DVR Security System Review

The Axis 241SA is a video server designed to accommodate the video signal from analog surveillance cameras. The video server may prove useful for anyone who wants to make the crossover from an analog based surveillance system to a digital one while keeping costs to a minimum. The Axis 241SA uses motion JPEG and MPEG-4 compression and it is possible to record video at up to 30 frames per second through the device. You can lower the frame rate of the video server if required and this feature should help if the device needs to be connected to a network that has significant bandwidth constraints.

As with other video servers in the range the Axis 251SA has a variety of CIF resolutions you can select the have an impact on image quality. When using an NTSC video signal the image resolution can be set to a maximum of 704*480 frames per second, this can be increased to 768*576 when using a PAL video signal. The video server can handle audio so use it to set up a communication system between your monitoring stations and your cameras, the device uses PCM audio and can stream audio over a network at up to 64 Kbps

Video images routed through the video server can be manipulated in a variety of ways, you can switch between color and black video and you can also rotate the displayed images. You also have the option to give the cameras attached to the 241SA a specific name so that they can easily be identified at monitoring stations, you can do this with the devices overlay capabilities that allow you to insert the date or time or other information in the image output of the device.

External alarms can be connected to the video server and use them as a means of triggering video recording. The device has four alarm inputs and four alarm outputs, the video server also has an RS-485/422 half duplex port and supports pan tilt and zoom cameras. When monitoring cameras connected to the video server remotely the system uses HTTPS encryption so you can view the output securely through internet explorer.

The outer casing of the video server is made of sturdy metal and it comes with a mounting bracket for installation. The internal hardware consists of an ETRAX 100LX 32bit CPU, 64 megabytes of ram and 8 megabytes of flash memory. As standard with the Axis video server range the 241SA includes software on CD so you can set up Windows based PC’s as monitoring stations.

Check the latest price of the Axis 241SA Video Server