PowerTelecomm DVR Problems

[danweber 0]

I am evaluating a PowerTelecomm PDVR-8100 unit but have run into a major problem. When the unit is accessible from the network a simple port scan to its IP address will lock up the entire unit. Unfortunately PowerTelecomm has not responded to my inquiries about it yet and I am a little concerned about that.

 

Has anyone else noticed similar problems with any other standalone DVR?

 

I'll be looking at the other units on my shortlist now:

 

1) Advanced-CCTV DVR-808

[link removed by mod - reason dealer pricing]

 

2) ICRealtime Pro http://www.icrealtime.com/solutions/dvrpro.html (pushing my budget)

 

3) ICRealtime Flex http://www.icrealtime.com/solutions/dvrfx.html

 

The best deal would be the older DVR-1606A but I am not sure I should be buying a unit that is being phased out, even though it seems to be a fine unit.

 

Any recommendations for any of the above?

 

Thanks

Dan

[jisaac 0]

oh ya get the icrealtime pro! Words cant describe this dvr you have to see it for yourself. Pm me with your contact info and I will SHOW you the choice to make.

[jisaac 0]

Today I was the arkansas business and technology expo. I got a booth and set we set up a ptz across that covered the whole floor and and a few other cameras at our booth. I am watching the playback of some of the video and it is absolutly mind boggling how good this video is. I mean everyone that came up and looked at was amazed also. There was a company their that had a bosch system it was a................. oh who gives a f*** what type of dvr it was, it was inferior. I took my laptop to him and showed him an online demo of the remote software live from the show and locations from coast to coast on the same screen. This is his exact words

"man that is just embarrassing. I wonder if the same people I showed this to happeaned to go by and look at your dvr. Man thats just outright embarrassing".

 

The other company that had a march networks dvr demo showing I went to next. I went to him without my laptop and introduced myself and asked him to tell me about his dvr and the type of quality and let him do his presentation on me. He was extremely confident that what he was showing me was top of the line best quality and was pretty ****y about it. After he was done I complimented him on his equipment and said that MAYBE I will show him what we do. He responded "would love to see what you guys do." and quickly added "we are a large electrical company that is able to do alot of things OTHER companys cant do, There is nothing better than this dvr right here" (speaking of the march networks). So I went and got my laptop came back and showed him all the different features and qualitys. Never once did I tell him how good it was but asked feelings questions.

( how do you feel.........

about the quality of the live

about the playback resolution

........... etc)

In other words I let him decide for himself what the dvr was.

After I was done his immediate response was," well we are an electrical company we dont just do surveillance/security products so what we sell is more for the average small business owner" (immediate change in how good his dvr was)

 

And these dvrs are by no means "bad" dvr's. Just the icpro knocks the ball out of the park when it comes to side by side comparison.

 

Its kind of like how you thought your tv looded pretty good until you saw real HDTV on a good HD Monitor! Then you were like, " man my tv at home sucks!"

 

[rory 0]

more sales pitches ? Come on guys ...

[jisaac 0]

are you talking about sales pitches at the show or in the post? At the show I did not do one pitch at all. I completely asked questions and let them decide. And in this post I wont make a dime if he buys a dvr ic dvr or not. I dont sell on this forum. So what comes of this post does not affect my income in any way. I am letting this guy know of what is quality. Is that not acceptable?

[rory 0]

Its acceptable ofcourse, opinions are good. Just sounded alot like one of those TV Commercials that come on like 4am for about an hour ..

[rory 0]

To the original question, I havent used that DVR but I have their Embedded board which is a very good unit - no issues over the intenet or network, streams great. The embedded board allows you to put it in any PC case.

 

Otherwise I can recommend the GE StoreSafe as a high end Stand alone unit.

Cant go wrong with them, they have been around from day one of CCTV DVRs . from the Kalatel name.

 

Anyway, what is your price range, are you going to push low end or high end DVRs? The DVrs you and I also mentioned have a range of pricing from budget to very expensive ... there are a ton of DVRs out there that are great, just need to know more of your requirments.

