shoreviewsecurity

You may want to check out the G4-LTA. Nice unit and well below you DVR budget. Will record 30fps at CIF resolution and will support PTZ Cams with Pelco D. Additionally, Internet viewing works very well. I did have one online as a demo but have relocated and have not set up the demo at my new location yet. My demo also had a PTZ cam. All capable of controlling remotely. Sorry. I also would recommend the RTA but not in stock today but am expecting shipment by weeks end. If you are looking for 30fps, you may want to consider a larger HD as the default LTA unit comes with an 80Gb. I know it can very confusing out there as I have gone through this as well but I must say, once I found this unit and it's older brothers the XLA and RTA, I never looked back. Just my personal experience. Yes, the price is real and you will not receive an empty box. One word on Internet viewing... I always tell my customers that that is the one thing no one has control over. Some days quick as lightning and other days???? DSL vs cable another variable. Just a heads up. Good luck in your search. Mike

Rory is right ( of course ). The switch is not noticable unless you put your ear next to the cam case and cover the lens to force the IR's to come or on the flip side, at night, use a flashlight and force the IR's to turn off. Don't shine the light directly into the lens though. Only provide enough ambient light to fool the cam into thinking it's getting light out. Pretty easy to do as I have found that most cameras are pretty stupid

Rory is absolutely correct... My experience has been exactly that, adjust in full sunlight. Very sensitive adjustment but once you get it, it's great!

Your Welcome, it was my pleasure. I am glad I was able to help. Don't hesitate to either post again or email. Regards Mike

Yes dopalgangr did a great job comparing the two. I am a huge fan of the 540X-meets or exceeds my requirements with my installations. You may also want to follow this link to view video from these cams during the day and night. http://www.shoreviewsecurity.com/xlademo.html Thanks Mike

Hi, I'll do my best to try and explain... My client software has already been set up so I will not be able to provide screen shots of everything I explain. Open the client software and select "Configure" at the top of the viewer. Once you do this, you will see two large white empty panes. Please see attached picture "configure" and right mouse in the pane indicated in yellow. In the left pane right mouse click and select " create root node". In the box that appears, name the root anything you want ( Test, myDVR, etc, no spaces ). Once you have established the root name, highlight and right mouse click the root name and select "add device". The picture attached " add device " will appear. Fill in the boxes as I have in the picture. Click OK. Once you have done this, that DVR (LTA) will appear in the extreme left hand pane. Click on the "Preview" button at the top and double click on any one channel number and you will see an image in the pane surrounded in yellow. This is all assuming you have not changed any of the LTA's factory settings. I know, the manual is not at all clear. Hope this helps. Thanks Mike

I have experienced this with another PTZ cam where the power hicupped. Although not noticable to the naked eye. Check your power supply to insure it's providing the proper voltage and is able to handle the current draw. Just a thought...

Yes, I have but I am verifying all info before I post. Sorry for the delay. Thanks Mike

I can see traffic on my site. I think you may have just visited. See you coming in from RI. Went to your site - very nice. Great pictures of your work too!!

Hi Frank, The best I can do is visit my site and take a look at the PDF link. That has a pretty good front panel shot. Thanks Mike

This DVR is the only Stand Alone that I use and install in my local market. I like its flexibility, features and especially it's reliability. I have many of these units installed and have never had one fail. May be a biased opinion but the unit speaks for itself.

Hi dopalgangr, It's Mike. When we spoke on the phone on Saturday, I believe you asked the same question and my response was yes. I stand corrected as I was confusing this cam with the P540X cam. The 400HPT does not but the ISC-P540X cam does. Also, I have experienced the discoloring of the case AND the water penetration BUT as mentioned, it is a cosmetic issue with the case color not that that's not an issue in itself but does not affect cam performance. I have found that this water issue is that when the case expands in the sun and then shrinks at night that the screws holding the plates on the cam become "loose". Very typical of any metal object when exposed to heat and cold. Not so loose you can turn them with your fingers but loose enough to allow it to suck a tiny bit of moisture. I have simply snugged them up and Have never had a similar problem with any one cam that I done this with since. Now as a pre-installation of these cams, I tighten the screws just to be sure before installation. Sorry about the wrong info:? Mike

Hi Frank, The DVR does have "ears" and is rack mountable. Thanks Mike

Good Morning, Yep, you are right. Burned the midnight oil. I fixed that link. At that point, the tooth picks holdng my eye lids open had broken Mike

I have remotely pulled video from a customers XLA ( used with permission ). The camera is the ISC-P540X. Please visit... http://shoreviewsecurity.com/xlademo.html This is the only camera I will use in a "professional" installation as you will see the quality is great even at night. Two videos, same cam, day and night. See what you think. Thanks Mike

A digital DVR when set for motion detection "stores" the amount of pre and post determined times and then writes the incident to the drive. Not a stupid question at all. Very nice feature. Mike

