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dvr camara system

A

ANDYS

Member
i am looking to buy a new dvr system to put in my carwash . i need at least
a 16 channel system any recomendations and what price range am i looking at i know costco had some not sure how good they are and also is it hard to install :confused:
 
FWIW I have bought 5 Q See Camera systems from Through Costco.

Have been pretty happy. I think the cameras they come with have 400 lines or so of resolution . Have had a few go bad over the years and replaced with ones that have 600 lines of resolution. I think they are about $10.00 more a camera, but worth it. Q See advertised a 32 Channel DVR now at costco with 12 cameras for $1999.00

Bought extra cabling etc. thru Amazon. Set up was easy.

Now for the cons. Have had some issues when daylight savings time changes and DVR seems to freeze when I try to change the time. So I just leave the old time.

First 4 units had the ability to drop in a DVD burner. I miss not having it in the 5th unit. Easy to burn a couple of DVDs keep one in a file and give one to the cops or insurance company. Found a work around by playing back the video and using my kliitle digital camera to record the screen. I would always look for one with a DVD burner or one i could drop in.

Have not set it up for internet / smart phone viewing so I can't comment on how hard it is to do or how well it works.
 
+1 on the Q-See from Costco. I bought a 16 channel, 1 terrabite system with 16 high resolution 520 tvl cameras for $799.00. The 520 TVL cameras are sufficient and its not hard at all to get a license plate number as long as its unobstructed. Another plus on the cameras is the cable is contained within the swivel mount making it virtually impossible to cut. The Q-See's doesn't come with a burner, although I don't see a need for one. It has a USB port and its really easy to pull off a section of video if you ever need it.

I've already had to use the usb. I recorded 2 minutes of video off onto a USB thumb drive, gave it to the cops. He downloaded it to his lap top in the car and didn't even need to keep my drive. Caught the guy within a week who did $1000.00 worth of damage to my building...The DVR paid for itself with this one incident....
 
Oh, I forgot to add. I am only using 12 of the 16 cameras. I have them all set for motion activation at the highest resolution. I get about 30 days worth of recordings before it starts overwriting. You can't beat it.
 
+1 on Qsee from Costco as well.

We have 5 systems, 2 geovision, 1 Lorex and 1 qsee and 1 Zmodo. I like the Qsee the best. Remote streaming is easy, and once you get that setup, you can PLAYBACK remotely as well.

I will be slowly switching everything over to Qsee as our other systems get older/obsolete.
 
Look at the website http://palmvid.com/, I build my own computers and have built 3 and used there geovision cards and software, I have a 4 -8 -16 camera cards in 3 locations. All there cards come with lifetime tech support. They can also build one for you, or you can put there cards in any computer.
I have used carwashcameras.com cameras and also supercircuits.com for cameras (black model) and I like there Power supplies.
 
DVD burners are slow and require DVD's. I just use thumb drives. I find it just as easy. They are more expensive than DVD's though.
 
Have the Zmodo. Paid $229 on eBay with 1TB drive. No issues, works great. Can't really complain given the price point.

Poorly written manual. Chinese to English translation issues. Mostly irritating. There are some YouTube instructional videos online.

I'm using my existing 14 cameras with the Zmodo. Mostly Sony cameras. My old DVR got fried due to water damage from a mechanical room leak, so I have my old cameras. Image quality as good or better than my old $800 DVR.

Count on calling customer support to get remote viewing to work. On hold for 90 minutes, but they were courteous enough. For dynamic IPs, they say to use Dydns free port forwarding service which is preconfiguredin DVR. Beware effective Dec 2011, it is no longer free service. $20/yr or $80/5 yrs. Using free Asee+ App on my iPhone for phone remote viewing - no issues, easy to use. Zmodo customer support help me set up the iphone as well.
 
You can get by without the proxy service. The Zmodo is set up to reboot itself from time to time, (that can change the ip of the DVR) I cancelled that. My IP doesn't change very often, so you can set it up yourself, with a wizard's help maybe. If you have a computer at the wash, set up "Logmein" (.com) there is a free version and at anytime you can log in to that computer and verify the IP address if needed.
 
ANDYS said:
i am looking to buy a new dvr system to put in my carwash . i need at least
a 16 channel system any recomendations and what price range am i looking at i know costco had some not sure how good they are and also is it hard to install :confused:
Click to expand...

I have a 16 camera system. Cost around ~7k from ruggedcctv. I hate the DVR it has a slow processor. DVR cant handle 2 connections at same time it take forever to load up. Computer at my house is always connected to it. When im running around try to connect with my android phone...it is like im on dial up. I was nervous about installation at first but it was a breeze..except im afraid of heights.
My second setback is one of the camera inside the IBA, the wire keep corroding.
 
pitzerwm said:
You can get by without the proxy service. The Zmodo is set up to reboot itself from time to time, (that can change the ip of the DVR) I cancelled that. My IP doesn't change very often, so you can set it up yourself, with a wizard's help maybe. If you have a computer at the wash, set up "Logmein" (.com) there is a free version and at anytime you can log in to that computer and verify the IP address if needed.
Click to expand...

Very valid point. I've noticed that my dynamic IP sometimes doesn't change for months. Yes I did see that option re the reboot. Didn't relate it to minimizing IP address changes, but would help that out. I don't have a PC onsite, but I could bring out my laptop and get the new IP when it changes and causes the DVR to go offline. Dyndns is only $20 a year, but it's $20 a year. Should have listened to you earlier Pitzerman and pm'd you.

Another thing, is I don't think I have my unit set up to record when there is motion only. It shows (M) when there is motion, but I think it is recording continuously. My old DVR had an option to record when motion is detected or continuously, I'm sure this unit does as well, but the way some of the menu screens are laid out, and the manual, still not sure if I have it set correctly.

Andys, for me, most of my cameras are 600 lines with 1/3" Sony image sensor and vari-vocal lens. I have small fish eye lens board cameras in each of my cash machines (these seem to be degrading after 5 years). Also have one of those Rugged CCTV IR660 cameras that can be used for licence plates (still dialing that one in).
 
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If you are talking Zmodo, you go to the alarm section and set the area that will trigger the recording/ Call me if you need to.
 
Have you not considered the 16-camera system at Costco for $999?

Who gave you a quote of $16,000?
 
pitzerwm said:
If you are talking Zmodo, you go to the alarm section and set the area that will trigger the recording/ Call me if you need to.
Click to expand...

Bill & others,

Do you think that process would be reliable enough to also use to trigger as an actual alarm to replace dedicated motion detectors. It seems like a main alarm control such as a PLC that was programmable so it could be programmed to require more than one trigger would prevent any false alarms. My Kalatel DVRs have 16 alarm contact outputs on the rear that we have been tempted to use as a replacement for infrared &/or ultrasound motion detectors.

mike
 
ANDYS said:
great advice is it true the camara should least have 600 lines resolution
Click to expand...

My cameras have a 1/3" sensor and 520 TVL's. I don't see a need for the IR660 camera or even 600tvl cameras for license plates. TMHO....I have a camera in each bay pointing down so it captures the whole car and coin box...As long as the license plate is visible, it can be read quite easily. And thats mounted on a 12" ceiling aiming down. My Qsee DVR also has a zoom feature that is nice. If going to full screen doesn't display the plate clearly, zooming in usually gets you the number.

Theres no way I'd spend $16,000 for a system when this one gives me what I need to protect the wash. I believe once I paid club fee's and shipping for my system from Costco, total price was right at $900.00....But they don't have that model any more. The closest one they have now is $999.00 for 16 cameras. So far its been in service 6 months and has been trouble free.
 
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