WTK - the best pc based DVR

[ashtech 0]

what u guys think abt Alnet? or is Geovision Better?

 

What abt the American Dynamics DVMS systems?

 

Please Shed some light

[Soundy 1]

There is no one "best". Different systems have different strengths and weaknesses; only you can determine which is "best" for YOUR needs.

 

There are numerous "what is the best DVR" threads - you might be better to search those rather than re-start the holy war.

[Guest]

There is no one "best". Different systems have different strengths and weaknesses; only you can determine which is "best" for YOUR needs.

 

There are numerous "what is the best DVR" threads - you might be better to search those rather than re-start the holy war.

 

 

AMEN!

[bpzle 0]

Hello Sir,

 

I see you interest in porfesional CCTV equipment. Is important select good. May I sugest hi qwalty line of DVR?

[bpzle 0]

oh wait, I forgot I don't own a crap security camera site... what am I doing? i guess i felt like this thread was missing a spammer... thought i'd beat em to it.

[Soundy 1]

[SambaNoodles 0]

Back to the original question. I've struggled with the same question before, and have done quite a bit of research, but have only actually installed a few systems over the past year. So I can only speak from my limited experience.

 

My take is this: (specifically as it pertains to dvr cards for a PC)

 

In the PC-DVR world, there are so may products to choose from - which is normally a good thing. However, there are so many fraudsters peddling garbage products that it is easy to get scammed. It is safer to stay with the brand names.

 

As far as brand names are concerned, the market leader is GeoVision. They are one of the few vendors that tend to consistently make rock-solid products. However, their products also are more expensive than just about anyone else. And the reality is, you are mostly paying for their reputation. They charge more because they know they can. They seem to have a real arrogance about them - not unlike Microsoft in the mid-late 90's. And they don't offer much in the way of technical support....but again, their products do speak for themselves.

 

So, for an enduser, I'd say go with GeoVision if you want to be sure you are getting a first class product.

[Guest]

Back to the original question. I've struggled with the same question before, and have done quite a bit of research, but have only actually installed a few systems over the past year. So I can only speak from my limited experience.

 

My take is this: (specifically as it pertains to dvr cards for a PC)

 

In the PC-DVR world, there are so may products to choose from - which is normally a good thing. However, there are so many fraudsters peddling garbage products that it is easy to get scammed. It is safer to stay with the brand names.

 

As far as brand names are concerned, the market leader is GeoVision. They are one of the few vendors that tend to consistently make rock-solid products. However, their products also are more expensive than just about anyone else. And the reality is, you are mostly paying for their reputation. They charge more because they know they can. They seem to have a real arrogance about them - not unlike Microsoft in the mid-late 90's. And they don't offer much in the way of technical support....but again, their products do speak for themselves.

 

So, for an enduser, I'd say go with GeoVision if you want to be sure you are getting a first class product.

 

 

Hi!

 

Geovision is overpriced-that we can agree on!

Geovision I feel have after v7 gone in a direction I cant say I am happy with! More power needed for very litle change in video quality!

 

Also Geovision SOFTWARE based compression cards are higher priced then the leading hardware based compression cards, it is crazy!

 

I do not for any customers suggest using software based cards, for private homes, cabins etc it can be ok, but not when I get hardware compression for less.

 

Even the Geovision hardware compression cards eats CPU power as candy. Due the background of the software!

 

Also Geovision have a card program that is not cost effective, they have so many models and then again different channels. They can easily cut out the 2 - 6 - 10 - 14 cards, and why have 600 series and a 650 series that the difference is so small, that it is only a cost driver.

 

A Geovision program should be:

 

GV- 600 4 - 8 - 16

GV- 800 4 - 8 - 16

GV-1120 8 - 16

GV-1440 8 - 16

GV-1480 16

 

Also the piracy issue is making to much noise around the pricing in the market as well as bad customer experience.

 

Also the GV-software based is also needing higher CPU/Memory then hardware based compression as also is a way to drive the cost up!

 

Geovision is at least 25 to 35 % to hogh priced!

 

 

JD

[Soundy 1]

As far as brand names are concerned, the market leader is GeoVision. They are one of the few vendors that tend to consistently make rock-solid products. However, their products also are more expensive than just about anyone else. And the reality is, you are mostly paying for their reputation. They charge more because they know they can. They seem to have a real arrogance about them - not unlike Microsoft in the mid-late 90's. And they don't offer much in the way of technical support....but again, their products do speak for themselves.

 

So, for an enduser, I'd say go with GeoVision if you want to be sure you are getting a first class product.

 

I dunno about that. Upper-second class maybe.

 

Just got a call today to one of our legacy GV sites (ie. systems supplied by our predecessor on this account). Four cameras out. Got onsite to discover it was - surprise surprise - one full "column" (viewed at 4x4). Moving the machine just slightly brought all four back.

 

This is something I've found inherent to the GV Conexant-chipped hardware - ONE flaky/noisy camera or connection can affect up to three others that share some common hardware (whether one of the four A/D chips or what, I don't know). If you're lucky, you can see which camera is going squirelly so you know which one to fix... in today's case, there's no indication of which camera it was - a slight shift of the cabling, and all four would drop out. Another wiggle, and they'd all come back. This is something I've never seen on the ComArt-based cards used by Vigil and VideoInsight systems.

 

The whole GV interface is kinda clunky and poorly-designed for my liking as well. Lotta stuff is in weird places where you'd never think to look, or poorly labeled. Try sitting down for the first time in front of a GV and figuring out how to add cameras, I just dare ya.

 

Funny that you should compare them to Microsoft, because like Windows, being the "market leader" doesn't necessarily mean you're the "best"... just the most pervasive.