operator207

Hello all! I hope this is the right section for this question. If not, please direct me to a better place and I will happily go there. I have an older Q-See QC838-20 that came with 5 1080p POE cameras (QCN8004B I believe) and a POE PTZ (QCN8010Z I believe). This was a Costco special from 2013 plus 2 extra cameras. The cameras work fine, however the NVR died recently. I believe from all the reading that the cameras (and the NVR) are rebranded Dahua's. I found somewhere, though can't find it now, that they are ONVIF complaint/standard. I believe it was on the minimal boxing that they came in also. I don't need anything with a POE switch, I have that covered with other gear. I have looked at the Dahua NVR4208 & NVR4216 (the newer 5mp versions), but I am not sure if they are good NVRs. I am only using a total of 5 cameras, the 6th is a backup if one fails. I am open to PC software recommendations as well. But I only have a last gen Core2Duo for something like that. I am not sure if it would be powerful enough to do the work that is needed. I am not a stranger to Linux, those apps are fine with me as well. I would like the option to expand at some point, but I seriously can't see myself needing more than 8 cameras (unless I make a doggy cam) and 1080p is clear enough for what I am covering. I would like at least 2 drive bays internal. Could I get a recommendation on a good NVR or app that would work with these cameras?

Thanks! I was unaware there were two different places. I will contact them today. Called the Online Ordering number @ 1-800-955-2292, Spoke with Drew, nice guy. He confirmed I didn't need the original box, the Ethernet cables or mounting screws/plastic plugs for the cameras. I only needed to bring the NVR, cameras and power supplies. He also confirmed that I did not need to have a current Membership to return the items. I am going to try out Zoneminder this weekend with the cameras. I have an old Zotac ND22HD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856173012 that I found laying around. I will try it out with that box and see what happens. If it works well enough, it has eSATA and I can plug in a 4TB drive to it to record to. If this works, I will return all the cameras and NVR, then go buy some IP cameras to replace the old ones with. Boogieman, THANK YOU!

I called Costco's warranty department today, they stated it was out of warranty by 1 month. I bought it on their website, so they were able to look it up in their system. I asked for "goodwill", which has helped me in the past. They denied me & recommended contacting Q-See directly. So I opened an RMA with Q-See again asking for "goodwill" and they just emailed me back stating it was out of warranty by 5 months. The only thing they would give me was pricing to replace parts. It was on a 9KVA UPS that gives it, other servers and network gear ~3 hours of uptime. It is unlikely this was due to a surge that did not take out the rest of the equipment or show up on the logs of the UPS's Network Management Card or the Powerchute Server that controls it. Thanks for the info on the cameras! Unless there are better options (please tell me if there are) I think I will pull the trigger on one of the Dahua NVRs. Any sites or dealers would you recommend buying a Dahua NVR from? You are contacting the wrong department. Dont call the warranty department. Call customer service and ask whether the unit is returnable under the costco lifetime guarantee. It is. I know folks who have returned 5 year old systems. You dont need their goodwill. Costco has a lifetime return policy on every item unless its specifically excluded. These systems are not. https://customerservice.costco.com/system/templates/selfservice/costco_en_us/#!portal/200500000001002/article/200500000003119/Costcocom-Return-Policy Thanks! I was unaware there were two different places. I will contact them today.

I called Costco's warranty department today, they stated it was out of warranty by 1 month. I bought it on their website, so they were able to look it up in their system. I asked for "goodwill", which has helped me in the past. They denied me & recommended contacting Q-See directly. So I opened an RMA with Q-See again asking for "goodwill" and they just emailed me back stating it was out of warranty by 5 months. The only thing they would give me was pricing to replace parts. It was on a 9KVA UPS that gives it, other servers and network gear ~3 hours of uptime. It is unlikely this was due to a surge that did not take out the rest of the equipment or show up on the logs of the UPS's Network Management Card or the Powerchute Server that controls it. Thanks for the info on the cameras! Unless there are better options (please tell me if there are) I think I will pull the trigger on one of the Dahua NVRs. Any sites or dealers would you recommend buying a Dahua NVR from?

Thanks for responding! The NVR will not power on. Power Supply is good, and after opening it, some parts are "darker" than others. (read burned or fried) I have already had to pull the CPU fan off and lube it so it would spin again. That was a few months ago. I used to do this with whitebox servers at an old ISP I worked for. I got pretty good at it. Regarding returning it to Costco. I will check with them tomorrow, but I still would rather replace this unit with another instead of pulling all the cameras down and returning it all. The purchase date was 9/2013. Manuf. warranty is gone, but it may still be under the Costco warranty. Though reading here: http://www.costco.com/concierge.html "Costco extends the manufacturer's warranty on Televisions, Projectors & Computers* to 2 years from the date of purchase." I am a month late. I am not sure if it will cover security cameras, they are mentioned at the top of the page, but not in the extended warranty section. Regardless, I am ok with scrapping it as I was not a big fan of its interface. If anything, I would like to move to something with more expansion. This unit will only handle 120fps. It definitely will not handle 240fps like the Dahuas. Do you have any experience with the Dahua's I mentioned, or know of anything I could use with the existing rebranded cameras?