Another EB1304 Question.

[Emil416 0]

After using the EB1304 DVR, would you purchase another? Why or why not? Answering this will not only help me make a purchasing decision but any other potential DVR buyers as well. THANKS

[a-casanova 0]

I'm at this moment considering purchasing another 1304 for wildlife cameras. When set to best in conjunction with a good camera and LCD monitor it yields very good recording quality. Web streaming is good, using direct draw yields a decent feed. Hook up a small fan to it, set it up with a reliable 250GB drive set it to record a 20FPS and your golden, records 7 days with 4 cameras at its best setting.

[rory 0]

At the moment, no. Not unless Avermedia addresses the issues I sent to them regarding the following:

 

1-Separate the Recording settings from the Remote Video

 

As it is, if you set it to high quality D1, it will only stream approx 3fps total and is very sluggish. As you drop the record quality then the remote streaming video becomes much faster with 30+fps in CIF mode over the Internet - but the recording quality is then so low it becomes useless - D1 or no DVR at all.

 

2-Need motion masking

 

Even on low motion setting, it picks up everything, especially when it is windy. Right now, with 160GB and 4 cameras which are BW at night, set to D1 and Best quality, motion set to low and FPS set to 20 - I get 2 days! Buying a 750GB Drive to slap in there now but regardless this means the approx max you will ever be able to get will be around 7-9 days, as there is only room for 1 internal drive and the max supported size is 750GB. I would not suggest this for another outdoor application, indoors it should be okay once it is not a 24-7 business.

 

3-User Accounts

 

Not quite as important as the above but you cannot change the user names nor add additional users - there are only 2, superuser and user. You CAN change the password but it is digits only.

 

4-ActiveX Control sluggish

 

Very slow and sometimes crashes ... they have major work to do on this.

 

5-Remote Playback

 

Very basic and almost useless if using D1 and Highest Quality recording setting as it is so slow you can barely load the thumbnails. Definitely need improvement there.

 

..........

 

There are obviously alot of PROs and a couple more CONs but the main issues that would hold me back again is #1 and #2.

[scorpion 0]

Is there an entry level 4 channel DVR that rates higher then this DVR that you have tested?

[Emil416 0]

THANKS for the honest review. Rory, thats exactly the type of review thats needed for all of these units, HONEST,UNBIASED and backed up by FACTS, given by actual users of the equip. The community, from manufactures to the end user like myself all benefit from the sharing of this type of info. Even little things such as fan noise all play a part in the selection of a unit. Thanks again. Emil

[rory 0]

Nothing else I tried as yet .. but going to give the Intellicam 4 channel H.264 DVR a try .. ordering one next couple days ...

 

PS. This DVR has no fan so its super quiet .. it has a slot for a small fan though which my colleague added just to test, but it made little diff.

Edited May 6, 2008 by Guest

[normicgander 0]

I installed one unit. Not bad for the price and the image quality is above average. I agree with Rory's suggestions, but I don't Aver will listen in my experience with them. The unit should also allow for individual channel record rate/quality adjustments....

[dopalgangr 1]

Just my two cents.. I bought one based on the quality of the recording, remote access not to big a deal for me, I would probably buy another and just come to face the fact that I will need a larger hard drive due to the motion masking issue. I am unsure why they dont have that built in, even my cheapo 4 channel dvr that I sold on Ebay to purchase this one had it??

 

I am going to write to them and request those changes.

[scorpion 0]

I have my torch lit.

 

I am ready to storm the gates!

[normicgander 0]

I have my torch lit.

 

I am ready to storm the gates!

 

lol

 

They will foward input to HQ....

[rory 0]

I just hooked up their NV3000 card, the cheap one ... anyway the software is all basically the same as the 1304 .. very basic .. quality seems a little better than the GeoVision but not when you have pixelised video from say low light and then the video set to 720x480 or 640x480 and you are only getting a few frames a second in live view .. the recording effects the live video in this case as well as the network ..

 

Anyway .. will save that for another review ..

 

Its worth the low cost so long as you dont have to support it

[scorpion 0]

Have you done a review of the Nubix 4BC?

 

Did I miss it in mix of the forum?

 

If you have not done one then it will probably go like this:

 

PRO:

Cheap

 

CON:

Webserver is trash!

[dopalgangr 1]

Didn't know where else to post this so I added on here...

 

I was fooling with my EB1304net this weekend and noticed that even though I had set the Motion Detection to low on the sensitivity that each camera was still continuously recording. Now I know that people have posted similar stuff on this here but I re-read the directions and found that by default the RECORD SCHEDULE is set to always record. This overrides (or controls) any camera settings you may have set. It was a pain in the arse but I changed each hour to MOTION REC and wallah. The hard disk light went off and it stopped recording!!! I then watched with amazement as my cat walked into cam 1 and it started to record (a symbol of a man running appeared as well). Now I am getting alot more time out of the thing and the events are actual events!! I guess it pays to read the directions fully

 

Just wanted to pass it on in-case anyone else is experiencing the same problem.

 

[rory 0]

Yes that needs to be set to Motion .. also dont set the DVR to AUTO record or when it reboots from power outage it will automatically go into record mode, same as pressing the record button.

[scorpion 0]

I def can relate to that!

 

Whether it is CCTV, Home Theater, Security Systems, or Whole House Audio, or an Amplifier/Receiver setup there is always that one box that needs to be checked, or unchecked, on installations, or troubleshooting, and repair work.

 

I always seem to get weird looks from customers as they see me reading a manual before I work on their equipment.

 

I know what is going through their heads. Isn't he supposed to be an expert??

 

I can find my troubleshooting problems reading the manual, than I can just standing there scratching my head, and trying different configurations, and setting to fix it by elimination.

[BennyBoy 0]

After using the EB1304 DVR, would you purchase another? Why or why not? Answering this will not only help me make a purchasing decision but any other potential DVR buyers as well. THANKS

 

 

I just did a wide compare with many brands and found by a wide margin, the 1304 is the best thing going for the money.(IMO)!

 

I've only had this unit for a day, so far its a fantastic bargin.

 

I've got the settings at max and at the 24 hour mark it's reading 9% of HD used. It looks like I'll get about 10 days with the 750gb drive thats in there.

 

More than enough for my use.

[acableconnection 0]

Absolutely! I put two of these in a couple restaurants. Went back a month later, and the dvr was only at 14% full. 500gb. Of course i have the quality set to normal, and not high, as the owner likes to watch from home. remote downloading does suck though (slow)