QNAP NVR-1012 Network Surveillance System Review

[AkG]

QNAP NVR-1012 Network Surveillance System Review

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Manufacture Product Page: QNAP Systems, Inc. (NVR-1012)
Model Number: NVR-1012
Availability: Now
Price: Click Here to Compare Prices
Warranty: 1 year



In the past, one would have needed a pretty big reason to invest in a surveillance system. This would have been due to the simple fact that in the past most surveillance systems were big, clumsy contraptions that required special cabling and special hardware to run properly. From a Small Office or Home Office user's point of view things were made even worse by the fact that they were not only a big hassle to install and maintain (and that they really needed trained specialists to maintain properly) but above all else they were pretty darn expensive too!

Well that was then and this is now. The market for Internet Protocol (IP) based cameras has literally exploded with the advent of cheap, readily available home networks and inexpensive yet relatively good cameras. The one problem that has plagued numerous IP camera setups is the fact that they have the interoperability skills of a psychotic maniac who puts the "laughter" back in "manslaughter". This is where QNAP enters the equation. In the past we have reviewed some pretty impressive products from QNAP and to say that we were excited to get our hands on another piece of kit from them is an understatement. As we have shown in the past, QNAP makes some extremely good equipment that is not only innovative, but easy to set up and use.

Unlike previous reviews in which we took a close look at some of their Network Attached Storage systems, today we will be looking at QNAP’s latest Network Surveillance system: the NVR-1012. This is an all in one kit that not only includes two IP cameras but also a control center that melds these pieces together into a complete surveillance system. As with other QNAP products, this is a Linux-based system and is marketed towards the SOHO and home marketplace. It is readily available form various retailer and e-tailers throughout Canada and goes for a little bit less than a thousand dollars.

As mentioned, this is a SOHO and/or Home surveillance system that is designed to not only work over your home Ethernet network but do so in such a manner that it is extremely easy to set up and administer. That is a pretty tall order and it will be interesting to see if even the wizards at QNAP can work their magic and make this promise a reality. Before we are finished we hopefully will not only be able to answer any questions you may have on its ease of use but also the biggest question of them all: is this product worth a thousand of your hard earned dollars?

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[AkG]

Specifications

Specifications

 

[AkG]

Packaging and Accessories

Packaging and Accessories

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When you first lay eyes on this box you will instantly recognize it as a QNAP box. This is not due to a unique colour scheme or glaring faults (which there are none); rather, it is because it is so oversized in relation to what it protects. If there is one constant which runs through all QNAP products, it has to be the shear joy and exuberance their engineers must take in designing boxes that fit the very definition of “overkill”. It’s big, it’s bold and boy is it proud looking!

As anyone who has read of few of my reviews know by now, I like seeing a colour scheme which not only works but is unique as well. To me marketing is an art form, and just like any art it takes a true master to design a package that not only highlights and enhances what it is selling but takes it one step further and makes you actually interested in a product that you may have had no interest in before seeing it. Pulling this feat off is the work of a true master and so very few companies get it right that when one does come along its actually difficult to point to one, two or even numerous things about it which makes is so effective. This perfectly sums up what this box is like.

You can’t say this is a good box because its colour scheme is effective (which it is) or that the information on it will make your decision easier (it does) nor can you even point and say it’s the large pictures make it so good. It’s all these things and many, many more intangible things which somehow blend together and build upon each other into a work of art which is greater than the sum of its parts. How good is the box at its job? It’s good enough you’ll want to keep the box. You may justify it to yourself (and your significant other) by saying it’s just in case you need to send it back or some other half hearted excuse. Years from now you will dig this box out and it will put a smile on your face as you instantly recognize what it is and what it protected: memories in the making.

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When you do open the package up you are greeted to yet another classic example of QNAP’s over protective packaging. On one side you have a cardboard box that protects the two small cameras from damage (more on this in a moment), on the other you have a small cardboard box that houses the accessories for the NVR 101 enclosure and there nestled in the off center middle, is a the heart and soul of this surveillance system. Wrapped in plastic and cocooned in protective foam is the NVR 101. Gently nestled in between two large pieces of foam, these foam pads allow the NVR the luxury of floating in the center of the box blissfully unaware of most potential “in transit” dangers. This for all intents and purposes means that only the most extreme of abuses will be able to damage it and let’s face it anything that catastrophic is going to leave more than a mark on the outside of the big box!

