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Let me guess - $2500? EDIT: No, I mean, I guess $6500.

On mine, yes.

Mine has motion detect, manual and scheduled recording. On the bike I have scheduled recording set to 00:00-23:59. It's only powered up when the key is turned on. In the workshop I have it set to motion detect, highest possible sensitivity.

I have this same unit under a different name. MDVR-14. I've been using it on my motorbike. I'm having a new roof put on my workshop and I'm going to use the DVR to put a camera inside the building while they are working on it. Paranoid, maybe, but I'd like to reassure myself that nothing in the workshop "grows legs and walks away"...

It takes data from the GPS antenna and overlays Speead, heading, location and time on the image form the front camera. It's a reliable permanent record of speed - which is almost always in dispute after an accident or ticket.

My ears are burning! Search Youtube for video posted by me (same name). You'll see some videos from my dashcam, and a coupel videos detailing how the dashcam is put together. Also check out posts here by erkme73 - his dashcam uses less expensive equipment and is a less invasive install, but still gets a good quality forward view with GPS overlay. His footage has been used in a court hearing too. My system gives a longer history, 4 video channels (Front, Front w/gps, rear and driver). and a higher quality video under extreme lighting conditions - but it also cost about $1k and took 12 hours to install. For me it's definitely a hobby - if all i wanted was a dashcam for accient evidence I'd go with erkme73's design - definitely wins the K.I.S.S award.

240v, allotment, shed... British? Assuming that this is an immediate need, it's for the shed only and it's not part of a larger system... Check on ebay and find one of the single-channel 'mini DVRs' in PAL. Talk to the seller and make sure you get the car adapter (plugs into the cig lighter) even if you have to pay extra. Then get a cheap 12v IR camera. Try to get CCD, not CMOS. Inside a shed you don't need much IR, anythign rated for 10-15' should work. If you get a camera with too much IR then the thief's face will be washed out if he stands too close to the camera. Next, go to Halfords or another car spares shop and get 2 cig lighter sockets for a couple of quid each. This will wire into the battery and let you plug int hte power for the DVR so that you can power the DVR from the battery. You might have to get a pair of alligator clips from Tandy (or a pair of battery clamps from Halfords) to hold the wires onto the terminal. While you are at Tandy, show them the camera and ask then for a cig lighter power adapter that will run it. You also might need an RCA to RCA wire to get video from the camera to the DVR. Set it up opn the floor in your house and do a test run before you take it to the shed. Now, put it all together... Put the camera somewhere where it can't be seen, but make sure it's about shoulder height when the person it standing or crouching in the shed - no point in mounting the camera too high and getting a picture of his bald spot. Try not to get the window or door in shot because if it's daytime then anyone standing in the door will appear too dark becuase the camera will be blinded by the light. Try to aim so that the door and window are out of shot, but so that someone standing inside the shed will be visible. Put the DVR close to the camera but out of sight. Don't put it in something that will get nicked, like a toolbox. Connect the Camera to the DVR, put the car battery in the shed and hook up the two cig lighter sockets. Then plug in the cig lighter power adapters for the DVR and the camera. Make sure you test recording and playing back so you know that it's recording ok. When you play back, use the RCA cable to plug the DVR video out into the yellow RCA "line in" on your TV or video. That's the cheapest and easiest way I can think of to get something recording. Probably cost you about 100 quid total, exluding the car battery. Good luck, m8.

Mine is in a lockbox. In a residential setting it's not common to find a drop ceiling unless it's a finished basement. Bear in mind that a lockbox gives the thief something to focus on. If the thief's time is limited (monitored alarm system, etc) then they are less likely to get away with the DVR than if they have unlimited time. In the ceiling is a valid option (temperature permitting) as long as there's nothing that gives the location away such as wires or conduit crawling up the wall - or if it's left open on a regular basis where visitors can see it. A lockbox will keep a thief at bay for maybe a couple of minutes, depending on how strong it is. If the thief has enough time and the right tools then he can get into anything. So, at the end of the day, its a case of swings and roundabouts. And if the theif has time to spare then they'll find your DVR, or break open a lockbox. That's why the CCTV should be just one layer of your overall security system - and a monitored alarm will do more to protect your DVR (by limiting the time they have to spend) than the DVR location. Monitored alarm + remote view of CCTV = "Confirmed burglar on site!", meaning a MUCH faster response than 'yet another alarm call'. (in our area the Sheriff's department regularly reports that 99% of 'Alarm Drops' are false alarms.)

