Average Reviews:
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I did lots of research before buying. I wanted multiple cameras and didn't mind hiding them myself. This product posted more technical data than any other, and the Tech Support guys were very helpful answering questions even before I purchased their product. I only found 3 reviews and they weren't very good, but I was willing to take a chance, especially with the very reasonable price.
The first problem is very poor image quality from the cameras. Whether I hook them up to my PC through iCamDVR or directly to my television, they produce an image that is nearly unusable with good indoor lighting. These cameras require outdoor lighting or something like it to produce a reasonable image.
Also, the wireless signal from one camera interfered with the other, creating moving lines across the screen if both were plugged in. I could live with this flaw if it were the only.
I decided to return the cameras, but not before tinkering with the iCamDVR. To test image quality, I hooked up a DVD player. Image quality on the PC through iCamDVR was very good. I also tried viewing remotely through my Mac laptop, which runs Windows XP SP2 (You must have windows to host or view remotely). After enabling all Active X controls, I was able to remotely download the software from PC to Mac, but I was never able to get past a pixel error to view the camera remotely. The Tech Support guys are troubleshooting that now, and if they figure out the problem, I will buy an iCamDVR without the cameras. I still may have another problem with remote viewing, in that the Tech guys were unable to ping my computer (I remoted in from inside my house, which is different than from outside). I'm using a wireless router and thought I had all the port forwarding setup, but it's not working. I'm not too worried though, because the Tech Support guys are very helpful and I think we'll figure it out. Nonetheless, setting up this system is harder than I anticipated. I have average computer knowledge, but I've had to learn about dynamic IP address versus static IP address, port forwarding on my router, and other topics I never before needed to learn.
I wish that viewing remotely only required the IP address and password, so that all you needed was a web browser. Instead, you have to install software on the remote viewing computer. Therefore, you will be unable to view remotely from many computers (public computers, Macs, any place where you don't want to or can't install software).Therefore:
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Amazon - Delivery and support: Great. Return policy is outstanding.
SecurityMan (iCamDVR) Tech Support - Very helpful, although we haven't yet resolved hosting / remote viewing issues.
Cameras - Very low image quality. Requirement for strong light makes these better for outdoors.
iCamDVR - Complicated setup for web hosting and remote viewing. Depending on your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and router, yours may be complicated. If I gain confidence that Tech Support knows why I couldn't view remotely, I'll by an iCamDVR without the cameras and use with some other cameras. I'll update my review later.
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