Analogue CCTV Capture Card

[Junel]

Hi all,

 

Wondering if you can help, I've been asked to upgrade a friends CCTV system, and I'm a bit stuck on how to proceed. 

He's currently running an old PC that's incredibly slow and running out of space very quickly. This is the card that's currently in there: http://www.apexcctv.com/p-250-avermedia-nv3000-security-dvr-card.aspx

 

So, I'm planning a two phase upgrade process: 

- Phase 1: Upgrade the HDD's in the current system to 3TB WD drives to the current system to increase space.

- Phase 2: Completely build a new PC with new capture cards with the ability to add new cameras. 

 

After speaking to AverMedia on the phone, they have told me that they no longer deal with CCTV, but they have raised a question internally to see what support they have and get back to me regarding the support for the card and current operating systems. 

 

Questions: 

1) What other decent capture cards are out there, as far as I can tell, the cameras are being connected using BNC cables, which I'm assuming are glorified coaxial cables. 

2) What are some half-decent surveillance software available for the answer to Q1 that are freeware/cheap?

3) Should I bother building a new PC or should I buy an already configured DVR such as this: http://www.ebuyer.com/726875-swann-dvr-16440h-ahd-16-channel-1tb-network-dvr-sodvr-16440h-uk

4) Should I just go to IP Cameras instead and start from scratch?

Thanks! 

[NumLock21]

IMO get a stand alone system or something, no worry about windows updates or viruses. Now if you want to still have a CCTV capture card. The one I heard about is Geovision.

[Junel]

8 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

IMO get a stand alone system or something, no worry about windows updates or viruses. Now if you want to still have a CCTV capture card. The one I heard about is Geovision.

That's what I'm thinking, the only issue is, I can't seem to find a cheap-ish standalone system with RAID support, or even as a barebones. 

[NumLock21]

28 minutes ago, Junel said:

That's what I'm thinking, the only issue is, I can't seem to find a cheap-ish standalone system with RAID support, or even as a barebones. 

Standalone don't do RAID, it mostly does JBOD, that means all HDD is combined as just 1 single drive.

 

 

[Junel]

Yeah, means for no redundancy. I'll pitch him the idea of using IP cams.