DVR Security System Review

The Clover CDR4010 accommodates up to four surveillance cameras, the are connected to the DVR through its BNC connectors, at maximum the system is capable of recording video at 30 frames per second. The DVR uses FM audio and video compression and it has triplex functionality enabling you to watch previously recorded security camera footage without interrupting recording in progress.

Surveillance camera footage is stored on the systems internal hard drive and this has an 80 gigabyte capacity. It is possible to set up a two way audio system so you can speak to people in the same area as your surveillance cameras, the system has one audio input and one audio output, more audio slots may have proved useful but the DVR has a very low cost.

The CDR4010 does have motion detection capabilities that can be used to automatically activate and deactivate recording, alarms sensors can be configured to bring the same results. You can also set a schedule that determines when the system will start and stop recording surveillance camera footage. Although the DVR does not support a multitude of pan, tilt and zoom surveillance cameras it does have a built in PTZ camera control that is compatible with certain Pelco cameras that use the Pelco-D protocol.

You can program the recording speed of the DVR lower recording speeds will have an impact on the smoothness of recorded video but will decrease the amount of hard drive space needed to store video. That pretty much covers the Clover CDR4050, it’s a low cost alternative for those looking for a surveillance DVR. If MPEG video compression and controlling a security system remotely is of no importance and you are on a budget you may find the system serves its purpose.

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The Sony NSR 50 accommodates up to 32 IP cameras, the DVR also supports analog surveillance cameras.  The graphical interface of the DVR makes it possible for you to view all cameras attached to the system simultaneously using a single monitor.  The DVR uses MPEG-4 video compression, JPEG image compression and has a maximum recording rate of 240 frames per second.

Pan, tilt and zoom cameras are supported by the NSR50 and it also supports USB mouse controllers, you can use your mouse to click a specific point within an image and your PTZ cameras respond by focusing on that area.  The DVR also has motion sensor capabilities that can be used to control when the system starts and stops recording, its motion detection capabilities allow it to ignore objects picked up by security cameras such as swaying trees and to activate recording if a subject steps into the cameras range.

You can store video on the DVR’s internal hard drive, this has a 500 gigabyte capacity, you can also attach hot swappable hard drives to the system allowing you to change the hard drive without turning the system off.  You can also use the Sony DVR for transferring surveillance camera footage on CD, DVD or CF memory cards as the DVR is fitted with a CD/DVD burner and a CF memory card slot.

The Sony DVR supports audio so you can see as well as hear the activities picked up by your surveillance cameras, you can use the NSR-50 to set up a two way audio system allowing you to communicate fully with people in your surveillance cameras vicinity.  There are numerous options available for monitoring and controlling the cameras attached to the DVR remotely, you can configure a PC for this or connect the system to the Internet or local area network.

A variety of external devices can be connected to the DVR such as the Sony RM-NS10 keyboard, the device acts as a keyboard but has a built in joystick large enough to grip in the palm of your hand.  The external joystick allows you to control cameras attached to the Sony DVR with precision, the system also has additional ports to accommodate a multitude of external storage devices.

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The Pelco DVR is quite compact in comparison to other DVR’s on the market, this system is not the cheapest and its capabilities aren’t bad, it can record video at a rate of 480 frames per second in CIF format. You’re unlikely to ever need one camera attached to the system to record at a speed higher than 30 frames per second but any DVR’s frame has to be divided between each camera attached to it.

There are numerous CIF selections that have an effect on the picture resolution of recordings; these include the standard CIF mode (352*288), 2CIF (704*288) and 4CIF (704*576). If you have high resolution cameras the DVR’s 2CIF or 4CIF resolutions enable you to use them to their potential.

So what does the ‘Endura Enabled’ reference in the DVR’s title relate to? Basically Pelco have a range of products that belong to the Endura family, this means that ‘Endura Enabled’ hardware can be used together. More interestingly there is EnduraStor and this technology automatically reduces the frame rate of stored video after a period of time you specify. This feature enables you to economise on the storage space used by the DVR’s internal hard drive.

The Pelco DVR has a 250 gigabyte internal hard drive, if you need more space then it is possible to change the systems hard drive, there are a few models in the DVR5100 range, the best model in the range will accommodate hard drives that have up to a 1.5 terabyte capacity. The DVR uses MPEG-4 video compression and is compatible with both PAL and NTSC video signals.

