james.wilson Posted November 22, 2010 Posted November 22, 2010 Introduction. The 40H + is a mid range 4, 9 or 16 channel DVR, I have reviewed a 16 Channel Unit here. It has H.264 recording CIF, 2CIF and D1. Also allows remote viewing via web browser (plug in free) for any browser ie chrome, firefox etc., Windows CMS software, Iphone mobile viewer etc. It has 4/9/16 Alarm inputs, RS485 port for PTZ control, RS232 Port for POS and other uses, 4Channels of Audio, 1 Audio Output, VGA Output, LAN (10/100), Main monitor and Spot monitor outputs. These is also a DVI port that is blanked off. The unit is available in various Hard Drive Size. It Can support upto 2 Hard Drives Internally, or 1 Hard drive and a DVD writer. But interestingly there is a external expansion option. This will accept upto 40 drives. So total storage (assuming 2TB drives) is 84TB. The unit also supports hard drive mirroring of any drive similar to raid level 1. This can be used on the internal or external drives. Design, construction and packaging The unit arrives in a sturdy Cardboard box, complete with plastic carry handle. Included in the box is the DVR, External 12v PSU and (unlike a DM) a UK plug, Software and manuals CD and an IR remote Control complete with batteries. The DVR is a metal contruction, finished in gloss black, with a black plastic front panel with nice tactile rubber buttons. All the units look identical from the front. There are 5 indications on the unit Power, HDD activity, Network activity, Error and Record. The buttons feel solid and well made, and there seems no way to get a button stuck in. There are also 2 front mounted USB ports and the DVD drive. Round the business end on this unit we have a password protected power switch, 12v DC in jack, 4 x Audio Inputs, 16 Alarm inputs, Ground, RS485 Data for dome control, Alarm Out (Form C relay), LAN port, VGA out, USB port, Audio Out, RS232 Serial Port, Main Monitor Out (Video), Spot Monitor Out (Video) and 16 non loop through Inputs. Over the right is the single and quiet fan. This looks like a std PC Component using the PC style 3pin plug. It is plugged into the Mainboard for those that require total silence, but be cautious with airflow if you do unplug it. This fan is monitored so the unit will show an error if it fails or is unplugged The case feels very solid, and its nice to see a backplane designd for the unit, ie no blanking plates (other than the DVI port) on the video inputs. The rear USB port will support a mouse and interestingly USB hard drives. I inserted a FAT formatted external drive and it shows up on the machine as an external drive for recording onto. This could be used for a thumb drive, External Hard drive or even a multiple hard drives. There is an official external enclosure for hard drive expansion. However you cannot hot plug drives. General Use My experience of mid and budget range DVR's has always been a roller coaster type affair. I find a couple of features that i like, get into the machine then find its recorded footage is utterly useless. Even on 'Super Fine Extra High Perfect Quality'. So when looking at any DVR i always check its recorded footage first, Everything else really pales into insignificance if the thing wont record the best from the cameras. I was very impressed with the quality of playback on this machine. To the point this machine has changed my opinion about high framerate recordings. I would previously use a DM digital sprite at 2 fps per channel and interleave. Ive now got quite used to 25fps recording at D1 and 2 CIF to the point that 2 fps seems poor. This is the also the first machine i have come accross that can handle D1 video correctly on playback, ie no interlace noise. I always thought the most we could achieve was 2CIF with out issues, This can run at full D1 without issues. This is done the right way too. The image is stored in an interlaced format. It is then deinterlaced by the unit on playback and the native pc playback client, with impressive results. I have uploaded some sample footage, but youtube obviously lowers the quality This was taken from one of the DVR inputs, set at BEST quality and 704x576 resolution at 25 fps. You can set any channel to any quality setting, res and fps. The machine can handle upto 400 fps CIF across all its inputs. This translates to 200 fps 2CIF and 100 FPS D1. This means a 16 way unit can run all its channels at 25 fps at CIF. This setting does not affect live splits which are always realtime. The unit supports motion detection and alarm inputs. This can be used to only record motion (event recording), run at low frame rates when no activity is occurring (and a lower quality if required) then switch to best 25fps etc when activity does occur. The unit supports upto 5 seconds of prealarm footage on all channels when used in event mode. The unit also allows for preset positioning on alarm from the onboard alarm inputs. It seems the unit will allow multiple protocols and baud rates on its 485 port. Great for takeovers, upgrades etc. The best feature of this machine is the way it plays back footage. There are various choices. You can of course goto a set date and time and playback from there, fast forward / rewind to location etc. You can also view the alarm infomation and select the event. When selecting the event you can choose to play the event or 'spread' the event. If you play the event then you playback full screen from that event, you can of course change to split view at this time and playback