hello, i'm pretty sure i'm going to buy an avtech dvr for my parents house (although still thinking about avermedia) and was wondering if anyone could recommend which model is best. I was going to go for the 760a but am not sure what extra features the higher models have.. are any of these features worth the extra money?

I'm also considering going for the avc715 8ch and fitting 6 cameras around my parents house instead of 4 (its a big house). Anyone with any experience of the avc715? Aside for the extra cameras is there much difference b/w this and the 760a?


thanks in advance

I would obviously recommend an AVTech DVR, but then again you must look at the environment that the cameras, and the DVR is going in to. Budget is mostly the deciding factor.

For instance. If I was putting the DVR in to an electronics closet with all of the hometheater stuff then the AVC 760, and the AVC 760A would be the wrong choice!!

Why? I dunno? I just sell the darn things. No! No! I am just kidding.

I would want a DVR that has an IR jack. This way I can run a wire from the big screen tv in the living room, or hometheater back to the DVR. They could pick up the DVR's remote control, and they can control the DVR even though it may be located in another part of the house!

Now I need a DVR that has a remote control, and an IR input jack!

Perhaps you want a burner of some sort. You will need a model that has that built in. Then again you cannot pop the DVD out of the DVD burner, and just stuff it in to a regular DVD player, and have it play. It can only be played in a computer with the software that allows you to watch. This is a great thing as a Defense attorney could not say the crook that broke in to your house is not the guy as you have modified the video to emplicate him falsely. That is why they have all of this software to play the video.

Then again you could always hook a VCR between the DVR, and the TV, (or monitor), and you would not need for a CD, or a DVD burner.

How long do you want to store video on your DVR? There are DVRs that have a special connector on the back where you can "stack" hard drives to get the long term storage that you need!


Poke around here, and see what you like:

http://www.avtech.com.tw/english/cctv.a ... =3&Type2=2

Go to my website, and then download the manual of your choice.

Now did I make your choices harder?

If you were to ask me, then I would just sell you the most expensive one!

That should make your choice real easy!

Hi scorpion thanks for the advice, it has made my choice hard. I'm planning to put the DVR in the loft (which is easily accessed) but well away from commonly used areas of the house and is in a cool room. Therefore I would like the unit to be as maintence free as possible.
Connecting to a TV or watching the CCTV in real time is not something we need. This also means we need a large hard drive. I would, however, like it connected to the network so I can occasionally monitor things remotely when my parents are away, but really we would pretty much like to leave it alone unless we have a break in. I suppose we need a minimum of 2 weeks record time but ideally 3-4 weeks on highest setting would be best.

I would like a unit that easily allows copying to a normal format on a cd that the police can view but I could live with copying to a vcr if thats the best option.

Are there any models that fit this bill.. I would like to spend upto around £500 but if theres a unit that is much better suited for upto £800 or even more (+ extra for hard drives) then I would gladly pay the extra.

Scorpion, do you think any of the avtech units would do all this? do any allow copying to a cd onto a normal format that the police can view or do they all require special software?

Also whats the port called that allows extra hard drives to be stacked? This is something I think I would like.

Sorry about all the questions, I really appreciate anyone that takes the time to write, especially scorpion.

The AVC 783, AVC 785, and the AVC 787 have the disk array port.

Look at the manual for the 787 / 787 for more info.

Any of the AVTech DVR will allow you to download the video to a computer, and then you can convert it to AVI. It is very easy to do.

It may not carry any audio when converted to AVI though.

The AVC 760 will fit the bill, and the AVC 781 will too with a 500 GB HD.

I would have you look around at the posts to compare the Avermedias.

I specialize in a narrow, but very deep with DVR companies.

The majority of my customers are entry level, or budget level so this may skew my advice.

I recently came across an AVTECH DVR that is older than 4 years old, and still kicking! It is used by law enforcement, so we are not talking glass, and brass on a shelf somewhere.

If you want longevity then plug the DVR in to the best UPS / line filtration that you can afford. It makes all of the world of a difference!

Holmes,

I have installed the AVC 761 4ch. and I can say that I am very happy with the unit. I am able to access it from my web browser and mobile phone (win mobile) so remote viewing is very easy, it will even live stream to quicktime so you could setup a simple bespoke webpage for your folks. The 8ch. AVC 785 is also a very capable DVR and have just installed my first unit for a customer with 6 cameras. I do prefer the 761's interface and software as it seems a little slicker on the mobile apps but would not hesitate using the 785 again if more than 4 cameras are needed.

On the subject of cameras I found a very big difference between 1/4" and 1/3" CCD units and would strongly recommend that if the budget allows go for a 1.3" solution. I found the Sony CCD with Exview HAD to be excellent.

With regards to location remember that you will have to wire the internet connection to the attic as well.

The 761 can take a 1TB (1000GB) hard drive and the 785 can take 2 1TB hard drives but the 785 only has ATA HDD ports so you might have to invest in an ATA to SATA converter(s).

As for copying to a normal format on CD or DVD you can copy on recordings or portions of to a connected PC or USB stick and then convert from the native MP4 format to avi or any other fomat. The supplied software will convert to avi but the quality is frankly awful but luckily you can find many free quality converters on the web.

DISCLAIMER: CCTV is a new line for my company and I am only relating my limited personal experiences after a couple of installations.

Anyway good luck with your implementation and don't forget to post back with you experiences.

Steve