dvr

[Guest mw101]

can any one help?,looking for the cheapest dvr solution at the moment,my multiplexer died,not sire whether to go down the pci-cctv 4 port capture card route,got a spare pent 4 1700 pc for the job,or a stand alone dvr,saw the dvr for 199 without h/drive,just cant find the site again,

many thanks

[Guest Peter James]

Dvrs are fantastic inventions but every cheap one I have ever come across has been a waste of money.

As with everything you get what you pay for in this life.

Some of the cards floating around are not so bad (im not talking about the ones on ebay either) for a decent card expect to pay £100.00 upwards and they should reccomend a video card to go with it.

Pete

[CompostCORNER]

DVR's are still infinitely better than PC based units in my opinion. Capture cards do most things DVR's do but don't always match on standard features.

We use a couple of dedicated CCTV units that are modified PC's. We use Transpac's and Doushu's that are great at recording and sending images to a remote station via PSTN, ISDN and DSL which is their most useful feature but they lack simple options I consider essential for CCTV. Individual gain on each camera has only just emerged but they lack features like 'covert' where a camera is recorded but not displayed on a monitor. They are still a pain in the butt for user friendly operation and tend to crash often. If you want CCTV on a PC, I'd reccommend a DM Digital Sprite 2 and connect it onto a computer network. I've recently installed 2 of them with around 12 cameras on each. Both run fantastic across the network with most of the features available on each viewing PC including full PTZ, engineers menus and the handy feature of printing off single images on a standard printer.

PC based units are very promising but I have stacks more confidence with DVR's.

Tony

[Guest Peter James]

I agree that DVR,s are better than pci cards but not the sort you get for a couple of hundred quid.

Every cheap Dvr I have ever come acros falls over the very second you need it to record something important.

Of course if your budget can run to a pro DVR then DM, TECTON, or the Wavepro, Kit I would reccomend.

Mid range prices the LJD Leviathan kit is very good for the money with a reliable returns dept if it should fail.

Pete