Customer Reviews

CIB R401W500G8653 4CH Network Security Surveillance DVR with Four CCD bullet Cameras Kit

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I usually don't write reviews, but in this case I felt that I had to. This unit was very easy to mount and run wires for. The picture quality is very very good, especially for the price. I have friends who install these types of systems all the time, and they couldn't even come close to the price of this system. I have worked with cctv systems in the past, and the usb flash drive backup is a very nice feature. With a 500gb hard drive, you will get a couple of weeks of video that you can review. I cannot speak as to the longevity of this system, as it has only been installed since yesterday, but so far, I am extremely pleased with this purchase.

Cameras - Pretty good pictures. On nice clear night the IR even picks up pollen floating in the air.
Video Cables - 4x65FT more than enough for the house system was installed in.
Power Supplies - Would have been nice if they had ONE central power supply instead of the individual power adapters for each camera. Had to get extra power strip to accommodate them all.
DVR System - Looks to be pretty nice system.
Location installed is without Internet service so can't comment on the remote viewing options.

System installed in siblings house on 10/30/2010.
The most difficult part of installing this system was running the wires. House had no space in attic to crawl through and I didn't have a proper snake to use.
Was in such a hurry to install that I ran 3 of the 4 wires backwards and had to re-run them since they have the factory installed plugs for video and power.
Hooked system to an old Compaq monitor and was impressed with clarity of cameras.
Mouse control easy to use for setting up options.
Remote control - didn't mess with it after install.

Overall, looks to be a good system for the money.

Plan on updating this if problems arise.

I'm happy with the system and the company outstanding customer support & after sales service. They resolved big problem within few days. I placed the order at Amazon, no place to request the cameras input voltage to be 240v and not 120v. After receiving the system, I emailed the company and they replied with the following answer: "our shipment guy don't know your 240V special requirement. I will send another 4 x 240V Power adapter to you tomorrow." And yes they did send me 4 more adapters with no questions asked or anything to pay. The company is definitely professional. I'm pleased with system; I tested everything, and all working as expected. I tested the LAN connection (easy). I also tested the WAN (remote access). It was a bit difficult but manageable with some networking knowledge. Its working well with DSL & its slow by dialup. The picture on my LCD TV does not show the room true colors. I don't know why yet. Cameras are NOT made by Sharp or Sony but they said they are made from sharp or Sony parts. They look high quality cams. The documentation was supplied by email not in the box(But not full functions docs). This company got my trust and they deserve an outstanding review.

This is a great system with even greater customer support. Pete at USA security store took the time both on the phone as well as through e-mail to help marry this system to my MAC. There is only one thing, even though the cameras are weather proof the connections are not and there is just 12 inches of wire from camera to connection. I was forced to improvise the weather proofing of the connections by using srink tubing and a heat gun. Simply put the tubing over the connection and srink it tight with the gun. 3 days of rain, sleet and snow and no problem. Still a great system with fantastic night vision

I read all the reviews on this company & their security camera systems. They looked pretty good. My order arrived quickly. I layed everything out on the living room floor & hooked the DVR up to the TV for a test run before installation. Nothing from the cameras! I called the company for some help. (This was the ONLY time someone answered.)A woman ran me through a few things that didn't fix it & said she would call me back. I started some checking myself & found the 12V power supply for the cameras was defective. I called back & got a recording so left a message saying I needed a replacement power supply. I can't remember how many times I called & either got no answer at all or an answering machine. E mails didn't work either.(The smartest thing I had done was to go through AMAZON to buy this thing!)
After a week of getting nowhere I contacted Amazon. They offered me the option of returning it for a credit & even furnished a UPS shipping label for that purpose.
I have to assume they contacted the seller for me because I heard from them right away & even got answers to E-mail. I was told a power supply would be shipped out right away & a tracking number would be E-mailed to me. That was the last I ever heard from them. I tried more E's & phone calls & even waited a week or more to see if something might arrive. I finally re-packed the whole thing & sent it back to Amazon. I can't imagine what it would have been like if I had bought directly from the company.
THANKS AMAZON ! I really appreciate it !