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As mentioned there is a cardboard box inside the big box and its sole job is to protect the already well protected small IP cameras which transform the kit from the NVR 101 into the NVR 1012. When we first took a look at this box within in box, our first though was that we were sent the wrong model as from the shear size of it had to contain more than just two small cameras (even four cameras wouldn’t have accounted for its size)! If we thought that we had seen overkill before we were certainly mistaken as this honkin’ huge box takes a page right from Thermalright packaging in that it is filled with medium density foam which has small cutouts for where the cameras reside. To say that this box could probably with stand some huge amounts of blunt force trauma before passing any of that damage unto the cameras is an understatement. We were literally in awe of the new highs QNAP’s engineers have taken protective overkill to.

Words like impressive literally loose their meaning when used to describe how well this surveillance system is packaged. Overall we really can not think of anything that even comes close to being as well protected as this guy is; maybe ultra precious items like the Stanley Cup are shipped as well as this, but we even have out doubts about that!

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The list of accessories that come with this unit is actually fairly long and complete. About the only thing that is not included is an SATA hard drive. The full list of accessories includes USB cables, 3 power adapters (brick style for the NVR 101, and two relatively svelte block style ones for the IP cameras), installation instructions (for the NVR 101), 2 CD with software (one for the cameras, one for the NVR 101), two antennas for the cameras, a various assortment of screws, another quick installation guide for the cameras and even two very nice mounting brackets for the cameras.

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When we say mounting brackets what really mean is that they are two small stands which have a ball and socket attachment allowing for darn near 360° installation of the cameras. That was a very nice touch and really helped push this from a good list of accessories to a down right impressive list of accessories.

 

[AkG]

First Impressions: ICS-1013 Camera

First Impressions: ICS-1013 Camera

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While it has an MSRP of basically a thousand dollars, this system is not what you call a cheap investment but it is not what you would call an expensive investment for a surveillance system either. In the wonderful world of video surveillance one can easily pay much more than the cost of the entire NVR 1012 system for just one camera. Does this mean that the cameras that come with this kit “cheap”? Heck no, they are decent cameras but in the end they are marketed as “value oriented” so one should adjust their expectations accordingly.

When you hold one of the two ICS-1013 IP cameras in your hand they don’t have a cheap feel to them, they just seem to give off a robust vibe to them that is very reassuring. Some camera systems achieve this robust feeling by making the cameras as heavy as a log but luckily that is not the case here since they are not light weights per say but they don’t feel like they have been cast from lead either.

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On the front of the camera is where the lens is (of course) located and surrounding the lens is 6 infrared LEDs and a light sensor. What the light sensor does is measure the amount of ambient light and when it falls to a certain level the camera switches over to IR “night vision mode”. In testing it was found that unless carefully positioned, this light sensor will end up in the camera lens shadow thus causing the camera to think it is much darker inside than it really is. The easiest solution was to simply flip it upside down so the light sensor was on top and then use the included free software to flip to image. If one does not do this and if one is not careful you will end up with a very oversaturated purple tinged image.

On the positive side, this camera is not a passive IR system since those 6 IR LEDs give off enough light that the camera can easily see in complete darkness for about 16 1/2 feet (5 meters). That is pretty darn impressive as many household rooms are less than that in width. It really is too bad that no external switch was included to allow the camera to activate an external light source. While this is a small pet peeve, it is understandable why it is not there as this is a relatively inexpensive camera meant for internal household use and we really have only seen that option on much more expensive outdoor models.

Just above the IR LEDs is where a single microphone is housed. It is too bad that they went with only a single as stereo sound would have been much nicer. While stereo sound would have been great, we understand this would have added to the cost and may have been decided more based upon speed limitation that anything else. After all, wireless networks are not exactly super wide and fast networks and maybe 4 stereo mic’s plus 4 video surveillance cameras would have saturated a wireless G network. As it stands, the single mic does do a pretty decent job and is fairly clear when people/animals/etc are close to the mic and we would rather have bad audio but stutter free video than the opposite any day!

As with all small condenser mics, the further away a person is from the mic the more noise is introduced into the audio recording. This distance will vary depending on ambient background noise, but in a quiet room we were able to have a fairly legible 2 way conversation via one of these cameras from over 12 feet away. Of course in a noisy environment this dropped very quickly and anything over touching distance from the camera was darn near impossible to hear due to said ambient noise. Your results will vary, but all we can tell you is that the distance you can easily hear questions coming from the built in speaker is about the same distance you can talk to the camera with a good chance of being heard.

