Defender SENTINEL1 Ultra Compact Web Ready DVR Security System w/7-Inch LCD & 4 Indoor/Outdoor Night Vision Surveillance Cameras

by Defender

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.8 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 25 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000W6RGXG
• Item model number: SENTINEL1
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

From the Manufacturer

Click to Enhance Easy Setup View Video Online 80 Days of Footage Small DVR, Big Picture 4 Hi-Res Night Vision Cameras

SENTINEL1 Key Features

• Do-it-yourself system allows you to set up and monitor your property without the need for a professional installer
• View video online with no service fees from any computer in the world
• Record up to 80 days of video footage on the Seagate SV35 series 320GB hard drive
• This space saving all-in-one system has the DVR built right into the 7" monitor
• 24/7 lifetime live customer support is available through phone, email, and live web chat both before and after you buy

Introducing SENTINEL1: Ultra Compact Web Ready DVR Security System with 7" Integrated LCD & 4 Indoor/Outdoor Night Vision Surveillance Cameras

Protect your hard-earned possessions, assets, and family; know who has been on your property; rid yourself of uneasiness when you travel on vacation or business. The SENTINEL1 is a user-friendly, do-it-yourself security system that offers many advanced features for the protection of your business or home. The online viewing feature allows you to conveniently access your DVR's live or recorded video footage on any computer in the world with Internet Explorer. Record up to 80 days of continuous video on the built-in 320GB Seagate SV35 series hard drive. The SENTINEL1 is space-saving and simple to setup. The compact unit has everything you need to start monitoring your property effectively.

Fast & Hassle-Free Setup
The SENTINEL1 is one of Defender's complete do-it-yourself systems that are incredibly easy to set up and use with no need to hire a professional installer. Auto-start recording ensures that your system will automatically begin recording as soon as you plug it in to a power outlet. You can easily monitor entryways, offices, shops, warehouses, children's rooms, garages, or any other area in your business or home.

View Video Online with No Service Fees
Regardless of where you are in the world, you can view your DVR's live or recorded video footage on any internet accessible computer with Internet Explorer. See what is happening on your property and check in on your employees or family members. (Requires a router, Windows operating system, Internet Explorer browser, and broadband Internet connection for online viewing).

Record up to 80 Days of Continuous Video Footage
We use the only hard drive ever designed specifically for DVR security systems. The SENTINEL1's 320GB Seagate SV35 series hard drive can hold up to 80 days of continuous video. Optimized for 24/7 surveillance, the hard drive provides reliability and quality. Your DVR will alert you when your memory space is full so that you can overwrite your old video, stop the unit from recording, or use the built-in USB port to back up and transfer your video footage. In order to achieve the "Storage by Seagate" mark, our DVRs are subject to rigorous testing at Seagate's testing facilities in Longmont, Colorado.

Small DVR, Big Picture!
Compact and discreet (approximately the same size as a toaster), the SENTINEL1 is easy to hide out of sight in a closet or cupboard. This DVR is ideal for areas such as retail stores, where protecting the location of the surveillance system is essential. All your recorded video footage can be viewed directly on the integrated 7" LCD screen, which provides a clear, true-to-life picture. The LCD on/off button lets you turn the screen off to save energy when not in use.

4 Professional Grade Hi-Res Night Vision Cameras
Four high quality color cameras provide you with a clear and consistent picture at 420 TV lines of resolution. They allow you to better distinguish facial features, which can help in the positive identification of individuals. The cameras can be used indoor and outdoor. Each one is built with professional grade aluminum housing and a sunshade to help prevent glare, deterioration and rusting.

View in the Dark with Automatic Night Vision
The cameras come equipped with night vision, allowing you to see any monitored area (up to 15ft away) in total darkness. Each camera has 12 infrared LEDs that activate automatically when it becomes dark and deactivate during the day to save energy. You will always be able to see what is happening in your yard or at your business after-hours.

Advanced Motion Activated Recording
You have the option to record video only when motion is detected. Finding important video footage using the playback feature is easy, and will also save you time and conserve hard drive space. You can even set individual cameras to detect motion while the others continuously record.

USB/DVD/CD Backup
A built-in USB port gives you the option of backing up and transferring your video footage with a USB flash drive, external USB hard drive, or an external DVD/CD writer (peripherals not included). Your video footage then becomes portable for easy viewing and archiving on any PC.

