spiderlee 0 Posted September 13, 2007 Hello all, three-week lurker, first-time poster; thanks for all the help! As an "average-Joe" consumer looking to add some surveillance around my home and property as a deterrent (and identification tool) against petty crime and burglaries of convenience, I decided that my best option involved an intranet-network compatible DVR (undecided about embedded or PC). I discovered Aventura online, liked their website presentation, and made contact to inquire about pricing. Their website does not list prices, but says in the constantly popping-up box to chat live for help and pricing info. It was nice to chat with a real person, but "Victoria" for some reason was not allowed to talk pricing for some reason. All she could do was take name and number. Ok, but a 'bot could do that. So I then email 'em and get a response from Kevin. Kevin writes me to say that I have too many questions and that he is typing deficient (paraphrasing) and asks that I call. Ok, so I call... and call... and call again... Finally, I call the operator in New York, it's Victoria again! Victoria says she cannot discuss pricing over the phone either. I ask her if there is someone else I can speak to besides Kevin as it seems we cannot connect. Victoria explains that Kevin is the gatekeeper and sole-holder of arcane and mysterious knowledge, and that he only possesses the answers this seeker requests. I calmly explained to Victoria that I subsequently intend to spend my patronage and hard-earned money with one of her competitors! Wow, do they not want a sale or what? Granted, I'm just little-nobody lee, still... On that note, anybody have any experience with Avermedia's AverDigi SA7208H? I intend to monitor 4-5 cameras via home intranet from multiple user-workstations networked with the DVR. I would like to use 2-3 IR fixed (short distance) and 2 ptz dome cameras (longer distance, 100') that are outdoor compatible. Eventually, I intend to coordinate some proximity, motion, and other sensors as needed down the road to trigger recording events. Any ideas, suggestions, or recommendations would be most welcome! Thanks, SL Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpion 0 Posted September 14, 2007 I am not familiar with Aventura. I am not aware of your situation. I assume that they are a vendor to dealers. You are not a dealer therefore they will violate written contracts with dealers by communicating with you. If you are a dealer all you have to do is sign up, and provide business information, and set up an account. Provide them with a credit card number, and you should be ready to go. If you are an end user they cannot support a one time sale. They need to buy in bulk, and they need to sell in bulk. If you can buy 20 DVRs a month they will be your best friend! If you are only buying one unit then they are required to sell at MSRP (manufacture suggested retail price). If they are not retailers then they do not have the infrastructure to sell to you. They will lose their contract if they sell you a unit at dealer price. If they lose their contract then how do they make money?? They may be purchasing railroad cars of equipment, and they may be selling by the "one" railroad car. Are you interested in buying "one" railroad car of DVRs?? You may want to get your catalog published in advance prior to your order. A $5.00 catalog X 100,000 units= Yeeesh!! Thats a chunk of money!! How much does a warehouse cost to store 100,000 DVR units??? How much does the RFID tracking system cost??? How much does 7, or 8 Tractor Trailers cost?? $100,000 each?? Wow! I think I have already hit my credit card max, and I have not even purchased the shelving, a conveyor system, computers, and office equipment!! I sure hope you are rich!!! Scorpion Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpion 0 Posted September 14, 2007 I would be more than glad to sell you the equipment that you need. If you buy from me you are wasting your money! What you really need to do is buy local to you. Support your local dealer. When you have a problem then your local dealer will support you!! I am more expensive than some of these internetsites that can give you a real bargain. There are pros, and cons to buying at bargain basement sites, and I wish you well should you go that route. I charge more so that in 6 month when you cannot find your manual I can email you a copy, or I can talk you through your menu. If anything should happen where you need to give the police some video footage of an event (like that big dog in the neighborhood who pooped on your lawn!!), and in the heat of the moment you cannot figure it out while the police is standing there, then just give me a call. I will even give you an evening tech support line. We rotate our techs so that there is always someone on standby! Please do not ask how much we pay our techs while they are on standby, it would make your hair stand on end if you were my CPA trying to balance my budgets!! LOL! This is ok, because I pass these cost on to my customers (oops! That is why I am so expensive!). Please check out the banner ads (not the google ads) on this forum! There are some excellant companies here that would be more than to help you out! Scorpion Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CCTV_Suppliers 0 Posted September 14, 2007 Spiderlee, what you are experiencing is not new or will ever stop.. I am not familiar with Aventura either and heck, they may have a decent product, but what is their reason to play you is what I do not understand?... Simple approach could have been for them to refer you to one of their dealers and that is all... Like any homeowner that we talk to, you have specific requirements, a lot of expectations and you are ready to spend the time to buy best value that you can find.. Anyone that gives you type of an attitude similar that you described above, I guess you learned what to do when someone else does the same... You need a basic system with 4-5 camera package, decent recorder and system that works without calling NASA for assistance... I am sure that there are quite of few people here that can sell you a good package and backup their work... I concur with Scorpion - find someone local if you can, so that such dealer can help every step of the way... However, what if you can not find them or find the right one? Some of the CCTV Buffs in this forum are going to start complaining on what I will suggest you do next:D - you want something simple to install, easy to program and less intervention on updates or upgrades (like a homeowner myself)... therefore, you need embedded DVR with decent hard drive capacity (lets say at least 250GB), some decent bullet cameras with IR built in and having varifocal lens allowing you to adjust the viewing angle of your pictures the way you like them and that is it... Heck, you can even get pre-made cables, so that you do not have to worry about making connectors or otherwise... I will suggest you use at least one of your TVs at home for your viewing pleasure, so that you can restrict your costs even further. Here is where some of my good friends in this forum may get upset - watch the warranty for the entire equipment that a company offers it... Last thing that you need is to have problems after such warranty expires and then costs you even more... My "suggestion" (and here is where you will see a lot of comments from some of our members) is to look for the entire package with full (3) years warranty... so that you made your investment, spent you hard earned cash and for at least for period of 3 years, you have nothing to worry about... I can tell you that any equipment that functions normal for such period stands a very good chance to last even longer... Good luck to you and tell us if we can assist you more. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spiderlee 0 Posted September 14, 2007 Thanks for the replies! It had not occurred to me that this particular company may be the vendor to a dealer network. Their website and such makes it seem otherwise; rhetorically, why didn't they refer me to a dealer. If you can buy 20 DVRs a month they will be your best friend! ...Are you interested in buying "one" railroad car of DVRs?? LOL! So just how many cameras could I install and simultaneously watch, record, and stream with a railroad car's worth of networked DVR's? I'm thinking I could monitor every neighbor's mailbox in a 10 mile radius - way cool! Now on to winning that powerball... Thanks also for the system advice. I'm fairly electron competent; but like NASA, I too sometimes overlook and forget stuff (like the difference between meters and feet). So finding and supporting a knowledgeable local dealer makes sense, that way my system won't fall out of orbit and crash into the side of a planet or something! Say, just what kind of detailed, depth of field/range, can one realistically expect from a say a 4mm, 24LED/IR, 1/3 CCD, bullet type camera (during day or night)? I guess I'm wondering how many will be needed to cover a given area. I found these neat cameras while surfing: records 360 all around with no moving parts - seemed real cool, but only daytime use (3 lux). They're a steal at only like $2.5k each, so powerball here we come, but neat technology anyway! h... w...polarglobal... zPan100 (oops, not allowed to post links yet) Thanks again for the help and letting me vent. I'll be reading the forum somemore for ideas, and posting again as needed. Mahalo, SL Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
