Samsung Security System SDE-5001 16 Channel DVR 1 TB HDD 4 Box Camera and 4 Dome Camera

I'm a professional security integrator and I always get asked about CCTV systems. I saw this system at Amazon and Costco and told my friend to give it a try. It took us four hours to install all eight cameras and program the DVR. I loved the easy Cat5 wiring setup. It will send power and analog video 600 feet vs 330 feet for real PoE digital video. The DVR software GUI was user friendly. Good color analog video for the money. The cameras are $120 each so you are getting the 1TB DVR for free. If you want crystal clear digital megapixel video then break out your checkbook. A good 3MP camera will run you $1000 each and a good NVR will run you another $3000.

Let me first say that I had installed a Samsung SME-2220 system at my house prior to this install of the SDE-5001 system at my Mom's. My cameras are nearly identical and have glowing red IR LED's at night and have 50" of clear night vision in total darkness. The SDE-5001 does not have enough power per channel to power the IR LED's, the result in about 5' of effective night vision rendering the system useless, nowhere near the advertised 50'. I bought this unit at Costco and figured it was just a defective DVR. When I went to exchange the DVR I did a test on the demo unit at Costco which to my disappointment it had the same issue, no or very weak IR LED's when covered. You should be able to see the red IR LED's glowing from 30' away, it's like having a flashlight with a weak battery, pointless.

I called Samsung technical support and spoke with Troy and he was extremely impatient and rude both times I spoke with him, he repeatedly cut me off and was quick to dismiss my claim even though his underling admitted to me that the IR problem is a KNOWN ISSUE by Samsung and yet they continue to sell and ship these SDE-5001's, knowing they are defective. Basically Samsung doesn't care how many hours you spent in a hot attic, rolling in insulation, installing their defective product. I just hope this review saves someone the pain I went through only to have no recourse than to buy something else and rip this one out. Troy will tell you to send the DVR in for repair but the problem is a major design flaw and there is no fix for it, so your option is really return it and get something else or install a bunch of floodlights around your house and accept the barely working night vision.

Poor customer service and all around shady business in my opinion.

Update 11/30/12 I finally got in touch with Samsung Corp Engineering and sent them pictures of the grainy night vision. They were unaware of the issue, they agreed it was a defect, there is NO fix for it, yet they continue to sell them.

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We bought this system from Costco back in April 2012. Power over ethernet (PoE) is exactly what I was looking for, and to have a name brand supply a 16 channel system with 8 cameras for $949 seemed too good to be true. I ended up purchasing an additional 2 SEB-1006R cameras (with audio) from Amazon, but I have had problems with audio on both of those (one is super quiet, and the other has a defective amplifier, as diagnosed by Samsung). I will exchange these and be back in business.

Cameras are super clear during the day. The night time no light areas are pretty useless, but it is that way with all camera systems. Once IR floods become cheaper, I will install some of those.

Samsung's customer service has been available and helpful when I needed them, and now that I have the iPolis app set up properly, everything works flawlessly.

Read Best Reviews of Samsung Security System SDE-5001 16 Channel DVR 1 TB HDD 4 Box Camera and 4 Dome Camera Here

Great DVR, excellent features and very easy to configure. The cameras work perfectly if (and ONLY IF) there is lots of light. In near darkness or total darkness, the infrared lights provide some lighting, but not enough to see what's going on. Their sample photo of night vision on the box was taken with lights turned on to provide sufficiently light to compensate for the unacceptable infrared of the cameras.

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I got it working now. The reality show continues.

Apparently, as someone commented on the YouTube review for this system,

"A bunch of units recently shipped to the US that have the default monitor setting as composite, so if you plug in your computer monitor it flashes back and forth between cameras and' doesn't show the menu no matter what you do with the mouse. The way to get around this is to press the DVR button and then rapidly in succession press FREEZE VIEW RETURN FREEZE VIEW RETURN and the thing will beep and reboot so the regular 16 channel screen and the mouse will work.".

I was not able to enter the menu. The DVR didn't respond to the remote or the front panel buttons. It was just cycling between the cameras that I got connected. This was the second unit I got, thought the first one was defective and returned it. Tried to reach the customer service, but they are not available weekends. So much for a behemoth company like Samsung! Talk about quality control! The COSTCO Concierge Service reps were unaware about this known issue, although the comments appeared on YouTube a month ago.

Other considerations:

1. 4 cameras out of 8 that come with the system are crappy plastic SED-1001R that look like PZT (Pan Zoom Tilt), but are NOT PZT.

2. PZT Camera is not supported by this system.

3. Both models of the cameras bundled with the system do not support sound. Need to buy extra mikes or add more expensive cameras if you want audio. This info is buried somewhere in the thick manual. No mention of that on the box or in the specs. What a bait and rip off!

4. The mobile app fails to connect a few cameras out of the set now and then. Haven't experienced that with a system from another company.

5. The daylight video is ok, but the nighttime is poor and grainy.

6. The language of the menus and the manual is close to "engrish funny" (google it).

7. Some problems with the desktop web viewer.

8. Didn't recognize my external USB hard drive.

9. Saving a recording as AVI is awkward. Can't just select a time slot to grab need to push "Record" button and watch. What if you want to do this for more than one channel, more than one day?

Samsung clearly does not stand behind it's brand name on this one. No brand manufactures have done a better job that that.