TXGold

Can you tell me a model number that you are suggesting? I am seeing the DS-9632NI-ST for around $1074 and the DS7716NI-SP/16 for about $650 from a company with initials SV out of NYC. Don't know if they are a legit company to buy from or really what model you are referencing that is 32 channels. There reason I decided to go 32 is your comment that I can add offsite cameras to record to this NVR!!?!?!?! That is very interesting. So how would I do it? I have a 9 port POE switch that the cameras all plug into. Would I take the ethernet that was going into the computer that ran software and run that to my router? If you don't have time to explain it could you please paste a link that may help? I am hoping to buy the 32 channel, run POE switch with cameras into my router and then make input "your settings" into this 32 hikvision(what model?) and have cameras at one location with NVR recording onto this new machines and cameras at another location recording on this machine too. WOW if that can work that is awesome. I may be able to have three locations on one machine???

please delete. updated dell driver set for serial ata and 3tb was then recognized.

Is it possible to set a schedule for continuous recording? If not can other business owners chime in that use milestone with motion only? I am not comfortable having to depend on motion only. And settings to sensitive to record more often than not eat up to much storage. I have a 2.5" 64GB SSD© for OS and VMS, 1 TB HDD(D), 2 TB HDD(E), and a new 3TB HDD(not initialized yet) What is the best way to set up my drives? This is a T20 running WHS2011. I was originally thinking that if I run all drives independently and let the software figure out what it wants to do, it would be easiest. However, I believe this software has some features that are not present unless I spend a lot more. For example, continuos record. Any business attorney will tell you to have it run continuos during business hours. Might need to start looking for a different software. Back to my question, how do I set the three 3.5" HDD's up so that the are running best? Not sure what the difference between record vs archive. What setting do I need to make to WHS2011 so that after power failure it reboots and keeps recording? Anybody have an idea how to get my ACTi E96 fisheye to deworp on the milestone smart client? A thread about the camera lead me to camera critic Buellwinkle's website that mentioned that milestone was going to begin offering support back last fall, but I can't find anything, and both companies tell me it is the others plugin needed. Any other suggestion would be appreciated. Warm Regards, TXGold

Yessahh! Back in bidness. Thanks TXGold

I have looked and looked and can't figure this thing out. Below are some things I've tried switched desktop to 192.0.0.1 & a number of others and then opened IE and FF and tried logging into 192.0.0.64 and nothing. Tried using SADP to find it and nothing Tried plugging into router and powering on with ext power and look for it on dlink router and nothing Tried using Hikvision IVMS-4200 and get a Webserver Conifgure screen saying 80 port is the process of ImageServer.exe occupation, please configure. Port: with box where "80" is typed, then can click OK or Cancel. Can someone please give me some more direction on paths that might work Many thanks, Ryan

I got mine for around $270 but I think it was a presage(3month) special price and I believe they are now $400, unless Wrightwood has some more at the same price. Need help getting the mic connected on mine if anyone knows how to do it please PM me.

I was able to get the T20 running today once I entered safe mode and installed these two update packages. Network drivers: http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04/DriverDetails?driverId=DGHKG Chipset: http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04/DriverDetails?driverId=TTVVT WHS11 is not a supported OS but after 2.5 hours on the phone, and only 120 seconds of help from Beullwinkle I was up and running. Thanks again Buellwinkle, very much, for all the help. Here is what I ended up with Dell T20 with Xeon $560 8PoE switch Fry's $170 Cable 1000'&RJ45's $140 HikChina 2732 $260 from Wrightwood Surviellance HikUSA 2032 $180 x 3 " ACTi E96 Fisheye $270 on special " XProtect Essential $100 plus two camera licenses XProtect Ess Cam Lic $50 x 2 SSD for OS & VMS $60 One old 2TB HDD laying around for a total 3tb's Grand total so far is $2200. I was told to replace the POS Solo DVR it was going to be $1200 plus labor. Wish I had thought about this earlier before dropping over $4000 on my second location for a total POS system with no clarity. I know I need to add more TB's of storage, but doing it my self has saved me a lot of money and left me with a system that is very upgradeable and repairable, and light years better. Special thanks to everyone here that has helped me and especially to Wrightwood Surviellance and to Buellwinkle for the very kind help. If anyone knows how to add an extra SATA cable and power so I don't take up one of the four the T20 came with, please tell me. I currently only have one open port. Also any tips on setting up and configuring the XProtect software would be very much appreciated.

