AVTECH DVR management- questions

[SurveillenceNewbie 0]

Hello, Over the past year I've purchased 3 AVTECH DVR systems, that I use to manage properties across 3 different geographies. Overall I'm pleased with the Avtech technology and how I can monitor centrally. Because all software has bugs, I realize that there's a need to install new firmware releases. My headaches relate to doing this remotely, so I have 3 questions. Hopefully there's a more experienced Avtech person out there who can help me? Here goes:

1. Where do I go to find firmware releases? I appear to have 2 model AVC791 (a or b, not sure) DVR's. Both have release 1010N-1003N-1005N-1002N loaded. I've found that it's easy to lockup the DVR when exercising 'playback' functions. At some point the system will lock, and playback is no longer available. I updated one of the DVR's with firmware release 1010-1003-1005-1002 which is about a year old, and it seems to work perfectly! I found it by happenstance when searching the web, but was lucky to find a link to it. Is there a better for an end user like me to track and locate new releases?

2. Is there a way to remotely power-cycle an Avtech dvr? when a major bug happens, as mentioned above, i need a way to restart the machine. Can't figure this out on my own.

3. When buying Avtech machines thru retailers and resellers, the model numbers and names are confusing. Is there a database somewhere telling me which is which? For example, model AVC791 appears to be the same as model MDR751 or the KPD674. How can I find out which model I have, for sure, or is it more important to use what's printied on the circuit board inside?

4. How can I remotely make a copy of the loaded DVR firmware? (not the config file, but the firmware release that's resident). I'm assuming that I may need this in the event a firmware upgrade is unsuccessful and I need to restore the original.

 

thanks for taking the time to help a Newbie!

[tomcctv 190]

software is not a problem http://www.ussscctv.com/downloadsguidesandsupport.aspx

 

your problem is doing the upgrade. via remote. avtech is always best from thub drive. if they are all over the globe have someone load the updates there ..... do it over the net and it fails then your dvrs are off and you cant get them back on again.

[SurveillenceNewbie 0]

thanks much! Very helpful. I've now found a good source for firmware updates. I'm hoping that Avtech updates their platform to better support remote updates and recovery. I don't have people at my remote locations, so updating firmware from afar dosen't appear to be possible. I have a DVR in Arizona that's "locked up" and needs a power cycle/reboot. I only wish I could do that from Minnesota. At any rate, thanks again for your response earlier