j4str 0 Posted January 2, 2011 I'm wanting to put together a cheap cctv system and i was wanting to buy one of the cheap pci cards. I wanted to make sure it will work for me. I see a lot of people complaining about not being able to get drivers for the generic cards, but i saw in the sticky thread, about software for generic cards, where to get drivers. So it doesn't sound like its a problem to get drivers. So will one of the cheap $20 dvr cards work? I know performance specs won't be nearly as good as a good card, but im willing to sacrifice quality for price, unless they are just complete crap thanks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soundy 1 Posted January 2, 2011 The problem with buying a "generic" card is that you don't know for sure what you're going to end up with until you get it. The drivers linked to are generally intended for basic support of certain chipsets; the problem is, many different manufacturers use the same few chipsets, but the cards themselves may vary in design so that they don't work properly with the generic drivers. More common than software not working, is poorly-written software and/or drivers causing system crashes... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
j4str 0 Posted January 2, 2011 heres one listed on amazon for $20 Philips 7130HL chip PCI Card, max 4 per PC The DVR Card adopt stronger Philips chip Compression MPEG 4 / H.264 Video Input 4 channel per card. Stackable 32 channels at most Video System PAL/NTSC Video Output VGA display and TV out Resolution CIF (352x288), QCIF (176x144) Frames 25fps (PAL) 30fps (NTSC) at most Picture Adjustment Adjust Brightness/Contrast/Hue/Saturation independently Network PSTN/ISDN/DDN/ADSL/LAN TV Output Rotational TV output from each channel Processor: Intel Celeron D 310 or Pentium 4 1.8GHz CPU or higher AMD Athlon 1.9GHz CPU or higher, or any comparable CPU which supports MMX technologies Memory: 128MB DDR System RAM or higher Video Card: ATI Radeon or Fire GL chipset or NVIDIA GeForce chipset at 64MB DDR of dedicated memory is required Hard Drive: 40GB minimum Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP or Windows 2000 Professional Package Includes: 1 x 4 CH DVR CCTV CARD 1 x CD (DVR software + driver) it says it has software and whatnot, but the 2 reviews both say they couldn't get it to to work. But i wonder if those people have little know-how i plan to use one of the softwares listed in the sticky thread Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted January 2, 2011 Well can you be our guinea pig? Buy it and try it and let us know how it works out That $20 item costs alot to bring it here and takes a while ... but if you are in the US should cost next to nothing and get it within a couple days. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
j4str 0 Posted January 2, 2011 Well can you be our guinea pig? Buy it and try it and let us know how it works out That $20 item costs alot to bring it here and takes a while ... but if you are in the US should cost next to nothing and get it within a couple days. so i take it that not too many people on here have cheap generic cards? I don't see why i couldn't get a cheap one to work if i had good software and correct drivers. I'll keep asking around on different places till i find someone say i can get it to work. I don't want to be a guinea pig, if i plan to spend $20 on a cheap card, its to save money, not to waste it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tomcctv 190 Posted January 2, 2011 Well can you be our guinea pig? Buy it and try it and let us know how it works out That $20 item costs alot to bring it here and takes a while ... but if you are in the US should cost next to nothing and get it within a couple days. so i take it that not too many people on here have cheap generic cards? I don't see why i couldn't get a cheap one to work if i had good software and correct drivers. I'll keep asking around on different places till i find someone say i can get it to work. I don't want to be a guinea pig, if i plan to spend $20 on a cheap card, its to save money, not to waste it. to be honest j4str if you are going to spend $20 on a card you have already started to waste your money. dont think buying cheap cards and using good software will improve the card because it will not Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted January 2, 2011 so i take it that not too many people on here have cheap generic cards? I don't see why i couldn't get a cheap one to work if i had good software and correct drivers. I'll keep asking around on different places till i find someone say i can get it to work. I don't want to be a guinea pig, if i plan to spend $20 on a cheap card, its to save money, not to waste it. Just because someone else gets it to work doesnt mean it will work for you, different hardware, OS, setup etc. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
j4str 0 Posted January 2, 2011 to be honest j4str if you are going to spend $20 on a card you have already started to waste your money. dont think buying cheap cards and using good software will improve the card because it will not i thought using good software would make it function, not improve the card I was thinking quality would be close to the same, but ease of setup would be a lot harder. But i found a few people say that with using a cheap card that their video was so ridiculously grainy that nothing was recognizable. I don't mind a slight decrease in video quality, but if i can't even recognize anything than whats the point? That got me thinking that maybe i should just buy a decent card Avermedia NV3000 is $100 and seems to be the cheapest one that has over whelming positive reviews. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted January 2, 2011 Whether you can get it to work with other software will be a big IF. First would need to get generic drivers working for it. Then the cost of good software will normally be almost as much as buying a better DVR Card package to begin with - remember the cost is mostly in the software, cards are cheap. From the software that comes with it, expect CIF mode record, grainy will be the cameras not the DVR software. It normally uses basic DirectX and in some cases only records 4 cameras as 1 single channel meaning small video playback. Depends on the software. Basic, probably unstable in some cases. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
