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[shub]

Hello, I am aspiring electrician, hoping to become somewhat versed in the realm of CCTV. At the moment I'd like to begin with homeowner applications, and perhaps later on become familiar with more professional/commercial applications.

Currently, I would like to upgrade a CCTV system I set-up last year. If you'd like to read the back story on why, read below... if not, skip to the part paragraph that begins with "Basically"

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I bought a Samsung DVR with 4 wired cameras, and set it up in a personal residence. It was my first experience with any kind of video surveillance. Since then I have equipped 2 additional homes with DVR & Camera systems, one from Lorex and another from Security Labs. All of the DVRs feature remote viewing over the internet, which is a must have for me. I wanted to try out several brands, to get a feel for the market. The Saumsung, by far was the easiest to access over the internet, and operate remotely.

Concerning the Samsung DVR, for the past year, I have had no immediate need to recover any of the data on the device- that changed last week. I knew the DVR had an option to attach a portable hard drive for backup, but I didn't know the hassle that would ensue at that point. The hard drive holds about 200GB of video, which at the current quality level amounts to just under 2 weeks of footage. I attached the hard drive to record a 48 hour segment. Three hours into the backup, the O/S on the DVR crashed. This 3 hour wait amounted to 6 hours of data, divided into 3 files, with no apparent way of discerning what time ranges I had recovered (because there is no timestamps on the backup, only on the live view).

Needless to say, the experience has left me discouraged about believing I can rely on this setup. Worried that my less "stellar" DVRs I have operating elsewhere (Lorex & Security Labs) would one day require a similar backup procedure, I went and did test backups with them. The experience was far worse. The Lorex DVR (which was $500) performed the worst, and it was the most expensive. Ignorantly, I adjusted the Time/Date format before I began backing up. The Format was Year/Date/Month. I found that awkward for the timestamping, and decided I'd like that switched to Month/Date/Year prior to the backup. When I did that, it didn't correct any of the video footage that had their dates saved in the previous format. The result? Something that happened on December 11th, 2010 (2011/11/12) now reads as having happened on (20/11/1112) a.k.a. the 11th of the 20th month of Year 1112. Considering there is no 20th month, this causes the O/S on the Lorex to freeze before you can even reverse what I did, or back-it up. I even reset the CMOS battery, no luck.


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Basically what I don't like about DVRs:

-Proprietary operating system, often unreliable or not versatile
-Duration necessary to back-up the entirety of the recorded footage
-DVR data is stored on scene and is at risk for being stolen

What I do like:

-High quality recorded video, strikingly more superb than the quality of video that you view being streamed through a webcam
-Ability to access DVR footage from a remote internet computer

Can I get rid of my DVRs and replace them with a PC Server solution? This is what I'd like:

- A PC at my home that uses a camera managing software to constantly record in AVI format a video stream from a remote internet camera
- The recorded video stream would be of comparable quality to video that would otherwise be stored in a DVR on scene
- If the video quality expectation is unreasonable, can this PC set-up supplant a DVR, on scene?
- Data will be timestamped
- Software would permit remote login viewing
- Footage from certain time ranges available on demand, without the need to be uncompressed first. If that is unfeasible, a means to uncompress data FASTER than standalone DVRs are capable of.


Thank you for any help or suggestions that can lead me along my way.

[georgnox]

I think you should get rid of the idea of replacing the DVRs, but let wait for other opinions.
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