I sell mostly to businesses but do have a few residential customers, but really surveillance is surveillance. I think you are waiting for me to post a comparison sheet. I am in the process of doing so, so please bear with me. The XLA is a better unit and the RTA even better as far as recording resolutions. Also, the XLA and above offer the option of a built in DVD and more options to record audio. As I have posted before in another thread, frame rates are driving factor in ID'ing people. Let's say you choose to record at 4 fps, too choppy and even if the person were to look at the camera and turning one's self quickly, you may not capture the face as well if you recorded at a higher frame rate. When you playback, and you have recored at a higher frame rate, you can literally go frame by frame in playback in an attempt to ID. Also, facial reconition is important but we have found the what usually gets them caught is their mannerism, the clothes they were, etc. We have even seen crooks wear very identifying clothing. Amazing!!! You may want to consider the Speco dome camera we have on our site. About the same money but primarly indoor use. This cam offers IR. I like this cam. I honestly believe that this combo will meet your needs. But agian, without actually surveying the site first hand, it becomes a shot in the dark ( please excuse the pun ). Thanks Mike

As you said, there are many choices out there and I have experienced many of them in my day to day maintenance effort. I have been using this product for about three years and once I found this DVR, I never looked any further. There are many reasons why I stick with G4. One that is most important to me is that I have NEVER had one fail. Important to me simply because once I install a system, return visits to the property cost me money. I am a firm believer in not changing horses in midstream so to speak. Also, we offer FREE DDNS service with every unit sold. Please visit my website for more info on this. Another added value and I would assume being this is going to be installed in your home, you have a dynamic IP address ( one that changes ). You'll drive yourself crazy comparing, talking to reps and the like. I did that already! I have other manufacturers calling me to sell their DVR and I simply say no thank you. Maybe a little close-minded but this DVR works for me. As far as the camera, I see that the Swann has only 24 LED's whereas the 400HPT has 36. I can tell you though that the G4-400HPT may be an overkill especially indoors but an excellent cam outdoors. It features a varifocal lens and a special lens covering that eliminates IR back wash. A common problem with IR cams. Also, I don't like the fact that the wire is exposed on the swann where the wire is enclosed through the bracket on 400HPT. Can't tell if the swann changes to B&W at night HPT does. Provides sharper images in this mode. Just a better cam. Think I am running out of room to go on here. Hope this helps?? Thanks Mike

Hello, I sell and install this unit and other Intellicam products as well. We do this for a living and have the LTA protecting my own property. We are a Mastrer Distributor for Intellicam. You are welcome to PM me and I will send you a username and password so you can demo yourself. Can be viewed using Internet Explorer but Active X will need to be enabled. Have 4 cams on this system, one being a PTZ, 2 IR cameras and a basic color security box camera monitoring my street. Cameras really are the weakest link. Even with a great DVR with poor quality cameras, the DVR will only record what the camera "sees" Thanks Mike www.shoreviewsecurityusa.com Always on - Always Watching

I personally sell and install the XLA unit from Intellicam. I am Master Distributor for Intellicam. I have had great success with this model and as mentioned performs very well in remote mode. For the price, it really is a great DVR and I have used other brands but once we got our hands on the XLA and the RTA for that matter, we never looked any further. Thanks Mike

Hello Everyone, I will put together a comparison sheet over the next few days. Once completed, I will post. Thanks Mike shoreviewsecurityusa

Hi, Have you heard of the G4-LTA or XLA?? We sell and install these DVR's and remote playback works great. Your right though, We have to tell each of our customers that we can't control the Internet speeds especially DSL. Visit our site ( below ), email us, and we will provide access to our demo LTA. We will send you a unique login for a short period of time. We try to limit this access so as to prevent congestion. Multiple users can access at the same time without interfering with each others DVR requests. You can try it for yourself. Thanks shoreviewsecurityusa

Ok, Thanks!

Any luck Marine??? Mike

Hi, Some Internet providers out there DO NOT allow requests on port 80. You will use your external IP address, the one found in the status page of the router to connect remotely. In other words, when you try to connect to your DVR from a remote location using your external IP address, that "request" is coming into your modem on port 80. This can not be changed. There is a very complicated work around for this which is way beyond the scope of this forum and against most ISP's terms of use policy. Those Internet providers will force you to purchase business class Internet access to allow traffic on port 80. AS mentioned in the previous reply, those of us that do this for a living see this all the time. When we sell and install a system, this type of network support is included in the price ( our experience, etc. ). But let's assume your ISP allows port 80 traffic. Have you forwarded port 80 to your DVR IP address?? And, you may need to also forward another port setting as well. All of our DVR's use port 8000. Our typical set up is as follows using a Linksys Router... DVR 80 to 80 both 192.168.1.150 DVR2 8000 to 8000 both 192.168.1.150 Make sure you click the "enable" button. Then Save settings. Hope this helps???? Mike