Eight Channel DVR

Personally its easier and faster to change or modify software on whatever OS than it is to change firmware.  NVRs are changing rapidly (relatively speaking) such that software will keep up sooner with new codecs and compression algorithms (favorite word of the day) and tweaks to existing methodologies that NVR's utilize.  But too hardware is changing fast these days.  It is the whole "egg and the chicken who came first thing".
 
Firmware updating or changes are easier to do than previously. 
 
That said though historically the purposes of firmware were such that you wouldn't be needing to update much with hard coding versus software.
 
Sometime in the future the OS running on the camera may be something downloaded dynamically from the NVR such that the two are always in sync.
 
Meanwhile there is a lot of disambiguates (sp?) relating to what camera company does what with whatever still. 
 
There are base standards but they are getting old fast.
 
I don't think that ZM and camera support has changed much over the years because when something new comes up; someone does want to play with it with ZM such that the changes are relatively dynamic and typically done by someone with said specific new camera.  The technology is reverse engineered.
 
That is one of the benefits of using it.  That said the propietary NVR software provided by some same camera company does in fact tweak out their NVR such it does take advantage of the "perks" in the propietary OS of the operating system in the the camera.
 
Wow. Thanks Pete. So what you are saying is it is complicated :)
 
I looked at these NVR systems, but they often are not cheap, do not come with hard drives, and are usually for commercial application. I don't know that I would need hot swappable drives for my home. I can crack open the case and drop in a new hard drive almost as easily. I also heard (looking at mini servers with hot swappable drives) that there are issues with certain drives needing to be used, and problems with obsolescence of equipment over time.
 
You can pick up a tower PC with a 1T drive for 400$. Then a POE switch for 150-250. It can last a long time. I was thinking of getting a tower with a small hardrive for the operating system, then get a 2T HDD for data. If the data drive fails, you swap it out easily without having to deal with operating system.
 
But since it changes so fast, maybe a costco kit with HD cameras might be cheapest option? I have a hard time figuring out how long these cheaper kits last, Cameras and hardware?
 
Yes, I had ZM running for over a year; engaged in humongous treads about it (over on HS board) and liked it "OK". However, I decided it did not have enough features / abilities (such as the stand-alone NVR's).
 
Yup; here just always playing with ZM rather than leaving it alone and using it ...today its still doing analog captures from an 8 port capture card plus now the SD and HD stuff....
 
Is there a guide for what is required in terms of storage space for a certain mega pix camera? I read that the HD digital cameras take up much more HDD space.
 
For what it's worth, QNAP makes some really nice hardware, very feature rich.  I have been using their NAS appliances for a very long time.  Their regular NAS units support IP cameras as well (I believe they rely on a 3rd party for the actual software), so if you are potentially interested in a nice NAS, consider getting something with at least 4 bays.
 
Hi, Monk,
 
I have that exact NVR from QNAP. Had it for about 18 months and it works well. Easy to access from the web or my Android phone. Here's a pic of the monitoring screen on the web:
 
 
 

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Thanks Dan - I don't think I realized that. I wonder if the opposite is also true - can the NVR be used as a NAS.
 
Kevin, that's great and thanks for the picture! What sort of drives did you end up with and how "full" do they run? I think this is going to be my Fall project, a QNAP and 2 additional cameras.
 
Hi, Monk,
 
I used two 750GB drives. They run near full but that's because of the settings I have. In my case, I have at least a month's worth of recordings. Here are a couple of the config screens on the QNAP.
 
Kevin
 
 
 

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Kevin,
 
Very nice compact NVR.  Are you recording the feeds all at 720 ? 
 
What is the pixel resolution of the 720 (HD) recordings (1280X720 or 1280X960)?  Are you also using 480 (SD) recordings?
 
I was looking at the specs and pictures and it shows two NICs on the back.
 
Specs indicate:
 
Network Throughput at 180Mb/s
Megapixel recordings up to 10 Megapixel.
 
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