all cameras at the same time (ie a 16 way playback). If however you select spread it will split the screen into 16 and show the start of each event in each split window. You can page through this list as required and then select the relevant event to play. This spread can also be set to split at x mins. The default is 4 minutes and will show a single camera at 4 min intervals per split. Very quick and simple to find the relevant event. Here is a sample video of it in action Remote access of the unit is also good. It offers remote live view and programming (password controlled) via any web browser. This is a plug-in free view and will work on chrome, firefox. I also tested it on a Linux machine using firefox and an apple mac using safari. There is also a flexible CMS windows application that allows up to 64 live splits from multiple machines/sites. This is a H264 stream so low bandwidth quality and speed is good. This software supports maps, group monitoring and multiple users with different privilege settings. There are also mobile 'apps' allowing live view of any camera and ptz control. The iphone app is on the app store. I also like this implementation of the VGA output as it has resolution choices so you can run the panel at its native res. I am usually dissapointed by vga screens on DVR's but as this dvr runs at much higher resolutions the split screens look impressive. The unit also accepts upto 5 'internal' drives although there is only phsical space for 2, and 39 external drives. This is for the manufactures external hard drive expansion unit. However i plugged in a std External USB drive and it showed up as an external drive. But the unit did require a power cycle to see it, but does allow an easy upgrade path, or to temperorily repair a machine with a failed hard drive. I also liked the USB still shot option. This will record alarm stills to a usb stick fitted to one of the front mounted USB ports THe unit has a built in DDNS client. It uses a manufacturer run ddns service. All you need to do is login to the manufacturer website, create an account for unlimited machines and enter the site name and mac address. The DVR itself will update this site when its IP changes, so you can use this url to connect to the dvr. Example URL would be http://machinexyz.ddns.remocam.net. I have tested this on sites that had issues with DynDNS and its been faultless. Using this URL you can access the machines built in web browser for full setup (admin only), live images, and a remote control. The live images show without a plugin download. This allows all devices i have tested to work. Linux firefox, My android built in web browser, windows and a mac. Even tried it on an Ipad which was an ideal demo platform. The remote control is identical to the IR remote control and allows controlling of the dvr main monitor output via a webpage etc. This could be useful where a monitor is installed away from the dvr to allow control via smartphone or pc etc. In live view you can select a multiscreen or an individual camera. The web i/f however doesnt currently allow playback which IMO is an ommision. The CMS software allows unlimited machines and upto 64 cameras live split per monitor. I have tested on my dual monitor setup a theoritical 128 cameras. The CMS also allows PTZ control, alarm infomation, relay output control and multi users. The cms software also allows full playback, video export and avi convernsion. Interesting you can search for event, time date and text from the POS input. While live views are high framerate h264 the playback is full quality, so if using very high res and quality settings playback performace will depend on available bandwidth. This is faultless on a LAN connections but less than perfect over broadband. One thing i like about the DM software is it allows transcoding of the playback footage till you find what you need then you can export the event in full quality. This software doesnt do this and can only playback in the quality it is recorded at. The software supports emaps (maps of sites), remote firmware update Audio (2 way) and preset views. Documentation The manual included on the CD is comprehensive to say the least 212 pages. Shows how powerful and flexible this machine is. I have uploaded the manual to the downloads section Conclusion Overall the unit is well put together, looks the part and does the job very well indeed. I have compared the unit in the review to a DM digi sprite. I have done this as i have left the unit on a couple of sites that currently have digi sprites. All 3 have asked to have this unit instead due to its framerate, picture quality and ease of playback. There is no doubt the DM is a more flexible unit, ie expandable alarms, coax telemetry etc, but at the primary essentials this unit performs far better. I really am impressed by its core functions. I think the remote access and remote programming is superb and the DDNS is very well implimented. However i think the PC software is weaker than it should be. Id hope this is improved due to the fact this is a brand new machine range. Tech Support has been excellent via email and phone, and the guys i have spoke to seem to know the machine backwards, very refreshing. Appearance = 8/10 Features = 7/10 Value = 10/10 Build quality = 9/10 Security = 8/10 Manuals = 9/10 Support = 9/10 Good Framerate, Recorded Quality, ease of use and playback, remote access (web) Bad PC software, no loop through, no playback on web i/f Settings I have listed