First of all, please note, we are not professional installers or professional computer software installers. So knowing this, this is our experience setting these cameras up for local network access and accessing from the world wide internet. My husband did the setup of cameras attached to dvr (which was not difficult) and then my job was to get our cameras so we could see them on the internet. Well, not knowing the difference between local network IP address and internet provider IP

(which at the time I had no clue I had a local network -I will call it behind the firewall, which doesn't reach the world wide web and accessing the cameras from the world wide web.)

I spent five days, long hours, reading forums and watching youtube, which all helped, but still I had trouble getting this all working. Finally I could see my cameras on my local network and they worked GREAT. I learned about setting the local IP address for the dvr, port forwarding through my Linksys Router, but still I couldn't see my cameras on the server IP (which is now you access when you travel away from your local network. Well, it took a KID who plays games online to explain about doing a bridge. You see my internet provider modem is not only a modem, but a ROUTER also, which has a firewall. So he told me how to bridge (you can find that on youtube also) and then after five long frustrating days, I GOT IT and it works great. The view is great, the software that controls the cameras is great and you can do that while visiting anywhere in the world. We had a friend in Demark check and he could see everything. You have username and password to keep private. We actually got the cameras for fun, watching around the outside of the house and because they were affordable. I think having someone else do all I did would be expensive, but if you want to learn something knew, do it yourself, because you can, just don't panic, keep working until you get it. Family and friends were very surprised at the decent price for this. So, I will say, we are hard to please people and that setup would have gone right back, if we felt it wasn't worth the price. JAHP

When we determined that we needed a real CCTV security system that would record, I did not think I would be able to find this much system for this price. Prior to this we had a single b&w infrared camera hooked up to an old TV and it was just awful, and that camera itself cost close to fifty dollars. If bought separately, I'm sure just the major components (DVR + cameras) would add up to more than what it costs. Bundling them all together with nice long cables, custom security monitoring software and a remote control makes this a lot of system for the money.

Picture quality: colors are not bright and vivid, but this is actually an advantage in challenging lighting, for instance if there is bright sunlight with deep shadows. Clarity is sufficient to keep an eye on everything, and up close images would be good enough to give law enforcement a recognizable image. At night, the infrared illumination isn't color, but it's not monotone, either -- makes it much easier to see.

Software: there's certainly a learning curve and we've not yet tackled the networking aspects of it, but once you get the hang of it, switching between views and zooming is such a great feature vs. our old stand-alone camera. I like that the alarm goes off if anyone messes with any of the cameras, though that was a bit of a pain when we were setting it up and hadn't figured out how to switch that off.

Hardware quality: these are good solid cameras, with good sturdy mounting brackets, and the DVR with 500GB is more than adequate storage, even if you record on high quality it holds close to a week of recordings. Make sure to clear off space before it gets low, otherwise you risk having alarms go off in the middle of the night. The connections in the back were a little iffy at first, but after we got everything set up we tied down the cables and no problems since then (if you experience this you will really want to make sure you put the unit and cables where it doesn't get bumped, as that alarm will go off if the connection is disturbed).

My only wish would be that it had built-in audio as well, but it's set up so that can be added at a later date if we wish.

All in all I am very satisfied with the purchase and very comforted by the ability to keep an eye on our questionable neighbors and have evidence should anything happen.

Good system for the money (Three Hundred when I purchased). Make sure 4 channels is enough, I though 4 channels was plenty when I purchased but somewhat wished for an 8 channel after I was done, but I would certainly buy again.

The DVR is a brand name AVTECH (mine was a KPD674). This DVR can record 704x480 at 30 TOTAL IPS (across 4 channels this gives capability of 7.5 frames per second on each channel). This provides quite good RECORDED video with acceptable frame rates for most purposes. Motion recording, alarming, and lan log-in work well. Also has prerecord capability (DVR will record for several seconds before motion is detected to ensure that no action is missed). Automatic email sending reportedly DOES NOT WORK if you also use time based motion detection, so beware. LAN access appears to become unreliable after a few days of heavy use, and requires DVR reboot. No issues with recording have been encountered, even when the LAN is being cranky. DVR has audio recording capability but system comes with no mics; but check your local laws on recording audio before you try it! Dont update firmware unless you want a significant risk of bricking your DVR. No display of space remaining on hard drive with remote login.

