What our experts say…
There doesn’t appear to be anything especially odd or unfamiliar about the Xeno XDR04 digital video recorder from Norbain, and the only reason we say that is because Xeno comes from the Greek Xenos, which means stranger …
That’s not to say it’s just another run of the mill DVR. Far from it, and it comes as a surprise to learn that the Xeno XDR range, which includes 4, 8 and 16-channel models, are being pitched and priced as entry-level products.
The features list wouldn’t look out of place on a mid-range machine. It even puts a few so-called high-end DVRs to shame
The XDR04, which we are looking at in this Bench Test, is the baseline model with 4 video and one audio recording channel. Various hard disk capacities are available. Our review machine came equipped with a single 250Gb drive; there’s room in the case for two SATA drives with a capacity of up to 1 terabyte per drive.
All of the DVRs in the range share the same general specification, which includes PAL/NTSC operation (auto detection), it uses MPEG 4 compression giving a maximum resolution of 720 x 576 (PAL), switchable between CIF, 2CIF and DI modes and frame rates of up to 50fps.
Audio recording uses G.723 compression from a single line or microphone input (the 8 and 16 channel variants have 4 audio channels). In addition to the front panel buttons, most operations can be controlled using a set of on-screen displays and a PS/2 type mouse, and it also comes with an infra-red remote handset.
Live and playback display options are full screen, sequence, quad or PIP; extra multi-screen layouts are available on the 8 and 16-channel versions. It’s a full triplex design and the main recording modes are continuous, schedule, holiday, alarm pre-alarm and Panic.
Alarm recordings are triggered by external events or the on-board motion detection system. This uses a 22 x 18 sensor grid with 5 levels of sensitivity. There’s also an option to display activated targets. Alarm events can also be used to trigger Email notification.
A handy Bookmark function – on the front panel – lets the operator manually tag a recording, and it has a good assortment of easy to use Search functions, by Date/Time, Event and Bookmark.
It has an extensive range of playback speeds, from x1/32 slomo to 32x in 10 steps, plus freeze and zoom (on live display). Recordings can be exported to optical disc using the on-board CD/DVD writer, a USB flash drive or downloaded to hard drive on a remote client PC over a network.
The Xeno R04 has a set of on-board PTZ and camera function controls (RS485 telemetry), most popular protocols are supported. Live and recorded images can be remotely viewed over a network and the Internet and the supplied client software provides a full range of viewing options plus remote setup, backup and PTZ control.
Comparatively little effort has been put into the cosmetics. It’s a black box, pure and simple. The only noteworthy feature is the illuminated cluster of buttons smack-dab in the middle of the front panel. From the look of it, the designers have used the brightest blue LEDs they could lay their hand on to light up the buttons and it is really distracting. An on/off or dimmer switch definitely wouldn’t’ go amiss…
There’s really not much to see. On the left side there’s a column of status LED indicators and the solitary USB port, plus three rows of buttons for display mode and camera selection. The CD/DVD writer mostly takes up the right hand side of the case front.
It doesn’t get much more interesting on the back panel. From left to right there’s a set of spring terminals for RS-485 comms and alarm inputs and outputs, a pair of D-Sub sockets for a VGA monitor and RS232 comms, for direct connection to a PC.
Next to that are LAN and PS/2 sockets (for the mouse). In the centre of the rear panel there are three phono sockets, for audio line and microphone in, and line output. To the left of that is a bank of BNC sockets for camera inputs, their loop-throughs and the analogue monitor and spot monitor outputs. Finally, on the far left is a round socket for the external 12-volt mains adaptor.
Inside the case it’s all very businesslike with the main board taking up the rear third of the case and the optical drive and mounting bays for the hard drives occupying the front section.
Build quality appears to be very good. Because it has an external mains power supply, cooling is not a problem and a single fan on the side keeps the air moving. There’s a constant low level whine coming from the box but it’s not intrusive.
The accompanying accessory pack is unusually comprehensive and, in addition to the mouse and infra-red remote handset, it also includes rack mounting hardware and fixings.
Before we move on, a quick word about the instruction manual. It runs to a staggering 114 pages, the thickness of a short novel and it’s really difficult to use. Even if you manage to find what you are looking for, the way it is written and presented often makes it hard to understand. Some parts are downright misleading, the motion detector setup for example, is almost impenetrable and the only way to find out how it works is to put the book to one side and rely on old-fashioned trial and error.
Setup and operation
In spite of the instructions, the R04 is actually very easy to setup, thanks to a well-designed set of on-screen displays, and the mouse. It’s really convenient and easy to use, so good in fact that front panel controls are virtually redundant.
Straight out of the box it starts recording and clicking the left mouse button toggles between quad view or a selected camera. Right-clicking the mouse displays a pop-up menu with options for selecting a camera, quad or single screen view, on-screen PTZ controls, picture Freeze and Zoom modes. This menu also has selections for Sequence view, PIP display, audio on/off, Panic Alarm on/off, Playback & Search modes and the main setup menu. The latter is password/PIN protected and opens a semi-transparent, tabbed display window.
