If you can live with the annoying "features" or lack thereof, dated software (1024x768 only?!) the price is good and the ability to add megapixel IP cameras to your analog camera installation is nice. I must remind you, however, that I have yet to hook up megapixel IP cameras so I can't comment on how well it works with those...but I will update this post when I have that info. Darren