 

Rory

Edited April 6, 2006 by Guest

[jisaac 0]

Isaac - ICrealtime

 

Rory- Ge

 

It was going to happean

[danweber 0]

Thanks both of you for the feedback. I have seen the extensive ICRealtime threads and it pretty much explains everything. Seems like a good unit.

 

My requirements aren't that big:

 

1) 8 channels

2) network client application for monitoring/playback

3) ~[edit by mod - price removed] (ICRealtime Pro is pushing my budget but I still consider it because of the excellent feedback)

 

"wish" items

4) preferrably D1 recording resolution

5) preferrably browser based remote software available for monitoring and playback

 

 

The PowerTelecomm unit is pretty nice, if it wasn't for the crashes. I hope that they are in control of the firmware and could possibly come up with a fix but so far they have not responded AT ALL. This makes me a little worried, I would want a company that responds to my technical inquiries in a more timely fashion. Now their sales team has always been very responsive, up to the point when they sent the unit...

Not trying to talk bad about them, just sharing my personal experience

 

Dan

[rory 0]

You mentioned Feedback, you need to check the Distributors and ask them about GE, or do a search for Kalatel on this forum .. they are still the number one Stand Alone on the Market with a long proven record.

 

1) 8 channels - Done

2) network client application for monitoring/playback - Done

 

"wish" items

4) preferrably D1 recording resolution - Done - they all do D1 Recording

5) preferrably browser based remote software available for monitoring and playback - Done - they all come with that now

 

 

Was there anything else special you were looking for?

 

rory

[CCTVcams 0]

To my understanding, Dan was looking for a unit that has a built-in video server so that no additional software is required for remote access. Both the 1608 and the the ICRealtime have this functionality, but I don't believe this is a standard feature on all DVRs yet?

 

p.s. - On a side, still new to the forum and not quite sure why Dan's link to our site got removed. Our web pricing is retail, dealer pricing is negotiated offline. I only bring it up as honest feedback on a unit, positive or otherwise, is always useful in determining/updating a product line. Thanks!

[rory 0]

Most DVRs have built in HTTP Web Servers, this is standard as of a couple years now. Certain Budget units still dont though.

 

As to the latter, links to web shops are not allowed by the rules, primarily those that offer less than list pricing. Not sure which link was there but after research at the time, the pricing was below list price on several other products. Retail pricing is typically double the wholesale price and this is how I rate them when removing links. It wasnt removed for any negative reasons, this is just what we have to follow at this time.

 

thanks

Rory

[CCTVcams 0]

Thanks for the feedback. Apologies for the off-topic.

[rory 0]

No apologies needed

 

I see you sell a few different brands of DVRs so perhaps you can also recommend something that fits his needs, just post the info and name though if possible .. thanks

 

Like the other DVR he mentioned, is that being discontinued or are they still building them?

 

thanks

 

Rory

[danweber 0]

This forum is great. I got a lot of information from reading various threads and narrowed the choices down to two units and got two quotes. They both seem to be great units and I'll have to pick one now.

 

1) Advanced-CCTV DVR-808

2) ICRealtime Pro 8

 

Surprisingly as a whole package deal the units are very competitive price wise (coincidentially both quotes include the same cameras).

 

Maybe it's coming to a coin toss

[rory 0]

What you want to do also is get some feedback on long term use of the DVRs, at least a few weeks, in a real world situation, and base your decision on that also. Good luck and let us know which system you go with.

[jisaac 0]

definitly let us know what you decide and give a review. Those are the post of most value to me (ones from the end user). And your right this forum is great its good to be able to get info from many different areas and levels of expertise and users.

Have a good one.

[CCTVcams 0]

Not to throw a wrench in your decision - but just so we're all clear, I don't believe the 1606A model is being discontinued as in no longer manufactured. We're planning to phase it out over the next few months as it doesn't have a CD burner or a built-in web server, and these have been the most requested features of late. Hope this helps to clarify!

 

Rory, Isaac - couldn't agree more. Have only been a member for a few weeks now, but can't believe how much help the feedback is. There's just so much product out there and so little in the way of reviews. Very happy to have stumbled onto the site!

