Why do I never learn, cheap is expensive.

Numb-nuts · February 26, 2011

I bought a cheap 4 channel DVR, and I have been running two cameras on it for a few months.

It an Apollo Zeus Mk2 by A-Data. My first indication that things were a bit less than great was when I

attempted to read the instruction manual. It was obviously a VERY poor translation from Chinese

and gave little or no information. I virtually had to learn to use the unit by trial and error.

The next thing I noticed was how light and flimsy the unit i, if I put the VGA monitor on top of it

it sagged and vibrated. I had to make a plywood stand to fit over the unit , which could support the

weight of the monitor, don't worry I left a lot of ventilation space around the unit.

Today I re-ran all the wires through conduit which I removed last week when my Eneo 600 TVL

board camera was rippling. I found the power supply was faulty. I received the replacement and

started to reinstate everything. Then I decided to test the next camera I am going to fit prior to

mounting on the wall. That is when the proverbial hit the fan.

The channel I used for the test camera flashed on and off, but suddenly I realised it wasn't the picture

from the camera I had just wired, it was from the camera on another channel.

Sure it has a 3 year warranty, but what good is that if the unit spends lots of time in the repair shop.

I am responsible for the cost of sending it back and shipping it back to me again. By the time that's

happened a few times I can see myself wishing I had paid a bit more for a better unit.

Oh it record fine and the captured video is as good as it is if not better than on the monitor and

frame shots are very good even at 6fps but I use 12fps (as advised by our local police).

Numb-nuts · February 28, 2011

Thanks for replies (NOT)

It turns out after 10 mins on the phone with supplier that there is no fault with my DVR however I did learn

a valuable lesson, If one or more of the camera channels had been damaged, I would have been stuck with

the cost of repair or using fewer channels than I wanted. In future, for a 4 - 6 camera scheme I would

recommend an 8 channel DVR so what I am saying is it is worth having some unused channel just in case

of a failure.

I am not sure if that is over cautious, but this reflects my nature. I could live with a dead channel just so long

as it did not restrict me, however I would be kicking myself if I had to repair or replace a relatively new item.

Anyway I'm now happy that there is no fault with my DVR.

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