Some Information about DVR

What is DVR?

Digital Video Recording, or simply called DVR for short, is the latest surveillance technology that provides full digital recording, remote surveillance access, remote device controls and many more. DVR technology is a computerized system that combines all the features of a traditional videotape system. It can connect alarm sensor and alarm buzzer to build up an alarm system and can use for pictures motion detection, PTZ controlling through decoder, network video transmission and signals controlling.

The old fashioned videotape surveillance system needs ongoing effort to make it work properly, but  with the new DVR system it will run automatically by itself without any assistance. Moreover, the quality on videotape is poor because tape system shares four or more pictures in one video frame. the quality on videotape also degrades each time it is used due to head wear, tape stretch, and decomposition of the videotape coating. This is because videotape reused too many times. On the contrary, DVR uses one picture per video frame, and all cameras can be viewed together with superior picture quality.

DVR Usage

1. Home Security Systems - Home owners can identify who is at the door, check on the baby, or check the house if they are away.
2. Commercial Security Systems - Business can prevent or identify shoplifters or burglars, and keep an eye on the business from home. Sadly, today, employee theft is now higher in retail than customer theft itself, and monitoring retail employees is becoming necessary.
3. Industry and Research - can monitor processes as well as maintaining security surveillance.
4. Education and Government - can keep eye on trouble spots.

Types of DVR

1. Standalone DVR

Every function on this DVR is a matter of a push of a button which makes operation very simple. Most standalone DVRs have off-site viewing functions that allow you to view video from anywhere in the world. While this is also possible with the PC-Based DVR systems it requires knowledge of computer networking and routing processes. Most standalone versions have two or more internal hard drive spaces as well as two or more external hard drive connections allowing for extended DVR recording times. Standalone DVRs are in fact computer based machine which run Linux, Unix, or other proprietary operating system but the different is that they are designed to run only one application (DVR surveillance), which makes the standalone device a reliable appliance and does one thing only.

2. PC-based DVR

The computer contains all the usual stuffs (motherboard, network card, video card, hard drive, memory, etc) but it also includes DVR capture card. This DVR capture card can have 4, 8, 16 video inputs. The video inputs receive analog signals from the cameras. The analog video is converted to a digital format and then compressed using mpeg4 compression. The compressed video is stored as data on the hard drive for archiving and playback. PC-based DVR provide far better video recording clarity over time lapse and are generally more flexible than standalone DVRs. These units are available as kits which you install on your PC. You can also buy systems pre-configured with all the functionality you need for your surveillance system.