andrea 0 Posted January 6, 2009 I am looking to purchase an AVtech DVR the model # is AVC782AD but I can't find it for sale anywhere. I was wondering if anyone here can recommend another DVR that I might have an easier time buying that has some of the same features. The most important features are - Alarm triggered recording will send alerts with images to the designated e-mails and FTP address - Remote Surveillance I am having a really hard time finding what I need, I would really appreciate some advice. Thank you! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpion 0 Posted January 6, 2009 What size hard drive do you care for? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
andrea 0 Posted January 6, 2009 What size hard drive do you care for? I had not really thought of that to tell you the truth. I'm not extremely concerned about the size, since I will only be recording on motion.. But the ability for it to FTP or email me a picture when an alarm or motion has been triggered is the most important.. Hope you can help since I still have not received a response from emailing AVtech direct. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpion 0 Posted January 6, 2009 Calling AVtech in Taiwan is like calling Detroit, and trying to ask about cars. It is much easier to go to a local dealer, and ask your question. There are many places that you can buy this DVR. On the internet there are those who buy in bulk, and then they sell them at an inexpensive price. The trade off is that there is no tech support. This is how my website came to be. You can buy through myself, or others on this forum. It would be better to pay a little more, and have the tech support to go with the DVR. You can also Google CPD 502, as that is the same DVR by another model name. If you are budget oriented then you can buy an 80 GB hard drive. I would not recommend that, and I would recommend a 250GB hard drive. If you want to keep video footage on the DVR for a while, then I would recommend a 500GB hard drive. The 500 is more than the 80 GB, and the 250 would be in the middle. Now you can match the hard drive to your usage, or your budget. What do you think? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
andrea 0 Posted January 7, 2009 Calling AVtech in Taiwan is like calling Detroit, and trying to ask about cars. It is much easier to go to a local dealer, and ask your question. There are many places that you can buy this DVR. On the internet there are those who buy in bulk, and then they sell them at an inexpensive price. The trade off is that there is no tech support. This is how my website came to be. You can buy through myself, or others on this forum. It would be better to pay a little more, and have the tech support to go with the DVR. You can also Google CPD 502, as that is the same DVR by another model name. If you are budget oriented then you can buy an 80 GB hard drive. I would not recommend that, and I would recommend a 250GB hard drive. If you want to keep video footage on the DVR for a while, then I would recommend a 500GB hard drive. The 500 is more than the 80 GB, and the 250 would be in the middle. Now you can match the hard drive to your usage, or your budget. What do you think? Is having the tech support really worth it? I'm pretty computer saavy and have worked with another DVR in the past. I tried to PM you, but I don't have 5 posts yet so it wouldn't let me. Do you think that the avtech dvr is a quality product? Is there any other that you think might be better? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpion 0 Posted January 7, 2009 Is having the tech support really worth it? I'm pretty computer saavy and have worked with another DVR in the past. Do you think that the avtech dvr is a quality product? Is there any other that you think might be better? Only you can answer those questions. There are better DVRs that are 4 channel. You can buy a 4 channel DVR that costs $1,500.00. There are cheaper DVRs then the AVTech, but oh boy. You may want to find something else. I sell AVTech as it is simple, and inexpensive. It is not because it is the best DVR on the market. I will say it is the best DVR for the price. Yes! Tech support is worth it. I get 4000 hits a month from search engines looking for AVTech help because of these companies that fail to provide the tech support that they are supposed to. What will you do when you have an error that is outside of the computer specialty area? Did you buy it from a place that only provides a 3 month warranty even though the manufacture provides a one year warranty? Can you phone someone? Can you email someone? It appears that you are having a difficult time getting answers for a simple question. Imagine if you had a serious question? I have taken an AVTech DVR, and I slammed it down on the carpeted floor, and then I plugged it back in, and wired it up with cameras, and it still worked. I do not recommend this, but it survived! That is good enough for me. I have the manuals in various languages therefore I can work with the melting pot of society here in Florida. I have followed all of the problems that have arrived on this forum even though I may not have had the answer. Once the answer was figured out then it went in to my "book" of notes. Find a DVR that you like that is in your