How do you rate your existing security recorder?

Is the playback quality poor, with little hope of facial recognition unless the subject was standing just in front of the camera?

Does it record for as long as you would like?

Has it ever missed important events?

Do bulky tapes take up too much space and need frequent replacement?

These  are some of the problems experienced by everybody with conventional Analogue Recorders at some time or another.

The  obvious answer is Digital where a true signal will not be corrupted in the  recording or the playback process. However, this is still a very new technology  in the CCTV Industry so before you decide to invest (usually 50%+ extra) be sure  you get a thorough demonstration and ask the following very important  questions:

How many camera inputs are on the machine itself? Many Digital Recorders may have just one to four inputs so your will need a multiplexer (analogue) to record more cameras. You now have a very expensive Digital Recorder giving you conventional playback.

If it is PC Based how easy is it to retrieve images. How familiar are you with a mouse and PC technology?

What is the storage medium and capacity? This is vital. Dont be fobbed off with technical jargon describing motion detection and frame updates.

Ask where and how many of the systems have been installed by this company in situations like your own. View at least two of them and get references from them all.

SONY HSR-1P

The  HSR-1P combines the advantages of Hard Disk Drives (HDD) and Digital Video (DV) as its storage media.

The HDD  is the primary recording medium - providing instant, high quality, continuous field-by-field recording on a long life and highly reliable format. These  recordings are transferred to a secondary recording medium as  required.

A DV tape drive performs this function, providing long-term storage on a cost effective medium that combines a high recording density with outstanding quality. This hybrid approach, unique in video surveillance recorders, combines a major reduction in maintenance costs and equipment downtime with levels of video quality and operational flexibility not previously available in this type  of equipment.