all the main settings here Programmable sequential switching, including split screens. Choice of text, clock etc on main display Camera locations on split screens Camera Titles (9 char), covert (hidden), PTZ type, baudrate, ptz address Spot monitor use, ie event/alarm view, seq etc VGA resolution Bitmap for title option (allows uploading of company logo to be displayed on each channel) Simple record setup, or programmed record setup (upto 7 timed profiles including holidays) Programmed record (timed record modes) Audio enable /disable per channel Repeat recording option Global Mirroring mode enable / disable DDA record limit option (ie 31 days) OSD options, ie title, POS info, watermarking Event options, ie Buzzer, log, alarm display Event Still Shot (store alarm jpgs to USB device) Motion Sensitivity and area setup per channel Alarm input setup, ie preset positioning with alarm and return presets Alarm output options Network DHCP Auto Port forwarding Port number setup for HTTP and CMS Bandwidth settings DDNS server Global RS485 setup Email setup (10 addresses for alarm info, alarm, motion, vloss, still shot) FTP upload options POS setup for built in POS port PPPoe setup HDD setup (including SMART Hard Drive monitoring) Clock setup, including NTP options, auto Daylight saving etc) Video Standard setup, (AUTO, PAL, NTSC) User and Password Setup Supported PTZ protocols (RS485) Pelco P & D, Bosch, JVC, etc (total 16 currently supported) securitywarehouse Security Supplies from Security Warehouse Trade Members please contact us for your TSI vetted trade discount.
james.wilson Posted February 4, 2011 Author Posted February 4, 2011 publish securitywarehouse Security Supplies from Security Warehouse Trade Members please contact us for your TSI vetted trade discount.
alterEGO Posted February 4, 2011 Posted February 4, 2011 I was just about to ask you to send me one mate, then a noticed no playback over standard web server, kills it for me.
MrHappy Posted February 4, 2011 Posted February 4, 2011 publish took you 2 months to type that ? Mr Veritas God
alterEGO Posted February 4, 2011 Posted February 4, 2011 took you 2 months to type that ? more like 2 months to fix all the faults! i joke, i joke. Looks very good other then my one issue.
james.wilson Posted February 4, 2011 Author Posted February 4, 2011 lol yes but I have also had the test unit installed for a few months to test stability re playback over web i/f, id agree its a shame it doesnt currently but i expect that to change. securitywarehouse Security Supplies from Security Warehouse Trade Members please contact us for your TSI vetted trade discount.
alterEGO Posted February 4, 2011 Posted February 4, 2011 lol yes re playback over web i/f, id agree its a shame it doesnt currently but i expect that to change. Is that i guess? or have they said they will? The reason i ask, i have been using the COP inspire blue unit, but it only allows one remote user via the web i/f, something i thought they would be upgrading, however they won't be, ever.
digitalwitness Posted February 6, 2011 Posted February 6, 2011 Is that i guess? or have they said they will? The reason i ask, i have been using the COP inspire blue unit, but it only allows one remote user via the web i/f, something i thought they would be upgrading, however they won't be, ever. The web interface is primarily designed to allow access without the need for any software downloads so it is browser independent, access can be gained through virtually any browser. This is achieved by a JPEG refresh setup but as the recordings are already in recorded with a H.264 codec, this requires a slightly different approach. As far as I am aware there are no main stream DVRs that allow playback without a software download so this would be a first, meanwhile playback is available through the CMS or using the software downloaded during back-ups, until playback via web i/f is implemented. The DVRs support 16 simultaneous network connects but only one can be administrator level.
alterEGO Posted February 6, 2011 Posted February 6, 2011 The web interface is primarily designed to allow access without the need for any software downloads so it is browser independent, access can be gained through virtually any browser. This is achieved by a JPEG refresh setup but as the recordings are already in recorded with a H.264 codec, this requires a slightly different approach. As far as I am aware there are no main stream DVRs that allow playback without a software download so this would be a first, meanwhile playback is available through the CMS or using the software downloaded during back-ups, until playback via web i/f is implemented. The DVRs support 16 simultaneous network connects but only one can be administrator level. I'm guessing its your DVR? I have only ever seen software or active x type for playback. I understand where you are coming from and i said to james i thought that would be the reason for no playback. You need to try and be the first!!
digitalwitness Posted February 6, 2011 Posted February 6, 2011 I'm guessing its your DVR? I have only ever seen software or active x type for playback. I understand where you are coming from and i said to james i thought that would be the reason for no playback. You need to try and be the first!! Yes mate your right, this ones mine. I will find out when they plan to implement playback through the web i/f and update the thread and you directly if you wish.
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