The DVR shares many elements that are common to PC’s, the system has a Linux based operating system and it can be controlled with a keyboard and mouse. You can connect the DVR to a variety of monitoring devices as it has a variety of video outputs, these include S-Video, VGA and BNC. The system can be used to set up a two way audio system between you can people who are standing in the vicinity of your surveillance cameras, the DVR has one audio input and four audio inputs.

Pan tilt and zoom cameras are supported and you can connect the DVR to a local computer network or connect it to the Internet. Connecting the DVR to a network enables you to control and monitor it remotely so you don’t have to be present at your premises to have knowledge on events picked up by your surveillance cameras. Video recording can be activated by means of scheduling, motion detection or alarm activation, the DVR is fitted with 1 alarm relay per camera to accommodate external alarms.

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The DVT-200 has been created by Hewlett Packard and the system bears a lot of resemblance to a PC based DVR. The functions of the DVR are controlled by the Windows Vista operating system that is readily installed, the DVR accommodates a maximum of 32 security cameras through its BNC connectors. The recording rate of the DVR is quite high, at maximum it is capable of recording surveillance camera footage at a speed of 240 frames per second when using an NTSC video signal, the recording speed lowers slightly when using PAL signals to 200 frames per second.

Surveillance camera footage is stored on the systems internal SATA hard drive, the hard drive included with the system has a 250 gigabyte capacity. You can use the DVT-200 Platinum 3 to set up a two way audio system so you can communicate with subjects that are in your surveillance cameras vicinity as it has audio input and output ports. Image quality of the DVR can be modified and there are four preset selections, you can select either best, high, normal or basic image quality.

Video recording by the DVT-200 can be activated in numerous ways, you can set a schedule or use its motion detection capabilities to control recording. If you have an alarm system on your premises you can connect it to the DVR, the DVR will begin recording video footage should it detect an alarm has been activated. The system accommodates a fair amount of external alarms as it is fitted with 8 alarm inputs and four alarm outputs.

As you would expect with a PC based DVR you can connect the system to the Internet or to a local area network, this allows you to control its functions and monitor the footage it captures remotely. The system also accommodates pan tilt and zoom type surveillance cameras, you can control these with the systems mouse and keyboard.

The internal hardware of the system consists of an Intel E4400 dual core processor that runs at 2 GHz and there is a gigabyte of system memory. Video can be transferred to DVD easily if required as the DVT-200 Platinum 3 includes a DVD burner.

The Lorex L208D251 is a security DVR that accommodates up to 8 surveillance cameras and these are attached to the system through its BNC ports. Both PAL and NTSC video signals are compatible with the DVR, in NTSC mode it is able to record video at pixels resolutions up to 640*224, this can be increased to 640*272 in PAL mode. When it comes to monitoring and playback of video footage the system is able to playback video at a maximum resolution of 720*480 in NTSC mode and 720*576 in PAL mode.

Triplex functionality is built in to the Lorex DVR so you can play back video footage without having to stop recording that is in progress. When monitoring surveillance camera footage you can view each camera attached to the system full screen in sequence. You can also split the screen of your monitor into four segments with the DVR so you can monitor four cameras on one monitor, you also have the option of viewing all cameras attached to the system simultaneously on one monitor.

There are two video outputs fitted to the DVR so you can connect it to monitoring devices, the system uses both MPEG-4 and motion JPEG compression. Video recorded by the DVR can be burned to DVD with its built in CD writer and it also contains a 500 gigabyte hard drive. If further storage space is required the system can accommodate up to two internal hard drives.

You can connect the DVR to a broadband router which gives you the option to monitor and control the system remotely, Lorex client software is included with the DVR that you can install on Windows based PC’s. The functions of the DVR are controlled by its embedded real time operating system, it can record continuously or by means of alarm activation, motion detection or scheduling.

Alarms can be connected to the DVR through its 4 alarm inputs and it supports cameras with pan tilt and zoom functions, these are connected to the system through its RS485 connector. The DVR can record video at a maximum speed of 60 frames per second and its functions can be accessed through its front panel or with a mouse controller.

