Subscriber Discussion

5MP Dome Camera Supports 128GB SD Cards?

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Richard Brady
Sep 04, 2013

Thank you

Summary

While manufacturers make all sorts of crazy claims of SD card size support, up to 2TB, in practice, today, most manufacturers support a maximum of 64GBs. Obviously, this will change as SD card sizes increase and adoption of on board storage grows. However, do not assume your camera will support a certain size. Verify directly with technical support.

For background, review our SD Card Tutorial.

JH
John Honovich
Sep 04, 2013
IPVM

Does it need to work with a specific VMS? Because that would be the other major constraint.

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Michael Budalich
Sep 04, 2013
Genetec

Is this for a parking lot surveillance application? :)

To answer your question:The Vivotek FD 8372

I tried to confirm with the rep in my territory if it can hold 128 GB SD cards and was unable to but I will let you know when I confirm that for a fact.

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Michael Budalich
Sep 04, 2013
Genetec

I just verified that this will only support up to 64 GB as of now. It doesn't meet your expectations unfortunately.

-Mike

JH
John Honovich
Sep 04, 2013
IPVM

It needs to be at least SDXC, which many cameras are not. Interestingly, though, the Vivotek camera is listed as SDXC but still does not support 128GB. This may be an issue for other cameras as well.

See SD card for surveillance tutorial.

JH
John Honovich
Sep 10, 2013
IPVM

It seems one key problem is the use of MicroSD form factor in many domes. While full size SDXC cards are readily available, micro SD cards are not.

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Ari Erenthal
Sep 11, 2013
Chesapeake & Midlantic

How about the Samsung SNV-6084R? It supports SDXC, and my rep told me it would support 128GB cards (I don't see this written anywhere, though, so confirm this).

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Richard Brady
Sep 11, 2013

Ari, you are absolutely right! thank you. The SNV-6084R accepts cards up to 2TB (2048GB) Cheers

JH
John Honovich
Sep 11, 2013
IPVM

What does it mean that a device accepts cards up to 2TB? Are there even 2TB SD cards?

I would strongly recommend confirming with Samsung's tech support that they can handle 128GB cards specifically.

Second, even if it does, what software works with Samsung on board storage and with what capabilities?

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Ari Erenthal
Sep 12, 2013
Chesapeake & Midlantic

It probably means that someone at Samsung checked the "compatible with SDXC" box, and since SDXC is, theoretically, capable of sizes up to 2TB, their reps are telling people that it works with cards up to 2TB. I'd love for someone to actually try this out, though.

But the Samsung Wisenet III cameras are the only ones I can think of that is SDXC compatible with no published restrictions, which is why I recommended it.

I did sell one or two with 64GB cards, and I haven't heard back complaints (which is not the same thing as "it works" but is better than nothing).

SP
Steven Porcaro
Sep 16, 2013

Hello Ari,

As the Samsung CCTV rep in the NYC Metro area I know that I am the one talking about the SDXC card. All of our Wisenet III cameras accept this card.

The handling 2TB with the SDXC card at the edge in our cameras information has been passed to us. Since the SDXC 2TB cards are not available no one has tested it on the field in the NYC area.

Many times the context of this conversation is to help existing Analog customers migrate to IP. With all the advances in camera technology many times the client may need (1) Full HD camera at the door to complement their Analog system. We intended the camera to be managed with our SSM Samsung Security Manager or even Smartviewer.

We are all still waiting on the cards from the SDXC manufacturers to be available for use of this feature.

JH
John Honovich
Sep 16, 2013
IPVM

How does telling analog customers about mythical 2TB SDXC cards help them?

2TB SDXC cards do not exist. 1TB SDXC cards do not exist. I can't even find any 512 GB SDXC cards.

Since 2TB SDXC cards do not exist, I can safely say Samsung IP cameras do not support them.

CD
Chris Dearing
Sep 27, 2013

Not to get too philosophical, but would that mean that the camera's attributes would change the moment that one 2 tb card came into existence? In that case don't you think that it's probable that some 2tb card exists in some r&d dpt somewhere, maybe even at Samsung?

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Ari Erenthal
Sep 16, 2013
Chesapeake & Midlantic

Steven-

I'm glad to see you subscribe to IPVM. It always makes me feel better to se a manufacturer's rep on IPVM, it means they want to keep their knowledge as current as possible. Everyone, Steve is one of the Good Guys.

