AMDV7204 A great DVR some Info

[Revo2Maxx]

Hello all...

So yeah I like to think outside the Box sometimes.... I have done some testing and while it don't have the ability to HOLD that large of a HDD. It can take 3tb...

So when I bought the DVR some years ago I needed to cover some space and thought I would put this on the 4 corners of my Garage... If I need footage I would go get it... Set up as a Standalone... then never re visited it until earlier this year. had a Tree limb fall off the tree and break the lens of one of my Cameras... So seeing I can't find replacement lens bought new CVI camera a pair of them anyway.. Hooked it up and got it all setup. Looking in the menus I didn't even think about IP cameras.. Options was not even in there menu so oh well.. It wasn't until I took it out of service to bring it in to my room for some Cleaning and checking over the system for problems... At that time found that there was a FW not new just new to me lol... So I upgraded the FW and there is now the ability to make this 4ch CVI into a 2ch CVI with 2IP...

So I Put everything back on the dvr as it was back in the garage to revisit this once again when my 751 that is also on the Garage started acting up over Wifi thought I can put on there... Yeah not so easy with that cameras lol... So now I have some 841's lets test that... I was told that the DVR won't work with the cameras and shouldn't work them up to it. I am not sure what they are Talking about... Not only does the cameras connect to it. There is even an area on the DVR that is all about them. IPC EXT Alarm, and IPC offline area in the Events tab. This even works. With Alarm name input type, Show message, Alarm upload, Send emails, record Channels, Ptz Activation, Tour, snap shot and even Buzzer... Also gives the option like on the camera of type of Alarm it is, Normal Open or Close contact...


So there are some great options on the DVR... Sadly for what ever reason Amcrest has pulled it from any other FW updates so if you want your Email to work you will need to do like I did and buy your own SMTP server lol...

One of the things that is hard to understand is the Pictures portion of the DVR.. While you can set it up to record 24/7 and that is how I have it set... you can also have it record images as well. In most cases there is a Page, This pages says do xyz and that is it.. NOT this one lol... you can find snapshot recording area on like 3 different pages of the settings... If it isn't set just right your not going to get any, Or you will get to many or you think you have it setup to take a Snap shot and ticked all the boxes leading to make you believe this when you go and check there is no images.... Then you setup to only 1 image but when you look at the image there is nothing showing why it is there... To fast of moving target by time screen is recorded object is gone... But there is options to make this work and work even with Cars going by at 35 to 40mph...

Why have the Jpg anyway? Great question.. Ever get 200 or 1000 emails a day with alerts that show nothing besides a leaf falling or blowing on the ground. cat or dog though.. Kind of a pain... Well for me this gives an area to look. While it isn't 100% lets say... Say because of a Light flash as something goes by maybe form car going around corner at the right time it makes it so the camera don't pick up motion of someone driving by.. But it is a Time Stamp for me in area of time that something might of happened and I mark them times on my Security daily log and then visit these times first looking for something that may need more watching.... Or maybe something happen but don't seem to have a Picture file of it.. Then I have to watch the whole day looking for said event...

Anyway... Options everyone likes Options... Just depends on how they are put in play... So if you have one of these DVR's tucked away. and have a couple or even 1 841... No matter what someone tells you... I am saying They work well together... Sadly only can use up to 2 of them... Wish it was like my 960h DVR that went form a 4ch dvr to 4ch plus 4IP ch to a Flat out 8ch IP recorder lol... I would have loved the 7204 to even just let me record 4 IP sadly no options for sure. and no more FW for them to make it as such....

You still have a 7204,8 or 16 still in use? How do you use yours?