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GSM ( 14-Jul-2009 : 02:37:04 PM) |
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I have tried several DVR cards in the past and they all suffered from the same problem: they rely on the rest of the PC system to do the video compression. With four cameras attached this runs the CPU flat out and invariably results in system crashes, lockups and general instability.
The answer is to use a capture card with hardware compression chips on board. These do all the hard work leaving the CPU to coast along nicely but they are hard to find and usually very expensive. If you have come here after an exhaustive search for a good digital recording solution then you have struck gold.
This is the real deal, a hardware compression card with good software and excellent support from Russ at cctvdirect. All this comes at a bargain price - if you search the web you can find the same card on sale in the USA for $650!
I have to say I was initially suspicious of the specification for the RT4 card as so many specs on other DVRs are fudged or exaggerated. This is the real thing however, offering full 25 frames per second on all channels simultaneously and all at D1 resolution. You may think this would fill even the largest hard drive in no time but this card uses H.264 compression. You get very small file size compared with any other compression standard and the quality is similar to jpeg2000. At the highest quality setting I cannot tell the difference between real time viewing and the recorded video and I can record all 4 channels at full resolution, 25fps each channel, for 14 days on a 300Gb drive.
One very useful feature of the software is the ability to record at a low frame rate continuously but switch to recording at full speed on a motion alarm. Depending on the number of motion triggers, this could allow many weeks of recording on the same sized drive.
The RT4 is made by Chateau Technical in Taiwan, a small company who specialise in video capture and compression technology, and uses top quality chips from Techwell and Texas Instruments. The software is mature and I have experienced no issues, bugs or crashes – everything just works.
The card comes with the usual driver/software CD and installation is straightforward – mount card in a PCI slot, boot up, windows looks for the driver, install the driver, install the software – thats it. You can download the software from a link on the cctvdirect website and see what it offers.
The only problem I had in setting the whole thing up was understanding some parts of the manual. Most of it is pretty clear but there are parts where something must have gone wrong in the translation. However, a quick e-mail to Russ and he set me right, he clearly knows the whole system inside out and is very prompt with his replies.
I put together a basic PC to use as a dedicate DVR and because of the low system requirements for the RT4 it works out pretty inexpensive. I have the DVR unit tucked away out of sight and connected to a home network and once set up it can be left alone, no mouse, keyboard or screen required- just like a standalone DVR. The software allows remote viewing and control from all other PCs on the network and this part of the system is really well thought out. Being a PC it has many advantages over a standalone DVR - much more powerful for a kickoff, and adding extra hard drives or another RT4 card, giving another 4 channels, makes it much more flexible. |
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Afur ( 14-Jul-2009 : 02:37:04 PM) |
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what a stunner!
The Digital Sprite is now for sale - this is way better. |
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Nigel ( 14-Jul-2009 : 02:37:04 PM) |
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Stuck one of these in a Core 2 Intel box, records all 4 cams at full res and real-time with only 6% cpu usage. Off to buy a cheap slow PC with a big drive and use it with the RT4 as a standalone!!!
Cracking. |
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Kev ( 14-Jul-2009 : 02:37:04 PM) |
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Don't waste your money on cr*p DVR cards from e-bay, save your pennies for one of these - you wont be disappointed. |
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AlanG ( 14-Jul-2009 : 02:37:04 PM) |
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Makes my Geo' look like a kids toy.
Excellent product, great support – thanks Russ.
Bargain, so go buy one. |
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Jake ( 14-Jul-2009 : 02:37:04 PM) |
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Really did not expect this much from a DVR card at any price. Hooked up to some Samsung SDC415s the results are truly superb. Leaves some very expensive DVRs looking rather silly. |
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Fergie ( 14-Jul-2009 : 02:37:04 PM) |
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Far and away the best capture card I have ever seen – and I have seen more than a few.
Quality of video recordings has to be seen to be believed.
Software does everything you could wish for from a DVR - everything just works!
Have had my system running continuously now for almost six months with not a single issue.
Well pleased. |
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GM ( 14-Jul-2009 : 02:37:04 PM) |
| Reviews |
For anyone interested the latest software for these cards and a much improved manual can be downloaded free from.
http://www.vguard.tw/support.html |
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techie ( 14-Jul-2009 : 02:37:04 PM) |
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A cutting edge piece of technology. This card uses the Texas Instuments DM642 digital signal processor, one of the most powerful DSPs currently available. Have seen this chip used in several high end devices , very expensive DVRs and megapixel IP cameras, but this is the first time I have seen one running an H.264 codec. Very impressive results in terms of frame rate and video quality. Can't think of anything that can beat this. |
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JJP ( 14-Jul-2009 : 02:37:04 PM) |
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If you could see what I can see ......
Use good quality cameras with this card and you will be rewarded with DVD like video recordings but with very much smaller file size. Excellent range of features – still finding new ones I had not even thought of.
Superb! |
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