SVAT CV501-16CH-007 Do-it-Yourself DVR Security System with 8 Indoor/Outdoor Night Vision CCD Surve

I was a skeptical purchasing this unit as there was no review available at the time. Unit is well packed and came complete with everything necessary. Bought it from ShopTronics thru Amazon. Excellent notification & delivery service for the transaction. Didn't use the bundled cameras as I already have my own. Having running similar systems like Swann and Qsee for a few years, here are the Pros & Cons:

Pros:

Remote viewing using BlackBerry phones, it was my primary reason to buy it. There was a little caveat. The remote viewer did not work as soon as my BlackBerry enterprise activated. Possibly due to application restrictions with the BES server.

I learned to work around this issue by not having the phone activated. Used Google Sync to sync contacts & calendar instead. For those who require looking up people name in your directory, you'll miss out this feature if you decided to do it.

Programming, clean and simple, easy to configure.

Technical Support, excellent tech support whether via phone call or opening a trouble ticket online. SVAT really followed thru and addressed all the issues I had. They had even arranged for their software developer to assist with my initial viewing problem. A++ for the support.

Cons:

Email alert, another reason for buying it. Didn't end up using it. Email alert requires an SMTP mail relayer. A requirement not mentioned in product brochure or documented in the manual. There are examples in the manual that talked about Google, Yahoo, and MSN alike. None allows SMTP relay. SMTP relay can be done thru own company if allowed or a paid service.

Search and play back, is quite limited in options comparing to others. An area that should be improved.

Overall, I am happy with the unit. It addressed what I was looking for, the ability to view remotely on a BlackBerry. The system is highly recommended.

DVR works well and it's pretty straight forward. I installed 10 cameras and four of them went out within the first three months.warranty claims are difficult. Mounting brackets break really easily and had to purchase extras to complete the install.I would recommend buying high quality camera as a substitute.

Buy SVAT CV501-16CH-007 Do-it-Yourself DVR Security System with 8 Indoor/Outdoor Night Vision CCD Surve Now

I have had the CV501-16CH-007 product almost 4 months and I still have not gotten the iphone viewing working. It does work on the iphone 3 and I can see only one channel on the iphone 3s and can't see anything on the iphone 4s. Support has not been helpful and are really not that experienced on this. If you can even get support you can be on hold for hours or if you send an email you may get a response in a week or two. So do not depend on having any issues if you buy this product. The dvr now has a disk access error so now I can't access any of my recordings. Tried to fix with support so now they want me to send it back and they will try to work on it. This should take about 2 to 4 weeks and me without video survillence. Overall I would not recommend this product...

Read Best Reviews of SVAT CV501-16CH-007 Do-it-Yourself DVR Security System with 8 Indoor/Outdoor Night Vision CCD Surve Here

Unless you like looking at pastel images of your recordings... the camera's that come with this are CRAP!!! I have done warranty with SVAT 3 TIMES and each time I get replacement camera's they are exactly the same... NO MATTER WHAT DVR AND MONITOR I VIEW THEM ON! I install camera's as a side business and I bought this for a client and I regret buying it ever since. I've tried multiple different DVR's, Cables and even tested different camera's on each DVR when viewing the camera's this comes with and there is NO CHANGE... According to SVAT, this is the ONLY camera available with this series now and there is NO replacement other than these CRAP pastel camera's. SVAT was also supposed to test the camera's TWICE before sending replacements... never happened.

Lik I said, DVR is decent... Camera's are CRAP!

Want SVAT CV501-16CH-007 Do-it-Yourself DVR Security System with 8 Indoor/Outdoor Night Vision CCD Surve Discount?

I bought this system for the house and it works perfect! I got some extra cameras and have now 12 total. I can access this from anywhere via a computer. Great system. Great features.

Save 27% Off