CCTV recorders

[Stephen]

Hi all,

I'm in the market for a hard disc based internet connected CCTV recorder with video pass through (so I can feed the pictures onto TV sets as well as stream onto the ineternet)

I require being able to record 8 cameras in full D1 quality.

I see on Ebay a particularly cheap pentaplex DVR (play, record, network stream, backup/archive and live simultaneously) with full D1 recording on 8 cameras and with video pass through.

see

However, its not a common everyday make but a chinese product sold through a chain of US shops called Dowson.

Can I have full confidence in a Chinese made product that is a no-name brand or am I better off paying more for a Panasonic or Samsung or a JVC unit?

Regards

Stephen

[Bill]

In message , Stephen writes

My immediate thoughts would be that it was cheap, not in an inexpensive way. Also that it doesn't contain a hard drive, you need to provide that.

I rarely, knowingly, buy Chinese CCTV products. The few cameras that I have bought from there have failed within a year or so. Not a catastrophic failure, just the colour slowly drifting from reality and those with inbuilt IR illumination suffered with this failing too.

If you are looking at Ebay there are some Dedicated Micros DVRs on there, these are very well made and when new very expensive. If you can find a S/H one that has new drives it is well worth the price of the one you were looking at and a bit more too.

You may want to look at DVRs that can take networked cameras too.

[dennis]

Its not cheap as the maplin swann one is only £299 with a disk installed. They are both likely to be made in china.

Maplin have frequent offers that may make it cheaper.

[Stephen]

I already have the hard drives anyway so I am sorted on that front.

The cameras I have use Sony EFFIO HAD sensors and are full 700 TV Lines, hence the requirement to record in full D1.

So hopefully I wont have any problems with the cameras.

These dedicated Micros DVRs is that the make or a class of DVR?

Regards

Stephen

[Stephen]

If you mean this one:

it can only record audio non four channels and it does not have video pass through for the 8 cameras, I need to feed the 8 video signals into a bank of 8 RF modulators to be piped to the TVs around the house.

Obviously the DVR will sort out teh recording to hard disc and streaming out to mobile smart phones over the internet.

Incidentally, whats people's experience of Swann kit?

[Bill]

In message , Stephen writes

DedicatedMicros are the manufacturers,

Very expensive, but they are also very good.

Sometimes it is better to buy a 2nd hand good make rather than a new, not so good.

One thing to watch out for is the recording quality, some will quote 25 frames per second, or similar. But that can be for just one input. When you start recording more than one camera the fps drops accordingly.

[Bill]

In message , Stephen writes

I see a lot of it in our local auction house. It appears to be Maplin returns that are bought from one auction as large lots and then sold on through a 2nd one in smaller lots. Normally it is all working, so no idea why it was returned.

Like most things Maplin, it is "OK" but not as good as pro' kit doing the same job. A good place to start to get an idea of what you really want.

>

[Stephen]

Yes, I have discovered that issue.

I have 8 off 700TVL cameras so clearly I need to record at 25fps from ALL cameras simultaneously so I need a global record rate of 200 fps on a 8ch DVR or 225fps on a 9 ch DVR.

Some 8ch DVRs "claim" 200 fps capability... When I check the small print in the manual, that applies to CIF resolution which is something like

348 by 240.... early web cam resolution really.

when I look at D1 or 4CIF which is 720 by 540 ish in the manual, the recording rate drops to 6.25 fps per channel (unit claims 50fps at full D1/4CIF across all 8 channels, so 50 / 8 = 6.25)

Incidentally as some of these DVR's don't have video pass through, are there RF modulators available that have switchable termination? I can run the cameras to the RF modulator headend first via ssome BNC T pieces and then onwards to the DVR.

WOrst case I suppose is to dismantle the RF mods and snip off the 75 ohm resistor.

(I'm going to use CHs 60 to 69 to put the video cameras on if I can get away with adjacent channels on a Televes AVant headend combining with freeview, FM and DAB. If I get too many intermod products, I can always use another part of the TV band.)

Regards,

Stephen

[Bill]

In message , Stephen writes

I think that you are now getting towards a point where the expertise of the other Bill is going to be required. :-)

[Stephen]

Indeed.

Basically the internet router is in the loft along with the TV distribution kit.

Theres TVs and computers all over the house which is a 5 bedroom job.

It just seems easier to simply add 9 analogue TV channels to the existing freeview, DAB and FM signals and tune them all in. it also means that if we are woken up in the night by noise, we can just turn the telly on, and view the 9 cameras and see whats going on outside without getting out of bed. If we do see something suspicious, we know where the suspicious act is happening and react accordingly to what we see, i.e call police or challenge directly.

And of course the DVR has motion detection so it will record to HDD.

[spuorgelgoog]

I'd consider 2 x 4-channel recorders. Each recorder with a 'spot' output se t to quad, and send that quad output to the TV sets. Much easier to deal wi th 2 x UHF feeds rather than 8, and TV remotes aren't usually the best way of changing camera channels quickly.

I use Dedicated Micros, the older stuff's internet isn't as touchy-feely as the new Chinese stuff (eg may require a static IP), but the kit itself is bulletproof.

Owain

[Peter Johnson]

Probably originally bought by people who couldn't get them to work because they didn't understand the instructions.