PSISeptember2017

TEST
Finding your way
around the set-up
and controls is very
simple and the range
of options is quite
impressive for such a
small device
(continued from p14)
SD analogue cameras simply plug in and
display as expected and AHD and TVI camera
feeds are compatible so display directly. The unit
does not accept SDI signals but this standard is
becoming less common now so should not be an
issue.
IP cameras are easily added via the IPC menu
option. This, via a Search button will identify any
ONVIF conforming cameras on the network’s local
subnet and they can be added in. There is a large
degree of flexibility for the inputs as the analogue
inputs can be individually disabled to allow
additional IP camera allocation up to the
maximum 12 images that can be recorded.
Display formats are very flexible with Single,
Quad, Nine and Twelve way, then an extended set
of 1 + 5 (Large to Small), 1 + 7, 2 + 8 and 1 + 9
options. Images can be freely moved around
these displays.
Any missing camera positions will display the
MaxxOne logo in the relevant window, however, if
the analogue channel is disabled, the logo is
replaced with the text “No Camera”.
An option to set up to 4 privacy zones per
camera is given. In practice, the display window
for this function did not present as shown in the
manual but a full screen image was forced that
allowed the zone to be set but did not return to
the settings window. With some re-selection is
was possible to save zones but not as smoothly
as expected.
Selecting a display window brings up the
option icons for that camera; these are Manual
Capture, Manual Record, Instant Playback, Zoom,
Colour Settings and PTZ. The Instant Playback
presents the last 5 minutes of that camera’s
recording and while it only has a play and pause
capability, the slider allows simple navigation to
the potential point of interest.
A ‘Cloud’ storage option is offered for archiving
video but this appears to be aligned to the
Dropbox service with no mention of other cloud
storage providers.
Performance
Finding your way around the set-up and controls
is very simple and the range of options is quite
impressive for such a small device.
The replay mode was straightforward with a
very simple set of transport controls for play,
pause, fast forward, rewind etc. with the
indication of play status presented in green
towards the top right of the replayed image rather
than with the buttons, so this takes some getting
used to. The fast speeds are X2, 4, 8 & 16 for both
forward and reverse with a slow speed mode of
1/2, 1/4, 1/8 and 1/16. The timeline is presented
as 24, 2, 1 hour or 30 minutes. Smooth scrolling
along the timeline allows relevant images to be
quickly selected. Clips can be selected for
archiving to an external drive.
Once on a network the device can be accessed
via a browser. In testing it was found that IE11 on
a Windows 8.1 Pro PC simply requested a plug-in
that downloaded from the device and installed
with no problem, allowing the application to run
straight away. This was not the case with a
Windows 10 PC running the Edge browser. Neither
Windows operating system would connect using
Google Chrome or Netscape Firefox.
The Web viewer has five tabs for; Live,
Playback, Remote Settings, Local Settings and
Logout.
The live view has very good display options but
it was noted that there was sometimes a short
delay before IP camera streams presented. The
Playback screen is similar to the device’s replay
interface but initially gave a “Playback in use by
another user, try again later” message as a
playback was still running on the DVR. This is
clearly a resource limitation but should not be an
issue for such a device in the majority of
installations.
‘Remote Setup’ gives access to the full range of
system settings and ‘Local settings’ allows the
local PC Capture and Record paths to be set.
Remote playback was good with synchronised
playback of multiple channels available.
Remote viewer apps are available for both
Android and iOS and a single sheet guides the
user online by way of a QR code to access the
device.
Conclusion
The quality of the supplied and online
documentation appears to set this apart from
many similar DVR offerings. Helpful guides to
hard drive fitting and router port forwarding are
provided along with helpline numbers in case
users encounter difficulties.
The ease with which cameras can be upgraded
to analogue HD or IP makes this a good choice for
small systems that are likely to be upgraded.
9.0 out of 10
16
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