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The back of the camera is where all the various connectors are located. These cameras come complete with their own screw-in antennas but, if you wish to buy better higher gain antennas just make sure they use the RP-SMA standard wireless antenna connector and not the TNC style. Of course there are a multitude of different connection styles out there besides TNC and SMA/RP-SMA (e.g. N, MMX, MX etc) so you are better off buying the unit, checking to make sure it still uses RP-SMA type before ordering a replacement antenna and who knows these little guys might just surprise you.

Next to the wireless antenna connection is the screw for mounting the camera to the included bracket. As you can see, it is a metal connection and not just a plastic one that we have seen on other models. This is always nice as you won’t easily strip this one out nor have it break from plastic fatigue anytime soon. This really is a nice touch and was very reassuring to see it here.

The bottom row of connectors included the power connector, audio out connector, factory reset button and 10/100 RJ45 Ethernet port. The factory reset button is pretty self explanatory as when/if you make a mistake in the installation process (say you set it to an already taken IP) pressing in this button for 4-5 seconds will reset it back to its factory defaults. It is always reassuring to know that no matter how badly you mess up, a simple button push will magically fix it for you. The audio out connector is there in case you want to hook this bad boy up to bigger (i.e. LOUDER) speakers. Overall, the camera connectors are perfectly laid out and have a very clean and uncluttered feel to them.

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The external list of options does not end here, as on the side of the camera has a USB port and USB “unmount” button. Basically, this USB 1.1 powered port (Power distribution: 500mA Max.) allows you the option of plugging in a USB thumb drive (or any USB mass storage device for that matter) and recording directly to it from the camera. This is a nice feature, that probably won’t be used that much (as it is a slow 1.1 connection) but since it is powered well this opens up a hole new can of tweakers’ delight now doesn’t it!

Earlier we bemoaned the fact that there was no real way to trigger an external light with this camera, and while this is true you can pick up USB lights fairly cheaply on auction sites; this plus an IR LED coupled with said USB port equals enhanced night vision for the camera! Where we are talking IR light, no one will notice (or mind if they do notice) that an “invisible” flash light is on during the day, but come darkness that should really add some oomph to the camera's vision range. Even better is the fact that LEDs are rated for tens of thousands of hours (and use a negligible amount of electricity), so when you add all this up you end up with a nice little homemade mod that will last as long as the camera!

 

[AkG]

First Impressions: NVR 101

First Impressions: NVR 101

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The very first thing that stands out on the NVR101 is the fact that the case of the unit is highly reflective. This gives the unit a very slick look and feel to it, but it does mean that you will be spending a lot of time cleaning dust, smudges and even fingerprints off the darn thing. Heck, during the photo shoot we had dust bunnies hitchhiking from other counties just so they could land on it! While our personal preference is for a flat or matte black finish, some people like shinny things so it really does come down to your own tastes whether or not this is a pro or a con. Either way it should not be considered a deal maker or a deal breaker as a unit is only as good as its performance regardless of it looks, and this one is a darn good performer.

Of course, the way in which they obtained this highly reflective surface is another matter all together. Unfortunately, this case is made from shiny, yet cheap plastic. Plastic is all well and fine when you are buying a $35 external storage unit but this unit is part of a thousand dollar kit, so the very least one expects is to see an all metal enclosure. The upside to QNAP using such a fragile material is that it does make the unit exceptionally lightweight. If one is careful, th=e NVR101 should last for a good long while; and lets face it, any kit that sets you back “10 bills” is going to be treated with kid gloves!

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When one gets over the bright glare being cast from the surface of the unit (and gets over using it as a mirror) the next thing which becomes readily apparent is that it is an amazingly small device. It literally is no larger than a single bay external enclosure device, yet it packs some amazing options into a small space. On the front of the unit we have numerous indicator LEDs that with just a quick glance allow you to ascertain the status of the unit.

The top LED is to show USB status and when it is glowing blue you can press the backup video button to backup video to a USB device. When it is blinking said video is in the process of being backed up and when it stops blinking the process is complete. The next LED is called the System Status LED but in reality it is more concerned with the status of the installed hard drive than anything else. Depending on its color and whether or not it is blinking one can easily determine when the hard drive is full, failed or not even initialized. The LED below the System Status LED is the HDD1/eSATA LED and this light blinks when the internal (or external hard drive if one is plugged in) is being accessed. Needless to say, if this LED is blinking it probably would be a very bad time to turn off the unit. The last two LEDS are the LAN LED which tells you if the device is connected to the Network and whether or not it is accessing said network. Directly below this LED is the Power indicator LED which glows blue when the power is on.

