Re: PC Based DVR

["Bob La Londe" <nospam@xxxxxxxxx>]

"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...

You like the Lorex Cards huh?  I have one that I have played with and a
generic Ebay card.   I was not thrilled, but they seemed to work ok.  The
problems seem to be on the PC side.

> 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.
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