[Powertelecomm 0]

Hi,

 

I'm not sure where you bought the unit, but please feel free to send an email to tech@powertelecomm.com for support.

 

You can also email me with your contact info and I'll have someone give you a call.

sam@powertelecomm.com.

 

Thanks,

[danweber 0]

Hi,

 

I'm not sure where you bought the unit, but please feel free to send an email to tech@powertelecomm.com for support.

 

You can also email me with your contact info and I'll have someone give you a call.

sam@powertelecomm.com.

 

Thanks,

 

Just as an information to others in the forum, I have contacted Sam offline. I understand that there was a conference last week and that resources might have been stretched a little bit and that probably is the reason I did not receive any response. However, I have contacted various other companies during that time and they all responded in very timely fashion. I would expect a tech department to be available at least during regular business hours (i am not expecting 24x7), even during a trade show!

 

Dan

[rory 0]

Hi Dan, are you a dealer or end user?

[danweber 0]

Hi Dan, are you a dealer or end user?

 

End user

[Powertelecomm 0]

Does anyone have experience with port scanning that Dan is referring to? I sent Dan an email requesting for the software that he used to perform a port scan, but I have not yet heard back from him.

 

Based on what Dan told me before, it seems almost logical that whenever hackers use port scan to hack into the DVR, DVR shutting down would be preferred for safety reasons. Regardless, I would like to let our engineers take a look at the issue and have them recreate the situation if possible. Any recommendation/feedback would be appreciated.

[Thomas 0]

The most common tool for port scanning is NMAP. The hard part of what you are proposing is identifing bad port scans (Looking for vunerablity) from harmless port scans (bot nets looking for other bots) from good scans (tech support checking your firewall).

 

Port scanning is a valuable tool. I find it the most effective method of searching for modern viruses and worms on my home network. If a machine responds on a port it shouldn't, I should investigate. It's not fool proof but I find it less intrusive then virus scans. I combine it with spyware searches and online virus scanners. Add in a firewall and we're good to go.

 

If anyone is curious what you see, this is my work box, with certain info xxxx out:

 

# nmap 3.75 scan initiated Tue Apr 18 16:21:35 2006 as: nmap.exe -sT -sV -v -v -oN log.txt -O -P0 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

Insufficient responses for TCP sequencing (0), OS detection may be less accurate

Insufficient responses for TCP sequencing (0), OS detection may be less accurate

Insufficient responses for TCP sequencing (0), OS detection may be less accurate

Interesting ports on sales-tom.xxxxxxx-xxxxxxx-xxx (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx):

(The 1656 ports scanned but not shown below are in state: closed)

PORT STATE SERVICE VERSION

135/tcp open msrpc Microsoft Windows msrpc

139/tcp open netbios-ssn

445/tcp open microsoft-ds Microsoft Windows XP microsoft-ds

1025/tcp open msrpc Microsoft Windows msrpc

5000/tcp open upnp Microsoft Windows UPnP

6969/tcp open acmsoda? [My note, this is a VNC instance -Tom]

8082/tcp open blackice-alerts? [Cassandra Web Server -Tom]

2 services unrecognized despite returning data. If you know the service/version, please submit the following fingerprints at http://www.insecure.org/cgi-bin/servicefp-submit.cgi :

[Note, information removed due to the fact that it's huge and not needed for this. -Tom]

 

MAC Address: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx (Dell Pcba Test)

Too many fingerprints match this host to give specific OS details

TCP/IP fingerprint:

SInfo(V=3.75%P=i686-pc-windows-windows%D=4/18%Tm=42333433%O=135%C=1%M=000A56)

T1(Resp=N)

T2(Resp=N)

T3(Resp=N)

T4(Resp=N)

T5(Resp=N)

T6(Resp=N)

T7(Resp=N)

PU(Resp=N)

 

# Nmap run completed at Tue Apr 18 16:34:11 2006 -- 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 756.164 seconds

 

So what does this tell me. You will see referances to i686-pc-windows because Windows will give this out. This info is changable. My linux box reports to the world that it is a dreamcast.

[Powertelecomm 0]

Thanks Tom for the info. I've forwarded your message to our technical staff...