Comparing PC-based DVR versus an appliance-type DVR

There are many things to consider when buying Digital Video Recorders (DVR). But a lot of times we asked which DVR is better? Here is a comparison:

* As to price, there’s no significant difference. Appliance-type maybe lower depending on compression. MPEG-4 is a lot cheaper compared to H.264 compression. We can discuss compression types further next time.

* Speed is dependent to PC-specs if DVR is PC-based.

* Maintenance is costly for PC-based DVR. Prone to viruses and other attacks. Should not be used by any other applications to eliminate freezing.

* Security. Not so secured if PC-based especially if admin is not security conscious.

* PC-based will occupy more space than appliance-type DVR.

* Troubleshooting. For PC-based, there is a lot of things to check. OS, other applications installed, etc. For appliance-type, you have single point of checking – Hardware.