GramUK

Apart from the same old poor quality which was the start of this thread the unit has started falsly detecting movement and starting the recording. In the motion set up screen you can see random blocks of motion detected (even on a static background) - so I've given up on this unit completely. Yes, I could send it away for repair but really it's not worth the hasstle. Conclusion - I've spent 145.00 on the unit and another 95.00 on the SV-35 hard drive that went into it. But I've learned a LOT and it has introduced me to the world of digital CCTV / networking etc. Now researching Geovision DVR capture cards for the PC...... and so my learning goes on and on and on..... PS> Thanks Kevinhm from AVTECH for offering support, but the claimed "crystal clear images" from the recorded content is really not there in this product and I suspect this applies to the complete range and am unwilling to pay the price to find out. However it was nice of you to offer support and I appreciate that. Thanks to all others for input. Have a good'n I'm sure I'll end up in the "capture card" forum! Cheers Graeme.

Yep - I'm a low budget DIY'er at the moment until I learn more of the systems available. I don't believe that it is H.264 - It's an AVtech 761 and even locally the image is quite blocky (with no internet connection). "Live" images are flawless (even over internet) - blocks only effect the playback. I have one final thought - I note that all enabled channels record even if only one channel is activated by motion for example. In the Camera setup screen I select camera's 1 and 2 for record and have cam's 3 & 4 set to off at the moment until I install the other 2 cams. I thought that it would have made sense for only the triggered input / camera to record so as to maximize image processing. Is it normal for all 4x channels to record if enabled even if only one is triggered? Again, I'm oversees so can't test with only one camera set to record to see if there is any change in the image quality.

Ok, done all the tests - new camera 480Tv lines connected right next to the DVR. Tested all possible settings frame and CIF and what I'm getting is as good as it gets. Like mentioned - you gets what you pays for. So - on the look out for a new DVR. I'll search this forum and see if there are any recommendations for high resolution recorders as this does not do what I expected it to do. Guess I'll be researching a little better this time instead of relying on manufacturers claims to "crystal clear recordings". But it has been a good exercise and opened me up to networking DVR possibilities. Anyways, - Thanks to all that replied to this mailing. Graeme.

Scruit.....like the name ! I'm over in Germany working right now (hence the networking DVR) - but when I get back home I'll for sure be able to capture a few images for comparison. I'll also connect a new camera close to the DVR to see if that cable length theory is right.(If the kids leave me alone long enough!) - Anyways, The live images are actually real good - with plenty of definition etc. If I record the "live" image on my PC linked via my home network the images remain very good quality (not grainy or at all blocky) If I let the DVR do the recording and play that back directly from the DVR on an LCD monitor (same used on PC) - then the blocks appear. The comparison I could decribe is between Analogue TV and some low bandwidth "freeview" channels (i.e not "breaking up" but much more blocky due to the mpeg compression) so I'm sure it's the conversion. I made a point of getting the 500G Seagate SV-35 hard drive in the system (as recommended by many suppliers) and so I think the drive should not be the bottleneck. Anyways, we'll see after a little further testing.

Hi, thanks for the reply... It may well be the cable / length - this is something that I really was not too confident about in the whole system - it's a combined AV / DC power cable supposedly 75 Ohm. Lengths are around 18 meters to each camera. The cable is from an older B&W camera / VHS system I had a few years back but never used. I'll go buy some good quality 75 ohm cable and put the DC right next to the camera (so there's no run it along the video cable) and see if that makes a difference too. As I say, I was expecting a little better quality, but I think you made up my mind for me to change that cable before going further. Thanks for the pointer..... BTW - this is probably the most informative forum that I have ever visited on line... a wealth of information and friendly guys like yourself ! Thanks again, Graeme.

Another newbie here from the UK...(a gadget freak) hello... Have had the AV761 500gb (SV-35) for 2 months and seem to be on top of setting up etc (all networked and remote viewing via internet is okay) - but just a little disapointed at recorded quality of images. I've 2x IR day/night camera's set up right now (3rd and 4th camera's on order) and are all 480Tv lines PAL. Playing back recorded images locally (not via the internet) still the images are quite "blocky" . I've tried recording CIF and FRAME but both methods are poor. The frame MJpeg is just about reasonable but only if close to the camera. Is there any way to improve quality of recordings or I guess I'm stuck with this. Camera's are great until they are converted to MJepg MPeg4 (recorded). I'm tempted to go back to VHS and auto switchers etc. or are there any recommendations for higher resolution recorder? I thought Mpeg4 was a good format to record?? I'm sure my pioneer DVR on my TV is Mpeg4... Any thoughts / suggestions? Wife limiting my budget to < 500 gbpounds Cheers, Graeme