OSX support is not going to happen. You'll get some kind of tablet/client/hacked together solution but not a 100% OSX one. If you really want OSX, get a NAS + camera licenses. ...and you bought the Xeon. That's still going to bog down if you view or playback all cameras at the same time. Unless you're running ftp/web/AD/etc also, home server is a waste IMHO. What's an NAS? I did buy the Xeon t20 server and will be using home server 2011. Won't xguard reduce camera resolution when playing back all channels at same time since it wouldn't be necessary to have full resolution when the size of picture will be much smaller? Ten if I want full resolution I click on a camera channel and the others go away and then I have full resolution??? Just trying to see how it all works. I am coming from a total POS a paid a lot for and have to totally replace.

I am rethinking my amount of cameras. Many angles from my current system are needed because the quality of the video is so inferior. A wide angle lens takes away so much detail on a 720TVL camera. If I go with a 3MP camera, the same viewing angle can be moved slightly and widened to obtain a much larger area, and still have the same if not more detail of previous cameras, I imagine. In addition, cameras that aren't washed or blown out because of sun light differences within a cameras filed of view, because of WDR(wide dynamic range), makes even more of a reason to consider that less channels will be required. Is this a fair assessment of the difference of an IP system verse a SOLO 16 channel? With that said, if I go with an 8 POE switch and do away with camera positions that did little to help us to begin with(i.e. multiple waiting area positions) the higher resolution and wider dynamic range cameras will offer the same and more than likely much more helpful surveillance than previous system. So again, please suggest some good quality 8 PoE port switches that are simple, reliably, and won't bottle neck. Additionally I need some recommendations for a bullet 3mp with WDR, and motion detect on board, with or without mikes. Also I will need recs for a dome camera 4' over the register with mic and motion detect and with or without WDR. And finally a rec for a dome camera with wide angle, 3MP, with mic, WDR, and motion detect for inside waiting area. After walking around the site, I realize I could more than likely get away with 6 total cameras and be safe, adding more in time or as the need arises.

Buellwinkle from the forum has been a HUGE help via email, and I also thank those that have helped here, it is all very much appreciated. I am leaning towards xGuard Essential for my VMS. However, I would really like some suggestions that are GOOD and free/cheaper and work with OSX or at least allow remote viewing through OSX, and hopefully some level of management. Also any specific model cameras that are a good bargain please give suggestions. Three will be inside with one looking over the register about 5 feet above. One will be a big overview so, this may need to be high MP huh? And the third will be motion only and for an area I will most likely know who it is so nothing fancy here probably. The other cameras outside will be watching guys wash and dry cars and drive them. One of these will need to be high MP with dynamic range for sun that can see details of a car from up about 9 feet and between 3 and 23 feet away from the cars. I need suggestions for an indoor high MP for monitoring a large waiting area, wide angle. I also need suggestions for an outdoor high MP that will be able to possibly see small dings or scratches on cars as they drive up, and one for the finishing are. All others will not be as important so a good general camera with onboard motion detect. Finally I need suggestions for an unmanaged switch of good quality that has at least 10 POE ports. I am hoping to only spend about $250 here but don't want something so cheap I'll have to replace it soon or that will bottleneck the bandwidth. I have purchased a Dell T20 Xeon Server and Windows Home Server 2011 as my computer. Thank you again, so much, for all the kind help. What a great forum and group of people. TXGold