On their own, these LEDS are well designed and executed as they are easy to see from a distance but are not so bright as to be annoying, but taken as a whole they can convey a lot of information quickly and accurately. Yes it will take a bit of getting used to in order to decode the LED combinations but in short order you will come to not only like that they are there but love them as they really do work and you don’t need to access a computer to get a good feel for the overall status of the unit. In a nut shell this has typical QNAP quality and refinement stamped all over it.

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Of course, the front is not just there for housing the LEDs as you also get a nicely designed Power Button that blends in very well with the overall look and feel of the NVR101’s external design. On the other end of the LEDs is a QNAP trademark front USB port and One touch AUTO backup that will back up all data from the internal hard drive to an external one (such as a USB front connected external enclosure for example).

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The quality and elegance of this unit does not stop at the front of this unit, as just as much time and effort was spent in the layout of the back of the NVR 101.

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At the very bottom of this unit you have the power adapter connector, the factory reset button (that works very similar to the camera reset in that it sets everything back to factory default), the Kensington lock connector (lock is of course not included) and the 10/100/1000 “gigabit” Ethernet connector. Above the Ethernet port you have an eSATA port that allows you to hook up an external enclosure and RAID 1 the NVR101’s recorded data, and above the eSATA port you have two USB connectors.

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Of course topping all these connectors is the NVR 101s cooling fan.

 

[AkG]

Interior Impressions: ICS-1013 Camera

Interior Impressions: ICS-1013 Camera

Please note that taking these units apart will void your warranty

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Taking apart these little guys is a very straightforward process. One simply has to remove two screws from the top back of the unit and then gently pry the front face plate off. When this is accomplished you get your first sight at the internals and the first inkling of how complex, yet well engineered, these “value oriented” IP cameras really are.

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To remove the internals from the unit one simply has to pry out the whole subassembly from the plastic housing. This is a very easy and straight forward affair, just make sure to full depress the USB unmount button or you will have a very tough time getting the little sucker out!

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All in all there are four printed circuit boards that work together to create the ICS-1013 camera. As we will see shortly these cameras may be listed by QNAP as being made by IPUX but in fact they are really made by Fitivision Technology Inc and are nothing more than rebadged Fitivision CS-1013 IP cameras. How to we know this, and more importantly how do we know this to be a verifiable fact? The answer is very easy, A) the MAC address of the 10/100 wired LAN decodes to “Fitivision Technology Inc” but more importantly the main controller chip on the main PCB is stamped as Fitivision FV1000. Who is IPUX and who is Fitivision? After doing some digging it appears they are the same company, with the exact same phone numbers and billing address.

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As mentioned the controller chip for these IP cameras is the Fitivision FV1000. Not much is known about this chip besides the fact that it is an ARM9 RISC processor. In this camera this processor is paired with 8MB flash and 32MB RAM. Whether or not it is an ARM9 or the newer ARM9E does not really matter; either way it is more than powerful enough to handle the compression of video at 30fps that is required from this unit. More importantly than being powerful enough to handle the task it is responsible for, the ARM9 chips are extremely energy efficient and it is this combination of power and low energy requirement that makes them perfect for use in IP cameras.

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The network interface chip is the IC Plus IP100A. This single chip is a full duplex of 10/100 Mbps Ethernet MAC chip that incorporates a 32-bit PCI with bus master support. This is certainly an energy efficient chip in that it natively supports several power down states, and even has the ability to issue a system "wake event" via reception of unique, user defined Ethernet frames (aka Wake On LAN event). In addition to all these great features, this little power house can even create a wake event in response to changes in the Ethernet link status. All in all this really is a good chip to have in a low power device where energy efficiency is a major concern.

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The WiFi card adapter card is none other than the MSI MP54G mini PCI card. We got our first clue that it was the MSI as the MAC address of the IP camera when connected via Wifi decodes to MICRO-STAR INT'L CO.,LTD. MICRO-STAR INT'L is better known as MSI here in North America; and more importantly the serial number itself states it as “MP54Gxxx” just like all MSI cards do. To us if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and has a big old label on stating “I’m a DUCK!!” then we’ll take it at its word and call it a duck!

