How to Build a Surveillance DVR
Surveillance DVRs record and play back surveillance footage from your CCTV (closed-circuit television) cameras. If you have an Internet-enabled system, you can view your cameras online from anywhere. You can build your own surveillance DVR system using an old PC and a surveillance DVR interface card.
Building your own surveillance DVR has several advantages, such as having the latest hardware, adding channels for more cameras, increasing hard drive storage, Internet capability, motion capture, email notification and a host of other options. The project involves two processes: selecting your card and building your system.
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Instructions
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Card Selection
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PCI interface card Open your computer and note the number and types of card slots you have available. Surveillance DVR cards plug into an existing slot in your computer; the most common type of cards use a PCI or PCI express slot.
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Decide how many cameras you will be recording. Surveillance DVR cards typically come in 4-, 8- and 16 channel versions; each channel records one camera. Some manufacturers allow you to "stack" two or more cards within your computer for future expansion. However, if you think you may expand your system later, you may want to purchase a card that can accommodate more cameras; you will save money down the road and place less strain on your computer.
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Choose the type of video encoding. Video encoding is a process of compressing the video to reduce storage space. H.264 is the most current encoding method and will provide smaller file sizes, clearer video and cause less strain on the computer processor than older methods. MPEG4 (Moving Picture Experts Group version 4) is an older video encoding technology, but this type of encoding required more processing power and will lack the performance of H.264. MJPEG (motion Joint Photographic Experts Group) is very old technology and video clarity is poor, according to the experts at Discount Security DVR.
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Determine the number of frames per second (fps) you want to record. Full-motion video is about 30 fps. A four-channel card that records 60 fps total will record four cameras at 15 fps each; however, this will not give you full motion. If you want full-motion video, multiply the number of cameras you will be recording by 30 and purchase a card with an fps rating equal to or higher than the number you need.
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Determine the other features you want. Most modern cards allow motion recording. Motion recording records footage to the hard drive only when motion is detected within the field-of-view of the camera. Also, if you want to record audio as well as video, select a card with one or more audio channel inputs. If you want to view your cameras online, choose a card that is Internet capable. Verify that your computer meets the minimum system requirements for the surveillance DVR card you select.
Building
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Unplug and open your computer.
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Remove the interface slot cover from the back of your computer, install the interface card, and insert and tighten the interface card retaining screw.
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Close your computer, plug your cameras into the card, plug your system in, and boot your computer.
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Install the software according to the surveillance DVR card manufacturer's instructions after your system indicates it has found the new surveillance DVR card.
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Configure Internet, motion, fps and other settings according to the manufacturer's instructions.
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Tips & Warnings
For a basic understanding of the DVR interface card installation, watch the video listed in the References. While installing the interface card is easy, understanding the terminology and technology associated with video surveillance will require some study (see Resources). Your surveillance DVR PC will need to be on and the software running to access and record your video; to increase the performance of your system, install a clean copy of the operating system and close all other programs that may be running in the background.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit cctv image by Andrius Grigaliunas from Fotolia.com computer image by Hubert from Fotolia.com