24/7 Scheduled Recording to Meet Your Needs
You can fully customize a weekly recording schedule. You can choose which days of the week and hours of the day you want to continuously record, motion record, or not record at all. Each camera can be scheduled with different settings (up to 30 frames per second per camera).

Customize Your Camera Display
Display all four cameras in Quad Screen mode (four camera split screen), or show just an individual camera in Full Screen. Zoom Mode allows you to enlarge a portion of the camera's view to get a closer look, and Sequence Mode cycles through all camera views at preset interval times.

Easily Connects to TV for Viewing
The DVR supports external TV/monitors with RCA connections. This is useful for monitoring from multiple locations within your business or home, and provides a larger view of your cameras.

Find Your Video Footage Easily with Time, Date, and Event Search
Simply choose the desired date and time range, and the requested video clips will appear. Clips are also labeled by event, which makes it easy to find footage that was captured by motion detection.

Endless Location Options with 60ft of Wiring per Camera
The included 60ft camera wiring gives you flexibility in the installation of your cameras and allows you to increase each camera's range. If you need additional 60ft cable lengths, you can purchase the DF10W. The single wire also conveniently carries both the power and video signals, so you are only running one wire per camera (maximum 180ft cable length per camera is recommended).

24/7 Lifetime Live Customer Support
Assistance is available for you whenever you need it. Simply visit www.defender-usa.com for simple tips on how to protect your property and instructional videos on topics such as camera placement. Our customer support team can be reached by phone 24/7, or by e-mail and live web chat services so that you will always have access to an expert.

Nationwide Installation Service
Don't have time to install your system? Defender can have your systems installed for you in any zip code across the continental United States, plus key population centers in Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Our trusted network of security installers will not only install your system but also take the time to train you on its features and functions so you can get the most out of your Defender security system.



What's in the Box

• 4CH DVR with 320GB internal HDD
• 4 Indoor/Outdoor Night Vision CCD Cameras
• 4 Camera Mounts w/ Hardware
• 1GB Kingston USB Flash Drive
• PS/2 Mouse
• Remote Control
• Power Adapter for DVR
• 4 Power Adapters for Cameras
• Software CD
• 4 X 60 ft 4 Pin Din to RCA (Male)/Power Cables
• 6 RCA to BNC Connectors
• Quick Start Guide
• Instruction Manual
• 24/7 Lifetime Live Customer Support

Product Description

Protect your hard-earned possessions, assets, and family; know who has been on your property; rid yourself of uneasiness when you travel on vacation or business. The SENTINEL1 is a user-friendly, do-it-yourself security system that offers many advanced features for the protection of your business or home. The online viewing feature allows you to conveniently access your DVR's live or recorded video footage on any computer in the world with Internet Explorer. Record up to 80 days of continuous video on the built-in 320GB Seagate SV35 series hard drive. The SENTINEL1 is space-saving and simple to setup. The compact unit has everything you need to start monitoring your property effectively.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very satisfied with SENTINEL 1 system, July 30, 2008

By 

B Mosher (St. Catharines, ON) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Defender SENTINEL1 Ultra Compact Web Ready DVR Security System w/7-Inch LCD & 4 Indoor/Outdoor Night Vision Surveillance Cameras (Electronics)

I installed the system myself on April 12 and it has been working great. The quality of the images is very good and it gives me peace of mind to know that everything that goes on around the house is being recorded. The DDNS is a plus!! I'm constantly monitoring the system over the internet.

We have an alarm system that calls my cell phone when it goes off and before purchasing this system I had no idea as to what set the alarm off. Now I simply write down the time of the call and when I get home I simply search the video for that time period.

I purchased and additional 60ft. cable in case I need to move one of the cameras further.

Thanks for bringing this great unit at such an affordable price. I did quite a bit of research and this system was above the rest.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent value, basic features, November 9, 2009

By 

Justin A. Parr "jparr" (Dallas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Defender SENTINEL1 Ultra Compact Web Ready DVR Security System w/7-Inch LCD & 4 Indoor/Outdoor Night Vision Surveillance Cameras (Electronics)

For the price, this package is an excellent value.

This system comes with 4, wired cameras, but I bought a wireless camera so that I could start using the system right away, without having to run cable.

The camera quality of the wired cameras is pretty good -- nothing spectacular -- but they are slightly higher resolution than normal, which allows you to zoom in slightly on the DVR.