budget, and then find a dealer who has a passion for that DVR. Most dealers out there only sell what is available from their distibutor that gives them the best price break for a better profit selling it retail. They may promote that DVR, but that may not mean it is the best even if they say it is. Take a DVR out of it's operational area that it was designed for, and then it becomes a piece of junk. In the right environment, and keeping it in the area that it was designed to do, then even the cheapest piece of junk can work wonders! Perhaps you may be better buying local to you where you can go in to a showroom, and cross compare different DVRs. You might pay a little more compared to the internet, but you are going to get better results then buying blind on the internet? Even better! You have someone who can take your phone call, and answer your questions. I have people coming in to my shop with "broken" DVRs, and even I have never even heard of these brands. Some I can fix, and some just become a door stop, and some people just do not want to spend any money on it, and they would rather get an AVTech when they see the tech support that we provide. My dealer somtimes shake their head at the knowledge that we have on this brand of DVR. When I find the weird, and off the wall problem then I keep them abreast of the problem so that they can pass it to other dealers who buy from them. 1. Buy local to you. 2. Test, and compare just like you would with stereo equipment. 3. Find a knowledgable dealer. 4. Look for a strong tech support system with that source. 5. Call them, and email them to test the responce before you buy. There is a cheap internet EBAY dealer that seems to always pop up when people want to bad mouth where they bought a product, and now he wont even take their calls. That is a shame! Buyer Beware! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soundy 1 Posted January 7, 2009 It would be better to pay a little more, and have the tech support to go with the DVR. Is having the tech support really worth it? I'm pretty computer saavy and have worked with another DVR in the past. Computer savvy isn't terribly useful with most standalone/embedded machines, because there's typically "no user serviceable parts inside". Everything is built onto one or two proprietary boards, the operating system is embedded, and it's generally not user-accessible at all. Especially with the off-shore brands, the setup and options can be poorly laid out, and the manuals can be dreadfully brief (IF you can understand them)... so yeah, tech support is definitely a desirable thing. If you are budget oriented then you can buy an 80 GB hard drive. I would not recommend that, and I would recommend a 250GB hard drive. If you want to keep video footage on the DVR for a while, then I would recommend a 500GB hard drive. The 500 is more than the 80 GB, and the 250 would be in the middle. Now you can match the hard drive to your usage, or your budget. If the thing uses any standard PATA (IDE) or SATA drives, the price differences are almost negligible. I'm looking at Western Digital IDE offerings from my regular supplier: 80GB - $50 160GB - $60 250GB - $75 320GB - $85-$90 (depending on 8MB/16MB cache) 500GB - $100 Over six times the space for only double the price is a pretty good price curve. 1TB IDE drives are pretty hard to find (relatively), but if the thing uses SATA, 1TB drives can be had starting at around $120. (Disclaimer: these are retail prices from my regular supplier in Vancouver, BC... specific prices may - and probably will - vary in your area, and depending on where you shop, but the differential will likely be similar). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Scruit 0 Posted January 7, 2009 If you get an AVTech or CPCam then you will need the tech support. It's a good DVR for the money, but it has some quirks that can be tough to figure out on your own, whereas a good tech support person can explain it in no time. Example: I just called support because exporting video from channel 9 of my DVR resulted in no audio. Turns out that audio channel 1 is associated with video channel 13, so you have to export video 13 to get audio. Easy enough once you know. Tore my hair out for a couple hours, and tech support got me straightened out in a couple of minutes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Neutech 0 Posted January 8, 2009 Also do you really want it emailing you everytime a bug flys past your cam? We've set these sort of features up for customers in the past who insisted on having them ... then got a call a few days later to ask for it to be removed i've never spec'd a DVR with less than 500gb for domestic use Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Scruit 0 Posted January 8, 2009 I use the FTP feature to have it send me the motion images into a folder on the hard drive of my computer (had to get a small FTP server program) At the end of the day I can view all the images as thumbnails in just a few seconds and quickly identify any of interest. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soundy 1 Posted January 9, 2009 Many (most?) IP cameras can also email and/or ftp images based on a variety of triggers (motion detect, external alarm input, etc.) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
