Amcrest HD 720P 4CH Video Security System - Four 1280TVL 1.0-Megapixel Weatherproof IP67 Bullet Cameras, 65ft IR LED Night Vision, 1TB HDD, HD Over Analog/BNC, Smartphone View (Black)

Amcrest HD 720P 4CH Video Security System - Four 1280TVL 1.0-Megapixel Weatherproof IP66 Bullet Cameras, 65ft IR LED Night Vision, 1TB HDD, HD Over Analog/BNC, Smartphone View (Black) This is a great DVR. You get "HD" quality video from four included cameras. Don't jump right away for this system. Do your research! Find out if this is what you want or (My advice) splurge for 1080p or above or even make the ultimate investment and go with IP cameras/ NVR (network video recorder.) You may ask "Why?" Well there's a few reasons: One, HDCVI. (this camera type, [uses coax type lines] ) only allows up to 1080p. Now you may think this is okay, but with IP (internet wired) cameras you can get a much higer resolution/ pixel count and that's going to mean a better image altogether than what is even imaginable with that of HDCVI cameras such as these. Second, these cameras require an additional power block with four pigtails (one for each channel); whereas IP (internet) cameras can use Poe ( power over ethernet) to use one cable for data and power with no separate adapters or wires. Finally, the maximum megapixels (resolutions) HDCVI can get is a little over 2 megapixel. Here on amazon there are dome and bullet IP cameras found that are 3,4, and 5 megapixels. Search for these TRULY high def. cameras and you can read the reviews and find that they have stunning quality that will blow these particular cameras out of the water.SO! Why would I recommend these cameras then if you can find better? (much better DOES exist) It boils down thing one thing and one thing only: Cost. I could have gotten a set JUST like this with a hard drive same size and and four cameras but instead they be 1080p with 2.1 megapixel cameras but the price jumps to $400. The product set I am referring to is here:  Amcrest Full-HD 1080P 4CH Video Security System - Four 1920TVL 2.1-Megapixel Weatherproof IP66 Bullet Cameras, 65ft IR LED Night Vision, 2TB HDD, HD Over Analog/BNC, Smartphone View (Black) So if you are tight on a budget, as my family was, these cameras are great, but do come with the price of pulling your wires to the cameras from the dvr. This is by far the most difficult and time consuming part. Be sure you have a fish tape to help you pull the wires. This will help you greatly. Just an FYI, this system is listed as a "DIY" system, but can be a little daunting for those without a technical background, so find a friend/ relative to help you with initial set up. If you are technically skilled and/ or a die hard DIY'er have at it!! I loved installing it and this is not my first amcrest system I have installed.I did NOT have to port forward my DVR/ to my router, but I did set it up as a back door to my DVR in the event I need it, I can just use a browser to access the remote graphic user interface (GUI). One quirky thing about the web browser, be it on the local network (LAN) or remotely (WAN) your browser has to have a plug-in installed. This could be inconvenient if you're using a public PC or a friend's computer; just a tid-bid of info.I read so many reviews on this product before I bought it, thinking remote viewing was going to be a nightmare, but I felt good when I was able to get it up with motion alerts without the help of Amcrest support. For most people you SHOULD be able to go into main menu> network settings> all the way to bottom of left column to "P2P" option> and finally check "Enable." From here you should be able to scan the QR code it generates in your app and make a "peer to Peer (P2P)" connection without having to port forward in most cases.This is not a fancy system. You CAN find better and you can spend boat loads more of money but I chose this economical system and I am very happy with it based on what I spent. The next system that I invest in will be an IP based camera system with a built in power supply for the cameras in the NVR, but that's down the road when I can burn through more money lol. Comment or message me with questions. I hope I am able to help. Thanks!

I have had this system operating for over a month now. It works extremely well. The hardware appears to be very good quality. The packaging is first rate and everything worked right out of the box. The daytime 720p color video is very good. The night video is ok, maybe not as good as advertised. The cooling fan in the recorder unit is a bit noisy, but I installed the unit in a vented cabinet and that helped. The main problem with the system is the user manual, as it leaves a lot to be desired. With a good user manual I would have given this product 5 stars. The Amcrest online technical support is good. You can email them and they typically reply within one or two business days. They have always been very polite and professional and always did reply. I did phone them on two occasions and they actually answered in a few rings, but then they took some information on my problem and promised to phone me back within an hour, which they did. They are very helpful and for the average user they are very important to getting this system up and running. They have also created several YouTube videos (search Amcrest) designed to help in setting up the system. The Amcrest website also has a page at ‘Support/Forum/Technical Discussion’ and some help may be found there. This page does require some investigation because information is in bits and pieces and is often written by puzzled users. It would be nice if Amcrest would monitor and update this site with some organized and useful help. Once the system is up and running and you learn how to navigate the software, you will find the entire system is very powerful. From my Wi-Fi connected laptop I can view the live video and search the history video files of my 4 camera system. I have set up my system so that whenever someone comes to my front door I am sent an email notification with an attached snapshot of my porch area. When away from home I can also view live action of all four cameras on my IPhone. All in all I am very happy with this system and would buy it again. With a good user manual this system would be awesome.One comment about emailing snapshots to yourself. The snapshots are initiated by the system using ‘motion detection’. Motion detection has numerous setting/adjustments like sensitivity, threshold, trigger/timing, region size, anti-dither, etc. These settings take a bit of time to find, figure out and set. I have done a bit of online investigation about video cameras using Motion Detection in general. I have found that it is pretty typical that systems using Motion Detection have shortcomings which often result in false triggering. False triggering is often caused by rain, snow, wind and the passing of clouds or light sources. On a nice calm day Motion Detection works flawless. Adding to the false triggering issue, I have found that the Amcrest system will send a total of three emails for each triggered event. One email states the start time of the event, the second email states the end time of the event and the third email contains the wanted snapshot. The only way I could figure out to eliminate the first two emails was to set up a filter at my email account where all incoming Amcrest emails are searched for the word ‘time’ and when it is found the email is put in the ‘trash’. This word ‘time’ is in the two unwanted emails but it is not in the email containing the snapshot.