j4str 0 Posted January 2, 2011 im now wondering if the pc i was wanting to use will even be fast enough for this. Its pentium 4 1.7ghz and 256mb ram. Currently running xp service pack 2 but that could be changed Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bpzle 0 Posted January 3, 2011 Go for the Aver NV3000. I've sold and installed countless... just can't beat it for the price. Software is excellent. Spending $20 is throwing your money away. You already know it will have problems... Why buy something at any price that you know right away you won't be happy with? Crime isn't a short term problem... Your processor will be pushing it, but do able. Ram you'll need to upgrade. I'd also recommend a graphics card. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
j4str 0 Posted January 3, 2011 Go for the Aver NV3000. I've sold and installed countless... just can't beat it for the price. Software is excellent. Spending $20 is throwing your money away. You already know it will have problems... Why buy something at any price that you know right away you won't be happy with? Crime isn't a short term problem... Your processor will be pushing it, but do able. Ram you'll need to upgrade. I'd also recommend a graphics card. I have extra ram i could throw in. Processor i don't think can get much of an upgrade without a new motherboard and that specific computer would need a new power supply too. So basicly can't upgrade the cpu without ditching the whole pc. Im not sure about graphics cards. It takes those wierd short slimline cards. Its One of those flat cases that sit underneath the monitor that you always see in schools. http://www.amaxpc.net/image.php?productid=16389 So will i be able to run one of those NV3000? The more i find out about the generic cards the less i want one. Its not just getting them to work that they have an issue with Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted January 3, 2011 DVR card wont fit in that without a riser card. I wouldnt use one of those for a DVR, too many things to go wrong, memory is the most common, Ive worked on many like that, including refurbs from Tiger Direct. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
j4str 0 Posted January 3, 2011 it has a riser card and fits full size pci cards. Its the computer i have, so id like to use it Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted January 3, 2011 Well .. its what we call an antique in the PC world, runs XP though with some minor difficulty .. but if thats all you can afford then go for it. Used some of them for POS systems recently, refurbs and the memory was bad in at least one after 1 month on the job. Just got through messing with a couple Dells like that also, bad memory as well. Brought some in a few years back for the alarm monitoring company to use for office machines ... they all went bad also, if it wasnt the power supply it was something else .. did test one for a DVR using a riser card .. but too slow though useable if not trying to playback .. wasnt worth it when could build a new fast PC for under $200 and something that has much better cooling than those types .. thats another big problem with them .. they get hot especially under 24/7 service in the field. Just saying .. been there done that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
j4str 0 Posted January 3, 2011 i might just have to ditch the idea of setting up cameras for now. Having to build a new computer would just put it way out of budget Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soundy 1 Posted January 3, 2011 I don't see why i couldn't get a cheap one to work if i had good software and correct drivers. [/qoute]That's what we're trying to tell you: all of this is a VERY big IF. I'll keep asking around on different places till i find someone say i can get it to work. Okay... go ahead and do it. It will work, really it will. Feel better now? Just because someone said it doesn't make it so, though. Asking on another forum won't make it any more so, either. But... have fun with that. You'll drop your $20... it may or may not work. You could end up spending more money on Aspirin and Rogaine for the headaches and hair-pulling you'll go through fighting with it, than you would have just getting a decent card to begin with. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
j4str 0 Posted January 3, 2011 I don't see why i couldn't get a cheap one to work if i had good software and correct drivers. [/qoute]That's what we're trying to tell you: all of this is a VERY big IF. I'll keep asking around on different places till i find someone say i can get it to work. Okay... go ahead and do it. It will work, really it will. Feel better now? Just because someone said it doesn't make it so, though. Asking on another forum won't make it any more so, either. But... have fun with that. You'll drop your $20... it may or may not work. You could end up spending more money on Aspirin and Rogaine for the headaches and hair-pulling you'll go through fighting with it, than you would have just getting a decent card to begin with. what i meant by that was i'll ask on another forum until somebody knows more about cheap generic cards and can point me to a card that will function properly. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
