Alien Dvr

[SystemQ]

I am not an installer but I not tender for a job on a DVR I have not tested especially a H.264 one. This is not to discourage you from trying the AlienDVR or SystemQ as I have no familiarity with either so have no reason to discourage you but with H.264 DVRs do not assume they will perform the same as an MPEG4 DVR. Due to the processing power and architecture required for H.264 they can have serious drawbacks and this is the case with the vast majority of H.264 DVRs available but not all!

Some examples of potential Drawbacks:

- Limited playback capabilities, such as limited by frames or channels i.e. 200fps record but 100fps playback.

- No flexibility on playback, even if you can playback multiple cameras you sometimes cannot bring one camera full screen (have to restart the search to do that)

- Unable to change picture quality and frame rates

- Despite pentaplex claims, all functions must be stopped to perform a download and often need additional software to convert the download to playback.

- Many claimed H.264 DVRs are not proper H.264, some processing hungry steps in the compression are skipped.

This is not ment to be a checklist but just to illustrate some potential downsides of H.264 which may not be apparent from the specification sheet. I am definitely not saying avoid H.264 as good ones are worth the effort but I am saying test first.

I agree that DVRs should be tested.

We offer all our account customers demo equipment that they can use to show their customers. The AlienPro is a very popular Demo product.

These demos are often pitched against DM machines and similar and we don

[digitalwitness]

I agree that DVRs should be tested.

We offer all our account customers demo equipment that they can use to show their customers. The AlienPro is a very popular Demo product.

These demos are often pitched against DM machines and similar and we don

[Cubit]

I Find that a curious response to a post that deliberately did not refer to SystemQ or the AlienDVR, I thought I made that clear but just in case here goes again, I have not tested the AlienDVR so cannot say what of if it has any of the limitations mentioned and from your post I presume it does not.

I have to say, your post certainly hinted at damned by faint praise. There was no need to mention SysQ product at all if all you were doing is discussing H264.

Now, what was that thread last night about manufacturer representation on here??

[digitalwitness]

This is not to discourage you from trying the AlienDVR or SystemQ as I have no familiarity with either so have no reason to discourage you.

Though Crowd! In no way did I mean to damn by faint praise or any other means, if thats what the post achieved then it was incorrect. I only mentioned the AlienDVR as its the title of the thread, as I have no knowledge of the capabilities of the AlienDVR it would be unfair for me to pass any sort of judgement, the post was a comment on H.264 DVRs generally available and thought it would be benefical to bring some of the short comings to general attention. Maybe doing so under this particular thread automatically associates my post with the AlienDVR, this is not the intention.

As Paul stated the AlienDVR does not have any of the limitations described in my initial post, in this case it sets it apart from the majority of H.264s available and definitely warrants a look as a proper H.264 DVR brings many benefits. Hopefully this clarifies my intent with the initial post.