I've had this unit for a few weeks, and I've been experimenting with camera positions and lighting. This Security DVR has worked perfectly.All features work, as advertised, and are well implemented.
PROS:
-Motion detection with pre-record (pre-time stamps motion event) works great. I really like the function which allows you to fast forward at 32x, and the unit slows right down to 1x right before a car or person walks on my property, then resumes FF when it leaves the frame. I can spend 20 minutes after work, and see every person or vehicle that has entered my property for the past 9 hours I've been at work. Very cool!
-I can access the unit from any computer in my house. The software included allows access to the DVR menu functions as well. Streaming video over my LAN has been glitch free and solid full motion. I haven't tried accessing the box away from home yet. I will update my review if there are any problems with that. (I doubt there will be. The firmware and software have been well de-bugged, for the most part)
CONS:
I only have a couple of gripes about the unit:
-The menu is a little hard to understand, and you have to experiment with certain menu functions to discover what they actually do.(This is obviously a translation issue.) Once you have figured out what does what,
the menu settings are easy to use, and well implemented.
-The compression used by the unit does degrade the resolution a bit, when streaming or recording. Not by much though. The streaming video has very little degradation, and the recorded video is a little worse, with some slight pixelation on the "Best" setting. I understand that this is a compromise between picture quality and disk space, however, I wish it had a better resolution recording option. Large disk drives are relatively cheap anyway. This may become an issue if you are trying to identify a face in the distance. We'll see . . .
Overall, I'm extremely pleased with this Security DVR.
It is well built, and does pretty much everything I would want.
It would be nice to have the USB Flash Drive backup on this one,
but you have to move up to a more expensive model to get that functionality.
For the price, this DVR is an absolute BARGAIN! I've seen VERY similar Security DVRs for $180 and up. (sans drive)
I highly recommend this unit.
I just enter my current IP and I am able to watch my house while at work and keep an eye on my kids when they get home from, or when they don't have, school. I have a dynamic IP so before I leave for work I make check to make sure what is my current IP. My ISP changes my IP every month sometimes every week so it's not a big deal. It has worked flawlessly so far. I will be replacing the existing HD with 1.5TB HD soon.I use this DVR as the central point of my home security system. I purchased a 1TB SATA drive from Amazon which was easy to install into the unit. I have 4 security cameras connected to the DVR which can be viewed individually or as a group of four on my LAN. The manufacturer provides software to view or record the DVR data over a LAN onto a computer. The DVR functions as a web server with its own static IP address when connected to your LAN. The DVR (and all cameras) can be accessed over the internet by port forwarding over a router/modem and then setting up a dynamic dns account. Setting up the DVR for viewing/recording over your LAN is easy. Setting up the port forwarding with dynamic dns is more complicated. A web search can provide tips on the best way to do this.
With the 1TB hard drive, I am able to record over 3 weeks of video data, all for a cost of around $250. Truly a great deal. I also own the 561 model which has been running 24/7 for over a year without any problems. The 561 model comes with a remote control which makes programming easier, but the 560 has all the same functionality on the front control panel.Over the years I've cobbled together various CCTV components from Ebay, Amazon, etc... The primary purpose was to watch my dog while I was at work but then it became sort of a hobby and I kept adding outdoor cameras. I could never find a stable PCI DVR card or decent DVR and remote monitoring software but what I had worked so I went with it.
That was until I ran across this little gem!
It just works! Yes the menu is a little quirky to figure out but it is still far better than anything I had previously purchased and comes complete with powerful features. The remote playback via the internet is very nice and the video quality is excellent!
I threw in a 1TB drive and at the highest recording FPS the unit appears to eat 1% of the 1TB drive each day or every 24 hours. That's a lot of surveillance days to keep on file and more than I'll ever need!
Hopefully it will last because I'm VERY happy with this unit!
I'll update this review if it ever dies so if you don't see an update then it must still be working!This is going to be an attempt at a thorough review.
Background I'm an IT guy, not a security guy, at my house we started off trying to us a PC DVR card with software, don't waste your time, difficult to configure, compatibility issues, the whole bit THIS DEVICE IS THE WAY TO GO.
Ordered it, dropped in the hard drive (fresh from the box, no formatting, no messing around), plugged in the camera, set the time, and BINGO, we're online and recording. (We're using a 5400 RPM, "GREEN" drive from a major manufacturer and it works great. I could care less about going "green", it was cheap, 1TB will give us 45 days of recording may or may not vary depending how many cameras are being used.) Literally plug 'n play, I was shocked! Comes with a BNC to RCA adapter, so it hooks up to your TV or other device, no problem. When you fire up the DVR, you can stop there if you choose install nothing else, and just load up your web browser (in your local network) and type in the local IP address and you're all set, install the active-x (which pops up by itself in IE) and there's you picture INCLUDING all the DVR settings and option for multiple other web user accounts with different security options. So you can have an awesome setup with no software if you so desire.
Features This device and packaged software does everything any home and small business person would ever needs. Brightness, darkness, saturation, hue, if you want it to beep for motion or not, alerts or not, and so on, even has a VGA/d-sub port and you can configure the output resolution. The packaged software allows you to do everything the actual device can do, and MORE. You can set it up to record a time interval before and after a motion alert for example and it's very sensitive, so it won't miss anything and it creates an easy to use log so you can play back the 'event' quickly and easily. It came with a full set of instructions for basic use, printed out, LARGE print, with screenshots, directions on how to get the DVR online in your network. (It's easy as pie for anyone with basic networking skills and even people without.) Too many features and options to list, any person getting started with be VERY IMPRESSED WITH THIS DVR. (If you've never set up surveillance before, just get yourself some BNC adapters and/or cables, it works just like a regular TV cable, but with different ends on the cables, that's all.)
Cons: The remote is horrible, VERY unintuitive (if that's a word.) Secondly, the remote is horrible. It doesn't really matter though, for what this device is made for, you can do everything you need to be without even using half the buttons on the remote even if you knew what "F2" on a remote meant. (You can tell the remote directions didn't translate well into English, but the large print directions, re the network setup, from the seller on Amazon (I assume) were great.) The beeping noises this thing makes (for every little thing) can get annoying, but you can turn them off in the menu. Passcode for every little thing can get annoying too, but you can turn that off as well.
Conclusion This is VERY IMPRESSIVE for what I'd consider an entry level system, despite the remote control issues (which can easily be overcome using the computer interface), this DVR performs as promised and beyond. If you don't want to get all into the details and special configurations, you can have it up and running and reliably recording in the most basic form in under 10 minutes.
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