glocklt4

My main concern using my desktop at home is CPU usage. Also would be compatibility with my existing apps. For this reason I have thought about going with a standalone, however when the one I like (Avermedia 1304NET) is $400 ... and the geo cards are $92 for a 2 channel (which I can probably get by with)... it only seems logical to look more closely at the pc card dvr's. So what do you guys think??

I should be getting mine early next week. Obviously I'm excited to hook it up and see what it can do. I don't know that I'll have any cameras by the time that I get it, but I can at least hook it up to a monitor and start looking through the settings. So any recommendations on how to use it? Things to watch out for?

Auto iris means Auto F-stop ? I am a hobby photographer and varifocal and auto iris seem like buzz words to me .

And that is why I don't like driving in the snow with other cars around, haha.

Fortunately no, but I can see the effectiveness. How much are you spending to do all of this when your insurance deductible is far less than all of this equipment? DVR, power converters, wiring, one camera for front, one for back. Seems like this would add up and make it not worth it.

Good point on the motion activated flood lights. Using them to illuminate someone and then record would be better than darkness and IR with recording. Luckily I have a street light right next to my house (burned out right now, of course), but that will help a lot too.

My next things to figure out are cameras and wiring. Wiring - I was considering using cat5 cable with the adapters on both ends that handle signal and power. What do you guys think of these? Good quality? Signal Loss? Best place to get the adapters? Cameras - I read that you want to go with at least 1/3" CCD. I will need pretty good night vision probably since this is for my house and weird things seem to happen at night. Anything to watch out for?

Cool, thanks. This worked. I like it.

Thanks for the replies guys! That's what I was afraid of with a DVR card (needing a dedicated system). I already have 4 computers at my house (one A/V , one desktop, one server, and a laptop)... I really don't need to have another one running and burning electricity, haha. It seems as if the 1304NET is the way to go for sure. It should consume much less power too. I have been trying to search through this site reading as much as I can about the unit. I can get one locally today it appears.