I got the eBay 'portable DVR' that erkme has in his truck - I'm gonna use it on my motorbike... First I hooked it up to my car alongside the existing DVR so I could capture a true comparison. Now, bear in mind this is a comparison of DVR *AND* camera. ie the Aver has a MUCH nicer camera. Tomorrow I'll hook up the no-name DVR to the nice camera and get a fairer comparison of the DVR alone.

IF you are connecting direct from your computer to the DVR then you need a crossover cable. If you are connecting the computer and DVR tp the same hub then you need two standard cables (DVR to hub and cmoputer to hub. Is the little "link" light turned on when the network cable is plugged in? If not, then the cable is wrong. Once you have the DVR and the computer plugged iun and the link lights on both network ports is on, then the next step is to configure the IPs. Use subnet mask 255.255.255.0 and assign the computer and the DVR a two different IP addresses that have the same first 3 numbers (that's what the "255" means). ie your computer can be 192.168.1.2 and the DVR can be 192.168.1.3 If you're connected directly to a DSL or cable modem and you computer has an IP address that does not start with 192.168, then that's probably becuase your computer is getting a public internet IP address from your ISP - don't connect your DVR directly to the public internet! You'd need to either disconnect your computer from the ISP long enough to configure teh DVR, or get a Router from your local computer store so you can connect the computer and DVR together while the computer can still see the internet. Alternatively, you could use a second network card in the computer and connect it direct to the DVR (crossover cable) - just don't set a default gateway on the 2nd netowrk card. Leave the 1st netowrk card configured for the internet and set the 2nd card to 192.168.1.3 etc. Once you've done those, bring up a browser on the computer and type http://192.168.1.2 (assuming you set the DVR to that ip!) and see if it gives you the browser login. Once you have the browser login page then your network is set up correctly. Next step is to log in using the video server software. AS long as you use the proper user/password you'll be fine.

For one-time use, trying to recognise a person that you probably know already, any cheapo ebay camera will do the trick. Bear in mind that IR light shining through glass is usually problematic, and you'd get better results with the camera (or at least the light source) outside the car. Where is the car parked, campared to the house? Any reason you can't just mount a camera on the house and run it to a VCR with a 4-hour tape on long play? For a one-off even that would work fine. When people ask me about preventing crime with CCTV in a residential setting I usually tell them that 'preventing crime' and 'cctv' are two different layers in your overall security plan. Try to prevent crime by installing motion lights, driveway monitor, cutting back bushed, stronger locks etc. CCTV might (not *will*) help you identify the perpetrator, but only after the crime has been comitted. Your primary goal should be to prevent the crime. If you feel that extra security etc would not stop the crime THEN go to CCTV. Also bear in mind tht identifying the perpetrator may not do you any good. If it's a local kid then what are you gonna do? Will the police pursue it? Are the parents gonna care enough to do anything about it?

Cheaper than a fuse would simply be replace the diode with an LED and put a resistor in there. If the polarity is wrong ther a light comes on on the camera, and the resistor keeps the current low enough to not burn out the device supplying the power.

If I have an AC adapter that is unregulated and spits out 18v, then can I just solder a 1A 12v regulator inline with the power cable? I did this in the car/motorbike camera installations to stop the cameras seeing 14.5v whent he car is running. I learned the hard way that some cameras protect against reverse polarity by shorting the power input with a diode. There goes the magic smoke from the power controller.

I have my DVR set to 2fps per channel when there is no action, and then up to 15fps per channel when something is happening. If I use the USB backup and get the .VSE files and play them back in the player then everything works fine... But when I export to AVI I have two problems... 1) No sound 2) If the framerate changes during the video (ie an object comes into shot) then the framerate of the video does not change - so the first couple seconds appears in realtime, 2fps as recorded, but when the video is supposed to jump up to 15fps what it actually does is stay at 2fps and the video action slows down 7x. I have to go into the AVI and manually convert it back to 15fps (which means the 2fps section plays at 7x normal speed!) Is this a bug with this one verion, or a known issue withe avtech?

