If I purchase a Tivo or DirectTV DVR, can I record images from a surveillance camera?
June 25, 2009 by Surveillance Tips and Advice
Filed under More Surveillance Answers
Can you answer kellygirl12498’s question about Surveillance?:
I do not have (nor do I plan to obtain) a subscription to Tivo, DirectTV or any other cable or satellite service. However, I was wondering if I could still purchase a DVR for the purpose of recording surveillance images at my home. I can record images to VCR but the strict limitation on the number of hours that can be recorded is inconvenient. Any other neat tips would be great too. Like, can I also connect a motion detector to the camera (which is wireless, by the way) so that it’s not running when there is no activity in the area?
Wireless Home Surveillance System
I do not have (nor do I plan to obtain) a subscription to Tivo, DirectTV or any other cable or satellite service. However, I was wondering if I could still purchase a DVR for the purpose of recording surveillance images at my home. I can record images to VCR but the strict limitation on the number of hours that can be recorded is inconvenient. Any other neat tips would be great too. Like, can I also connect a motion detector to the camera (which is wireless, by the way) so that it’s not running when there is no activity in the area?
Wireless Home Surveillance System
Surveillance Feedback: used long format vcr’s are a good way to go. check any nearby tv shops and security stores.dvr’s all vary on types of inputs allowed.
Surveillance Feedback: You could connect the Camera(s) to a computer, record onto a hard drive and then, if you needed to, transfer to a DVD using your DVD burner on your computer. The nice thing about this is tht you can control the size of the picture therefore the size of the files stored on the hard drive. This could get you many hours of video on your drive.
Surveillance Feedback: I would consider a stand a-lone DVD recorder with a hard-drive. They can record hundreds of hrs on the hard-drive and then if you need you can transfer it to DVD write. You will also be amazed to see how similar it is to Tivo and you don’t need a subscription. You can monitor while it is recording, you can search while its recording in slow mode or at speeds up to 100x you can even play a DVD while it is recording on the HD. Overall they are great machines.
It can be done: I currently use my Tivo to capture videos off of my VCR. I have no Tivo subscription and this works very well for me.
I found this post while considering the same issue: trying to capture from a wireless-camera receiver. Since the video comes in okay, the only challenge to me is getting the Tivo to generate a recorded loop that is X number of hours in length at all times. Or recording long, sequential saved chunks. One can record incoming video using start and end time/date parameters but I’m not sure how this scheduler could be used to accommodate our surveillance requirement. I’ll continue to research this and post any solution or workaround that I discover. If you have any thoughts or advice, please post.
Surveillance Feedback: nope only what is recorded on the channels on your dvr box.