Issues After Installing a Replacement DVR.

[Threezzzs 0]

Greetings.

 

I've had a 4-channel (H.264) DVR/Camera system that has worked well since 2013. A couple of weeks ago, however, a lightning strike in our area damaged the telecoms splitter in our home and, worse, fried the ethernet port at the back of the DVR. Remarkably, the DVR continued to function in every respect other than connect to our LAN.

 

Rather than attempt a repair, we bought another H.264 DVR, but of a different make and from a different supplier. It's important to note that until the moment I removed the old DVR, picture quality, PTZ control etc all continued to operate as before; i.e. without issue. Upon installation of the new DVR, however, a couple of issues have arisen.

 

Firstly, all four channels display a narrow, non-moving vertical bar of colour on the left-hand side of each frame. The images are the same whether viewed directly from the DVR via HDMI to monitor, VGA to monitor, remotely to PC via web-client. The bar is about a centimetre wide and is best described as prismatic (rainbow-like), in that the colours range from green through red. Note that bar and colours are stationary; they do not move in any sense, and so I doubt they are due to interference. Those who recall the video colour overlay problems sometimes encountered on the old VHS recorders will have an idea of the bars I'm trying to describe.

 

The second issue leaves me even more baffled. Two of the four cameras are PTZ cams; one a Samsung Mini-Dome, the other a rather expensive and very large Dome Cam (30x zoom etc). All of the cams, cabling, connections etc are exactly as they were prior to swapping the DVRs; nothing has changed at all. However, when I attempt to move Cam-1 (PTZ) at the DVR, both cameras mirror that movement. When I access the same cams remotely (i.e. from our lap-tops), the PTZ cams operate individually and correctly in every sense. The PTZs are operating on Pelco-D, Baud Rate 2400, addresses, 001 and 002 respectively.

 

After much discussion with the vendor, we returned the DVR on the premise that it must be faulty, and have just installed an identical model. Unfortunately, this DVR has the same issues. In fact, the vertical coloured bar is even more pronounced on this DVR on one of the channel frames.

 

No amount of adjustment of frame rates, video quality settings etc yield change. Now set at D1, Best, 25fps, the resolution is OK, but the vertical bar remains on the left-hand side of each video channel (it's about a cm wide). And, as with the other DVR, I can not control the PTZs individually if I try to move them at the DVR, but again, they work fine remotely.

 

Finally, when I put the 'old' DVR back in, the picture quality is back to normal, the PTZs operate correctly, and all without the vertical colour bar!

 

Any and all advice would be very welcome.

 

Thanks in anticipation.

[Securame 0]

It just sounds like a bad, unbranded DVR? If you already tried two units, I would just return it again, and try a different manufacturer/model.

[the toss 0]

Agree - get a different brand from a different supplier

[Threezzzs 0]

It just sounds like a bad, unbranded DVR? If you already tried two units, I would just return it again, and try a different manufacturer/model.

 

Your advice gratefully received. I suppose you're confirming what I already suspected deep down, especially since the original DVR functioned flawlessly beforehand.

 

Sincere thanks to all respondees.