4 Differences Between DVR's and NVR's

Much is written about Megapixel and IP security cameras, and justifiably so—with their ability to provide vividly clear images and valuable evidence to authorities, for instance.

When Megapixel/IP cameras are discussed, not always does recording and storage come up. Often times, the topic is about the aforementioned level of clarity.

With analog cameras, their counterparts, at least most people have heard of the term DVR—Digital Video Recorder. This is the device that records the footage taken in by the analog security camera. We’ll discuss some of the operations of the DVR when we compare it to the NVR—the Network Video Recorder, below.

And of course in years past, the VCR—Video Cassette Recorder, was in vogue. Thankfully, however, gone are the days that we need to rewind and fast-forward until our fingers have blisters to find an event from weeks prior. But going forward, you’re certainly going to be hearing more about the NVR than the VCR.

NVR’s, are what Megapixel/IP security cameras store or record to. To learn a little bit about NVR’s, lets talk about how they compare to DVR’s. In this brief blog post, we just barely scrape the surface of the overall topic below with our four items.

1. With a Network Video Recorder, of course the video input comes from the network—the video has already been encoded at the cameras. What is encoding you may ask? It is simply converting digital video files from one format to another. The video is then streamed to the NVR for storage and it can be viewed remotely due to it being on a network.

With a DVR, it does the encoding at the DVR itself, not at the individual cameras. Since it digitally compresses the analog feed, it must be located near the feed.

2. Also, an NVR can be located anywhere on the network. What benefit is this? Protection against network failure for one thing. With “mirroring”, NVR’s can be located throughout the network to provide duplication.

3. Another difference between a DVR and an NVR is access. To view the video that was recorded, you need to be at the DVR (or burn a disk if you want to view it elsewhere). But with an NVR, due to its very nature of being on a network, you can view it remotely.

4. Finally, paring security cameras with NVR’s is actually more restrictive than doing so with DVR’s. So take caution when you buy your cameras and make sure they’re compatible before doing so.

So we hope you picked up a few things that helped whether you’re looking into DVR’s or NVR’s. Thanks for spending some time with us today.