mikefl

I have the same problem with an AVTECH unit as well. Avtech this is obviously something that can be fixed via firmware, it's a software bug in your web server! Has nothing to do with DDNS! When this happens port 80 does not respond locally, it's closed (you can't telnet to port 80) yet you can ping the DVR and it responds fine. Reboot the device and it works again for a couple hours at best. This is horrible and unacceptable! And also there seems to be no way to reboot the device except to pull the power while next to the DVR, another very poor design feature. There should be a way to reboot the device at the very least via a web browser from a host on the same local network as the DVR! Until Avtech addresses these issues do not buy this product as they do not even offer direct support! -Mike

Looking for bullet. Thanks for reply. Where are these cameras made and what is their typical warranty, how do they handle warranty issues? What model would you recommend for a decent lets say 2 Megapixel POE camera? -Mike

Trying to find the latest firmware for AVTECH KPD679ZB(US)-E. The DVR currently shows version 1013-1001-1005-1003. I can't find anything anywhere for this unit. This unit has a VGA port instead of the HDMI port that similar units carry. The front panel also says "16 CH H.264 DVR". We are currently only using 11 channels on this unit, anybody know how to disable the channels not used so that they don't show up on the monitor or when viewing the DVR remotely? -Mike

I would appreciate any input anybody can offer on the below, thank you all in advance. I'm working on a recently installed AVTech system, there are two AVTech boxes, I'm not even sure what model they are since these folks (AVtech) can't even print the model right in front of the boxes. One of the boxes when I access it online shows system version 1013-1001-1005-1003. I do know we have a 16 channel system and it is H.264, we currently have around 12 cameras active. Once I figure out the models of the junk that we have (if there is anyway via the DVR at the site besides having to move the equipment and physically look in the back please let me know) I would also like to upgrade the firmware on them today in the hopes that some improvements/new features will be added to these things. The system is all setup and we can access it over the Internet. The software that comes with this system (video viewer for windows) is pretty horrible and I'm looking for some other options. We have a special remote setup for the customer so that he can view the cameras from home. We have an All In One Desktop which is mounted on the wall (21.3" display size) and we have automated as much as we could using the horrible video viewer software. Pc is turned on and the software launches and logs on but at this stage the customer still has to pickup a mouse and make a bunch of other changes (which are very difficult due to the distance of the screen and the high resolution) before it's properly adjusted for his needs. The first challenge that we have is that as soon as you access the system the image quality on the cameras is pretty bad so we have to click on the tiny icon that says "remote desktop" it then connects to this mysterious remote desktop mode and now the video quality is much better and good enough for the customer. At this point the customer has to go through several other hoops in order to choose the amount of cameras for viewing and put everything in full screen. A lot of manual work we are trying to eliminate for a customer that is both not technical and does not want to deal with this each time the PC is turned off. Is there any way via some sort of program shortcut or URL that we can launch the remote desktop component so that at least we can bypass all the other steps? Another challenge that we have is that the customer only wants to see 4 specific cameras, I have found no way to manually select 4 different cameras for viewing (i.e. ch 2, 5,7, 10). The only thing I can come up with is to physically move the channels around at the location where the equipment is installed this way the channels he wants will be physically connected using the first 4 channels on the DVR. I'm open to using other software even if we have to pay for it, I have worked with many systems and found this video viewer software pretty horrible. I have not found another product that will work with an AVTech DVR, any suggestions? I tried AVtech's CMS software in the hopes that it was better than the video viewer program but I think the software failed to detect the system or said it was not compatible. Again what we are trying to accomplish here it to automate as much as possible so that when the customer turns on the PC the application will open, login and present the desired cameras with the desired settings. I have worked with many systems and for most systems this is very doable. Keep in mind that this setup is being setup at the customers remote viewing location (not at the site where the junk is installed). I would also appreciate any tips to optimize remote viewing over the Internet for speed/quality (and settings on the DVR for the cameras). We have decent quality routers at both locations (asus, one running DD-WRT the other one running stock firmware) and very fast broadband connections at both ends. Right now we are seeing a bit of lag when viewing the cameras at the remote location, one of the cameras also has audio which we also hear at the remote location but sometimes we loose audio for a few seconds. -Mike