1y ago

My home came with security cameras already installed. What is a good dvr box I can use to control them?

Each camera has its own analog connection wire. I am looking for a dvr box that I can connect to a home server and run something like Shinobi. I currently have this dvr box https://ellipsesecurity.com/product/hdtvi08b-tru-view-hd-tvi-8-channel-hd-security-dvr/ , but i don't think it can automatically forward video to a home server

23 comments

I was in a similar situation, bought a house with analog cameras. I ended up replacing all the cameras with modern ones, the analog ones were just soo poor quality it wasnt worth keeping them. I went with Unifi, which I am happy with, but anything new and IP based should be better than what you have.
- Love my UniFi cameras.
  
  which ones? Also looking to make this addition/upgrade soon. Nothing crazy, just being able to see my front & backyard. I already have Unifi AP so it's nice to see that people like the cameras.
  
  They are very expensive though, and were almost impossible to get for a while.
Analog security cameras will have terrible resolution, use the existing wire to pull cat5 cables and replace the cameras with moderns high resolution cameras
Does it need to be a DVR box specifically? What about a small server?
- I am inclined to say yes I need a dvr box because I need to connect each wire to something, right?
  
  You can buy DVR capture cards for pc.
The DVR is the server. DVRs aren’t really designed to off-load camera feeds and recordings for the sake of security. If you want to build your own server, you’ll need to incorporate analog inputs.
If the issue is viewing the cameras from a mobile device, you can try to get this to work with third party apps. I’ve used an (iOS) app called DMSS to access a DVR similar to what you have.
Also, the benefit of a self contained analog device is, among other things, it doesn’t interfere with your network traffic or rely on your router. Get it a decent battery backup and it can still run when the power’s out. Analog cameras generally look better than IP cameras too.
Use the existing (presumably coax) runs to pull Ethernet cables through the walls and replace them with IP cameras
My goal is to move to nice IP cams one day but for now I have analog cameras and a DVR in the closet hooked to a cheap monitor that's paid for.
Try the app IPCamViewer by Robert Chou (here is a link to the lite version, I think there is an iOS one as well https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rcreations.ipcamviewer). It can view damn near any brand DVR, that at least let me view stuff remotely.
If you want to up it another level, if your old school DVR supports RTSP, you can probably feed that into something like Frigate for real time alerts and object detection.

23 comments