I think that the best possible answer to the question of "does the Samsung camera support 2TB cards" is "no reason why it shouldn't, but of course no one's tested it, because you can't, because the thing you need to test doesn't exist". Still, to avoid unpleasant suprises, I don't think I'll tell customers it supports 2TB until someone actually tries it.

JH
John Honovich
Sep 16, 2013
IPVM

John Honovich can slay a 20 foot tall man! Can anyone prove me wrong??? :)

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Ari Erenthal
Sep 16, 2013
Chesapeake & Midlantic

Well, that's not exactly a fair comparison. I haven't seen John Honovich slay even a five foot, ten inch man yet, but I've seen a Samsung camera work fine and dandy with a 64GB SDHC card.

Go kill a regular sized dude and we'll talk.

JH
John Honovich
Sep 16, 2013
IPVM

Well, a 64GB card is 30x less than a 2TB one. So presumably, if I can 'slay' an 8 inch human (20 feet / 30), I can make the same argument.

I am obviously not 'slaying' anyone but the key point remains - There doesn't seem to be any technical proof that Samsung IP cameras work with 128GB, forget 256GB or 512GB or 1TB or 2TB cards.

This aside, we are still left with OP's question - can Samsung certify that their IP cameras work with 128GB SD cards?

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Marty Major
Sep 16, 2013
Teledyne FLIR

My best answer would be, "No they do not. Nor does any camera manufacturer ever make this claim, because they've never been tested in their cameras, as 2TB SDXC cards do not exist - it is a theoretical limitation based on currently available storage technology (bits per sq in)."

SATA drives (currently capped at about 4TB/disk) have a theoretical limit too - between 50 and 60TB. The theoretical size limitations have increased because they changed the way they are able to store bits on the platters. The same thing could, and probably will, happen with SD technology. They've already been able to overcome some earlier Flash limitations to make them more viable - I imagine they will find other cool new ways to make them bigger, stronger and faster. But the 'new' ways might not be seen/recognized the same way by the camera - who knows?

Back to SATA for a minute:

Embedded devices that use SATA drives will 'certify' a drive size (per bay and/or in total) is 'compatible' with their devices that is lower than other available sizes because they have tested it and it works - while they maybe haven't tested the (newer) larger drives. Will the larger drives work? Probably. But who knows what's in the firmware that might need to be tweaked to accept a larger volume than was originally tested? By the time the larger drives come out, they may be different 'enough' to kill the firmware integration compatibility that exists with the currently tested drives.

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Michael Budalich
Sep 17, 2013
Genetec

I guess that makes me one of the good guys too? :)

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Ari Erenthal
Sep 17, 2013
Chesapeake & Midlantic
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Richard Brady
Sep 14, 2013

SD MEMORY CARD CHOICES

Thank you all for your input.

JH
John Honovich
Sep 14, 2013
IPVM

Richard, what does your link mean? That does not help solve the issue at hand, right?

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Richard Brady
Sep 15, 2013

Hi John. I'm not really sure what the issue is but, here's what I've gotten out of this. A device that supports the SDXC format will accept SDXC cards from 32GB up to 2TB. However, the availability of cards above 256GB is questionable.

256GB was the highest I could find and it costs in the region of $500. It is my understanding that this card should be compatible with any device supporting the format. Now, whether this is written into the firmware is another question. The 'standard' expects it to be but in reality I don't think this is case?? Of course the same device will also support SDSC and SDHC by default.

128GB SDXC costs in the region of $170.

JH
John Honovich
Sep 25, 2013
IPVM

We surveyed a few manufacturers and here are there responses:

  • Axis: 64GB 'currently'
  • D-Link: 32GB
  • IQinVision: 64GB noting "We have not done testing on 128GB or higher as there has not been requests yet."
  • Hikvision: New value series 64GB as well as new / upcoming products. Others - 32GB
  • Lilin: 64GB
  • "VIVOTEK cameras can support SDXC by upgrading driver. We tested few 128G SDXC cards successfully for recording. However, we may need to have more tests before we officially announce it."

So it seems 64GB is the most common max today.

SP
Steven Porcaro
Sep 25, 2013

John did you call Samsung? If not I will get you the info what is currently working right now with what is availabale in the field.

I will respond here later why we have shown this on existing "analog cameras installs" we are talking in the 40 camera range.

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