Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I purchased this item in June 2010 and paid $399.
The product was easy to install, but only if you use the wires provided with the kit (comes with 60' per camera). The down side of using the included wires is, you must install the wires. My house was pre-wired for security cameras, but the pre-wiring used CAT5 and COAX so I had to create custom 4-pin DIN connectors. Creating custom DIN connectors required a great deal of soldering and heat shrinking, but it beat crawling through the attic and running wires through walls.
The cameras are decent, with okay resolution and okay frames-per-second (FPS). They only have a 60 degree range of view, so 4 cameras provides limited views.
The DVR is very disappointing. This system uses a single-function DVR, which means you can only do one thing at a time (either play back or record), but you cannot view the video if the unit is currently recording (you have to stop recording). The DVR also only supports a max of 30 FPS across all 4 channels/cameras. I allocated 10, 10, 5 and 5. The DVR also has poor resolution - maybe its the cameras, but I think its the DVR because the live video is much clearer than the recorded video. In addition, the DVR is rather cheap. I attempted to format the hard drive when I first installed it the unit, but got a message that there "was no hard drive." After hours of fussing with it, I finally just unplugged it for 30 minutes or so; after which it detected the hard drive and allowed me to format.
Connecting to the DVR: You can connect to the DVR in one of 2 ways - via a USB cable or via a network (including the internet). Connecting to an internal network (e.g., home network) is fairly simple, and can be done in a few minutes. Configuration for external network (e.g., internet) access is a bit more complicated. I eventually figured it out, thanks to some helpful websites, but it took 2 or 3 hours before I got it working. If you plan on accessing the DVR from your network, you cannot have the DVR connected via the USB too (not at the same time). When the USB is connected, the hard drive is "in use" by the computer connected via USB, and thus, other computers can only view live video - cannot playback recorded video.Of course, this is not explained in the manual and is definitely not obvious when logged in from a remote computer.
Software and Play back: To play back recorded video, you need the software (DxClient). There are two ways to access/use this software. One is to install it on your computer (requires Windows - sorry Mac users). The other is to use an Active-X control in Internet Explorer (sorry, but it doesn't work with Firefox). Either way works fine. The software (user interface) is straight forward, but it's also confusing. To playback video, you click an icon to bring up a play list, then select the video you want to play. The problem is, mine only shows one play list and when I click it, I can't tell if I'm playing a recording or watching live footage. Thus, either the software is buggy or the DVR is not recording; either way very disappointing.
Since this is my first surveillance system, I wasn't sure what to expect. However, I am not very satisfied with with this purchase. If I had to do it over again, I would have done more research before buying and would have paid more for a higher quality system.
Click Here to see more reviews about: SVAT CV300-4CH-001 User Friendly Web Ready 4 Channel DVR Security System with 4 Indoor/Outdoor Weatherproof Night Vision Surveillance Cameras
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