Scruit 0 Posted March 27, 2010 (edited) I've been doing CCTV stuff at my house for about 8 years now, ever since someone broke into my house. In that time I've had many iterations of the DVR itself. I've had a CPCam CPD576W - nice enough unit but very low frame rate (9 channels, 25fps max). I liked it's cheap reliable simplicity so much I bought a bunch of CPCam bullet IR cameras too. As part of normal expansion a few years later I replaced the 576W with a 507HC (16ch, 120fps max). The 507HC has not been a reliable DVR at all. The network function fails on a random basis and requires a reboot of the DVR. If you fast-forward through the playback in 16ch display for more than a couple of minutes (looking for footage) then it craps out with a system error that translates to "All video chips failed". It will randomly "brick" (stop functioning completely and have to be unplugged for several minutes before it will fire up again.) But more than this, my problem has been the level of support I get from CPCam. The vendor I bought it from (online CCTV shop) referred me to CPCam for support, and CPCam's support is, well, do they even have a support department? Online support is a mail form that has never been replied to despite several attempts on my part. I managed to track down a human being in California and when I asked for support I was asked fro my phone number for a callback. I'm sure you know how that went. I did speak with a guy from CPCam in New York who was pretty knowledgeable about the device's functionality and was able to explain some of the idiosyncrasies but was unable to help with the problems. And so they remain. After a recent run of network failures, culminating with the DVR bricking right in front of my eyes as I was talking with my wife about replacing the DVR, we pretty much decided that the DVR was more trouble than it's worth and I'd rather unplug and forget it rather than spend time every day babying it. I just ordered an Aver 5216 hybrid DVR/NVR. Let's hope this is a better unit. Fingers crossed. Edited March 28, 2010 by Guest Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpion 0 Posted March 27, 2010 Sorry to here of this! Who gets the kids? You have been stuffing money down the drain on this DVR. Does this mean that the DVR is now accustomed to this life style, and you will have to continue throwing money down the drain by court order? Hate to see how much the attorney fees will be! I am going to miss the guidance of those idiosyncrasies that you have found! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Scruit 0 Posted March 28, 2010 Yeah, sorry man. Gonna have to switch to a DVR that actually works in a predictable manner. I'm sorry to see the CPCam go. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kuocyj 0 Posted April 28, 2010 feel sorry about your story. CPD507HC seems like older phased out model. I got my last order of CPD507HC from CPcam like almost 3 years ago. From my own experience dealing with CPcam..... if the DVR has hardware issue and the warranty is expired, there is not much they can do except asking you to contact your original dealer. of course, if you pay them to replace a new main board, that's another story. Good luck for you and your new love. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
