voxmagna

Hi, first post so I hope I can get some help with this. I have a UK PAL version with Firmware 2020-10-K8-04-AA-14. When I bought the unit I fitted a 500Gb HDD expecting (and wanting) the shorter recording times shown in the manual version 1.4. I knew I would be disappointed with the MPEG4 and CIF recording quality, even at the BEST setting. But the manual says Model 3's output MJPEG at lower frame rates. My manual says model 3's record MJPEG in best frame quality mode. I can't see the point in recording MPEG4 pictures from 540 line cameras when the compression blocking is so bad you lose recognition detail - the very point of CCTV. You only need one good frame, so what's the point of a high frame rate and picture quality with poor detail? When I try to select the BEST quality FRAME mode my recorder is producing such small files I know my recordings are poor quality MPEG4. Based on recording file sizes, I estimate a 500Mb HDD at 30fps will run for 30 days. Can anybody with an earlier version of Model 3 firmware confirm if they can get their HDD used up really fast when set to BEST quality FRAME mode? That's what I'm looking for - what Firmware version have you got? I'm also trying to find out if I can 'image' the firmware I have in my box or if somebody has a backup file. I know the risk of tampering with firmware, but I'm not happy using the AVC 760 for the quality of pictures it produces. I can get far better quality pictures on the AV out from a cheap Digicam at 4 frames/second. Replies or PM's very welcome. Thanks

Thanks, I'll keep exploring the setup menu.

When you start the backup, where does it say it is putting your DVR files? By default it puts them on your C drive, but this isn't so good because the very drive you need working well for Windows, can get full very quickly. If you have another hard drive in your computer with lots of space (e.g D) it's best to change the location. Open up their web server, top right icon 'System Setting' then go to General/File Paths and see where the files go or change it to another hard drive. Because the backup files can be very large, It's a good idea to occasionally run Windows 'check disc' to see if the PC disc is OK before trying to backup files from the DVR.