Hello again,
I'm a little confused with some recording time tables, many companies have in their brochures. I'm also confused about a DVR-manufacturer who actually claims that when I have following settings:

1) recording with one camera 24 hours per day (manual)

2) recording speed 1 frame per sec

3) quality mode low

4) audio off

then my 4ch standalone MPEG4 DVR with 4HDD (max 960GB) would record for 190 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So could you tell me which is the biggerst recording time I could expect from such a product?

What difference would it make in the recording time if I had a MJPEG DVR but the same settings? (I know that I could record for a shorter time but what exactly means this in numbers?)

And what if I had a Wavelett DVR?

Thanks in advance

Cant answer that, but they are only ever approximate calculations so take it for what its worth. But, with motion only recording, 3 cameras, with Wavelet in Highest quality, set to 8pps each but smart motion to speed up to as fast as 30pps 1 camera only, and using a 40GB HDD, I get over 2 months.

190 years ... i very much doubt it.

anyway, WAVELET recording DVR: (GE Kalatel)


so thats 2.647727272727272727 ...... Years ...

But still, thats only 1 camera @ 1pps IN Low Quality .. why would anyone want that ..?? With a DVR, low quality record setting makes absolutely no sense. And Wavelet is higher quality than Mpeg4 anyway you cut it.

Okay, lets even go as far as saying that Wavelet in this case may be 20kb, while Mpeg4 is 5kb (just thrown in values dont take them for real) .. so thats 4 x 2.64 .. years = 10 years APPROX .. nowhere even anywhere close to 190 years ..

There is a calculator on this site you might want to check it out.

http://www.vitekcctv.com/

Many DVR's compress in different ways. MJPEG, MPEG4, Wavelet, H.263
H.263 is your best compression for a DVR. This only compresses what changes in the image versus compressing the image. ATV uses this type of compression. Quick example. ATV FA4-120 is 4 channel 120g HD vs. Dedicated Micros Sprite 2 4 channel 160g. On the same settings in standard vhs quality, ATV compresses average image of 3K, where DM compresses at 14K. So you would need 720gig + on DM to match that of ATV 120 gig. Go to www.4ademo.com and click on products then cctv. You can see the comparison chart of compression for different dvr manufacturers. This chart is based on published information from the manufacturers. Take a look. There is also a hot link to the ATV website that has a calculator. The calculator keep in mind is for the ATV DVR. Find your other manufacturers calculator and compare.

Whats the ATVs like these days? Do you have a direct link to the software to take a look at, the network soft I mean? Also, ive noticed MPEG4 is a much lower quality than Wavelet, how does H.263 compare to that?

Rory

Rory,
You would need to go to my companies website www.4ademo.com go to products, cctv and click on ATV. From here you can click on Live Demo. Just fill out the quick form and you can get on to see the software.

ok thanks...will do

rory

Thanks a lot for the information about the calculator. It was a very helfull tool for me. I found many other in the NET. Although, different companies don't seem to agree with each other.
How many years do the manufacturers produce DVRs anyway? I'm new to the branch as you can understand, but sometimes it seems to me that the suppliers and the salespeople don't speack the same language when talking about CCTV. What's your opinion?