CSG

It seems the unit is out of warranty. The DVR boots but it says "HDD INSTALLATION FAILURE".

Does anyone know the procedure to replace the drive?

Thats a good point, I'll have to check the warranty on this unit, its a few years old though. If it's under warranty theres no point in taking my time to fix.

If its out of warranty, and a simple hard-drive swap will fix it, I'll do that. Otherwise it will be back to GE for an RMA. I don't have the time for a many stepped procedure on replacing the OS, if its on the drive. Of course using a larger drive would be nice (it's a single Seagate 160gb) the customer stated he is satisfied with the recording capacity as is.

I have a 4 channel Digia with 160gb drive that won't boot. As a matter of fact the only thing that happens is the red power light comes on , nothing else. I beleive the HD dies. Are the drives replaceable or does this need to go back to GE?

That's an interesting idea. I have 8 24vAC Sony box cams and 8 12vdc Speco Bullets, the bullets now have a ground loop that I haven't been able to get rid of, and I'm pulling my hair. The 24v AC cams are fine. And I have my scissorlift plugged into the same outlet!!!! Can't wait until Thursday to unplug that sucker.

[i have one at a large store here that every few days a few camera's start looking like hell....obviously induced noise. Turned out to be the charging unit for the sissor lift................main power line was running along side a few camera lines and when they plugged it in that created more current pull on that line which induced GL.......very strange but real.

there are a few things you can try if you wanna make your own:

As already suggested, a air conditioning filter (like for a house), can be picked up for a few dollars and cut to fit. There are the foam type and the fiberglass type. I have used this on some harddrive enclosures before.

You can also try a coarse scotch-brite pad, floor buffing pad, or whatever else is handy, and cut to fit.

Yup, been there done that

I saw those EZ connectors from a google search, I think I'll give them a try. I just wasted a lot of time making a crossover cable the old fashion way.

Does anyone have a better mousetrap for crimping RJ-45 plugs? This is one of my least favorite jobs, between untwisting the 8 wires, getting the wires in the proper order, cutting them to proper length, and inserting them into the RJ45 plug without disturbing them for crimping is such a hassle.

i dont know one can outdraw an adversary while they have a bead on you already, doesn't sound like good odds.

ankle holsters leave alot to be desired. it's like excuse me mr. robber while i go hide somewhere to pull my pant leg up and draw my gun.

can't draw on the run either, and they're uncomfortable too.

kinda like using a piece of plywood betweent the mount and a metal building LOL

how about a phone cam aimed through binoculars for license plate capture

model xz1 specs 432.6 tvl with Sony chip

Too bad they don't have a demo site setup. Arm's website is pretty sparse of any useful information on their equipment.

The drives are very small. They are ok for demo use, but for an actual install I don't think its worth it. Also hope the seller has a return policy in case the DVR starts acting weird, otherwise the repair costs + purchase price may equal a new unit.

good luck

You could hide a mobile DVR in an environmetal enclosure under the trailer, and maybe place board cams in the rear taillights.

I assume you would only expect the system to work when connected to the cab, otherwise where would you get power if they drop the trailer?

Samsung GVI makes a pretty good DVR, only thing missing is a browser based interface.

DM is a good DVR too, but its twice the price of a Samsung.

The DM ECO line is good, but DM refuses to put anything bigger than 300b capacity. A 16 channel 300gb DVR is kinda silly in this day & age, where 500gb drives are now commonplace.

The Samsung comes with 750gb capacity, and is easily upgradable to bigger drives if thats not enough, unlike DM.

hot glue is reversible, in so much as you can are move the part in the future using a hot knife or soldering iron by melting through the glue.

If you use gorrilla glue, crazy glue, epoxy, its permanent and u will usually destroy the parts if u need to seperate later on for another repair.

they make DVR's specifically for car use. Do a search here and u will find prior posts

how about hot melt glue. It's great for electronics repair

seems reasonable, but I don't understand the part about a USB/IDE converter, whats that?

well it sounds like a networking issue. I assume that your DVR is local to your network? or are you trying to access over the internet.

You probably have an IP adress conflict. What kind of router are you using? Whats the IP of the router? Are you using DHCP? What range of adresses are assigned to dynamic if so? Try setting the DVR to 192.168.1.200. You may need to reboot the DVR afterwards.

Also, make sure the ports match in the DVR and the SmartViewer setup, the default is 555, 556, 557,558 I think. You can also try moving the ports up to 994, 995,996,997 see if that helps.

If this is confusing to you try getting someone with networking background to help.

The IP address is setup in "Site Setup" tab. Click on the DVR in the DVR list, and then click on modify. You will be able to add or change the IP address.

The DVR setup tab is only active when already logged in as admin.

The point I was making was that if backup was there in the first place, the troops would have never been captured. Once the troops were captured the horse is out of the barn.

According to the press reports, the American rules of engagement are that US troops don't need to wait to be shot at before they can fire. They can fire first if a threat is presented. On the other hand, UK troops need to be shot at first before they can return fire.

I can't imagine that how the UK senior brass can leave troops out in a rubber boat with only small arms, in a very hostile part of the world, without backup. They are lucky it was only the Iranians that captured them and not Al_Qaida.

My guess is that the Iranians wouldn't tempt the US with that same move, especially after the USS Vincennes shot down one of their airliners by accident (1988), they must assume there would be no hesitation to prevent a capture, and their gunboats would end up at the bottom of the Shat Al-Arab.

I don't see how the UK military puts troops put in harms way, and you would argue that they shouldn't have backup in order to prevent an "international incident." That makes the troops expendable, something I couldn't agree with.

The real problem is the variation in pvc jacket diameter from coax manufacturer to manufacturer, it can make the crimp or twist process to tight or too loose depending.