ChuckP 0 Posted August 27, 2005 Hey guys I am looking for a 4 Channel Standalone DVR I have used AverMedia and GEO PC based DVRs and I am ready for standalone. What I am looking for is aDVR that is easy to view and administrate remotly and can record in good quality and speed. Do you think the StoreSafe fits that? My budget is under $2000 for 4 cameras and the DVR unit. Also is it possible to upgrade these unit's HDs? Or are they only upgradable from the factory? As +$500 for a 200gig HD is outragous. Thanx, Chuck Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted August 27, 2005 Hi, yes neat DVR, great remote admin feature. you can upgrade the HDD, just have to keep the original for warranty of the DVR as the serial numbers macth. Also HDDs need to be slowest available like 5400rpm and non partitioned and non formatted. Motion detection works good so that if not all cameras are getting motion, you get real time video record, it is smart motion so as 2 cameras get motion it halfs, 3 etc, then as they dont get motion it speeds back up automatically. I dont know if you can get it for under $2000 with 4 cameras, retail, depends what cameras you need. Rory Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChuckP 0 Posted August 27, 2005 Rory, This is for indoor cameras only. I found the unit for $1,231.00 off froogle. And I usually use the Speco CVC-7706DNV on the front door followed with a few domes, not sure which ones yet. I usually use cheap 50-$100 ones. Any recommendations? Thanx, Chuck Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MetzLyov 0 Posted August 27, 2005 Chuck, it all depends on the type of cameras you want... Are you looking for B&W or color cameras? Are all for indoor or outdoor or combination? As Rory stated, it depends a lot on the type of cameras you need and that is what may bring everything under $2,000 price tag... Levon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChuckP 0 Posted August 27, 2005 Chuck, it all depends on the type of cameras you want... Are you looking for B&W or color cameras? Are all for indoor or outdoor or combination? As Rory stated, it depends a lot on the type of cameras you need and that is what may bring everything under $2,000 price tag... Levon I commonly use B&W for all but the door. All of the cameras are indoor cameras. These are all setups for a single company that has many branches. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MetzLyov 0 Posted August 27, 2005 For B&W cameras, you get get them for $150.00 including the camera and the lens and some cases even below $100... Usually those cameras are your standard 380TVL models and if you need high res. 570TVL, it will cost little more... Have not used Speco or other second tier product lines, but the major brand manufacturers do provide very comparible equipment, may be little expensive, but well worth it... The same price range will get you fixed camera with a lens or minidome with already built in camera and varifocal autoiris lens... Look into Ganz brand that will give you better bang for your money and those cameras come with 3 years warranty... Levon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
G22 0 Posted August 28, 2005 5400rpm? Are Sanyo's like that as well? That b slow. Thought my laptop only had 5400. It slower than molasses in January. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MetzLyov 0 Posted August 28, 2005 The speed the of the hard drive even at 5400 RPM is more than any DVR will need, specially the embedded DVR that use hard drives mostly for storing video only... If you are using windows based DVRs, then higher speed may matter providing that the speed of the retreiving the video is a crucial part of the application (military and government projects). However, give me something that works slower than 5,400 RPM any time, as they will work cooler and last much longer.. By the way, the Sanyo's hard drives are 7,200 RPM standard... Levon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted August 28, 2005 Levon, for the price they charge for hard drives sizes (GE), do you think they are using some kind of SCSI or RAID set up ... i just always wondered why they charged so much more per 160GB upgrade .. I mean as far as I know they are standard ATA drives .. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted August 28, 2005 Also if you are getting the StoreSafe, dont skimp on the cameras, high res will make a difference. Why BW cameras though, for indoors, is it low light? Another Method is to use color cameras, and install $30 motion sensor lights near the cameras ... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MetzLyov 0 Posted August 28, 2005 Rory, they initially were using 4,200 RPM and later 5,400 RPM... The latest ones are coming with 7,200 RPM drives (I guess they may run out of the older ones) They charge so much because they can.... They did not use SCSI or RAID, but lately we are seeing a lot of changes, including the hard drives, the newer internal design, using hardware MPEG4 compression and much more... The Gigia series is great and only if they could have the remote playback... They finally announced a month ago that the newer models starting sometimes October, will have them... No justification for a such major price difference on the hard drive changes... As you already know that their latest SDVR PII series already have the above compression feature and much more, but I think the price should be in line with its previous versions... rather they are charging more for them... GE does what it wants and when they want it... All we can do is to work with what is on the table... Levon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
