Finding The Right CCTV DVR Your CCTV Application

So, you are in the market for a CCTV DVR? Here at Security Camera Warehouse, we have many different CCTV DVRs. The main purpose of these recorders is to see live video and record. Recording the live data helps people from residential areas, small businesses, retail stores, restaurants, hi-commercial plants, government municipals and many others keep tabs on many potential threats, problems, and inventory control. DVRs are the brains for any CCTV application. We have organized each model by it's class. If you are new to CCTV then you will want to understand the differences between the models to know how to use them. When you are looking for a CCTV DVR you need to know just a few things. One, how many cameras do you need? Do you need room to grow in the future? If so then you will need to have a few extra channels on hand or go to a PC-based DVR and expand the unit to the right amount of cameras. You also need to know how much record time you need. Record time is a valuable part of a DVR. Having internal data at you finger tips is convent and net-workable. We have standalone DVRs that are pentaplex enabled and that means from remote locations you can operate the CCTV DVR, watch video, and record without interrupting the recording process. If you are a traveling person, then you will want to get a CCTV DVR that is network capable so you can have eyes in the back of your head. This feature alone, makes owing one of these units the best purchase decision ever. So when are shopping keep those things in mind, because those questions will help you decide which unit is best for you. Of course if you are still unsure, please call our 800 number and feel free to talk to a consultant today!

H.264 - MPEG 4 - MJPEG CCTV DVRs

So what is all the fuss with video format in CCTV DVRs? There are many answers for these formats. All came at a time when video was and still is on a technological run. With that run there will always be units that have technology that is far advance and new. H.264 compression is an example of that. Currently, h.264 is the best hard-ware compression on the market. In the old days, many companies and dealers, were selling DVR cards that had MPEG-4 compression, but most of it was software compressed. Software compression is just no good, for high definition video. In security you always have to have the best state of readiness to handle situations proactively. We do not sell or have CCTV DVRs that run on software compression. So naturally this sets us apart from many misconceptions. Especially the noise about how cheap our equipment is. H.264 CCTV DVR cards, are most popularly made by a company called GEOVISION. They make the top-of-the-line CCTV DVR capture cards today.

MPEG4 is still considered to be very good video compression even, though it has been on the market for over 11 years now. This was the last and the greatest video after the MJPEG days. We feature many CCTV DVRs with this video compression. You can tell right away, which ones are MPEG4 because of the DVR's low cost. These codecs are hard to understand in value. Until you read more wiki articles about how much technology is involved in this technology it is hard to see the price increase on equipment. Like most technology, most people are just oblivious to how any of it works. The main thing you need to know about a MPEG4 CCTV DVR is that it is very stable, robust, and smooth. Now with it being the king in multimedia coding, it is still the most sought after video standard for CCTV DVR today.

MJPEG format is the lowest standard of CCTV DVR video today. This technology was developed long ago and until the last 7 years in the CCTV DVR world, they are considered to be the lowest, and maybe poorest CCTV DVR video out. Our analysts here at Security Camera Warehouse is that do not think the MJPEG CCTV DVR video is poor. It may be grainy without the best cameras and lighting, but it very cost effective. You get what you pay for. Typically most MJPEG CCTV DVR video is software compressed. We have only one or two CCTV DVR models with MJPEG compression, and they are very affordable DVRs.

Calculate Your CCTV DVR Estimated Record Time

When considering a CCTV DVR, remember to select the right compression, but also remember to calculate the right amount of hard-drive space needed to achieve the amount of data you need to consume. In CCTV, having more than 4 cameras means there will be a lot of data recorded. Now depending on some variables, you can always gain more days of record time. There are other options too! Recording in a lower resolution, or adjusting to less frames per second (fps) always helps. Most of the time you will want 30 frames per second to have the best playback video. Setting to record time will help you in searching through video, and identify direct threats. The greatest benefit to setting to recording to motion detection is you save nearly 45% of your hard-drive. However, we have many of the same models listed in our menus, with different hard-drives sizes to give our customers an easier to think price with amount of video they need on hand. You can always expand to more hard-drives in almost any shell. In face the DVRs we have that say "USB", have no hard-drives inside, but you can add them in if your security needs change. In most cases you can upgrade internally to 1 Tera-byte, so never think that you can't upgrade. If you need help in figuring the variables to get your desired record time.