DVR Security System Review

Here is another security system solution from Swann, the DVR8-8500AI includes eight security cameras and video footage is stored digitally on its internal hard drive.  The internal hard drive for the DVR is manufactured by Seagate and it has a 250 gigabyte capacity, you can change this out if you wish, the system can accommodate up to 3 500 gigabyte hard drives.

The cameras included with the DVR are reasonably compact, they are suitable for both indoor and outdoor use and can record video in both light and dark conditions.  Within each security camera is a ¼ inch color CCD sensor and they have a resolution of 420 TV lines, the cameras use both PAL and NTSC video signals.  The cameras have a pixel range of 500*582 in PAL mode, in NTSC mode the pixel range is 510*492.  You can record video at night with the cameras and each has 24 LED’s and have an effective range of 20 metres (or 66 feet) when used in the dark.

In light conditions the cameras have an effective range of 100 metres, their outer casing is durable and composed of aluminium.  It would have been great if wireless capabilities were built in to the cameras but even though they are wired they carry out their job effectively.  Moving back to the DVR8-8500AI the system uses H.264 video compression (what Swann refer to as professional MPEG-4 DMX-V3) and it has a moderately high recording speed, the DVR can record video at a rate of 120 frames per second in NTSC mode and 100 frames per second in PAL mode.

The DVR is capable of CIF recording and can display video footage at a maximum resolution of 1024*768, the DVR can also record audio and it uses G.726 (ADPCM) audio compression.  The DVR has an in house operating system that is quite unique as it has a three dimensional graphical interface used to access the functions of the system.  Through the operating system you can schedule recording, adjust the DVR’s motion sensor feature and search for recorded surveillance camera footage.

That pretty much covers the functions of the Swann DVR8-8500AI, its not a bad system but it would have been nice to see more audio inputs on the DVR, there are two audio inputs and 1 audio output.  The DVR also supports external USB storage devices that you can use to back up surveillance camera footage, it also supports USB mice but these are not included with the DVR.

Check the latest price on the Swann SW244-8MP DVR8-8500 Security System