DVR vs PCI

[tanikir 0]

I am currently using 2 cheap cameras connected to a GE Symsafe DVR. I'm about to add 2 more cameras and will upgrade the others in the future as I need clearer images.

 

The Symsafe DVR is dying. I can no longer review video over the network and have to use the console. In addition, the motion detection is not creating the alerts so I have to sift through hours of video.

 

I just built a server where all my camera inputs are so it makes sense to add a card. I also prefer to do all monitoring through a computer and only use the output to view live footage. My server uses an AMD A8 on an ASUS motherboard with 8gb ram. I currently have around 2tb of archive drives with an SSD to run Windows 7 x64. I plan on adding more archive disks as well. There are plenty of free resources.

 

I have very little money right now but I need a replacement. A card seems to meet my needs the best, but a DVR seems like less money. What is important to look for in a card? I know I need high resolution, but I'd like a faster frame rate when possible. It seems now that I miss a lot of detail from the cars turning in the fractions of seconds missed. The full D1 DVRs are expensive though. Will I get the same from a card?

 

[Edit] I forgot to mention that I would like to record all the time, but have motion detection create events for faster searching.

[Soundy 1]

The main "gotcha" you'll want to look out for in a card, is good x64 driver support. A lot of them don't have drivers at all, or drivers that aren't very good. Stay away from cheap cards that use generic chipset drivers.

[tanikir 0]

I see the GeoVision cards will work with Win 7 x64, but will they work with the AMD A8? That seems conflicting.

[tanikir 0]

On second check, my motherboard uses AMD a75 northbridge chipset so I can't use GeoVision.