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This mini PCI card is powered by the RALINK RT2561T which is a WLAN 802.11a/b/g controller chip. As stated this chip is capable of connecting wirelessly via 2.4GHz 802.11a, b or G but is not “pre N” or N capable. This means that while operating in 2.4GHz spectrum it can handle a data rate of up to 54Mbps while using 64/128 bit WEP; TKIP,WPA encryption.

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The heart and soul of any IP camera has to be the actual camera lens itself. The sensor is ¼ inch CMOS sensor and this board type lens camera is capable of resolutions of up to 640 x 480 (aka VGA) at 30fps. It is also capable of QVGA (320 x 240) and QQVGA (160 x 120), both also at 30 frames per second. The aperture used on this camera lens is a F2.8 with a fixed focus length of 4.5mm and has diagonal viewing angle of 54 degrees.

In normal daylight operations it is capable of recording images in as little as 0.5LUX which is not much light at all(1 “foot candle” aka one lumen per square foot is roughly equal to 10.76 LUX)! As mentioned before and as you can easily see from the above photo, this camera board also has 6 IR LEDS for night vision mode.

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The audio controller of the ICS 1013 is the Realtek Audio ALC203 which supports the Advanced AC'97 Rev 2.3 Audio CODEC. This controller chip is a 20-bit DAC and 18-bit ADC full-duplex AC ‘97 2.3 compatible stereo audio CODEC which incorporates proprietary converter technology to achieve a Signal to Noise Ratio greater than 100 dB. It also boasts an internal 14.318MHz to 24.576MHz PLL circuit that generates its own required timing signals, which in turn eliminates the need for external crystal and helps reduce overall electricity requirements. Even though the ICS 1013 only has mono speaker and microphone capabilities this chip is more than capable of handling multiple mono and/or stereo inputs and two pairs of stereo (or mono) outputs. Needless to say this little chip is certainly complete overkill for these camera’s needs but we love overkill.

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As with most electrical devices, these cameras require electrical capacitors. In this case the capacitors are made by HER-MEI. While HER-MEI capacitors don’t have as bad a reputation as some, they are not in the same league as Rubycon to say the least. In the defense of HER-MEI they are an ISO 9001 and 14001 certified manufacturer that has been in business since 1995; and when you make as many electrical capacitors as they do you the law of large numbers is going to play a role in how many “bad caps” have your name on them. Let’s face it, no matter how strict your quality control is some capacitors are going to fail early. However, when big corporations like HP are willing to use a given brand you know that things can’t be all that bad.

To put things in perspective, these capacitors are going to be put under such a small strain that it shouldn’t really matter that much in the long run whether they are Teapo, HER-MEI, Rubycon or any other brand you can list. Of course if you feel strongly enough about seeing these in a product you own, you can always swap them out for higher quality ones fairly easily; as long as you are willing to void your warranty that is.

 

[AkG]

Interior Impressions: NVR-101

Interior Impressions: NVR-101

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Because one must install a hard drive for this system to work properly, opening the NVR 101 up is simplicity itself. One simply slides apart the top half of the plastic case and lifts it out. To remove the steel hard drive chassis you have to unscrew a couple of screws and lift the metal frame out. Of course to do this one should also unplug the 3 pin fan wire so as to give ones self a bit of extra wiggle room.

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When this is accomplished you will have to remove yet more screws and then you can lift the PCB right out of the plastic case.

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The very first thing that sticks out is that there are a few chips and/or connectors missing from this printed circuit board. The long rectangle / C shaped one appears to be the perfect size for a PATA port connector and this does makes sense as that would give the manufacturer more flexibility in spec’ing out the hardware requirements. It would not surprise us if an earlier engineering sample came with a PATA connector instead of the SATA and was later changed. The other missing chip could simply be a now redundant controller chip whose job has been taken over by a one of the other multifunction chips.

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The network controller chip used by the NVR 101 is the Realtek RTL8110SCL, Gigabit Ethernet controller chip. With this chip Realtek has managed to integrate a triple-speed IEEE 802.3 compliant Media Access Controller (MAC) with a triple-speed Ethernet transceiver, 32-bit PCI bus controller, and even embedded memory all into one amazingly powerful yet efficient chip!

This network controller chip fully supports the PCI v2.3 bus interface for host communications with power management and is compliant with the IEEE 802.3 specification for 10/100Mbps Ethernet and the IEEE 802.3ab specification for 1000Mbps Ethernet. The Realtek RTL8110SCL supports the Advanced Configuration Power management Interface (ACPI) and also supports remote wake-up (AKA wake on LAN) in both ACPI and APM (Advanced Power Management) environments.

