Everfocus New EDR DVR Models?

[Nwavguy 0]

I know Rory here isn't very fond of "neverfocus", but I wonder if anyone has experience with the new EDR series? Everfocus seems to have fixed many of the issues surrounding their older models?

 

The EDR models offer much higher frame rates (at least double the older models), you can archive over the network, and they use purely browser based remote monitoring (i.e. no remote software required).

 

The 16 channel EDR1620 can be found for around $1300 and offers up to 240 fps recording and simultaneous 240 fps monitoring. It can also archive to USB drives, has an 8 x 10 matrix for motion zones, is very expandable in several ways (has room for 2 drives, you can daisy chain units, use external SCSI drives, etc.), and appears to be way more configurable than most of the low-end models. You can set most parameters by camera, very flexible alarm input/output assignment, flexible monitor assignment to up to 4 monitor outputs, etc.

 

Unlike a lot of the 16 channel DVRs in that price class, you can actually download the manual (along with firmware updates) and it's relatively well written and useful. The AVTech units, for example, have terrible manuals and I've never seen any firmware updates. The new "Gen IV" h.264 unit also has a terrible manual and is nearly twice the price. Some of these "no name" units might work OK, but what if they don't? US factory support for them appears to be nearly non-existant? Most only have dealers, not a factory presence in the USA.

 

Anyway, I don't have any personal experience with Everfocus DVRs so has anyone else used the new ones? Our main distributors here push Dedicated Micro and GE and I think both are very over priced given all the new competition? ICR and March Networks are also in that price category and Nuvico isn't much less. This isn't rocket science, so has Everfocus finally hit a good sweet spot with price vs performance? At least they sure seem like a cut above the no-name models from AvTech/CPcam, HiSharp, Neocom, etc. that don't have any real US support?

[sectek 0]

New to the board here but had some recent experience with the new everfocus dvr's so i thought i'd reply. i had gone away from using everfocus 2 years ago after a few defective edsr1600 units, but my distributor convinced me to give them another shot when the new edr1620/1640s came out. I have to say, i was pleasantly surprised. the specs on these are much better than any other low cost dvr- the 1640 records at 480ips and the resolution at full d1 looks pretty good. they also finally figured out archiving and the dvd burner connected via usb2.0 works very well. i have not had a single quality issue with any of the installs so far, either. plus, in a few bid situations no one else bid everfocus so i was lowest price at very healthy margins. i'm considering trying the edsr1600 in a very price sensitive job now- i'll cross my fingers but they seem to have improved product quality.

[Nwavguy 0]

I just received a EDR1620 and have been evaluating it. I too have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. The build quality is well above some of the other low-end DVRs I've had my hands on.

 

It seems to work exactly as advertised and has a lot of useful config options. It has 4 matrix video outputs in addition to the main outputs. You can assign what is shown on them in some creative ways including alarm/motion conditions. It even lets you plug in a mouse to make navigating the config screens easier (although it would be nice if more DVR companies would take a page from the router company's playbook and offer full config over the LAN that you can later disable at the DVR once it's all set up).

 

Viewing live video over a local lan works fairly well. The frame rate is decently fast over TCP/IP even viewing 9 cameras at once. And yes, the recordings look really good at full D1 using the higher quality compression settings. You can search for and view recordings by various criteria remotely over the lan. You can also archive remotely over the lan or to any USB drive or flash device.

 

Some here have said the Everfocus DVRs are noisy. It does have 3 fans, and the one on the side cooling the drives is a bit noisy, but I've heard much louder equipment. I don't think it will be a problem in most installs.

 

I checked the power draw, and the 1620 only uses 37 watts (with one drive in it). So it doesn't put out much heat. I suspect you could swap out or slow down the drive fan if you really needed it to be near silent. That's especially true if you intend to use only a single drive and have it in a location that doesn't get very warm.

 

Also, FYI, the only difference from what I can tell between the 1620 and the 1640 is the max recording rate. The 1640 apparently has twice the MPEG encoding horsepower and has double the max frame rate. At full D1 it can manage 120fps while the 1620 can only mange 60 fps. At 360 x 240 the 1640 runs at 480 fps and the 1620 at 240 fps. But even the 1620 support higher frame rates than anything else I'm aware of in this price range.

 

If it will run reliably for years on end, I'd say it's a keeper! So far this one hasn't glitched in any way and I've had it running 7x24 streaming over the LAN to a PC.