Re: What Brand / Model DVRs ??

["Bob La Londe" <none@xxxxxxxxxx>]

"Bob La Londe" <none@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:mmc3bp$r9m$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> "E DAWSON" <raymond@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:704b1$558894ad$adbb407e$7313@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>> "Bob La Londe" <none@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>> news:mm9vr6$vr3$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>I was a hard corp Dedicated Micros fan for a long time.  Many years.
>>>Unfortunately they have priced themselves out of the market.  In general
>>>I had pretty good luck with their units, but the price was just too high.
>>>When they came out with their ECO units I thought that was a nice answer.
>>>Slimmed down feature set at only a little over the average price for
>>>other name brand units being installed.  Sadly they had issues.  I had to
>>>send units in for repair in relatively short life spans.  Some I sent in
>>>more than once, because they came back unfixed.  (I know Moore's in a
>>>separate company, but they are the official repair center for DM.)
>>>
>>> I decided to give Digital Watchdog a try.  For the first couple years
>>> they were great.  Competitive price, decent feature set, and seemed to
>>> just work. Lately I've had multiple problems with very low usage.  A
>>> couple months to a year.  When I called tech support today I was hung up
>>> on three times.  I said please, and thank you and I never raised my
>>> voice.  I know. Seems unusual for me.  They seemed to have a chip on
>>> their shoulder from the moment they answered the phone.  Then they
>>> proceeded to lecture me on my lack of professionalism even when I asked,
>>> can we please just address the problem.  A DVR with no video output on
>>> the HDMI ouput.  Last week video failed.  I had to hard power cycle the
>>> unit to get video back.  It dropped HDMI video out again on Saturday.
>>> They finally on the third (or maybe it was the 4th) call gave me a list
>>> of things to try.  All of which I tried when I was there on Friday.
>>>
>>> So, I am off to the customer site to repeat the things I did on Friday,
>>> and then call them back and say , "ok I tried them again."
>>>
>>> When I get back I plan to start shopping.  Any suggestions?
>>
>> Hi Bob,
>
>> The only time I have seen faulty equipment was due to surges coming in on
>> the system either because there was no UPS power supply protecting the
>> dvr, hard drives, or cameras; or, the building was prone to close
>> lightning strikes and there was no surge protection installed because the
>> customer did not want to pay for it up front.
>
> New surge suppressor installed with the system.

UPS & Surge Suppressor.

> No storms (unless you count weeks of 115F highs) and no lightning.
> Monitor works perfectly as tested with a DVD player using multiple output
> resolutions, and autodetect worked within a second on each res change.
> DVR also tested with second brand new monitor and second brand new HDMI
> cable.  The DVR was not putting out video on the HDMI port.  Power cycling
> the DVR caused the unit to start putting out video.  It stopped putting
> out video a second time.  Repeating all testing a few days later produced
> identical results.
>
> I may not have your experience with video systems, but I have experienced
> that sometimes things just fail.
>
> I would note that the DVR HDMI port was putting out a signal.  It was
> BLANK. The monitor instantly detected the BLANK signal and showed a blank
> screen instead of the NO SIGNAL screen when the HDMI cable was connected.
>
> The monitor could have been bumped since it is mounted on an articulating
> arm for the customer's convenience, but the odds of the DVR being bumped
> are slim since it is inside a locked (well vented) cabinet bolted to shelf
> brackets, bolted to the wall.  A bump hard enough to do something to the
> DVR would be unlikely to not show signs of other damage.  I detected no
> issue at anytime though with the monitor or cable.
>
>> With HDMI output problems, sometimes it's just the cable. Sometimes the
>> customer jammed the crap out of the dvr against the wall and the input on
>> the dvr has been compromised also. They just don't go blink, "I am going
>> to stop working now".
>
> I used to think that about some product models.  They just always work.
> Until I would run across one that didn't.
>
>> Of course, the customer is not going to say anything, nor his employees.
>> The tv monitor that is showing the HDMI output of the cams may have been
>> plugged just straight into the wall without a UPS protection.
>
> The monitor works perfectly and is plugged into the UPS.
>
>> I remember a new system of 10 cams a few years ago that had problems with
>> 3 cams and the tv monitor just a few months after installation. I ask a
>> lot of questions to first investigate how this might have happened. The
>> customer finally says, "Oh yeah, the electrician was doing work on our
>> main panel right at that time and he shorted something ..." He bought
>> himself a new tv and he paid for new cameras, end of story. Rarely do I
>> find that equipment just blinks out all by itself.
>
> About 20 years ago I had an electrician drop 220 across several 110
> circuits frying all the camera transformers.  Then they replaced all the
> fried 24VAC transformers with 16VAC transformers.  I am sure the double
> voltage or the under voltage killed the cameras, but they were certainly
> dead.  The electrician didn't like it much when he tried to say that the
> cameras probably just died on their own and I said, "You are f'in kidding
> right?!"
>
>> If you want some leads about where to go for quality affordable
>> equipment, you will have to contact me directly. I will not post publicly
>> this information.
>
> I would and I will.  That being said, I've seen a lot of stuff lately
> installed by others that has failed with no name, no model, no anything on
> the unit. Not even inside on the circuit boards.  They wind up calling me
> when they can't get a hold of the guy who installed it.
>
>> Hope this helps you somehow.
>
> It does.  Thank you.
>
>
> --
> --
> Bob La Londe
> The Security Consultant
> License ROC103044 CR67
>
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