justin_92_92 0 Posted February 23, 2011 Hello, I have my store set up with cameras. Well our all in one system from supercircuits had to have some firmware update and it got destroyed in the mail so we were told. So we ended up buying a stand alone dvr from them to get us by. Well the quality is great when just watching it, but when we play it back it is hard to even see what people are doing in the store. I have it set to the "Best quality" but its still bad. I was wondering if this was a dvr issue, or a hard drive issue or both maybe. Im ot opposed to buying something different that would give us WAY better results. We just had a theft tonight and its too hard to prove it on the camera, lucky we saw it with our own eyes. Thanks for any help you can be! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SEANHAWG 1 Posted February 23, 2011 Probably doesnt have to do with the hard-drive at all. You say it is set at the "Best Quality". That has more to do with bit rate settings which does have an impact on quality but what has more of an impact is the resolution the DVR is set at. Does the DVR have the ability to do D1 or 4CIF resolution (should be around 720x480 or 704x480 pixels). You may have it set at CIF resolution 352x240. A model number will help us diagnose better Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
justin_92_92 0 Posted February 23, 2011 Im at home now, but I do remember seeing it was set with CIF for the size setting, I had no idea what that was but when i tried changing it it said I had to stop all recording. I stopped the recording and the thing started buzzing so I skipped that step lol. So I take it anything besides CIF is good? Thanks alot for the help! By the way, just realized your company is who im buying a few cameras and other stuff from, Nice! My relatives have a big building they are making apartments in and Im in charge of the security set up for them because I plugged ours in hahaha. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bean00 0 Posted February 23, 2011 Im at home now, but I do remember seeing it was set with CIF for the size setting, I had no idea what that was but when i tried changing it it said I had to stop all recording. I stopped the recording and the thing started buzzing so I skipped that step lol. So I take it anything besides CIF is good? Thanks alot for the help! By the way, just realized your company is who im buying a few cameras and other stuff from, Nice! My relatives have a big building they are making apartments in and Im in charge of the security set up for them because I plugged ours in hahaha. Well you don't want QCIF either lol. 2CIF/4CIF/D1 is what you want, with D1 being the highest of those options. RES = Pixels QCIF (160x120) CIF (320x240) 2CIF (704x240) 4CIF (640x480) D1 (720x480) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SEANHAWG 1 Posted February 23, 2011 Yeah that normally happens once you install your own system, everyone wants you to install their system for them. I have had a few customers who did this and they order from me on a regular basis because they basically have a weekend job installing systems now. But yes, if your DVR can do D1, do that by all means, even if you lose some frame rate. you should notice a decent difference. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
justin_92_92 0 Posted February 23, 2011 Ok, so i checked and the only things I have are CIF and Frame. I chose frame and have much better video playback now. What would be a good option for me to get that will play in full speed and good play back? Just look for something that has D1 I assume? Basically I see this one. Would this be a good option...with HD it would be about $500 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bean00 0 Posted February 23, 2011 Frame = 4CIF Thats old VCR terminology. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SEANHAWG 1 Posted February 23, 2011 4CIF is basically D1 in essence so that is what you are looking for. To get a DVR that plays at full speed at D1, you are looking at alot of money and its not really worth the extra money. As people on here say all the time, you are recording surveillance, not shooting a full motion movie. I didnt see your link, maybe you can PM it to me and I can take a look. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bean00 0 Posted February 24, 2011 4CIF is basically D1 in essence so that is what you are looking for. To get a DVR that plays at full speed at D1, you are looking at alot of money and its not really worth the extra money. As people on here say all the time, you are recording surveillance, not shooting a full motion movie. I didnt see your link, maybe you can PM it to me and I can take a look. Agreed. Basically your going to pay 3x as much for 30FPS(realtime) per CH D1 recorder as you would a 7FPS Per CH D1 recorder. Take a look at this example and then decide if 3x the money(and 1/4 the storage time) is worth it. http://www.panasonic.com/business/security/demos/PSS-recording-rates.html Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
justin_92_92 0 Posted February 24, 2011 wow I guess your right! That video link was cool! I may not have posted the link on accident. ill post it again. https://www.supercircuits.com/Digital-Video-Recorders/8-Channel-DVRs/DMR81U The cameras we use could probably be better, We are using some Pelco DSP color cameras model 3700s 2. The image played back is a great deal better than before So thank you very much for the help on that! We have a section of the store we would like to have more coverage on as it has some high priced things in it that are small. Any recommendations on a camera? We have to get a new dvr soon as the one we have is only a 4 channel. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SEANHAWG 1 Posted February 24, 2011 If I am reading that right, you should get 15FPS per channel at D1 resolution with that DVR which is pretty good. I have never used that DVR so I couldnt speak for the quality of recordings as they sometimes vary from DVR to DVR but the specs "look good". Dont forget you have to get a hard-drive as that doesnt come with one. Check for Seagate SV series which are made specifically for surveillance DVR's, I would recommend atleast a 750gb for 8 channel but you can probably find a 1TB for the same price nowadays so you may as well get a 1TB. Your Pelco cameras are actually pretty decent. There are higher resolution cameras out there but the difference you would see would be subtle. But you may just want to consider possibly getting some stronger lenses in case you need closeup shots on some of the cameras. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
justin_92_92 0 Posted February 24, 2011 With that dvr, i was going to add a 1 TB hard drive to it. Good to hear that the current cameras are decent! We really just need to add some more to the system so we get better angles. Hmm a nice PTZ would be good! Thanks for all the help everyone! The quality is soo much better now! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tomcctv 190 Posted February 24, 2011 with the H/D around $500. you can buy better. to be happy with that dvr it will only run good in cif Recording Resolution and Frame Rate PAL：CIF 200FPS/352×288 Half D1 100FPS/704x288 D1 50FPS/704x576 NTSC:CIF 240FPS/352×240 Half D1 120FPS/704x240 D1 60FPS/704x480 Playback Resolution and Frame Rate 1CH/4CH PAL：CIF 100FPS/352×288 Half D1 50FPS/704x288 D1 25FPS/704x576 NTSC:CIF 120FPS/352×240 Half D1 60FPS/704x240 D1 30FPS/704x480 5.3.7 Record Resolution Choose record resolution of the channel selected, and must choose the same resolution for all channels 1) CIF(352 x 240, or 352 x 288) 2) Half D1(704 x 240, or 704 x 288) 3) D1(704 x 480, or 704 x 576) Please note 4CIF=2 Half D1=D1, so that “Record Frame Rate” would be reduced automatically even you set up as “Full” for D1 and Half D1. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SEANHAWG 1 Posted February 24, 2011 So it actually looks like 7 FPS per channel at D1. I couldnt find those specs from that link. And just out of curiosity, why do you think that this is not adequate or why do you think that CIF would be better? I also though the DVR price was a tad high for a DVR without a H/D. But with the power of Google, you can find a great deal on a 1TB hard-drive for under $100. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
justin_92_92 0 Posted February 24, 2011 Any recommendations? Id like to stay below $600 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
