For those of you interested in mainly watching the cameras from your smartphone or computer, this is the product and brand to go with. I have been installing security systems for several years now and Swann continues to impress me. I use other brands because clients sometimes buy their own, but none have an easy setup and support like this brand. I read the review about the DDNS server being out and the reason from the tech representative explaining why and I like Swann even more for that. What many non-techs don't understand is that a DDNS server is something you have to pay for, but Swann provides this for FREE. Not only that it seems like they are beefing it up so that it doesn't fail in the future. With other brand DVRs I used other DDNS services I had to pay for and those would fail more times than i could think of. I had clients call me every time it went out, all except customers who owned a Swann DVR. The setup is very easy for the DVRs and with this new D1 and 30 frames per second on every channel it's amazing that it's available for this price from the top brand. In my reviews I like to also provide hints on how to make setup easier for those future owners. See below.Hints 1: test all equipment before running cables and doing any drilling, you never know if the shipping man handled package badly. Good thing about Swann is also their 1 year warranty and great customer service so no problem is something arrives damaged.
Hint 2: Install DVR near router and monitor/TV you plan to watch it on. Swann is great in that it doesn't force you to buy their monitor, you can use your HDMI compatible TV or a regular computer monitor. To use the internet features, such as watching cameras on your phone, you will need a hard wired connection to your modem, you can buy a long Ethernet cable if the DVR will be further than 4 ft from your router.
Hint 3: port forward ports 85 and 9000 to the DVRs IP address then reboot the DVR. Go to Swanns website and under the support tab go to DDNS support to create your free DDNS account. After creating your account you create a domain, this is your easy to remember online address for accessing your DVR on your phone or computer. Input your account and domain information on the DVR and you are setup for Internet access. See hint 4 for input on your phone.
Hint 4: on Swannview Pro app for name you put whatever name you want to give your DVR and for for "server" or "address" you put your Swann domain name plus the swanndvr.net that goes after it. Put 9000 for port and user I'd and password are the user I'd and password for your DVR. If you don't put password just leave it blank and the default user I'd is "admin". Then you are done and you can see your cameras.
Hope this review is helpful and hints help make it easier. Great thing about this brand is also their technical support is awesome. FYI They have support in French and spanish. Tienen apoyo tecnico en Español tambien.
The set up was very simple for anyone who is 5+ on a tech experience scale of 1-10. If you the kind of person who can get your VCR to stop blinking 12:00 (if you have one) and are able to hang drapes with a drill and screw driver, you should have the ability to set this system up.
The tools I used:
-Phillips Head Screwdriver to screw cameras to wall or ceiling and adjust camera angle
-Power drill to drill to drill pilot holes for camera mounts and holes for wires
assorted drill bits
Electrical tape to secure connections
a straightened clothes hanger to help pull wires
The system is a snap to set up and took me only 10 hours or so to finish, from planning to programming. It took me so long mainly due to the fact that I was installing these cameras in a 150 year old building with countless renovations and alterations to work around. In new (post 1950) construction it should be a breeze. All the BNC cables twist and snap together. Plan where you'll put your cameras for best coverage, where you'll run your wires, run your wires, install your cameras, plug it all in, turn it on and SHAZAM, you are in business. You will need to buy a monitor for it, but that is pretty normal for these type of systems.
When in doubt, see the manual. It is easy to read, and was apparently written by someone sarcastic like myself. Hope this helps.I ordered this DVR/Camera Security Monitoring Kit for our small business. Setup was generally by the book and simple to do. So far I have been impressed with the clarity and definition of the recorded video. With the 8 cameras in the package our company is able to effectively cover all entry/exit points of the building as well as monitor the premises during the night as we do unfortunately have some vagrants that loiter around the industrial park we are in during the night.
I love the fact that it includes the LiveView App that allows me to see the premises while away when needed and sends me email notifications if motion is detected.
It is also great that the product is upgradeable, so I feel the investment made is well worth it as it will not be outdated anytime soon.This system comes complete with all needed to install and view. The tech support is excellent and have been able to contact them every time needed. I have had to contact support 7 times in 4 weeks. The system has locked up in the dvr hardrive 4 times now and my ability to revieve email alerts when cameras triggered has not been able to be set up by swann even when taking over my computer remotely and doing all teh stuff a senior level tech knows to do. the pictures are clear but when in low light even adjusting all adjustments has a lot of video noise and does not make out a clear enough image to identify unless within just 10 feet or so.Overall not bad price, not bad tech support my system has been problamatic and am waiting to see if the last firmware update fixes the hardrive problems if not swann says they will replace the dvr after I contact them for a return approval number and it is recieved at there facility and it has been checked out and found faulty I will get a new one. If it comes to that after all my calls to them and having to be guided over the phone 3 times to take apart my dvr while powered up removing the cover unplugging all the cameras first and then hardsetting the dvr reassembling everything and it locking up a day later in most cases I will have to rate the product lower.... Stay tuned.I was impressed with the DVR functionality and video quality. I didn't have to read the manual etc the interface was pretty intuitive and easy to configure for motion recording. Overall it has a quality feel to it and the layout of the connections on the back \ front are easy to deal with. Some may find the spacing on the BNC connections a tad close but this is with all DVRs I've encountered.
I could hear the hard drive click on occasion and this was a little disconcerting but I would have swapped the HD for a SSD HD if I had kept it anyway.
I used the 4 supplied Swann cameras in conjunction with 4 "AVTECH AVC462B 6MM 1/3" H.R. Sony Effio 35 IR 6MM lens Outdoor Weatherproof IR Cameras" I bought last year from US Security Solution. The difference was dramatic. The Swann cameras performed so poorly that I returned the whole package to Amazon. I put the camera quality and LOUD $#@! CLICKING NOISE on the same caliber as the Night Owl cameras I bought from Frys.
The tests were conducted by swapping out the Swann cameras in place with the AVTECH and also the cables and the problem was definitely the Swann cameras only.
What I really liked about this DVR besides the true full D1 @ 30fps PER channel, is that you can export \ save the video directly to .avi format as individual channels one 1 step. So if you want ONLY the videos for channel 1, you can get that! The files will be listed as time stamped names on the thumb drive and easily browsable and playable in Windows.
You can not do this with the US411ZS DVR from US Security Solutions at all, ever. Bummer :(
(US Security Solutions has great customer and tech support and can be reached by phone in the USA and they have been very good to me as a customer)
1) I prefer this Swann SWDVK-830004-US DVR over the US Security Solutions US411ZS DVR.
2) I prefer the "AVTECH AVC462B Cameras" over the Swann supplied "high resolution" cameras.
So 4 stars for the DVR and minus one star for the poor camera quality. I would def buy the DVR again.
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