DVR/NVR recomendation

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rkd29980

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 19, 2015
Messages
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I have a really nice Samsung AIO DVR with HQ cameras and the DVR took a dump and AIO systems are hard to find. My local TV repair shop couldn't fix it because it used uncommon propitiatory parts that were too difficult to find.

So I need a new DVR or NVR. It needs to be compatable with my current cameras, be rack mountable and have room for enough hard drives to store several years worth of recordings from three cameras. Price should be about $500 and from a well know manufacturer like Samsung.
 
Really? Because my old DVR had a 1TB HDD in it and that was enough to hold 2 weeks of recording from two cameras. I know they have 4U DVR's that can hold many drives and I am sure that if I fill it with 5TB or 6TB drives than it should be fine.

Do you have a recommendation?
 
what are your current cameras?

even price without hard drives is going to be over $500
 
Get a Dell C2100 (or equivalent) on eBay for ~$300 and throw the NVR software of your choice on it. You'll come in well below $500-not including disks, of course.
 
tacos4me said:
Get a Dell C2100 (or equivalent) on eBay for ~$300 and throw the NVR software of your choice on it. You'll come in well below $500-not including disks, of course.
Click to expand...

And how does a Dell PowerEdge or any server help me? How do I connect my cameras to it. How would I integrate it with my alarm? What DVR software is out there? Is it free? Do I have to install an OS like Windows or can I just use a security DVR's firmware/OS?

I would like something that purely functions as a DVR and using a server with Windows our Linux over complicates things.
 
Well you are asking for years worth of storage. I don't really see how that's realistic, given your old system held about 2 weeks per TB, to get to years you'd have to either get some serious compression (which would need a lot of CPU, hence a server), go to something like.... 25+ TB of total storage (which would need a lot of storage options, hence a server), or be willing to live with a serious reduction in footage quality to get the file sizes down.

The links aren't working for the camera, so I can't tell what you have already. If they are BNC connectors any generic DVR will probably work with them.

Maybe you should just look at replacing the cameras with IP cameras - they could dump straight to any NAS or other file server.
 
Could just buy another Samsung as well. Amazon is listing the Samsung AIO SDS 4-channel for $250. Sure, that includes cameras, but you could just use the DVR and ebay what you didn't need off.
 
25TB isn't an issue and any 3U or 4U DVR should have enough space for 4-6 of those Seagate 8TB Archive drives.

That link still works fine for me but if you need the camera specs. "Samsung SEB-1000R Weatherproof Outdoor Security Camera - CCD, 600TVL, Night Vision Up to 50 Feet, Weatherproof, Mini-DIN Connection"

The $250 dollar system is 4 channel but I need an 8 channel system because I have 6 cameras and may get 2 more.

The cameras I have are really nice and I would like to keep using them plus they are a huge pain to wire up.

If I did use a server, how would I connect my cameras to it? Is there a card or cards I would need to buy? What OS/software do I use?
 
rkd29980 said:
It needs to be compatable with my current cameras, be rack mountable and have room for enough hard drives to store several years worth of recordings from three cameras. Price should be about $500 and from a well know manufacturer like Samsung.
Click to expand...

Never going to happen, you are delusional.

Dump the analog cameras and upgrade to IP cameras, get an NVR or build one out of a server/space PC. Still then you're not going to get several years of storage let alone one year. Dump your delusional requirements.

Anything HIKvision or Dahula is better than the junk you currently have.
 
rkd29980 said:
25TB isn't an issue and any 3U or 4U DVR should have enough space for 4-6 of those Seagate 8TB Archive drives.

That link still works fine for me but if you need the camera specs. "Samsung SEB-1000R Weatherproof Outdoor Security Camera - CCD, 600TVL, Night Vision Up to 50 Feet, Weatherproof, Mini-DIN Connection"

The $250 dollar system is 4 channel but I need an 8 channel system because I have 6 cameras and may get 2 more.

