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What comes with the DVR?
Our PC-based DVRs come standard with an 120 gig hard drive (except for the 32 channel system which comes with a 250 gig hard drive). They also include the software (for setup, local, and remote viewing), power cord, keyboard, mouse, and documentation. You just need to add the cameras, whatever cable you need, and a standard computer monitor. Also, we have full time on-site technical support available at no additional cost.
Why doesn't the computer monitor come with the Digital Video Recorder? We don't supply the computer monitor with the DVR because frankly you can get one cheaper and easier locally. Large computer stores such as Best Buy or CompUSA sell these monitors practically at cost. And due to thier heavy weight, they are very expensive to ship (and subject to damage). Also, we found that many of our customers have spare computer monitors available.
How do I see pictures from a remote site?
You can view the camera video over the internet using a modem which is slow but can display 1 or 2 frames every 5 seconds. Better is a DSL or cable modem connection which can generally display 1 frame per second. When viewing remotely, the refresh rate is restricted by the communications medium (your internet connection speed). When viewing or playing back locally, the display is dependent of the unit's frame rate (fps).
What is 'Smart Search'? Our PC-based DVRs come standard with smart search capability. This allows you to highlight one area of a captured image and look for changes just to that area. For example, if an item is stolen off of a counter... you can go to a moment in the video where the item is still on the counter, then highlight the area around the item and search automatically through the video for the moment in time when that particular area changes, that is precisely when the item is removed and then view that part of the video. Pretty slick! Should I purchase the card and software and build my own digital video recorder or buy one pre-built?
It is much better to purchase a DVR system pre-built than to build one yourself. One reason is because the pre-built systems have more features and options than the cards that you can buy and install yourself. There are many compatibility issues with DVR cards and related software. They are very sensitive to the type of motherboard in the computer, the cpu, the memory, even the video card makes a difference! We had to test many different configurations to find one that worked reliably. You also don't want to be running any other software on the computer that your DVR is running on so you need a dedicated computer anyway. We have had so many customers call us that have had problems installing cards in their own systems that we won't even sell the cards separately anymore.
How much hard drive space will I need?
There are many variables that factor into how much hard drive space is used. The general rule of thumb is that each camera will use about 2 gig of space per day. So for example, if you have an 8 camera DVR you will use in the area of 16 gigs of hard drive space per day. If you are using motion detection the hard drive usage will likely be less (especially if there is little movement on each camera). The actual amount of hard drive space used varies widely and depends to a large extent on how much movement there is on the cameras. For example, a fast food restaurant (with a lot of activity) will use a lot more hard drive space per day than an office with a few employees. This is due to the way that the video is compressed for storage.
As mentioned above, the embedded DVRs use much more hard drive space than the PC-based units, perhaps twice as much per camera, but again it varies from site to site. Also, on some of the embedded DVRs you can reduce the recording frame rate which will reduce the amount of hard drive space used (as well as the quality of the video).
When the hard drive space is filled up, it will start over-writing the oldest pre-recorded video. Each of our PC-based DVRs comes standard with a read/write CDRom for saving video permanently. |