chewingyu

Okay, that is obvious. So, is Huper good enough? What about Magic Radar?

I believe the protection you are referring to is when there is a blackout or some power surge, the AVR will protect it,right? I was really concerned with the crashing of the hard disk due to sudden power off to the DVR (Just like with our PCs we are advised to log off properly than to just flick the switch to turn it off) I suppose both factors are important to protect the DVR, yes? So, I will take note of the AVR before the purchase but what about the other concern of mine?

One of my vendors has offered a single UPS - Alberex - to protect a bunch of Magic Radar DVRs. He claims that the Magic Radar has this auto log off feature to protect the hard disk. Is this true? I can't even find any website that features Magic Radar.

It seems they are pretty cheap but that gives rise to a concern of quality Are they good for a CCTV system of about 300 cameras? How does it compare to Win4net DVR? or MagicRadar

Never heard of "baluns". Are they similar to NVT transmitters and receivers?

no one to help me??

Yes, I know the advantage of having PTZ over fixed or still cameras. What I wanted to know was when does one choose a Speed dome over a conventional PTZ housed in dome enclosure. I mean, speed dome is definitely more expensive and I believe any fault would would require changing the entire speed dome. This is costly!! So, what is the wisdom in choosing speed dome over normal PTZ cameras?

thanks but please elaborate.

So, what is the story now? Can I have 1 UPS to a few DVRs and still be able to send signals to the DVRs for auto shutdowns? Or this is only possible with a 1-to-1 set up?

My butt is on the line alright! Butt, neck, head...all of it!

Thanks guys. Will have to deliberate on this for a little while.....

MAN!

There isn't really a need to do recabling is there? What about improving the joints, like installing connectors instead? Or installing some signal boosters at those joints?

Yes, it is RG59, joined to RG11 (that's what they say) So, there is no such thing as "wear and tear of joints"? Joints are different from connectors? I have, according to this contractor of mine, 7 cameras with this "cabling problem". About a year ago, I had the same kind of problem with 6 other cameras, and did a recabling work but I kicked up such a fuss about it being a design fault that I got them to waive the labour charged and paid half of the material costs! Obviously, they did it at a loss but they ain't gonna do it this time. They blamed it on our decision during installation where they had offered to run fibre optics due distances but we opted for the cheaper solution using RG cables. I told them that that was bull****. If we had opted for the RG solution, then they had better make it darn sure that it lasted. But they claim now that it has been almost 6 years. So there is "wear and tear" of the system. Actually, though they verbally tell me they are reheatin the joints, their service reports says they are "resoldering the joints" Somehow I don't buy all of this but I am somewhat stuck because they won't budge and I need to get the system rectified.

Just want to confirm if the NVT video transmitter NV211T is obsolete as claimed by my contractor. He is offering the NV214, saying it is an upgraded model. Help anyone?

Well, I do not intend to have it run 24/7 but only when I leave the house. I just want to monitor what my maid does at home when we are out. And we would be out, at the most, for 6 hours.

Currently, I only have one model DVR i.e. Netsafe- DVR1016 and I have 9 of them. But I am going to convert 24 other VCR/Mux into DVRs. So, I do not know what brand/model I will be installing until after a tender exercise. The Netsafe DVRs run on Win2K. I have a feeling the new ones that I will install will either be the same or on WinXP.

I was told that if I want the feature where a signal is sent by the UPS to the DVR for auto shutdown, then I will need a 1-to-1 UPS-DVR hook up. That means I cannot do a 1 UPS to 4 DVRs. Is this true?

Oh, no my 33 DVRs, 33 monitors, 500 cameras are not relying on own generator. Rather we are taking from the main power supply from our national powergrid.

You mean all 33 machines?

Well, this is hard to do when dealing with company assets! We have company procedures in dealing with disposal of assets.

I would like to seek your expertise for a situation I am facing. I intend to convert my CCTV systems to digital recording. Currently, I have 3 different CCTV systems recording the images on videotapes. By 3 systems, I mean they were installed at different times by different contractors. So, the main question is how do I do it? Do I just replace the VCRs with DVRs? Or should I dump the multiplexers and TV monitors as well and install SVGA monitors? While the earlier method is cheaper upfront i.e. only pay for DVRs, my concern is that I will still need to keep the multiplexers, which means I need to maintain them. Which solution in the long run pays off better? I was advised to keep the multiplexers because the images displayed on the TV monitors are better than those on SVGAs. Another issue is that I would very much like to be able view all cameras from the comfort of my office (and for my superiors as well). However, I am aware that of the fact that there are no common language or protocol amongst the DVR suppliers. That means, I would need to have all 3 systems using the same DVR make/model. Wouldn't that be putting all the eggs in 1 basket? It usually prudent to have a more-than-1-brand policy. But if I do that, I would need as many PC monitors in my office as the number of DVR systems, right? I cannot afford to do that because of limited office space and the inconvenience of having to turn to different monitors to view different monitors. What's your advice on this? Linked to the problem above, I am wondering if it is at all possible for some software to integrate all the DVR systems so that I need not worry which system is for which camera. All I need to know is that I want to see what's going on in this area and I would just click and it would bring me to that camera. Is this too far fetch an idea?

Yeah, the first thought of course is to sell them but the next question is who to sell to? I did ask my CCTV contractors if I could trade them in but they declined. Not surprising as they probably want me to just get them to get rid of it and then they will sell for their own profit!!

Well, I am inclined to getting rid of the muxes and matrix switchers, and have a neater setup of just DVRs. It's just that it seems such a waste to throw the muxes and MS's away.

CCTV Australia (pretty odd to call u that. any name I could use?), You are right in that I am not the design engineer. I am the user who is writing the specs to get contractors to install the UPSs' for me. Actually, I am not only installing UPSs but doing a conversion from analog to digital recording. I had started another thread on this. So, how many DVRs to a UPS is really up to me and the deciding factors would be budget, space availability and what level of caution I want to take, meaning how many eggs (DVRs) do I want to put in how many baskets (UPSs). A judgement call really. I am inclined to perhaps have 10 DVRs to a UPS. So, in my set up, I would need 4 UPSs.