Samsung SDE-3004N 4 Channel DVR Security System with 500 GB HDD

I bought this as a supplement to my 4 camera Lorex system instead of buying a new 8 camera system. One of the selling points was the in-store ad says you can view remotely via PC or Mac. Well, the actual product box doesn't say that, and its not yet compatible with Mac. Not a huge deal, but Mac capability would be nice. According to Samsung's web site, it's in the works.

Overall it provides much more functionality than my Lorex system, but it is not easy to setup, especially if this is your first time setting up a home system. Having set one up before (the Lorex) was a big help, but Samsung's documentation is HORRIBLE. It only tells you what each button or menu item does, but does not explain in detail the features and how to actually configure it. I only needed an hour or two to get it set up, but it was a couple more days to really learn all that it could do and how to do it. I can now say that I really like the system, much more than the Lorex.

Best features for me are the clean interface, motion alerts via email (though a bit cumbersome to setup), the options for increasing video resolution, the ability to update the firmware across the Internet, and the IPOLIS iOS app for my iPhone/iPad, which is much more friendly than the Lorex app.

Downsides are the Mac incompatibility and the HORRIBLE setup guide & user manual (did I mention they are HORRIBLE?). DDNS setup is also a bit hokey, but it works.

This is my first camera system. There is no shortage of camera system manufacturers out there, so I bought this one based on the Samsung reputation and the features I needed in the price range I was looking at. The only thing I needed that didn't come in the box was a BNC to RCA video-out adapter so I could connect the DVR to my receiver to put the images onto my TV. Got that at Radio Shack for a few dollars. Installing the system took me the better part of a day. All cams are outside and hung under the eaves of my house. I had to drill a hole big enough for the camera connectors to pass through and into the attic, then locate the connectors in the attic and connect the cable and run it to the DVR in my entertainment cabinet. To make this easier, I taped a straightened coat hanger to the connectors and then pushed everything through the hole from outside. The coat hanger was easy to spot with a flashlight once in the attic. I bought some cable grommets at Lowes for a clean look where the cable passes into my house. There is plenty of cable for your average sized house.

The most difficult part for me (because I'm not an IT expert) was setting my router ports to allow viewing over the internet. However, this wasn't all that difficult. Now I have the capability to view images on my TV and on my PC and iPhone from anywhere. I highly recommend connecting this to your network and then setting everything up everything else on a PC instead of using the remote. I haven't used the remote at all. I had full functionality of the system in about two days. The manual could be better, but it's not as bad as some would make you think. I called tech support once. They were helpful and encouraged me to call back with any issues.

The motion detection is nice and I like that you can block out portions of the field of view to ignore, such as trees blowing in the wind. However, even at the lowest sensitivity setting, at night I'm getting lots of false alarm emails due to insects flying past the camera. During the day there are virtually no false alarms unless a bird or bee happens to fly by close to the cam. If cams are installed indoors there would be no false alarms. My DVR is recording about 2-weeks worth of data at its current settings. You can record audio on Channel 1 only, but you'll need your own mic or another cam that has one built in.

I'm very pleased after owning this for about 4 months and recommend it.

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I am still having trouble with event search, but I'll figure it out one way or another. My brother has one like it and he loves his and he has been helping me.

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The remote does not work

Everything else work fine except the remote

Shipping was questionable everything else was okay

Would not buy again

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This security system is okay, if you don't mind that it is NOT user friendly in the least. I spent three weeks trying to figure out why some of the buttons on the remote and the mouse didn't work or worked intermittently. Meanwhile the unit was useless as a security system.

The manual is terrible, and doesn't describe functions at all. Finally a call into Samsung support told me how to unlock from the record position.

The unit was worse than useless for that three week period. If you need camera security now, don't get this model. The support person could only give a lame brain response to my question why the information was not in the manual.

So if you plan to buy this one, please note that it will take at least three weeks to get it running correctly.

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