Clicking on the first tab, labelled ‘System’ displays a drop-down menu with selections for Information about the DVR; this menu also include sub-menus for upgrading the firmware, importing and exporting settings, resetting to factory defaults and system logs. The System menu is also the place to go for setting the clock, managing the hard drives plus setting user info and passwords.
Tab 2 deals with Network connections, delving into the murky depths of LAN and DDNS settings and email notifications. The third tab is headed Devices and this is used to set up the camera inputs (title, covert on/off and picture controls). There are also sub-menus for setting up the audio recording functions, configuring the main, spot and VGA monitors (sequence, OSD transparency, time, date and status indicators, VGA resolution etc), PC remote control setup and buzzer options (key beep, video loss, alarm in, motion detect).
Tab 4 is where all of the recording functions are to be found. The Setup sub menu has drop-downs for setting resolution, recording quality and frame rate for each camera, for both normal/scheduled and Event or Panic recording. Indicators also show the estimated recording time, before data is overwritten or stops, if the overwrite function is disabled.
The Schedule sub-menu is presented as an easy to use clickable calendar, covering a week split into one-hour intervals. Pre-Event, on the Record drop-down has a set of adjustments for setting pre-event recording time and quality and the Backup sub-menu is used to copy recordings to disk or a USB drive. Finally the Alarm tab, which has the switches and adjustments for the alarm input and output functions, setting up motion detection and video loss actions.
Fortunately for everyone who comes into contact with this machine the on-screen menus are intuitive and, thanks to the mouse, really easy to navigate. This means that the occasions when it is necessary to consult the dreadful manual should be few and far between…
The supplied network client software got off to an unpromising start and no amount of tweaking and twiddling could get the PC to communicate with the Xeno.
This is an area where intuition isn’t much help and the instructions leave you high and dry – but for some unaccountable reason it suddenly started working. However, channel 1 consistently refused to display after switching from full-screen to quad display.
We’ll assume the initial difficulties and problems with network operation was a localised glitch, otherwise it all seems reasonably straightforward. The only criticism is the lack of live zoom and freeze modes and the fixed screen/window size, which prevents the PC from displaying more than a meagre quarter-screen sized image.
Performance
Playback quality on a local monitor at the highest settings and resolution rates as average to good. In quad display mode it looks crisp and clean but switch to full screen and defects become more apparent. The most noticeable problem is grain. It’s not excessive but we’ve become accustomed to pin-sharp and largely noise free digital recordings, which makes it more noticeable. Of course, much depends on the quality of the source image but, in a worst-case scenario, it could make it harder to make out really fine detail.
That’s as bad as it gets. Colour fidelity and contrast range are both very good but lowering the quality and resolution brings about a significant drop in performance. Images recorded at the lowest settings look decidedly hairy.
The trade-off for reduced picture quality is a big increase in recording time and there are, clearly, plenty of applications where this will be worthwhile but where there’s a need to capture any sort of fine detail, these modes are of questionable value.
The wide range of playback speeds makes a very refreshing change and makes it a great deal easier to skim through long sequences.
Images viewing over a network looks fine at almost all settings but this is largely due to the small fixed-sized display window, which masks the effects of a low-resolution recording. Audio recording quality is okay and more than adequate for capturing speech and incidental sounds.
Overall assessment
In a clinical side-by-side comparison with rival DVRs in the same price bracket we suspect that the picture quality on the Xeno probably wouldn’t be in the first rank. It’s by no means a poor performer but the bar has been raised by recent entries into the market. If we now switch our attention from picture quality to features and facilities the balance shifts back in the Xeno’s favour. It is superbly well equipped for a budget machine and if we add ease of use and that excellent on-screen display into the mix then it really is in a class of its own.
What the manufacturer says…
The Xeno XDR16 is Norbain’s entry-level DVR aimed at the price competitive sectors. It offers users reliable performance, without some of the extensive features of more expensive machines. The MPEG4 recorder features 16 video inputs with loop-through along with main, spot and VGA outputs.
There are four audio inputs with two outputs, and 16 alarm inputs with four relay outputs. Other connections include RS485 multiprotocol telemetry, Ethernet connectivity and a single USB port. To cater for a wide range of applications the XDR is available in 4, 8 & 16 camera inputs and a choice of HDD sizes.
All the models offer 200ips recording at CIF with fully configurable record options, scalable per camera, for record speed and quality. The flexibility in record modes allows the units to be configured to meet all site specific requirements, whilst ‘Panic’ record mode provides instant response real-time alarm situations on demand of an operator.
The simple bookmark feature allows operators to quickly set a point of interest on any recording that is being viewed; this point can then be selected for future review and will go directly to this point in time and commence replay. Remote viewing client software is provided free of charge with each machine, allowing for complete control remotely for viewing live and playback images, search, archive and set-up along with PTZ control.
Simplicity of set-up and operation is a key feature of the range, facilitated by the simple to follow on-screen display, with complete mouse control. Because reliability is of upmost importance, all XDR machines use Seagate V35.2 SATA drives, specifically designed for constant use in a security DVR environment.
“The Xeno range has been introduced at a time where lower cost options are in particular demand,” says Andrew Pigram, Norbain’s technical director. “The reliability of the units proves that low cost does not have to mean low quality or low performance.”