My sony (9 years old too) will timeout if it's running on battery, or if there is a tape inside. Make sure the A/C adapter is plugged in, switch it to camera mode, and make sure there is no tape in. On mine, A/C adapter + no tape = will run forever as a camera. Then you plug the video/audio cable in (the cable withthe 4-banded 'headphone' plug on one end and the white/red/yellow RCA plugs on the other. Get an RCA to BNC adapter (if the DVR uses BNC). If you need a longer cable then make sure you get a couple of RCA-to-RCA adapters so you can plug two RCA cables together. Not sure what the duty cycle is on the camcorder is, though. I don't think they are designed for 24x7 use - and definitely not for 24x7 outdoor use (think humidity/rain etc)

I should not have the same issue with the power-off timer because the camera will turn off immediately, making the DVR stop recording. Then 5 seconds later the DVR would have it's power yanked. If the DVR is not recording at the moment the power is lost then no damage is done becuase the prior file was already save to the SD card. I'm not as concerned about losing the last ~5 seconds as I was concerned about my old car DVR... If THAT lost power while recording then there was a 1/50 chance it would corrupt the hard drive. Thinking back to the car accidents I've been in in the past (and the ones I've witnessed) - the car would still have been able to power a DVR until the driver turned off the ignition. The worst accident I've been in (drive driver went left of center and hit me head-on at a combined speed of over 80mph) the car was still 'on' and I still had to turn the ignition off. The DVR in the car is a specific mobile DVR and it does not lose video when the power is yanked. It's specifically designed for that. I still have a power-off timer on it because it's wired to start recording int he event someone opens the door or hits the car when it's in a parking lot. in those cases the even that triggers the DVR will be very brief and I need the shutdown timer to make sure the DVR records *something*. Stand by: I went out on the bike and made 4 distinct journeys without touching the DVR. I'm gonna play it back and see if it recorded everything.

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly... The Good: - The DVR is hooked up to the bike and I went on a ride this morning - looks like an acceptable image for my purposes. The Bad: - The DC/Batt switch was knocked by something as I was riding down the road, and that resulted in the loss of about 20 seconds of video as it killed the current file then rebooted and started recording again. I'll have to mount it in a way that nothing hits that switch. The Ugly: - My observation is that turning off the power without stopping the DVR first results in the loss of the current file (10 seconds per file in 704x240 mode). This isn't a problem for normal driving, but any impact that kills the power would likely result in losing video of the event that caused the power loss. (Although on a motorbike, any impact that would kill the power so suddenly would probably kill *me* too, and then I won't care about the video )

\ Yup... give it a go, without batteries, just on acc power. It works 100% for me. I'll hook up the simplified version tomorrow on the bike and see what I get. The only weird thing I have to do is put the 5v regulator inline with the DVR power, but that's easy. The regulator is so small I can solder it inline with the power wire and heatshrink right over it.

I've been running it with AA batteries so far in my testing. WEll, until I realized today that the batteries failed 5 mins from the house so the whole trip was not recorded (although the main DVR was running so I didn't care). Definitely not gonna trust batteries. So, you're saying that you've not had any corruption issues when it's run on accessory power (and therefore will lose power unexpectedly when you turn the truck off)? Well, what I have so far is the old timer circuit from my prior DVR - it's a simple power-off timer that runs about 45 seconds. I need to pull out the 1000uF capacitor and replace it with something smaller. The closest I have is a 220uF which should give me something liek 9 seconds, good enough. It also provides me a place to put the 5v regulator. So for me it's not a whole bunch of work to do this. I see what you mean, though - If I didn't have this already built then I'd probably just give it a shot as you describe. I'll be doing all my testing in the car because I drive it a couple times a day whereas I only ride the bike a couple times a week. I should be able to put together the adjusted timer with voltage regulator in aabout an hour. Then I can run the wires on the bike and hook it up for a test ride. I need to make the wiring modular so I can pull the DVR from the bike and put it in the car for testing. Edit: Oh, you've run two of these (you car and your wife's car?) for ever and not gotten any corruption issues? Heck, I think I'll just hook up the voltage regulator alone then. I'm sure I can weed out any corruption issues in my car. The timer circuit is just another component that can fail, so if I don't need it then I don't want it.

