Best Surveillance DVR Kits
SMONET Camera System Transmits Video by 2.4GHz Wireless Signal. Internet is ONLY Required When User View Video Remotely on Phone, Tablet, Laptop and Computer. One Channel is Viewed by Full Screen on Mobile, User can Use 2 Fingers to Zoom In and Out Camera Picture. Need to Find Outlet Nearby for Each Camera or Use Extension Cable for Power Supply. Need to Spend A Lot of Money for Replacing Batteries in the Future. Networking Protocol: UPNP, SMTP, PPPOE, DHCP etc. What's Included: 1 x 4-Channel 1080P NVR Pre-installed 1TB Hard Drive. 4 x 720P Bullet IP Cameras. 4 x 10 Feet Power Supply (12V-1000mA) for Cameras. 1 x 3.3 Feet Power Supply (12V-2000mA) for NVR. 1 x 3.3 Feet Network Cable. 1 x Mouse. 1 x Screw Bag. 1 x User Manual. (Be Sure to Have a TV or PC Monitor to Display Camera Picture, a VGA or HDMI Cable for Monitor Connection and a WAN Router To View Video Remotely.). Pls Note, the NVR Supports 4TB HDD Maximum.The Size of Hard Drive is 3.5 inch. There is NO Picture if All-in-One Computer or Laptop is Connected to NVR Box Directly. 4 Channel HD Wireless Security Camera System for Villa, Home, Office, Shop, Warehouse or elsewhere(Indoor/ Outdoor). The System builds a more Powerful Wireless Signal Coverage and Make the Connection Quick and Easy. Wireless Surveillance Camera System Allows you to View the Live Video Remotely Anytime and Anywhere by Phone and Pad(Available for Android & IOS system, not Windows Users). You can Receive Email Alerts upon Motion Detection or App Alert When Set it Up (Noted: Please Set it Up Properly to Avoid Email Blast). Seamlessly Stream Video Directly to your Smartphone, Tablet and PC. Provide Free 10db Antenna and 10/16/30 Feet Power Extension Cable. Continuous Day/Night Surveillance is Accomplished by IR-CUT Smart System, Powerful IR-LED for Night Vision.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Great system, the video quality is great, the footage is quick and clear, it does not skip."
"So you can have one camera (camera A) communicating directly with the NVR, a further out (camera B) Connecting to Camera A, and a further out yet (camera C) that connects to Camera B. In the attached picture, I have Camera 1 and Camera 2 talk to the NVR directly, Camera 3 talks through Camera 1, and Camera 4 the furthers out camera communicates through 3 back to 1, to the NVR."
"I went inside and dug out an old Swann single 640dp camera security camera system l had but never used. I installed the camera on my barn overlooking the area the kittens lived and hooked up the receiver to my DVR system used to convert miniDV tapes to DVD. I ended up moving the camera to cover more area but I wanted more cameras to catch every move and to make sure no one messed with them. I really wanted to get an 8 camera system but had no way to power them all without doing extensive work running electrical lines everywhere. The cameras were already paired with the NVR so it was pretty much plug and play out of the box. One of the cameras IR lights stopped working a couple months later but Smonet replaced it no questions asked which was really nice. Be sure to delete the bad camera from the system first before trying to set the new one. With the card, I now have hours of kittens playing for the world to watch on YouTube. With all 4 cameras recording you'll get about a month and a half of 24/7 recording before it starts recording over the oldest video."
"I had a few issues with over-sensitive motion detection, so I wrote to the company's tech support, and to my delight, got "Grace" to reply (and also call me!"
"Love that I can keep tabs on my elderly father-in-law and the small colony of (fixed) feral cats I feed (as well as the little possum visitors)."
