3VR P Series Overviewed

3VR has released a new hybrid NVR appliance called the P-Series (view data sheet for technical specifications). The P-Series is best understood by contrasting it to the E-Series, the product offering it is replacing starting October 1, 2009.

The most important enhancements in this new series include: (1) 4CIF/30fps for up to 32 channels (by contrast, the older series maximum resolution was CIF for higher camera counts) and (2) hot swap hard drive replacement for 4 drives.

The hot swappable hard drives with be useful for multi-site small camera count deployments (e.g., bank branches and smaller site retailers). This will be less expensive and easier to manage than using a separate storage system such as Intransa's VideoApplainces. It will also be an advantage over traditional DVR units that require systems to be taken off line and for the box to be opened to replace hard drives. However, for larger sites that want to use centralized storage of dozens or hundreds of terabytes, this is likely to be less attractive and more expensive than COTS servers plus dedicated iSCI storage arrays.

The MSRP for the P-series with 2 channels of facial recognition is $6,800 USD.

Below is their introductory video: