Swann PC DVR 4 Net
The Swann PC DVR-4-Net PCI Card seamlessly turns your PC into a sophisticated digital video security monitoring system. The plug and play card and software allow you to observe and record 4 cameras simultaneously or add more cards to upgrade to 16 cameras. Other benefits include remote access via the web or network, motion detection with instant email notification, audio monitoring and fast display and recording times. It’s never been easier to see what’s happening, from anywhere i [Read More...]
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The Good:
- Nice price point.
- Works well (exlcuding occasional startup lockups) and nice internet connection software.
- Great cameras, many available (I use the bulldog camera from them)
- Powerful software to record and monitor your security with. However, the manual is quite poor and some of the systems are hard to understand.
The Bad:
- Has to be 1024×768 resolution, if your resolution is higher you have to lower your resolution.
- The manual was written by someone who speaks english as their second language as someone else mentioned. So it is very hard to understand to say the least. I wish they would take the time to professionally rewrite this.
- The system restarts itself every 10-30 to free up resources which is a great idea but…. The program locks up on startup frequently. So in my case I have to get into the hot attic and restart the computer which has this card and runs my security system manually every couple of months.
Bottom line, good card and system, and if Swann Company took the time to fix the few minor bugs and released a patch and new documentation, it could easily be a 5 star security solution.
Bought one of these a couple of months ago to pipe some security cameras into for monitoring the front of my house. Pretty simple to install if you’ve done a PC upgrade before. Comes with a roughly 100-page manual that was written by someone for whom English is a second language. (Or they didn’t proof it very well.) Documentation is pretty bare bones.
As far as function, the maximum frame rate is 15 fps, and it uses MPEG-4 compression. You can set up timer based recordings, motion detection based recordings and so forth. I’ve worked with the motion based recordings, and it allows you to set the portion of the frame you use for motion detection. The user interface for playback cries out for a 10x fast forward, which this card doesn’t allow. (as far as I can tell) There is a slider bar above the play button that gets you up to 2x or 3x, but if you want to look at 8 or 10 hours, its pretty brutal at 3x. If you use motion detection, there is a button that jumps to the next “event” (where the motion detection was tripped). That works pretty well and its how I have mine setup.
If I could give it 3.5 stars, I’d do that. Since this one is pretty cheap as capture cards go, I’ll bump it to 4 stars.
Pros:
+ Great card (mine supports 4 ports). I use it w/ Max Day/Night came and DIY tinycam.
Cons:
+ Manual is bad. Needs to be rewritten.
+ Software has bugs (in settings/configuration, I can not select some options as they are out of view. I have tried to select them in various screen resolutions, but no success).
+ Software can more intuitive (User Interface).
+ If you use RCA extension cables and have multiple cameras that support AUDIO, it would be difficult to handle audio for multiple cameras. Manual should talk about various scenarios of configurations. Card should be able to handle audio on its own and have onboard audio ports as well to connect audio cables.
+ Swann Tech support is ok. Out of 4 calls to AUS. tech support on different issues, 3 tech reps gave correct information. The one really screwed up and could have damaged my camera (incorrect power adapter/supply spec). Alway check manual for specs.
Two Lessions learned:
1. I found out hard way that not ALL cameras (such as MAXI Day/Night Cam) support Audio.
2. If you replace lens on day/night vision cameras (such as MAXI D/N cam) with WIDE ANGLE lens, you will LOOSE night vision (due to special filter wide angle lens, at least from swann, uses). This is what I was told by Aussie Swann Tech Support.