Re: store system w 4-8 cameras ?

[J. <jsloud2001<removeme>@netscape.net>]

On Thu, 28 Sep 2006 16:29:00 GMT, Matt Ion <soundy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:


>You have some sort of philosophical issues with PC-based DVRs?


In a word, yes.

I deal with a lot of medium to larger size facilities that almost
always have their DVR's connected to a network.  If you do not connect
to a network, then you lose a lot of the functionality of having a
digital solution.  When you use a Windows PC as a DVR, you bring along
all of the baggage associated with  Windows.  Each time a new exploit
is found, Windows must be updated to control it.  If you connect to a
network without keeping up to date on security patches and service
packs, the machine will become vunerable.  Add to this fact that a PC
based machine can and will be used by associates for other purposes
and reliability suffers even more.

There are two types of PC based machines.  Factory built DVR's that
come as a unit complete with a warranty vs. a user built off the shelf
PC with a capture card and user installed software.  I have no problem
with the former.  We've used DVR's and NVR's from AD, Bosch, Pelco,
Verint, etc that are PC based and relatively free of issues, although
embedded recorders such as GE/ Kalatel units do seem to be more
reliable.  My problem is with user built DVR's where some guy takes an
off-the-shelf Dell and puts a capture card and some software on it and
calls it a DVR.  Windows, although improved in recent years, is still
not the most stable platform for running critical applications.

A small list of problems I've seen with PC based units never
encountered with embedded DVRs:

Version conflicts
Security patches
Network worms
Guards using box to surf the internet (viruses, spyware, malware, etc)
Windows update incompatibility
Blue screen of death
Power interupt/ shutdown issues
Software conflicts caused by other programs running on PC