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The Speco DVR-16TN uses MPEG-4 video compression and accommodates up to 16 surveillance cameras, these are attached to the system through its 16 BNC ports. You can attach the system to a monitor through its VGA output and it is able to display video at a maximum resolution of 1280*1024 pixels. An S-Video port is also fitted to the system that you can use to route the output to monitoring devices.

The maximum recording resolution of the DVR is 720*576 when using an PAL video signal, NTSC offers a slightly lower maximum resolution that being 720*480. The DVR can record video at a maximum speed of 120 frames per second and is compatible with both PAL and NTSC video signals. As you would expect the DVR has Triplex functionality so you playback camera footage without interrupting recording.

Audio is also handled by the Speco DVR but it doesn’t have a great deal of audio input and output sockets, there is one RCA audio input and one RCA audio output. To keep files sizes low the system uses ADPCM audio compression. As far as recording goes the DVR can record continuously or you can set a schedule that determines when it will start and stop recording.

You have the option to attach external alarms to the DVR to control recording, the system has a 30 second pre-alarm recording function and it also has motion detection capabilities that can control recording. Up to 16 external alarms can be attached to the DVR, these are connected to the system through its terminal block and the alarm detection feature of the system is programmable.

The DVR has a two level password control system to ensure only authorised personal can access its functions, video is stored on its two internal hard drives and it is fitted with a CD writer for burning video to disc. Pan tilt and zoom cameras are supported and you can connect the system to computer networks so you can control it and monitor its attached cameras remotely.

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The Mace DVR-1600RW is a 16 channel security DVR, the system is fitted with 16 BNC ports to accommodate your security cameras.  For storing video the DVR is fitted with an 80 gigabyte IDE hard drive, the DVR may have to start overwriting video footage quickly especially if 24 hour video surveillance is a requirement.  On the plus side the DVR can be fitted with up to 8 internal hard drives should the need for additional storage arise.  On top of this 12 external hard drives can be attached to the DVR and it is also fitted with a CD writer that you can use to burn video to disc.

The DVR uses MPEG-4 video compression and is capable of recording video at varying speeds.  You can set individual cameras to record at 30 frames per second or lower the frame rate in order to keep video storage space usage to a minimum.  The DVR is compatible with both NTSC and PAL video signals, it can play back video footage at a maximum speed of 60 frames per second.  You can attach monitoring devices to the DVR through its BNC port and this is also fitted with a BNC audio output.

Video recording can be activated by attaching an external alarm to the DVR, the system can detect when the alarm has been activated and begin recording footage.  You can also control video recording by means of motion detection or you can schedule recording to start and stop at specific times.  The functions of the DVR are controlled through its embedded real time operating system (RTOS), you can control its functions through its front panel or with the included remote control.

You can also control the functions of the DVR and cameras that are attached to it by connecting the system to a network, the back of the DVR is fitted with an Ethernet port so you can connect it to a broadband router or LAN.  Networking the DVR gives you the option of controlling and monitoring the system from miles away from the site that you choose to install it.

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This is the C-MOR9T security DVR even though the design of the device is unique the hardware inside the device bears more resemblance to a PC.  For a start C-MOR9T contains a 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 1024 MB of RAM and a 500-gigabyte Seagate SATA hard drive.  The security DVR is designed to accommodate up to 9 surveillance cameras and is capable of recording up to 360 days of camera footage.

If the DVR detects that an attached security camera has a fault or has been damaged it can send you an email to notify you of the cameras state.  If necessary you can configure the DVR to email you when it detects motion on your cameras, you can also set the DVR to start and stop recording with its motion detection features.  You can create a schedule that determines when the DVR will start and start recording, alternatively you can attach external alarms to the system and it will begin recording camera footage if an alarm is triggered.

The security DVR can be connected to a LAN or broadband connection, when connected to a network you can control the functions of the DVR from a remote location.  The majority of security recorders that are network compatible include software that you need to install on a PC to set up the feature, the C-MOR9T can be connected to a network without the use of separate software.  Providing you have a router that supports a dynamic DNS you can use this to connect the DVR to a network.

