Bmonaweck02 0 Posted July 4, 2011 I am looking for a 16 channel DVR, I would not be using all 16 currently, probably about 8 or 9 but would like to have room to expand down the road. I am a newbie to this kind of stuff. I can wire it, hook everything up, and run/control everything, but just don't know what is good and whats not. I would like something that has an alarm in and out feature. I would also like to have remote viewing and motion/sensor search. Thats about it for features that I have to have. I just don't want to buy something that has bad qaulity. I would like to stay around $500. The cheaper the better. I do not need the top of the line so to speak, but I would like to have something that is going to be dependable, and something that has good customer service. Thank you in advance to everyone that answers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Birdman Adam 0 Posted July 4, 2011 A good 16ch DVR for under $500 is going to be pretty much impossible... Check out CNB's DVRs: http://cnbusa.com/en/html/product/product_list.php?maxx=5 The HDS4824 is a bit above your price. That is without any hard drives. It will be a solid DVR, but you still need like 4TB+ (like $200+) of hard drives to record from 8 or 16 cameras and keep that data for more than like 10 days. Honestly, increase your budget to like $1500+, then you can get a very solid DVR with plenty of storage space. Start with a good DVR, and add hard drives over time? I would get the 16 channel version of Samsung's SRD-870DC (The SRD-1670DC). Load it up with like 10TB of disks, and your good to go. But its $4000... (Samsung is expensive - but good). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bmonaweck02 0 Posted July 4, 2011 Well I didn't mention that I have two 1 TB hard drive, brand new and unused sitting on my desk so I think that, I will be ok with hard drives for what I am trying to accomplish. I Do not need it to record every hour of the day, but just when it senses motion. How do you load the programing into the hard drive? I mean like if I bought a DVR with no hard drive how get the user interface? Is it preloaded or what? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SEANHAWG 1 Posted July 4, 2011 Standalone DVR's have the programs pre-loaded in the DVR. Most of the time its as easy connecting the hard-drive connectors and following the on screen prompts to format the harddrive. Some DVR's just format the hard-drive for you as soon as you turn on the DVR without the need for any on screen prompts. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bmonaweck02 0 Posted July 4, 2011 Does anyone have some suggestions for some cheaper DVR's around $500-$600 or less? Integral Technologies? Swann? Night Owl? Dahua? Hanbang? What is the best bang for the buck? I don't need the best of the best, just need something that is good qaulity. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted July 5, 2011 Cant mention dealer pricing here (per the rules) so .... basically retail even the CNB and Dahua will be around $1000+ Even at dealer pricing (which you might have seen) its pushing it at the price you mentioned, but they are the best bang for buck for that price or close to it. Dahua has much more mobile phone support and supports Mac and Linux and also is generally cheaper. You could step up to their units that hold more drives like 4-8 SATA drive support. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bmonaweck02 0 Posted July 5, 2011 What Dahua model are you speaking of because I can only find one model and that model only supports 1 HDD. Nevermind Found Them! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