The server I am looking at is a Dell T20 and is listed for around $550 on their website here. http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/poweredge-t20/fs Not much money, and I know it's only a 1tb HDD but can't I just throw in a HDD when I can afford it until I max out all the slot's? I believe this tower has 6 slots, so easily could get it up to 14-18TB for around $700-900. This should be plenty of space for a 10 camera system. Do the swan/hikivision cameras have hardware based motion detection? I keep reading here that if cameras don't have this feature, it will be taxing on the cpu, which might not matter since the Xeon is so powerful. Additionally, if the cost of a camera with motion detection is much greater than getting a fast enough processor, isn't the wise choice not to worry about camera based motion detection? Does the hikvision iVMS support mac osx software, or at least will I be able to manage a decent amount of features remotely with a browser like safari or firefox for OSX? The only computers I have are Apple. Will I need to order an operating system with the purchase of the server? I currently have a copy of Windows 7 64bit but the disk is really scratched and not sure I have the license key. I would prefer to not have to use Windows or Linux OS. Does the Hikvision iVMS just load on the server with a flash drive and then reboot and it will initiate? Does iVMS offer video analytics of any kind? I'd really like to one day be able to have the system count cars at my business and store them for comparing to my POS. Or do I need to get one special camera for this and connect it to iVMS? So any unmanaged good quality switch with POE will work with this T20? I saw some trendnet's for around $300 that had 16ports. Is there any special feature I need to check to insure it will work as far as switches go? As for playback, I like to be able to fast forward and count cars, and compare them to my POS system to check for theft. Will iVMS playback allow searching at high speed of multiple cameras? With the T20 system and iVMS will I be able to record 10 channels at 15PS or greater at full resolution(D1?) ?? Thanks so much, and I am leaning towards option A and making this part of my many jobs at my business instead of relying on a vendor to service, which is usually about $150 for a simple car and about $350 to add a camera, or move two cameras. Some really good support comes with that, but the costs is very frustrating and if I didn't think I was going to get a $100+ ding every time I wanted something checked I probably would have been more apt to call to have someone come out and check on the SOLO while it was inside warranty. Live and learn, but I don't think there is not much more I could have done to be proactive about warranty.

I don't know much, and I apologize, but I don't have as much time as I would like to research this all. I have been using a company that I trusted and still do, and respect, but the money I spent and what I got is disappointing. I received a SOLO 16ch and all the cameras installed and support, but I spent $6000 getting there. I feel like it was a lot of money and, I did not get a decent warranty with that. I have lost 2 of 3 DVR's inside 3 years. I am being told be this company that the Costco packages for NVR's are junk, but with Costco's warranty and the failure rate of the SOLO I am willing to take a gamble, except the idea of putting together a T20 system that was suggest on the residential forum here. My biggest problem is this is for one of my business locations and need a system sooner than later as the loaner is not available for long. Option A: I am considering purchasing a new Dell T20 with xeon and I need a recommendation for an ip switch and software that allows third party cameras and is easily configured or uses OSX. Option B: I am considering going with a turn key lorex NVR system from Costco. My first question on this system is what is the estimated storage time, with motion set at non-business hours and continuos for a 9 hour work day? I'd also like to know what terminology to look for to find out if adding additional HDD's is possible, and if it is typically possible, is there a way to add a bank of 4 or 5 2tb HDD's or are they typically configured to just offer one add on slot? Which again brings me back to how to estimate or if someone here could guess, how much storage in terms of weeks will approximately 3.5tb's of useable space and a 10 camera 2mp system attain. If I go with option A, any suggestions for a software that is very easy to install on the mentioned Dell mini tower server. That software needs to be compatible with Mac OSX as that's all I use, and I don't want to use parallels or whatever the program is called that allows running Windows simultaneously. Also a good durable IP with PoE switch for between 12 and 16 channels. It would be nice if the suggested software has a plug and play friendliness that allows simple plugging the switch into the tower and then plugging IP cameras with PoE and detecting and configuring automatically. This is a long post, and I realize I am being what may be considered lazy. I am new here except for lurking a few times once a year for a few years, but I am not sure what the tolerance for posts like this is, and if it's low I do apologize and will not do so again. Thank you, TXGold