The included cable has a proprietary connection at one end that has both video and power in one connection, and splits out power and video signals on the DVR side. Each camera connects to the DVR via a BNC (twist-lock) connector, but comes with six total RCA-to-BNC connectors (two with the DVR, one with each camera). If you were to upgrade the camera later, or custom cut the camera cables to length, you would need to re-terminate either the proprietary camera end (might be tricky) or the DVR end (might be slightly easier), or just run a new cable.

The DVR comes with a remote, but most of the functions (such as search by percentage) only provide "single-click" functionality, meaning: to search to 98% of the DVR's memory, you have to click the remote 98 times, rather than having the convenience of just typing "9" then "8" on the remote. There are similar problems entering date / time and other attributes.

The PC connection functionality comes in three pieces: There is a dedicated "client" application that has all the basic DVR functionality, but is VERY unstable. The program doesn't crash, but it loses connection to the DVR quite often, even on a PC with a wired network connection. The second piece, a dedicated "backup viewer" program, only works on backup (archive) files that have been copied from the DVR's "backup" function or from the web backup client.

The third piece of PC functionality is a web client, that you can only get to by "registering" your DVR on their website -- good luck 3 years from now when they take the website down. The website has two main pieces: A real-time viewer (can't view the DVR, just what is happening RIGHT NOW), and a backup utility. The website provides a "Dynamic DNS" (DDNS) service, so that you can connect to your home network without knowing your public IP address, and the manual has fairly thorough instructions for setting up a variety of the most popular routers, including Linksys, Netgear, and D-Link. You have to set the DVR to a static IP on your home network, and configure your router for port redirection so that incoming requests from the web client on a particular port go straight to the DVR. Remote viewing is SLOW, at about 7fps even at LAN speeds.


The backup utility is MUCH more convenient for making backup files, suitable for the backup viewer program, since backup files are about 100 meg per 5 minutes of video (the DVR only supports MJPEG, which is old and crappy video compression), which means that the included memory stick can only hold about 25 minutes of video.

To back up 6 hours of video, it took me nearly 1 full day using the web backup utility, and just over 7 gigs of storage. The web backup utility crashed 3 times, but it was still much better than using the memory stick. SUPPOSEDLY, this unit can support a USB hard drive for backups, but I haven't tried it yet -- that would probably be the best option.

If you use these cameras outdoors, the motion detection feature is going to be worthless, so don't even bother. Regardless of how you tweak the sensitivity and masking, there are always going to be situations where the picture varies enough to trigger the motion detection. If the sun goes behind a cloud or the wind blows, it's going to trigger the motion sensor. The motion detection feature might be nice to use in an indoor, enclosed area, like your garage, where the picture will be relatively static unless something happens.

The motion detection can trigger the cameras as well as an alarm contact and a "pop" monitor. The alarm contacts let you specify "Normally Open" or "Normally Closed", and can be used to interface with an alarm system. Likewise, I *think* you can have your alarm system's motion sensor trigger the cameras to record, but I haven't figured this out yet. The "pop" monitor is normally off (blue-screen) unless a motion event is triggered, which then displays the camera on which motion occurred. This allows you to use two monitors: One that can remain on "quad view" all the time, while the other shows you motion events as they occur, without having to switch back and forth all the time.

Despite a few shortcomings, this is a great deal on an entry-level DVR / camera package suitable for home security.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good DVR, terrible Networking, September 11, 2009

By 

John Kelly (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Defender SENTINEL1 Ultra Compact Web Ready DVR Security System w/7-Inch LCD & 4 Indoor/Outdoor Night Vision Surveillance Cameras (Electronics)

The DVR itself is a robust recorder that has run seemlessly for a year. However during all that time, after countless hours on my own and with SVAT, this device is VERY COMPLICATED when trying to set up to view over the internet. It's so complicated that there is actually an 8 part online video to wade through. Support is questionable, with some of their techs giving me the impression that as I did not speak their technical lingo I was wasting their time. Though there was one who sounded as though he knew his job was to help, though I wasn't able to find him again. To get support beyond the techs who reads the script, call back between 9 & 5 and ask for a tier two tech. For the money it's slightly chearper than the Samsung but as networking does not work, its hard to say. I have first hand experience of that Samsung and it has run without problem for a year as well. My overall impression, it's agreat product, nicely priced that promises lots but support was just not there.