PC based DVR card for camera system experience?

[postal]

I know a few people with the costco 'lorex tech' camera system with dvr. It's "ok"....

Was thinking about building my own setup using a PC and a card to use an 8 camera system. Probably 6 wired cameras, and 2 wireless.

Just started searching, and so far, the stuff from "geovision" looks pretty good. Looking at the geovision 900 -8 channel-. That card is about $600.

I use windows normally- never use mac anything.

Was thinking about going to a linux based system for a purpose built pc for the camera system. I'll need to check compatibility with that card of course.

Anyone have/use a pc based dvr setup with any tips?

[stilly]

I do not have much experience in this field but it always helps to have a large pool of thigns to look at. When I look at new technology I like to read from several catalogs/places that sell it, then go and seek out individual reviews.

Provantage and CDW might help you and maybe offer something more than what you have seen so far. I know also that electronics warehouse also has home security/dvr and camera stuff as well. I actually picked up their catalog and saw a lot of cool things in it. Maybe even try your luck at amazon and see if you can find products with reviews. SOMETIMES they can give you a heads up on what to expect.

[bigbearbear]

Before I got the TiVO, I ran SageTV with a video capture card from this company: http://www.hauppauge.com

You might be able to find something useful. Good luck.

[Montu]

Blue Iris software ($50)
works with IP cams and BT8x capture cards

http://blueirissoftware.com/index.html

for the analog capture card use something from blue cherry such as this one ($200)

http://store.bluecherry.net/pv-981-8-port-video-capture-card-120fps-pci-e-version.html

if your building a system from scratch just buy Blue Iris or try it for free for 15 days and buy IP camera's

[postal]

Thanks Montu,

Those two need more research for sure.... Great price, and blue cherry says support for ubuntu.... The direction I was thinking of going.....

I'd hate to have to reboot my camera system every day running MS..... Which is why I want to go linux based.

I plan on buying or building a pc just to handle a camera system. Not bog it down with anything else- treat it like a proprietary "dvr" and just let it run, doing its thing. I feel 8 cameras will handle my needs. A mic or a few would be cool too.

I figure I could build a pc based system with better resolution/FPS than a costco box system for not a whole lot more money.

This is just the beginning of my research...

[Montu]

if your building a dedicated system that's going to run linux, you can purchase the blue cherry software..its ~$100 and it runs in ubuntu I believe. (but you'll need to get one of their other cards to go with their software instead of the one I linked)

bundles can be bought here: http://store.bluecherry.net/bluecher...sion-2-bundles

I personally use Blue Iris running in win7 x64 and it does not reboot unless I reboot it....and my I7 is @ 4.9ghz on air

[Spyguy]

If you buy IP cameras from CNB, they include their own PC-based DVR software with no additional licensing fees. Here is some info:


I have used CNB's NTSB CCTV cameras in conjunction with a NUUO DVR (PCI card in a custom-built PC), so I don't have experience yet with their IP cameras or the CMS software. But I can say their cameras are good and would be a huge improvement over the consumer set-ups like Lorex. CNB is a South Korean company.

[ExtremeX]

Personally I would look at IP Cameras and skip the need for capture cards in the PC. I think software based NVR systems are great since they scale well and its very easy to upgrade. You may also be able to avoid any hardware compatibility issues as time progresses.

[Spyguy]

Personally I would look at IP Cameras and skip the need for capture cards in the PC. I think software based NVR systems are great since they scale well and its very easy to upgrade. You may also be able to avoid any hardware compatibility issues as time progresses.

Agreed. In case it wasn't clear from my post, the CNB IP cameras do not require any capture card; they will work with a variety of software-based NVR solutions. But if I were to buy one, I'd try CNB's free CMS software first before paying for additional NVR software.

In addition to the benefits of software-based NVR, IP cameras typically have much higher resolution (provided the camera is of good quality), are easier to install, and have don't have issues with interference or signal degradation.

[the86d]

All my cams currently drop 5 jpegs/sec on a FTP server on motion-detect, which can be synced securely to an undisclosed off-site location via any protocol Linux supports. Some of this is on a UPS that does not make noise and stays connected to the Internet if power is cut.

When I get time, I plan on getting zoneminder working instead, with the same off-site strategy for motion-detect-video.

Some wired-Ethernet, some MoCA connected, and some Wireless.

All cameras <$120/ea, but not the best quality images/video, but pretty-good!

My son didn't even notice a camera hidden in plain-sight the whole 1st day it was installed and recording on motion-detect.

[hey8you]

Im using a 12ch Geovision card on a windows XP system I custom built. Has great features and comes in may versions(cheap to expensive). Be careful on where you buy it, there are a lot of knock offs. I been using the same card for 6 years with no issues and would defiantly buy again.

http://www.geovision.com.tw/english/index.asp

I would also stay away from AnyKeeper(if they are still around). Crap software and no support.

If you decide to go with IP cameras, Axis is expensive to use and upgrade. I'm using their servers(PC and stand alone) and a IP camera.

[Clever]

I use
Intellex 4.2 Deluxe 16 Channel DVR with 2.5Tara internal storage and DVD Burner
Gain the ability to multiplex, detect alarms and events, record video, audio and text, and much more
Set dome presets, patterns and configurations right from the Intellex GUI
Search for specific clips using video analysis tools and advanced text
Operate Intellex like a virtual matrix via Network ClientTM 1 with CCTV keyboard-based camera control and an expanded capacity to stream video simultaneously from multiple cameras
React faster to potential emergencies with immediate email notification of system events and alarms
Customize camera views for flexible monitoring
Respond to events with alarm-triggered dome positioning
Record higher frame rates per second for certain cameras and assign the remainder to less critical cameras
Easily export video, audio and text to CD-RW or DVD+RW with one click of the mouse
Store over 9 times more video than MPEG-4 and MJPEG-based systems using patented American Dynamics Active Content Compression (ACC) technology
Use 3rd party applications—such as access control from Software House and Kantech as well as video forensics, virtual matrix, remote monitoring and more—integrated with Intellex via the powerful API
Cameras are Panasonic Day & Night Pan Tilt Zoom Domes