Re: PC Based DVR

["RockyTSquirrel" <gafa@/nospam/usa.com>]

we've had to replace a single PC DVR combo  4 times so far..  (all within
the first year)
video card crash and burn,  camera input card crash and burn,  hard drive
crash and burn,  total software  crash..
All this from a so called quality vendor in VA..
If the thing wasn't under warranty,  it would have been in the river by
now..

(Or customer has 4 of these units  and each one has had something wrong with
it within the first year of service)

Stand-a-lone  DVR  the only way to go..  (for my money)


"Crash Gordon" <webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4a823da5$0$48217$815e3792@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Ive had no problems with cheap Lorex cards installed on refurbished Dell
> Optiplex...well only one problem where the guy wanted to run it on his
> business computer along with his accounting and his restaurant
software...he
> didn't believe me it wouldn't work for long. A month later I sold him a
> refurb machine and it's been running 7 cameras full recording for 4 months
> now without a lockup or crash. XP Pro 250gb hd, 2 g memory...but all it
runs
> is the camera card and its software.  Have 2 others that have been running
> constantly for a year at least...no problems except one lady keeps
> forgetting her un/pw.
>
> And a piece o'cake to access over the net.
>
> --
> **Crash Gordon**
>
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> "Bob La Londe" <nospam@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:h5sk54$mg0$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > I've not sold any.  I've been sticking with DM, but I lose a lot of
> > business to the PC based systems.  I have installed a few for clients
who
> > purchased units themselves, but had no clue how to set them up.  My
> > experience has been that they are not that stable.  Atleast not Windows
> > based units.  If you put in a seven day auto reboot they work better,
and
> > some like Pelco's units have it as part of their setup.  (I guess I have
> > sold a windows PC based DVR afterall.  Forgot about those.)
> >
> > Still.  It seems to me that unless the customer can be trained to check
> > the unit regularly they run a very high risk of finding their recorder
> > locked up when they really need to review some video.  What do you do to
> > prevent this?
> >
> > Are Linux based machines any better?
> >
> > How about building your own.  I'm sure some of you guys do that.  What
do
> > you use for a PC so that you have a really good machine to stick your
> > card(s) in?
> >
> > I've only played with a couple cards stuck in my own PC type
applications,
> > and I was not totally thrilled with the performance.
> >
> > With cheap PC based recorders it seems like the logical thing to do
would
> > be to install two units for redundant recording, but when people see
> > "cheap" its awfully hard to get them to step back up and spend a little
> > more money to make up for the "cheap" part.
>
>