Hardware features

Hardware features of security DVRs vary between manufacturers and may include but are not necessarily limited to

* Designed for rack mounting or desktop configurations.
* Single or multiple video inputs with connector types consistent with the analogue or digital video provided such as coaxial cable, twisted pair or optical fiber cable. The most common number of inputs are 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32. Systems may be configured with a very large number of inputs by networking or bussing individual DVRs together.
* Looping video outputs for each input which duplicates the corresponding input video signal and connector type. These output signals are used by other video equipment such as matrix switchers, multiplexers, and video monitors.
* Controlled outputs to external video display monitors.
* Front panel switches and indicators that allow the various features of the machine to be controlled.
* Network connections consistent with the network type and utilized to control features of the recorder and to send and/or receive video signals.
* Connections to external control devices such as keyboards.
* A connection to external pan-tilt-zoom drives that position cameras.
* Internal CD, DVD, VCR devices typically for archiving video.
* Connections to external storage media.
* Alarm event inputs from external security detection devices, usually one per video input.
* Alarm event outputs from internal detection features such as motion detection or loss of video.