24 IR LEDs that automatically activate when they detect low lighting conditions.They can see up to 20 meters (about 65 feet) away, make sure to take advantage of Motion Detection and Scheduled recordings in conjunction with Night Vision to have complete control over the protection of all that you care about.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Technology changes fast and I have since replaced the entire system (which to be clear, I spent over $500 out of my pocket on ... the manufacturer only chipped in for an empty DVR box and 1 working camera). In the 2 years since this review I've also kept up with evolving technology by replacing my phone, TV, home media center, cameras and car ... things change. A friend recently installed a very similar home video security system that is one of the most popular models being sold at the big membership warehouse club. In a consumer electronics industry where "bigger is better" is being pushed at us all the time, is that the case with a home security system? These pointers are intended to help you choose the most basic and important features, you may want or need other options to suit your particular installation: 1. The resolution of the camera sensor is not always an absolute indication of how sharp the picture will be, the optical lens also has a lot to do with it. What really is worth noting is that they are getting much better at packing more resolution in cameras without taking up immense hard drive space or bandwidth. For most people a hard drive that records for 30 days is useless on modern systems that alert you immediately of an intrusion. Even 1 week is too much for most people unless they travel a lot for extended periods and may not be able to "check in" from remote locations. Also be aware that if the drive gets full and there has not been an intrusion, it simply goes back and records over the now unnecessary footage. [EDIT] Since I wrote this review digital compression technologies have gotten much better so they are able to pack higher resolution and the ability to use more cameras into the same amount of hard drive space. The Amcrest cameras give me a view of my entire back yard at night and I can read license tags of cars parked out front. [EDIT] Still true, color at night is still unacceptable in full darkness but B&W sensitivities and resolution have improved a lot. You may want additional cameras if you need to monitor intrusion to outdoor buildings like sheds, to check on pets, media rooms, etc. [EDIT] while this is still generally true, increasing crime rates in my area and more stringent demands from judges for positive ID from security cameras has altered my opinion. UPS - no not the parcel delivery service but an Uninterruptable Power Supply (a backup battery). Invest in a UPS that will keep the system running at least for a short time during a power outage and will help perform a soft shut-down. While wireless cameras sound like the perfect solution, remember you are protecting the security of your home. Amcrest is related to Foscam who has a very good reputation with video security and monitoring cameras. {EDIT] I read a news story lately that indicates that Amcrest makes more "brands" than I imagined, although what they sell under their own name seems to be more targeted to lower-budget systems. Also note that Amcrest supplied part of this system (the basic bare-bones box with no drive and two cameras, one of which arrived with a cracked lens that I had to throw away ..."
"GREAT PRODUCT very cool to see on my phone all the cameras from work."
"Why I bought it: My wife wanted to purchase a security monitoring service and after doing some research I was unimpressed with reviews and the cost for the services from many companies in my area, so I decided to buy and install my own. The hardest part of the install was moving around my attic with the wiring, but that had nothing to with the product. I honestly do not have any complaints with this product and my wife is satisfied with these security system in place of a pricey monitoring system."
【Motion Clip Alerts on Phones】: Receive an alert and a short video clip on your Zmodo app whenever motion is detected, and customize which areas on the cameras’ live view will trigger an motion alert, thus to prevent unwanted alerts and only get notified by alerts that really matter. 【Remote & Local Playback】: Cameras are built with excellent quality for 24/7 HD monitoring jobs, and video feed is saved to the included 500GB hard disk.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Love this camera!"
"It was easy to setup, software was simple to use, quality was good for what I wanted, and it just worked. Zmodo, just like Neato and many other companies, don't use web protocols that are friendly. For example, my router thinks that communication from Zmodo is an intruder trying to hijack my network. So I have currently spent over 26 hours of time with support from ISP and Zmodo and Internet blogs and videos to get this working. My neighbor has Nest Cam and same ISP / router; basically a plug and play experience for them. Camera Customization. I am assuming there are still issues with the setup nightmare I went through which are causing options on the cameras to either 1) Not appear in the app or web control 2) No take when I change a setting or 3) Not work at all. Zmodo support pretty much is horrible, so I will either solve this myself or give up."
"The system gives you the ability to set the time zone, but after an hour or so it reverts back to a time stamp other than mine. Video without an accurate time stamp is useless."
"They need to be plugged into power, but I love the fact that they wirelessly connect to the NVR! It's not overly complicated, but takes some familiarity. Within 4 hours I had all 4 cameras wired, power run through the attic so my wires were hidden and my wife and I each got the app on our phones (one Samsung and one iphone) neither of us have experienced any difficulties. Difficulties increasing with dropping cameras and not being able to see one of them at all!"
"Kinda a useless device unless you sub to the cloud if it allows overnight recording."
