Hi Folks

We currently have a 25 camera set-up on 2, 16 channel units.

one is a Sprite 2 (seven years old or more ) & the other a Dyn-Pro (six months old).

What I would like to know is, should I be expecting to see footage that is recorded as clear as when I look at the cameras live?

The reason I ask, is that some of our cameras give excellent live picture quality & some are not as good, but none of them give great playback quality (all cameras are at 25fps)

Our recorders are all set to record on all cameras 24/7 and before I dive into the settings menu to make changes, could anyone advise me?

For example.

a person walks through a room that has a wide angle camera & you can easily facial detail to recognise the individual. On playback the pic is to pix-elated to recognise the person.

Am I expecting to much from the system?

Thanks in advance.

most dvr's have issues running higher than 2 cif

in simple terms your cameras id assume are pal and as such provide a resolution of 720 (704) x 576 pixels

Because of interlace issues most recorders will only record 720/704 x 288 or even cif 360x288. This is obviously lower than the camera can provide.

If your recorders offer a D1 mode (720/704x576) this will help this. However compression calcs etc sometimes cant keep up with the full quality. Some can and the DM you have can do very well at 2cif if you raise tghe file size high enough.

Your not expecting too much but i fear you might be given the age of your dm and the quality if your other unit. YOu can achieve it but only certain machines can

most dvr's have issues running higher than 2 cif

in simple terms your cameras id assume are pal and as such provide a resolution of 720 (704) x 576 pixels

Because of interlace issues most recorders will only record 720/704 x 288 or even cif 360x288. This is obviously lower than the camera can provide.

If your recorders offer a D1 mode (720/704x576) this will help this. However compression calcs etc sometimes cant keep up with the full quality. Some can and the DM you have can do very well at 2cif if you raise tghe file size high enough.

Your not expecting too much but i fear you might be given the age of your dm and the quality if your other unit. YOu can achieve it but only certain machines can

I'll dive in & have a play with the settings & see if things will improve.

Many thanks.