You can control security cameras with pan tilt and zoom functions with the DVR, the system has an RS-232 port to accommodate them.  The DVR has an Ethernet port built in so you can connect it to a network and it also has a built in USB port.  Both MPEG-4 and JPEG video compression is incorporated into the DVR and it supports various mobile phones that you can use to keep you informed about camera activities.  The DVR is capable of recording video at a maximum of 30 frames per second and you can view the output of 9 cameras attached to the system simultaneously.

The AverDigi EB1704 Hybrid DVR can accommodate up to 4 surveillance cameras, the system is also capable of recording audio on each of its four channels.  What’s unusual about the DVR is that it accommodates both analog and digital surveillance cameras.  The DVR uses MPEG-4 video compression and is compatible with both PAL and NTSC video signals, in NTSC mode the system can record video at a resolution of 720*480, this can be increased to 720*576 in PAL mode.

At maximum the DVR can record video at a maximum frame rate of 120 frames per second when using NTSC video signals, the frame rate slightly lowers when using PAL video signals to 100 frames per second.  Cameras attached to the DVR can be viewed on either a PC monitor or TV, the device is fitted with 1 composite video output and 1 VGA output.  The system is controlled through both Linux and RTOS (real time operating system) and both of these are embedded in the DVR.

Video recording can be activated by various means, you can set a schedule that determines when the system will start and stop recording.  If necessary you can record video with the device twenty four hours a day but this will require a lot of storage space.  Alternatively the system can be set to record at times when it detects motion on your attached surveillance cameras.  On top of this the DVR has an alarm input, when an external connected to the DVR is activated the DVR will detect its state and begin recording.

The DVR has one audio output so you can set up a two way audio system through the device.  For storing video the DVR has one hard drive bay and you can also connect USB compatible storage devices to the system.  The DVR also supports cameras with pan tilt and zoom functions and you can connect it to a computer network, this gives you further options when it comes to the locations that you can use to monitor and control the system.

A digital watermark feature is built in to the DVR so you can gives images captured by it a unique signature.  The DVR also has a password protection system so only selected personnel can control and operate the device.  Many of the functions of the DVR can be controlled through the buttons on its front panel, the DVR also comes with a remote control.  Video footage can be searched for by the systems event log or you can enter a specific date or time to find what has been recorded by the DVR.

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The Toshiba XVR range of DVR’s accommodate a varying range of surveillance cameras, this particular model accommodates up to 16. The back of the system has 16 BNC ports that are used for attaching your security cameras and at maximum it is capable of recording video at 120 frames per second. The XVR has two video outputs, the device is fitted with one RCA output and one SVGA video output.

You can use the XVR to not only record but also audio in the vicinity of your surveillance cameras, the system has two RAC audio inputs built in. For storing video footage the DVR has a 250 gigabyte hard drive, at maximum you can install hard drives on the system that have a capacity of up to 1 terabyte. further video storage devices can be connected to the DVR such as external hard drive or memory sticks as the DVR has a built in USB port. On top of this the Toshiba DVR has a built in DVD writer that you can use to quickly burn video footage to disk.

The DVR is compatible with both PAL and NTSC video signals, the maximum recording resolution of the system is 720*480 in PAL mode, in NTSC video mode the maximum resolution is 720*240. When it comes to playback the device can display video at a maximum resolution of 720*576 in NTSC mode, in PAL mode the maximum playback resolution of the DVR is 720*480. The system is kept secure by a password protection system you can configure so only authorised personnel can operate its functions.

Video recording can be activated in a variety of ways, the DVR can be programmed to start and stop recording at specific times of the day, the DVR has 16 alarm inputs and will begin recording if an attached alarm is activated. There are also 16 alarm outputs built in to the system and it can be set to activate alarms if motion is detected. You can search for specific camera footage recorded by the Toshiba DVR by accessing its event log or you can enter the specific time of an incident to find video footage.

At the rear of the XVR you will find an Ethernet port so you can connect the system to a local area network or to the Internet. Once connected to a network you can control the functions of the DVR and its attached cameras while you are away from the site of which the system is installed. The DVR is also compatible with a variety of PTZ security cameras and has a built in RS-422/485 connector.

Check the latest price on the Toshiba XVR 16 Channel Digital Video Recorder