The cameras I have are really nice and I would like to keep using them plus they are a huge pain to wire up.

If I did use a server, how would I connect my cameras to it? Is there a card or cards I would need to buy? What OS/software do I use?
Click to expand...

bluecherry makes dvr software that they sell capture cards with

gonna spend more than 500, not including server... and your storage requirements are going to quadruple if you want to add a bunch of cams

and what are you going to do with all this footage? just get enough storage for a month's worth and you'll be fine
 
OP, you have a tall order to find. The closest I can find is a Bosch DVR5000 unit. It includes rack ears in the box, so that covers the rackmount requirement. Specs HERE show that it will accommodate up to 4 x 4TB hard drives, and the diskless 4 channel (matching your original unit) version is $141 HERE. Add 4TB drives 1 by 1 as your storage needs grow.

That being said, I think that you need to either increase the budget a touch for a better class of gear or be more realistic on the storage side of things.
 
I guess I had something like a Toshiba Surveillix in mind for my DVR. I found one on ebay for $500 and it holds 8 drives but unfortunately it uses the wrong kind of connector and wont support my cameras.

I am open to the idea of using a server as a DVR or building one if anybody can tell me what I need to buy to be able to plug my cameras into it and get it working as a DVR. I also need to know what software to use, must be FREE.

Nate7311, thanks for that link, unfortunately 16TB limit is not enough and my current DVR is an 8 channel unit not 4 channel. I need an 8 channel DVR with space for 4-8 drives up to at lease 8TB. A DVR with RAID6 functionality is a huge plus.
 
Ahh, 8 channels using the DIN inerface, I assumed you were using the BNCs. What interface do you cameras use? Both of your Tiger Direct Links are broken.
 
lol, you are specing a multi-thousand dollar NVR to meet your requirements and then keeping the proprietary cameras as the limiting factor.

Also be aware those archive hard drives are not necessarily going to have the bandwidth/performance to run multiple cameras direct to disk 24/7.

Sorry, I dont even know where to begin on this one...
 
I guess I will have to buy new cameras. I don't have to use those archive drives if I am using a server. Any advice?
 
Advice? Yeah, start over with a detailed list of needs, requirements and realistic budget. $500 isn't going to get you far even without cams.

That being said, if you have to replace cams, the go with IP cams for better resolution and more flexibility. Analog cams will either need a traditional DVR, an image capture board or a network transcoder to adapt to a PC-based system. All of those add cost, and some require proprietary software.
 
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rkd29980 said:
25TB isn't an issue and any 3U or 4U DVR should have enough space for 4-6 of those Seagate 8TB Archive drives.
Click to expand...

Archive drives probably won't be fast enough to save 8 cameras streaming video and may or may not work with a specific DVR (there are reports of them timing out under certain file systems because they take so long to perform operations). You more than likely need to step up to a full speed drive, and those are over $500 each.

Even if they did work, the archive drives are $200+ each, and you've already exceeded your budget on hard drives alone.

I can understand you don't want to re-run cable for the cameras. And if that is the driving factor, your buying another AIO kit and that's the only option, but you aren't going to get years worth of archive storage on that DVR (although you may have the option to pull footage and archive it externally, some DVRs will, I don't know about this one in particular.
 
Figure out how many cameras you actually need and how long you really need to retain recordings. Get an appropriate machine-R710, C2100, whatever. Those are cheap eBay options with 3.5" bays. Get one with a RAID controller. I run my personal arrays in RAID10 (including my NVR). Buy your cameras, Hikvision is most often recommended around here. I use them myself, and they're great.

Camera x 6 = ~$600
Server = ~$350
6 x 6TB HGST NAS drives = ~$1600

Not to mention any PoE gear to power the cameras and all the other bits and bobs-Windows license, NVR software license, CAT5, etc. Not a cheap project, you'll be into 3 grand or more to do it properly.

Just find a replacement for your existing setup if you don't want to spend money. $500 isn't going to do it.
 
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