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The Silicon Image 3512 “SteelVine” SATALink Processor is the PCI to 2-port Serial ATA host controller used in the NVR 101. As the name suggests this controller chip handles all the Integrated Serial ATA Transport, Link Logic and PHY layers into one single chip. While it is only compliant with the Serial ATA 1.0 specification (aka SATA 150) this does provide more than enough bandwidth to fulfill the NVR101’s needs. The phrase “SteelVine” may be recognizable to some of you as we recently reviewed the Sans Digital MobilSTOR external enclosure which used a newer generation of the SteelVine to help power it to a DAM GOOD award.

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The Integrated Host Processor for this unit is certainly an interesting choice. QNAP elected to use an MPC8241LVR266D chip manufactured by Freescale semiconductors. For all those eagle eyed readers out there that spotted the passive heatsink, this is the chip that it was cooling. It is an interesting choice in that its core is based on the older Power PC architecture. In this iteration this 32bit RISC processor runs at 266mhz, uses a 133mhz memory bus and can support up to 2Gb of Dram memory. All in all it’s a very powerful chip and while it is very energy efficient it does generate enough heat to warrant the relatively large passive heatsink. It will be interesting to see how much this heat this bad boy produces while in use.

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The four RAM chips that located on the main PCB are made by Powerchip Semiconductor Corporation. In this instance they are 32mb memory chips model number A3V56S40ETP. Even these chips are ancient they are still more than fast enough for the NVR 101 needs.

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The USB controller is none other than the NEC µPD720101 USB 2.0 controller chip. This chip is an update to the 720100 and uses less electricity and generates less heat than its older brethren, making it a great high quality choice for the NVR101. Not only is this chip energy efficient it is also very powerful since it is in reality One EHCI (Enhanced Host Controller Interface ) and two OHCI ( = Open Host Controller Interface) integrated onto single chip. It can handle up to 5 downstream USB ports and is even fully compliant with Rev2.2 of the PCI specifications.

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The fan that provides all the active cooling for this device is the FD1250-A1033C 50x50x15mm ARX CeraDyna ceramic bearing fan. This fan rotates at a nominal 5000rpm at which speed it moves 9.76CFM with a static pressure of 2.87 mmH20. The interesting thing about this fan is that unlike most ball bearing fans that used metal ball bearings this one uses ceramic bearings. While it does give the fan an interesting note to the noise it generates it does have the upside of extending the life expectancy of the fan.

 

[AkG]

Camera Installation

Camera Installation

To properly set up the NVR 1012 surveillance system one must first set up and properly configure the IP cameras before you can move to setting up the NVR 101.

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Setting up the IP cameras can be considered easy or even very easy depending on how you plan on connecting them. Wired or wireless is the first thing you must decide since this will dictate whether or not you will need the external antenna. Even if you plan on using this in a wire-based configuration it is always a good idea to install the antenna, that way if you do change your mind you don’t have to spend hours looking for “missing” antennas.

Installing the antenna is easy as screwing in a light bulb. One simply lines up the threads on the back of the camera with the threads on the antenna and tightens until it is firmly in place.

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When this is accomplished you must screw the base adapter onto the back of the camera and then screw the adaptor unto the base plate. Since the adaptor is a ball and socket affair, numerous positions are possible and once you find the perfect angle, it is simply a matter of tightening down the big wing nut to secure the camera in place. If you plan on mounting the camera on a wall, three screws are included that screw through the base. All in all the physical installation of the camera is quite user friendly and straightforward.

To complete the installation all you have to do is plug the camera in. It will automatically try and locate your wireless network or communicate via the wired Ethernet port. In the factory default settings they will try to negotiate 192.168.0.30 but will readily accept DHCP commands. All in all they play nice with a variety of routers and our D-Link and Linksys routers had no troubles working with them.

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When this is finished (which should be darn near instantaneous) you are going to have to install the IPFinder program which is located on the Camera’s Installation CD. This program searches for the IP cameras on the subnet and allows you to link to them for complete configuration.

