Other questions
From DVC Knowledge Base
Here are some common questions and answers for DVC.
Q: What is the power consumption of the DVC server ?
A: Depending on your server config power consumption can range between 200W to 450W under full load. 8TB Combo servers we have measured at up to 387W under load and 2TB Combo servers at 165W under full load. Newer servers are shipped with 850W Power Supplies to ensure reliable operating on the +12v rail.
Q: What is the heat output of the DVC server ?
A: Depending on the amount of hardware inside the server, the overall output ranges between 60watt TPD and 100watt TPD.
Q: How much disk space will my recordings use ?
A: It depends on the compression bit rate. Here is a table to help you work it out:
| Bit rate (Megabits per second) | Gigabytes per hour |
|---|---|
| 2 (best compression) | 0.84 |
| 3 (streaming quality) | 1.26 |
| 4 (medium quality) | 1.7 |
| 8 (digital TV) | 3.35 |
Q: Can I install additional software on the DVC server ?
A: The DVC server is a fairly stock standard Debian Linux system. You should be able to install any Debian-compatible software packages on it but Command Systems will not provide support for any such software.
Q: What is the advantage of having separate capture/storage servers instead of just one combined server ?
A: Having a split capture/storage means that recordings do not interrupt replays and vice-versa. This means you can have more users on the system without it overloading while recordings are in progress. This is good if you have a lot of users and are also making a lot of recordings during peak usage times.
Q: How many users can the DVC server support ?
There is no hard limit on the number of users. The system will overload when all its available resources reach their limit. It is really impossible to say how many users can be on the system at any one time since it depends on what each individual user is doing with the system.
If they are all viewing high-bandwidth streams nonstop, you might only get 100 users, if they are all watching low-bandwidth streams, you might get 500 and if they are all viewing Word documents and Power-Point slideshows, you could probably have thousands of users on the system. In reality there will be a combination of these things.
250 is a number we suggest. It is an average assuming that all those users are continuously watching video, some of which is high bandwidth and some of which is low bandwidth.
Q: Can I use a DNS name when setting up the server IP in DVC Player ?
A: Yes, you can use a DNS name as the server address in DVC Player. But you cannot do that in DVC Controller or DVC Admin.
Q: What are the specifications of the DVC server ?