Video recorders come under different names, terms or branding. Some of the terms tossed around in the industry now no longer reflect what they did when these terms first came to light. Hopefully we will be able to clear some confusion, industry direction and fluff terms. We will cover the major terms and items available today, and or what is still in use within the industry.
VCR The beginning of the usable CCTV line. Yes VCR is a registered Trademark of a very specific design, but as with may things, its a term to describe video (and audio) storage on a magnetic tape.
In the world of CCTV, this could be a normal consumer type recorder and tape, changed every number of hours, to a specialized recorder which can control frames per second, tape looping, etc. We won't get too much into the variations of magnetic tape recorders as these shouldn't be in use anymore today (let alone the cost of tapes being almost the same as new CCTV cameras).
DVR (Digital Video Recorder) Replaced the magnetic tape recorder with one using more modern hard drives or digital storage means.
DVRs are still in use today and are available for sale new. A few years back, a large number of manufactures tried phasing out the DVR which is used for analog cameras (hate this term) , utilizing BNC connectors and Co-axial cable (RG59 and RG60 generally).
DVR and analog cameras have their place. The current equipment offers as good as IP/NVR quality image, equipment is generally lower priced, and near zero delay between an action and display/record. DVR and analog cameras also can traditionally transmit longer distances than IP, however this is becoming less of an issue for IP with technology advancements.
DVR recorders and analog cameras tend to be marketed as a low cost CCTV solution or to those looking to upgrade their existing CCTV installation, using the already installed co-axial cable.
NVR (Network Video Recorder) Similar to DVR recorders, uses digital storage means to store video (and sometimes audio) on hard drive(s) or similar.
NVR recorders are generally designed and used with IP cameras, but some manufactures list their hybrid systems as an NVR. These units tend to offer more configuration options, including image adjustments, zoom controls (where available) and IR (infrared night vision) adjustments.
NVR recorders are starting to include a lot more AI (artificial Intelligents) and Analytics, allowing for huge improvements in image quality, intrusion detection automation reaction.
Hybrid A combination of NVR and DVR, allowing for the use of IP and analog cameras on the same recording device. These units maybe called differently depending on the manufacture, but simply put, they can be used with both analog style and IP cameras. Hybrid recorders are preferred for upgrading an existing analog installation. It permits using the existing installed cabling (and cameras depending on the situation), while leaving the ability for using IP cameras should the industry terminate the analog camera format.
Cloud Internet based storage with either and SD card in the camera, or no physical storage on site. This type of storage is mostly used by consumer based CCTV cameras. The benefits of cloud storage is it's available anywhere in the world. The downside of cloud storage is its available anywhere in the world. There is little to no control regarding where your private CCTV data is stored and who has access to it. Cameras using cloud based storage have a high failure rate when an incident happens and video is required.
