Anybody here play with their DVRs. Basically a PC based unit. I set three of them up today for a client. He bought them and paid me by the hour to get them tied down and setup for network / remote access.
I am curious if anybody has any long term experience with these. How do they hold up? Any quirks or bugs I should be aware of?
Biggest problem i have had is unauthorised people using intenet with them and screwing up the computers by getting virus etc thats why for my own installs i only install stand alane units with out keyboad etc that cannot be messed with.I have company i sub for and every time its one that is a computer with a capture board some employee has managed to screw with it.
If he's payin' by the hour...why worry about it?
My outlook is...if it dies and you (client) bought it...you can pay me to come remove it and you can ship it back to the factory for repair then pay me again to come back out and re-install it.
Over all this guy is a good client. He pays me several hundred dollars a month for his alarm systems, and I kinda liked the units after I got past the poorly written manuals. I figure its worth knowing upfront about potential problems so I can take care of him quickly when something arises.
Personally of the various MFGs I have used Dedicated Micros has given me the fewest problems.
These units aren't bad for screwing with them. They autoload the application, and if you shut down the application it shuts down the computer. Still, its possible. I did play with them a bit t see if I could get to windows, and there are some ways that can be done.
The client software is a little different than some I have used. Not as intuitive as you would expect, but it worked. I was able to simultaneously connect to all three units from offsite after I was done.
There are some things in the manuals that is confusing do to poor wording. It seems to imply that passwords are not case sensitive, but they most definitely are. In one spot it also implies that you don't have to reboot an XP or 2000 machine after making IP address changes, but you do or the DVR application won't pick up the change.
After you get it setup up it connects easy enough.
Its kinda interesting to see the way different outfits implement stuff. I just finished the network setup on a DS2A with the new software yesterday morning. LAN setup is a snap, but password setup is a real cludge. WAN access to telemetry was a bit confusing too. You have to setup a second port forward on a different port. Then if you have multiple connections or multiple telemetry items to control you have to forwarda whoel block of ports. Not at all like the old DDM software.
On Tuesday I finished the setup on a Pelco DX 7000 series DVR. Another XP/2000 based unit. The setup on this one is weird and different too. Uses the Windows networking stuff too.
Anyway, the NetProMax doesn't look any worse to me than the Windows based Pelco machine.
thats a differn't story then.
| > My outlook is...if it dies and you (client) bought it...you can pay me to | > come remove it and you can ship it back to the factory for repair then pay | > me again to come back out and re-install it. | >
| | Over all this guy is a good client. He pays me several hundred dollars a | month for his alarm systems, and I kinda liked the units after I got past | the poorly written manuals. I figure its worth knowing upfront about | potential problems so I can take care of him quickly when something arises. | | -- | Bob La Londe |
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