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When you hit the “Link” button in IPFinder what it does is open MS Internet Explorer and loads the required activeX based page for the given camera. When asked, simply type in admin/admin for the username and password then select Setup and then Smart Wizard. Just as the name implies, the wizard goes through the configuration process step by step and is very easy to use. When you have completed the setup wizard, the IP camera will reboot and use these new settings. When this is done your camera should be readily accessible from IPFinder or even just by typing its IP Address in the address bar of IE. For use with the NVR 101 one should hard set an IP address in both the camera and your router to ensure that you don’t have to redo the NVR 101 setup every week.

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Out of the box, the IP Camera's colors are too saturated with a heavy tendency to make blues into purples. It will take a bit of time and patience to set up the camera to your liking; and yes that is cages we use for feeding and yes that is a queen size mattress in the right hand side (what can I say I don’t like food squabbles and my dogs like their comfort when in the “dog day room”). For those of you who don't know, AkG helps run a high-end dog breeder. Ed.

Under the setup section you can not only tell the camera its network setting but how it will process the images, brightness / contrast settings and even if you want to flip the picture vertically or horizontally. All in all the setup of the IP Camera is very easy and straightforward. For an IP camera that is marketed as a “value oriented” IP camera it does come with a host of features and the only shortcoming is with its IQ or Image Quality. We could do our best to describe these shortcomings in greater detail then we have but the manufacturer of the camera has a “live demo” that shows said image quality and nothing beats seeing it for yourself. Click here to load the real time demo (http://fitivision.dyndns.tv/), when asked, the user name and password is “user” without the quotation.

 

[AkG]

NVR-101 Installation

NVR-101 installation

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The installation of the NVR 101 is even easier than the installation of the IP camera, and boy is that saying something! The very first thing one has to do is install a hard drive into the NVR101. This is accomplished by sliding the top half of the case forwards until the arrow lines up with the unlocked icon. When it does simply lift the top of the case off and slide a SATA hard drive into position. When it is firmly seated, the power and SATA connectors will be snugly inserted into the back of the hard drive and the screw holes one the side of said hard drive will line up with the case. Screw in the hard drive, replace the top cover and slide the cover until the arrow aligns with the locked icon and then install the two screws in the back of the case that lock the plastic top case in position.

When all this is done, simply plug in your Ethernet cable; then plug in the power adaptor and turn the NVR 101 on. It will beep and do its self test and then beep again when it is ready to be used. At this point the hardware installation of the NVR101 is complete.

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To continue, one must install the QNAP finder utility that comes on the NVR 101 software CD. This is the same program as is used to find QNAP’s NAS devices. When it finds the NVR101 for the first time it will guide you through the configuration process and remember; when asked, the default password is administrator and password is admin.

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We strongly recommend you assign a fixed IP to the NVR 101 just as you did for the IP cameras. It will ask you a few simple questions like what the IP address is of the default gateway it should use (i.e. the IP address of your router or DHCP server). When this step is done it will ask you for the camera settings, user name, password and even the model of said camera. This is where the power of this device really shines as you are not limited to a particular manufacturer or model; rather you can use multiple cameras from various manufacturers, with different capabilities and they will all play and act nice together when used via the NVR101. This is very impressive, as most IP cameras come with proprietary software that only works with their cameras and managing different ones can be a real hassle.

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When this wizard is finished one simply uses QNAP Finder to log onto the NVR 101, at which time it will load MS Internet Explorer (if it is not already running) and load the monitoring page. Just as happened with the IP cameras, the first time you log into this page you will have to say yes to the ActiveX installation. When this is complete the NVR101 will automatically install the playback software onto your system (that is assuming you didn’t already install via the software CD).

When all this is completed, so is the installation of the NVR 1012 surveillance system. You are now ready to enjoy your new kit, or at the very least set up how you would like to use your cameras. The total time you will spend setting up the camera and the NVR101 (sans nit picking over the perfect angle for the cameras) will be about an hour. This really does highlight how user friendly this system is!

The next section will deal with the actual administration of the NVR 101. So without further ado let’s take a look at how you administer this bad boy!

 

[AkG]

Administration

Administration

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If you have ever owned and/or administered a QNAP NAS you will find the administration page of the NVR 101 surprisingly familiar. In total you have 8 subpages or administration sections to choose from. On paper this may sound scary and needlessly complicated to a first time user but trust us; QNAP are experts at making user friendly software and this goes double for their custom User Interface designs! When you start to use the Admin pages of the NVR 101, your realize that the learning curve is so short as to be almost non existent and that everything is laid out in an easy to understand manner and is super intuitive. For example, if you want to look at the logs of the NVR 101 you go to the Logs page. As you can see it’s easy, uncomplicated and above all else very slick and uncluttered in its approach to administration. I just wish CISCO or heck even Microsoft would spend as much time as the QNAP does before pushing a product to market! Give yourself an hour or two and you will be a PRO at administering the NVR 101.