You can't just use a standard microphone - it has to be a powered CCTV microphone. Example: KT&C KPA-1

Hey erkme73.... I just go the same kind of DVR that you have - gonna install it on my motorbike. I usually got for a week between rides so I can't have it hooked up permanently on motion record. I've been playing with it for a couple days and I've made some observations (and read the manual)... - "The DVR should not lose power while booting up or it may corrupt the SD card". Bootup takes about 3 seconds. (hooking to an ingition switched source that goes to 0V while the starter is running will create this exact situation - power for less than a second then zero power) - The DVR should not lose power while in record mode or it may not save the file properly. In the event of an accident it's likely that the engine will be turned off within 10 seconds of the collision - so it must be able to shut itself off safely without human intervention. - If the DVR is recording and the camera signal is lost then the DVR will stop recording (making it safe to power off). Here's what I'm going to do with mine: 1) The camera will be hooked up to an ignition-switched source (via a 1am 12v regulator ($1.79 from radio shack) 2) The DVR will be hooked up the the battery though a simple power-off timer circuit. The timer circuit will use a resistor/capacitor timer (about $8 in parts from RS) to switch a relay that connectes the DVR to the battery. The timer will connect to an ignition-switched source (the tail-light) to tell the timer when to turn on and off. - The circuit will power up and switch the relay on when ignition-switched source goes to 12V. The power to the DVR goes through a 1A 5V regulator ($1.79 from RS) - When the ignition switched source goes to 0V (bike is turned off) the timer will start counting down. Meanwhile, the camera already turned off immediately making the DVR stop recording gracefully. Then after ~5 seconds the relay will turn off, turning off the DVR. - While the circuit is off the DVR is not drawing any power at all - therefore it can be left hooked up indefinitely without draining the battery. - I chose 5 seconds because that gives the DVR time to boot up fully so there's no chance of the power turning off during bootup if the key is turn on for just a moment (ie forgot to close a window). I'm prototyping this now and will probably just solder it using a piece of prepunched PCB. My question: Are you happy with the way you have yours hooked up, or would you like a copy of the schematic and parts list for the timer? I figure it's a total of $20 in parts and would make the DVR fully aoutmatic without risking draining the battery.

pns, did this solve your problem?

Props for keeping that to yourself.

It's also one of our best seller, as it is CHEAP. not because of the features. As i had mentioned, it is not problem with network. Rather, it is the feature or more accurately, the lack of network feature. I got a lot of customers who read the specs, bought it, then come back and complain abt the network viewing and searching. When the boss is accessing the DVR at the office/guardroom through network, and see something of interest on camera 1, click on camera 1, the office monitor will change to see camera 1 as well. Viola, the staffs know the boss is watching. Viola.... the guard lost the ability to monitor the compound and is stuck to watching only the camera the boss choose to watch. Have you also try to search for recorded video over network or internet ? It's damm frustrating. Each click sometimes take up to 10 secs to reflect on the screen. Try it out. Try changing the date and time to play back from, to pause a frame, fast forward, etc. My old CPCam CPD576W was like that - the remote software simply send commands to the DVR as if you were standing there pressing buttons. If I select CH1 on the network software then the main DVR display changes to CH1. With my new CPCam (equiv to AVTech 717) the remote software can bring up a channel without changing the main DVR display. I can select any individual channel using the tabs across the top (does not affect DVR display) - or I can select the DVR tab and change what the DVR is displaying.

Another cool thing with this feature... - My 16 ch CPCam (AVTech) DVR has 4, 9 and 16ch display modes. - I can change the the layout in 9ch display to show the 9 most important cameras... - I can also change the layout of the 4ch view to be the 4 critical cameras... It will remember the 9ch and 4ch layouts seperately... And these settings survive restarts.