Installing
BEFORE YOU START:
Check the contents of the box
The following items are included in the box:
PSU
Mains cable with three pin plug fitted (North America)
Mains cable without plug fitted (other regions)
Choosing a location for installation
Eco4 is designed to be desk mounted. The following precautions must be taken
when installing Eco4:
• Openings in the unit's case are provided for ventilation. To prevent
overheating, these openings should not be blocked or covered.
• When stacking units, ensure there is at least a 1/2" (1.5 cm) gap between
each unit.
• Ensure there is a 1" (3cm) gap on either side of the unit.
• Ensure the unit is not located in an area where it is likely to be subjected to
mechanical shocks.
• The unit should be located in an area with low humidity and a minimum of
dust. Avoid places like damp basements or dusty hallways.
• If using external storage, refer to the manufacturer's instructions for
placement details.
4
A quick overview of digital recording
Digital multiplex recorders work in exactly the same way as analogue
multiplexers except that they use hard disks and digital tape to store video,
instead of VCR tapes.
Analogue recording uses time-lapse recording to extend the length of time
recorded onto 2 or 3-hour tape - recording fewer pictures every second.
Adjusting the number of pictures recorded every second also extends the length
of time recorded onto the hard disk of a Eco4. However, other factors also
determine the amount of time that can be stored on the disk of a digital
multiplex recorder:
• The image quality
• The record rate
• The hard disk capacity
Image quality
Digital multiplex recorders store images in a compressed format, allowing images
to be recorded more efficiently. The higher the compression, the smaller the file
size, but the image quality will suffer. Eco4 can compress images between 6KB
and 45KB.
Kilobytes and Gigabytes are units of storage:
1GB = 1024 Megabytes (MB)
1MB = 1024 Kilobytes (KB)
With analogue recording, the image quality is dependent on the type of VCR
being used; VHS or S-VHS. Eco4 allows the image quality to be altered by
adjusting the image size, for example, VHS quality is 14KB, S-VHS is 18KB, and
greater than S-VHS is 25KB*.
Using a larger image size will fill the hard disk faster than a smaller image size, as
more space is required to store it. To achieve the same amount of recording time
when a larger image size is used requires the record rate (PPS) to be reduced.
* Note that as for all digital recording, image quality can vary for different scene types, S-VHS quality may
be 18KB in one scene, but it may be 30KB or more to get the same quality in a scene with more detail.