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The very first page is the Quick Configuration page, and just like the name states this is a short answer based wizard for changing the configuration of the NVR 101. Yes you will already have done this when you installed the NVR 101 just a short while ago, but in a year or three when you upgrade your network infrastructure this handy little built in wizard will make reconfiguring your surveillance system a breeze. We loved seeing this included in QNAP’s Network Attached Storage and we love that QNAP carried it over to the their surveillance line.

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The System Setting page is where you can rename the server and change the date or time without needing to go through the whole setup wizard again. This is a great time saver if for example you want to rename the NVR 101, you would simply go to the server name subpage, type in the new name and press apply. Extremely easy and user friendly to say the least! Heck, QNAP even added in a View System Settings page so you can tell at a glance how everything is configured!

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The Network Settings page is very similar to the Quick Configuration page but instead of having to go through the whole process you can just change one (or many) things that deal with how the NVR talks to the network. One very nice feature is DDNS or Dynamic DNS, which with (as with QNAP NAS) you can set up the NVR so that you can remotely administer and view the camera via the internet. For anyone who clicked on the manufacturer demo you know how easy it can be to keep tabs on what is happening even when you are not connected to your home’s / business’ internal network. This feature alone makes the NVR 101 price seem cheap! Just remember to set a strong password and change it often, otherwise other people will be able to see what is happening on the camera as well….ick.

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As the name suggests the Admin Device Configuration page is where you configure your hard drive devices. OK maybe that is a little vague but only until one realizes that more than just the internal hard drive can be used by the NVR 101 to record data to! You can hook up USB enclosures, eSATA enclosures and even have the NVR 101 check for bad sectors (just like QNAP NAS devices can). The best thing about this is you can easily set up a RAID 1 using the internal SATA drive and an external eSATA device. This gives one the option of doing backups to an external hard drive which can then be taken off sight for disaster recovery management! When we first heard about the NVR 101 we never imagined that a starter kit costing less that $1000 would have such advanced features built in. Jolly good show QNAP, jolly good.

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The User Management Features is another area that is just down right astounding. What an administrator can do with this feature is give different people access to different cameras while at the same time seamlessly removing access from others! This is a great feature that many a SOHO or even Small / Medium Business admin will love having. For home users it probably is going to be of limited value but if you have IP Cameras set up in “sensitive areas”. However, you propably don’t want your kids to access to the cameras so this feature may make just seal the deal for you; and no we are not going to comment on the legality of recording yourself or your kids without everyone's previous written consent.

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The Camera Settings allows a person to configure all the connected cameras and tweak their settings to your heart's content without having to manually log into each camera and tweak them individually. This by itself makes this a good and useful administration feature, but what makes it a great feature is the ability to tweak how said camera files are recorded, when they start to record and even when they should stop. For example if you have Camera 2 set to record only upon motion alarm you can set the NVR to record 30 seconds (or any number you wish) before and after the incident occurs! This takes the motion security recording option to a whole new level. Once again it is little tweaks like this that show how much effort QNAP put into making he NVR 101 as user friendly as possibly.

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The System Tools pages are where you can do all the normal administration things like setting up email alerts, rebooting the NVR 101, backing up and even restoring your custom settings and other things that we have come to expect from quality QNAP products. One thing that really stands out is the ability to “e map” your camera setup. What this means is you can (with the help of a jpg image) give a graphical representation of where you have setup your cameras. This may not sound like a big deal, but trust me nothing beats having an actual map when you are troubleshooting camera issues and it has been six months since you set the darn things up and you have no idea what camera is located where! This is one of those simple yet brilliant ideas where everyone else goes “why didn’t I think of that!”. Well the wizards at QNAP did and boy is it ever a handy feature to have!

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Just as with QNAP NAS devices the Log and Stats pages give you a fairly basic way of tracking error and other details that you may otherwise miss. For example, if you wake up one morning to find your system shut off, you can simply reboot it and check the logs to see what happened. It will not always be able to tell you what happened but an unscheduled, non graceful shutdown at 3:21am (for example) will give you a good place to start. That of course is the worst case scenario, if for example the log shows it was shut down due to overheating then you know either the fan has stopped working or sticking the NVR101 in a cupboard was a bad idea!