G22 0 Posted August 28, 2005 3.5" ATA 4200/5400 drives remind me of dot matrix printers, no one wants them, hard to find, etc. My laptop has a 5400 and it is pathetic. I am surprised 7200 has taken these DVR folk so long to upgrade to. They should be using SCSI or SATA by now. Geez. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted August 28, 2005 The RTOS they use is untilized in Cell Phones and Medical Equipment. The Processors are small and they take very little to run. The RTOS is embedded in the EPROM and only video is saved to the Hard Drive. Speed is not an issue. Check out this link. http://www.acceleratedtechnology.com/embedded/nucleus.html Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MetzLyov 0 Posted August 28, 2005 G22, unlike for the regular PC based DVRs, the speed of the hard drives do not matter in the embedded systems, as everything is parked in the BIOS. Basically the purpose of the hard drive is to store video and that is why faster hard drives will not render better performance unless the speed of retrieving video is very crucial to your apps (military and government).. Slower the hard drives, less heat they generate, thus will last much longer... However, if your system is based on PC based setup, then everything you need must be as fast as you can afford... faster processessor, hard drives, faster video memory cards, etc.... Levon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MetzLyov 0 Posted August 28, 2005 Chuck, besides the SDVR series, GE has yet another series called Digia... Now, this is a 4 channel DVR and uses MPEG4 technology for compression and gives you excellent picture quality and better use of the 160G hard drives that it comes with.. This does give you real time remote live view capability and it is very much dependent on the up speed of where your DVR is installed and the down speed of where your viewing is taking place. There are two drawbacks though.... first, it does not provide remote playback of your video.. only remote live view! In few months, they will have the firmware upgrade available to be able to playback stored video... and second, this unit does not come with CD burner like SDVR series... Digia series DVR is even more cost effective than SDVR series... If the local CD burn capability is important, then please stay with SDVR, otherwise, go with Digia and when the new firmware becomes available, you can upgrade without any problems. Levon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted August 28, 2005 Hi levon, does the Digia still only have browser based though, or can use propriatry software also? Last I checked it doesnt used the WaveReader also ..? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MetzLyov 0 Posted August 28, 2005 I need to verify this with their latest systems. A lot are changing and something tells me that it works with both the WaveReader and IE... But I need to confirm... It is a great box and it is much better than standard SDVRs (excluding the PII which is the same technology). We are moving quite of few of them... In few months as I stated, a newer firmware will make it to playback recorded video, which is not an option at the moment, except live view only... Levon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted August 28, 2005 Yeah being able to use wavereader makes a huge difference though, thats what im wondering, as last time i checked it had its own browser based software and nothing else .. which is why I left it alone ... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MetzLyov 0 Posted August 28, 2005 I will check it out on Monday and if I do not forget then I will let you know... As a reminder, can you please send me e-mail regarding this topic, so that when I get to the office, I will verify and let you know. Levon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted August 28, 2005 will do, as its good to know, can save alot from the sdvr if the digia will work with wr .. thanks. Rory Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted August 28, 2005 Ok just got the Digia software from GE, has its own software, so i take it doesnt work with WR. The Digia Software looks alright, lets you access all menus etc, but to be honest, i prefer wavereader, or if you are going for that price range, the Active-Tek (and you know i Like GE, but the software just doesnt impress me for the price), has better software, not sure on the warranty though for the active-tek, but depends who you buy it from. So for the extra couple hundred $$ the StoreSafe would be a better choice IMO. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChuckP 0 Posted August 28, 2005 On the sites I am looking I only see pricing for SDR and SDR Pro not Pro2. Do you know what the 4-channel 40 gig goes for approx? Thanx, Chuck Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MetzLyov 0 Posted August 28, 2005 You mean SDVR-4PII-80? Check your PM... SDVR 4 channels come with 40G but PII series starts with 80G to 320G max... Levon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted August 28, 2005 I heard the Pro2 doesnt do multi site though ... might want to double check that as he is dealing with a multi brach application. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
G22 0 Posted August 29, 2005 The Digia only has a VGA output for monitor? Are there VGA -> BNC adapters? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