Cameras have quite good day capability, but dont expect it to look like a multi-megapixel movie camera (as good or better than bank camera footage on TV). Nite function of cameras is good to about 20-30 feet, but dont expect to recognize faces from that distance. Numerous bugs are attracted to the infrared illuminators, so keep this in mind for nite usage outside. The illuminators glow dully red at nite, so they are not wholly covert. Possibly next time I will use cameras without illuminators built in, and use separate illuminators to reduce bugs tripping motion at nite.

Included 65 foot camera leads are fairly good, but I did need one 100 foot cable. ([...]) worked well with the system. I recommend getting a power strip for the 5 power bricks in the system (4 for the cameras and 1 for the DVR). If desired, a small computer UPS provides power during outages for extended periods.

Overall, pleased

I have this unit installed in my home. It is networked, and I use Verizon Wireless for my internet connection. The camera quality is good. I don't have any experience with security cameras, so I have nothing to compare it to.
My problems have been with setting up some of the features. I have emailed customer service 3 times and have yet to get a response.
#1
The controller can be configured to send an email when an "alarm condition" is triggered. Which it does very quickly. It is supposed to attach a file to view what caused the trigger. That is where the problem starts. I cannot get that to work properly. It worked one time and that was it. It still sends the email, but the file will not play. I thought it might be my computer, so I set it to send my friend an email. It did not work for him either.
*This is one of the problems I am trying to get a resolution for

#2
The unit comes with software to put on your computer to view and manipulate the equipment over your network. It works somewhat.
I don't really like it.
*I could care less about this software.

#3
An alternative to the software is to use a browser to go directly to the unit thru your network. Works very well, but you have limited control, even when logging in as ADMIN.
I have yet to be able to view the recordings in this mode. I can only view the recorded material by connecting directly to the video controller.
*This is something I am trying to get resolved.

#4
During video playback you can "zoom", it is a digital zoom, and totally worthless.


All in all, I would buy it again. It is a good product for the price. I have priced similar products for $800. And, I do wish I had purchased an 8 camera system.
I really like the email feature, and would like to get this resolved.

I'm laughing because when I was looking for a system I played Russian roulette. And I got one great system. I'm a first time buyer in the field of cameras. I also picked this because it came with 500 gb HDD, day and night cams, that works amazingly well, and that I can view on my phone. I hooked it up and BAM!!! It was perfect. I'm still trying to figure out the network thing to view on my phone. All I've done was plug in a network cable and downloaded the EagleEyes light app for iPhone and it worked over my WiFi but not on 3G so I gotta fix that. Haha. I'm stoked cause this had mixed reviews. But I'm soo happy because this is the most expensive purchase I made on amazon. And it was packaged well.

Now for my problems with it. When I opened the box it looked secure and packed well. The HDD dvr fealt flimsy and had a dent in the top. It looked like a pre packed issue not UPS fault. And when I would shake it something would rattle. I said well if it works I'll keep it. And it worked!!! Other problem was one cam mount was broken. But I fixe it. I ran all my wires and it all was great. I'm giving 5 stars cause it's a great buy. But it might change depending on the life of the cam and dvr.

UPDATE!!! 11-18-11
hi guys and ladies. It is now November 2011. Roughly 4 months since I purchased this unit. I bought some added stuff to go with this. They are a 20 inch Asus monitor, 25ft VGA monitor cable, and a monitor wall mount. These items compliment the system very well and it makes it look cleaner in my home. Now I suppose you are wondering how the last four months have treated me. Well I'm pleased to say that everything is still 100%. I've had this unit running 24/7 and I've had no issues. Out of the four cams I have 2 of them outside and they are still 100%. I would recommended using srink tube for all cam connections indoors and outdoors for added safety. But as of today I have had no issues what so ever. I'm pleased.