LenovoEMC PX2-300D Network Video Recorder with Milestone Arcus VMS
by Ganesh T S on July 26, 2013 7:00 AM EST- Posted in
- NAS
- IP cameras
- LenovoEMC
- NVR
Miscellaneous Factors and Final Words
The presence of a x86 processor has a negative effect on the power consumption figures (when compared against an ARM-based unit). However, such a powerful processor is necessary in order to support multiple IP cameras. In the idle state with the two Hitachi drives, the unit consumed around 27.29 W on an average. When recording two standard definition streams from the AXIS M1031-W cameras with the disks in RAID-1 configuration, the power consumption was around 27.37 W. The unit continued to operate well even when one of the disks was removed (degraded RAID-1). In this case, the unit consumed 20.56 W. Recoding during RAID rebuild consumed 29.73 W on an average. The rebuild time for the 2 TB Hitachi drive was 8h 16m.
Coming to the business end of the review, I will make it easier for readers by listing out the pros and cons of the unit.
Pros:
- Simple and easy to get the unit up and running
- Robust and reliable compared to the competition at similar price points
- Excellent mobile interface
Cons:
- Desktop browser interface needs uplift and more features to achieve parity with what is offered by the competition at similar price points
- Camera compatibility list needs to expand to cover low to mid-range IP cameras such as the Compro units
In this particular situation, the pros outweigh the cons, particularly for fresh SMB / SOHO installations where the choice of IP cameras hasn't already been made. LenovoEMC suggests that the PX2 and PX4 NVR units can be used where the number of cameras to be managed is 20 or less. The PX2-300D NVR with two enterprise HDDs and four camera licenses costs $999. Each additional camera license is expected to cost around $70. The additional license cost is similar to most other professional NVR camera licenses. Software updates to the VMS are available for one year from purchase of the camera license.
Consumers who have already purchased the non-NVR version of the PX2-300D can download a 30-day two camera demo license provided the firmware has been upgraded to Lifeline 4.0 or later. LenovoEMC also provides a 16-channel analog encoder PCIe card accessory for scenarios involving analog cameras. The pricing for this accessory card is yet to be determined.
Obviously, the PX2-300D NVR version can also be used as a standalone NAS. However, we haven't touched upon that aspect in this review. We will be providing benchmark figures for the PX2-300D in one of the upcoming 2-bay NAS reviews.
There are advantages and disadvantages to developing a VMS solution in-house vs. outsourcing it to a experienced third-party such as Milestone. With Milestone Arcus in the PX2-300D NVR, we believe LenovoEMC has taken the right approach to quickly bring a highly recommendable product to the market.
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Beany2013 - Friday, July 26, 2013 - link
Nnng. I've recently started looking at building semi-managed CCTV solutions for customers and have recently come across this semi-niche of devices.Commentards, er, I mean, esteemed commenters (sorry, hang over of TheRegister.co.uk forums, which are somewhat more brutal) - do you have any experience of these devices, and can you recommend me a device that can handle multiple 2+MP streams and a few sub-megapixel streams that won't crap itself after three months?
No homebrew stuff - must be warrantied up and good to go out of the box with minimal (expected - I'm a sysadmin by trade so no fear) config...
Also, long term reader, first time poster - do like a bit of AT. Keep it up, Ganesh and co....
Steven R
bobbozzo - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Hi, most of the off the shelf stuff I've seen is sub-megapixel, although I haven't looked in a while.This is the first off the shelf system I've seen with megapixel IP cams.
I know you said you want off the shelf, but I was pretty happy with my ZoneMinder setup, with a megapixel IP cam and a couple of SD cams.
I dismantled it when I moved and haven't gotten around to setting it up again.
We have a Swann system at work; cams are Coax, not IP, and resolution and quality is SD. It works OK, but I don't really think they're worth the money.
Many of the megapixel IP cams are junk though.
Axis has a good reputation, but I haven't seen one in action.
Ammaross - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
You're correct, Axis cameras have worked great for me (have mainly used their older models though). And as for multi-megapixel, you're looking more into the "homebrew" market of installing software such as Video Insight or the Pelco suite on a Windows server (or go the inexpensive route and use ZoneMinder on Linux [which is what I did. Worked great, except my first attempt was underpowered...]).BryanDobbins - Saturday, August 17, 2013 - link
my buddy's aunt makes $87 hourly on the computer. She has been without work for 6 months but last month her paycheck was $17888 just working on the computer for a few hours. Read more here... http://goo.gl/QrkpyKcuylar - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
D-Link DNR-322L & DCS-2230(WiFI) or DCS-2210(PoE)Lord 666 - Friday, July 26, 2013 - link
A little off-topic, but why go enterprise HDD when a single 1TB of EVO SSD is $650. I want to pick up a security system and lock the recording unit in my safe. Power is not that much an issue versus heat and noise.Egg - Friday, July 26, 2013 - link
I'm a little confused - how do you get networking into the safe? Do you drill a hole in the safe, or do you use wireless that's likely to drop out?Lord 666 - Friday, July 26, 2013 - link
Rifle-sized gun safes are usually pre-drilled for floor post anchoring and dehumidifiers. Route the 12/2 wire along with cat5 through one or two of those holes. Now you have a hardened security system that is both tamper and fire resistant.Dentons - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Unless your system is entirely solid state and / or designed for zero airflow, you may experience extreme heat related reliability issues by placing it inside a safe.Almost every system is designed with some level of air flow in mind. If you're going to do this, you'd want to pull and push air though the system. Probably with ducts to force air past the system.
bobbozzo - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
I agree about the heat problem, but adding ducts to a safe will ruin it's fire-worthy-ness.A better idea would probably be to get a locking rack-mount cabinet, and bolt it to the floor or a wall stud.