renz05725 0 Posted January 3, 2011 j4str?!? What do you really want? You ask a question and these guys answer you and it seems like its not what you want to here. They are telling you basically don't throw your money away on cheap equipement and install it on a low end pc and you just don't seem to get it!?!?!?!? Whats the point of asking for advice if you don't want to take any of it when you get it and keep aslking the same questions hoping to get a different answer. Basically it seems like if you've made up your mind, so go out and throw you money into what you've set your mind on and when you are done, come back and let everyone know how it went. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tomcctv 190 Posted January 3, 2011 what i meant by that was i'll ask on another forum until somebody knows more about cheap generic cards and can point me to a card that will function properly. all cards function this is not your problem. your problem is what you are going to use to make it function (PC) its to old so you will need old software an old card and then you will be on a old O/S. like already said for the money a nv3000 avers card is good for its money but your PC will have to have at least the following. if not just go and buy a standalone unit. CPU: Pentium 43.0 GHz or higher OS: Windows 2000/ XP (32 bit)/ Vista (32 bit)/7 (32/64 bit) RAM: 512MB HDD : 80GB or higher CD-RM/DVD-RM Graphic Card: 32-bit high color SVGA graphics card with 64MB video memory and DirectDraw / YUV Rendering Capability 10/100 Base-T Ethernet card Sound card and speaker Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
j4str 0 Posted January 3, 2011 j4str?!? What do you really want? You ask a question and these guys answer you and it seems like its not what you want to here. They are telling you basically don't throw your money away on cheap equipement and install it on a low end pc and you just don't seem to get it!?!?!?!? Whats the point of asking for advice if you don't want to take any of it when you get it and keep aslking the same questions hoping to get a different answer. Basically it seems like if you've made up your mind, so go out and throw you money into what you've set your mind on and when you are done, come back and let everyone know how it went. You've completely misjudged me. Im trying to make an informed and accurate decision. If you reffering to this: I'll keep asking around on different places till i find someone say i can get it to work. what i meant by that was i'll ask on another forum until somebody knows more about cheap generic cards and can point me to a card that will function properly. i was simply correcting what i had meant by my previous statement. I feel this thread has lived its life and needs to just be closed. There is no more information to be had on the subject of "cheap generic dvr cards" from this group of people (by no means do mean no information in general, just on this specific topic). What i have gathered: 1. people on this board have never used a cheap generic card 2. nv300 is a highly recommended card for the money 3. nv300 would probably not work for my pc 4. i may be able to use an older card and older software with that pc I've come to the conclusion that a pc based system is probably not in my budget right now. I'm currently researching cheap chinese linux based dvrs, but from what i understand their main issue is reliablity (not something you want from a security system) I'll probably just wait until i have more money to put towards a camera setup. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soundy 1 Posted January 3, 2011 What i have gathered:1. people on this board have never used a cheap generic card See, right there, you work from a false assumption: almost everyone here has tried cheap, generic cards at one time or another. Some have done it out of ignorance and thinking they were getting a good deal, then come here asking for help, only to learn what we're trying to impart on you; others have to deal with them in trying to help friends or customers who've bought them thinking they were getting a good deal. Some (including me) even buy and/or inherit them now and then just to test, out of morbid curiosity. I'd hazard a guess that ALL the advice given you far on this matter comes from direct experience. It is at this point I invoke George Santayana. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bpzle 0 Posted January 7, 2011 What i have gathered:1. people on this board have never used a cheap generic card See, right there, you work from a false assumption: almost everyone here has tried cheap, generic cards at one time or another. Some have done it out of ignorance and thinking they were getting a good deal, then come here asking for help, only to learn what we're trying to impart on you; others have to deal with them in trying to help friends or customers who've bought them thinking they were getting a good deal. Some (including me) even buy and/or inherit them now and then just to test, out of morbid curiosity. I'd hazard a guess that ALL the advice given you far on this matter comes from direct experience. It is at this point I invoke George Santayana. WOW... well said Matt! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bpzle 0 Posted January 7, 2011 j4str: Have no fear buddy... PC DVRs are not the ONLY option for you. There's still some fantastic budget DVRs out there... We in the industry still sell them all the time. Be warned though, getting a good one is a diamond in the rough, needle in a haystack, few and far in between... choose your analogy the point is there's a lot of CRAP out there that YOU need to avoid. Rory has found something that works for him, thewireguys has some great budget stuff he uses in a pinch, ak47 in Canada know his stuff, I've got some great budget DVRs... there's plenty of key outstanding, honest guys on this forum that would love to help you make a better and well educated decision. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted January 7, 2011 Rory has found something that works for him, thewireguys has something great budget stuff he uses in a pinch, I've got some great budget DVRs... there's plenty of key outstanding, honest guys on this forum that would love to help you make a better and well educated decision. i got one $6 USB 4 channel device on the way from amazon will let you know how that works out i needed something for $6 to make the total an even number ... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