Best Remote Home Monitoring Systems
Weather-resistant - Arlo Pro cameras are Weather-resistant so you can place them anywhere-indoors and out.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I had some locations outside far from power outlets where I wanted surveillance, purchased and Arlo Pro system for this coverage. The image quality is slightly poorer, but the functionality is easier, there is free cloud recording, the app interface is cleaner, and the wireless feature means I can place these in spots the others can't go. Works out of the box, recent app update lets you scroll through video feed in time-lapse fashion. A small hiccup in that a recent app update seemed to wipe camera settings, but afterward everything else has been fine. From personal experience I will say the cost doesn't sound so bad at first, but after 3 years of paying it I'm realizing using Nest cameras has become a multiple thousand dollar system for us. No cloud option; SD card stores video locally, app on phone allows you to view feed in real time. In my experience, Samsung's zoom is crisper and its night vision is superior than Nest. Night vision is on par with Nest, but if you buy the Arlo Pro skins (sold separately), they actually reflect off the IR in the corners of the screen and wash out the image. If you use it to monitor & talk to a baby or pet, the lag is considerable and you cannot hear yourself on the other end. Fantastic audio quality, and it's true two-way so both sides can speak and hear each other at the same time (like a cell phone). Samsung Smartcam can also double as a baby monitor by playing lullaby music and a few other songs. I used to have a Nest cam in my detached garage but I had to bring it back in the house as it was dropping signal multiple times per day. But it has worked every time I've called on it, connects fast, doesn't drop video for me, and is currently located farther from my router than my Nest cams. And in this winter's 30 degree weather, my Arlo Pro cameras had no problems recording clips while my outdoor Nest cam fell offline several times. Recording sometimes takes too long to start (i.e. 2-3 seconds after motion first detected), which means I get a lot of clips where I see the tail end of something moving across the screen. I have the cameras perpendicular to the area they are monitoring so objects go across the screen, if you use them head-on the motion sensing is poor. For me, the positives easily outweigh the negatives: Ease of use, everything working out of the box, and the wireless capability is a combination of features the other systems don't have. If you're still on the fence, the one thing I'd circle back to are Nest cam's long term costs for cloud storage. UPDATE: Less than a month into ownership, some of the shine has come off the Netgear Arlo Pro. None of these issues started until after a week or two after deployment, the cameras worked well out of the box but began to show warts soon after. The biggest disappoint has been Netgear tech support, they never did help me and left my trouble ticket with the answer that a new app will be coming out soon and that should resolve things. When the cameras record video clips, I get large green stripes blocking the field of view. During the Spring and Summer we had no green blotches and the cameras properly reported power levels. If the cameras make it through the winter without doing the green blotch thing and I can pull up the feed on command, I'll raise the rating again. I do like the system, the app and cameras, but the niggling issues (and the fact it still doesn't pick up everything) have kept it from being a five star product."
"I bought this system because I wanted to hang cameras outside of my house so that I can see what's going on when I'm not home and so my wife can feel safer. I have 4 cameras all together, and 3 of them are attached to trees outside, the 4th is outside, but attached to the house. The camera sends you an alert, almost immediately (which I love) when it detects motion. I was looking at the camera image in real time and when I saw one of my cats in the backyard I was able to tell her where he was and she was able to retrieve him. That being said, I have lots of trees near my house, and even with pruning branches, I still get so many alerts when it's windy that I tend to turn off the cameras until it gets less windy. Also, I had to work on placement of the cameras so that I don't get an alert every time a car drove by my house. For me to get on a ladder, unscrew the camera from the mount on the tree, bring it in to charge via USB, then go back out and get on my ladder and try to re-aim the cameras is a pain the butt. The camera is supposed to be an HD camera, but the image during the day is really pixelated, especially if it's windy. The cameras internal IR light is puny, but I have security lights outside to light up my yard, so I don't rely on the cameras own IR light. I would recommend this if you want a general idea of what's happening around your house, just don't expect crisp, sharp images (but really, how often do you see security cameras footage on the news that's clear? I think most security cameras aren't that sharp anyway. ). In fact, I felt the difference was great enough that I've returned my previous system of 5 arlo pro cameras (thank you Amazon for your amazing customer service) and bought 5 arlo pro 2 cameras. I did call netgear and ask if they had some kind of exchange program for owners of the arlo pro who want the arlo pro 2, where I could send my old cameras in, pay the difference, and get new cameras..."