Hardware vs Software compression

[momo 0]

How do you tell the difference if a card uses hardware or software compression?

 

Additionally, do any of you recommend a decently priced 16ch hardware compression card?

 

Thanks

[koolmer 0]

It will say in the product discription if the card has Hardware encoding. If it doesn't say anything about it, you can be sure that it has Software encoding.

 

Biggest benefit of Hardware encoding is that the computer will practically be idle and respond very fast. I have 32 Channel systems recording in D1 with 10 fps and CPU usage is around 19%.

 

I have used Software encoding in the past and would not do it again.

 

I would recommend netvisiondvr, but I must also tell you that I haven't used any other Hardware encoding cards yet. Anyways, I am happy with my system and it runs with the cards from Netvision. The card will cost you around 500 - 600 USD.

[rory 0]

As mentioned they will say if it is a hardware compression card.

 

I use software compression all the time without problem, for up to 16 channels. Its also important to setup the OS properly so it doesnt use more resources than it needs to. But yes the extra processing done in the software for the compression will make the CPU work a little more. With most modern day CPUs though this is not an issue.

[jasonTam 0]

hardware card captures and compresses video signal using the DSP on card , software card just captures the video signal and using the PC's CPU to compress the video signal.

[forbus 0]

jasonTam just said it. But if you don't intend to use other applications on that PC, there is not much to bother with a hardware compression card. I have done a 32 channel system with dual screens on software compression. The user is also using the left monitor for daily business use and DVR on the right side. I set up the system to reboot daily and no problems or whatsoever is occuring. Would I use hardware compression? Hmmmm... still yes if I had the extra dollars.

[destro_23 0]

i've seen a few cheap hardware compression cards that the compression algorithim that they use is horrible!! and the playback is very bad..

[Soundy 1]

A couple potential benefits (depending on your needs) to software compression:

 

Hardware compression cards can't generally be viewed over a remote-desktop connection. Not that that's the most efficient viewing anyway, although it's pretty good if you're using something like UltraVNC with its "mirror driver".

 

Also, software compression cards CAN allow you to use different codecs for recording, depending on the software used. Most don't, but the potential is there. One that comes to mind is VideoInsight, which even allows you to set different codecs for each camera. With hardware compression, you're stuck with whatever compression the card is using (some software can RE-compress the video, but that would be even more processor-intensive).