Customer Reviews

Q-See QSTD2408-500 8-Channel H.264 CIF Real-time Recording DVR with Mobile Phone Surveillance, Remote Internet Monitoring and Pre-Installed 500GB HDD

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Overall this is a nice product. There are somethings that will make you want to run to the nearest medicine cabinet and pull out the asprin but overall the DVR works as advertised.
CONS:
1. Noisy, if you planned on placing this somewhere in the open plan on hearing it run, the fan is very noisy. Not a problem for my installation as it is in an area which I seldom enter.
2. Big. The unit is larger (Depth) than some others but again not a big issue if you have the room for it.
3. Manual. Ok, this will make you run and buy another bottle of asprin. The manual is written in an "interesting" fashion. You can download a copy of it from the Q-See website if your interesting in seeing it before you buy it. Most of the setup is easy, you may have some problems with the internet portion, but most teenagers should be able to get that hooked up for you in no time.
4. Mouse could be alot better quality than what they put, but with the cost of a good mouse being as low as they are not really a problem overall. Mouse is USB by the way.

PROS:
1. Handles the inputs of both PAL and NTSC without problems (yes, only one type at a time and you can not mix them but most people do not worry about that so pretty much a non issue).
2. Is 110/220 volt. Nice for those who may move around alot or live outside the USA.
3. Good quality recording, monitoring and overall video feed. The live view has a very slight delay but nothing to really worry about. The recording comes out a very good quality. Have not been able to test all 8 cameras at same time yet but will update when I can for now this comment is based on 5 cameras at once.

Overall I would give this a 4 as the item works exactly as advertised.

great product! our DVR died and as soon as we plug this in, it started working. excellent picture!!!

con: noise... not a problem if you put it under the table... however, if its on the table, it is noisy.
mouse came dead.. used a spare usb mouse
iphone driver needs to be downloaded from istore (for free though).

pro: easy interface, great picture, 500gb hd is awesome for about 2 weeks worth of recording. option to recycle hd automatically.
viewing option: 3x3,2x2,1x1
good remote control
ability to add extra sata harddrive easily via a server like slot
ability to add esata hd
internet viewing works great

i bought this DVR with a new Qsee security system. It doesn't come with much of a hard drive so I bought a 1 TB SATA hard drive as well as the Qsee extension 100 foot cord, for the camera's.

I had a professional install the cameras, power supply and DVR. That's probably the way to go. The unit works very well. It is noisy, but I think they're probably all noisy. Install the unit in a room you don't sleep in.

Besides having a professional install the system, I recommend you make sure it's on a surge protector w/ some battery backup AND that the location to access the DVR is in a lockable/secure closet. The area probably also needs decent air circulation/cooling.

What I like:
1. It is reliable. Knock on wood... Q-see has worked through all kinds of stuff including a few power outages. It's on usually 24-7 and hasn't let me down yet.

2. It works well with a variety of cameras. I bought different types of cameras...the picture is as clear as I would expect etc. Only one camera caused problems, but it's the brand of camera...not the Q-see.

3. I can hook up the DVR to my projector or a variety of PC monitors. The DVR has many connections including the video connections via a "round" serial port, which a lot of "newer" machines do not have. But my projector (another rock solid purchase, knock on wood) was only 400 bucks five years ago at Home Depot, and it STILL works gang-busters. I'm not getting rid of it just because I need an new-fangled video connection.

4. "Programming" is easy - Customizing the sensitivity and alarms for various motion triggers on the cameras is EZ! I am pleased with the features.

5. Internet access works - You need to use IE, but viewing the cameras and recordings and setting features works well through the Activex interface. My only issue is the firewall at work...

To make setup even easier, Qsee's website now has port-forwarding instructions. Setting up the internet access is a little "trial and error" but that's the fault of firewalls and routers. The only teensy issue w/ Qsee itself is that I need to restart to have the port-changes "stick."

Great instruction booklet. Yep customer service is not "babysitting" but the DVR is well-designed and relatively simple to use, it's a non-issue for me.

DO NOT BUY unless you are a qualified service tech.They have ok instructions but if you need help from the company you are on your own..I bought a expensive QSTD2408 DVR from the same company and total of 8 cameras..Was thinking of buying 21 complete 16 camera systems.. but found out that their company is a sham..I called their tech support..They put me on hold for over an hour just to tell me to hold on another 45 minutes and then hung up on me.. two days later im waiting for a call back ..no call back no help. Im sure if you are great in networking and installing these will be fine for you.. But for my money im going to buy from someone that has a person answer and help you with your issues..Sad but true.Most security companies are installing these systems with the cameras and dvr's.. hope you don't have to do your own work..unless you are qualified..For the average person..I would buy from someone that had good customer service that you have done a lot of research on.

UPDATE....I had a little trouble gettng my dvr systems online to be able to view through our iphones and also remote computers. The head of technical support Mr Pedro Perez made a personal call to me and got my system online in a matter of minutes with superb expertise.This company is Triple AAA with myself and my company and I love their products and will buy more of them and also appreciate their customer service which is superb.I would recommend their products and their services 1000 percent.

I have gotten the product. It seem to do what it is suppose to do. The user interface design is something to be desired, but the product is functional and does what it says it does.

Mine has a few hardware problems. The remote does not work. The case fan is really loud. Channel 3 does not work - must be a solder or component problem. Channel is a bit lose.

These should be minor problems to fix; however, since I have had no luck contacting support via phone or internet, I am a bit dissappointed. I would probably rate this a 4 if it had no problems or if support had been responsive.

Shipping from amazon was great! Price was great!

I have purchased less expensive DVR's in the past. This one is just rock solid!
Excellant interface. Love the removable drive bay and the option to add several
drives.

Q-See QSTD2408-500 8-Channel H.264 CIF Real-time Recording DVR with Mobile Phone Surveillance, Remote Internet Monitoring and Pre-Installed 500GB HDD

I've used the QSTD2408-500 for 3 months and have only a couple of small complaints. I'd rate this Q-See DVR a 5 except they really have no clear instructions in the manual to connect the Pelco-D protocol RS-485 PTZ communication system. On a weekend tech support is unavailable and written support is non existent. After finally talking with tech support I found it much easier to use an external joystick controller which is working well. IMO, the joystick is much more convenient than the mouse or tuner control. My other concern is that the internal "airplane' fan is very noisy. I'd like to see a different quiet fan like in the latest computer systems. But, most DVR's I've been around have noisy fans.

If you price these using the "top down" Obama comparison and eliminate the coming inflation Amazon still has the best price I've found on the net including the 500 GB drive and free shipping.

I like these systems , I monitor a 16 Channel and now i own the 8 channel for my home , I use them remotely (IE) and software, Access through the internet ,Playback Resolution is good, very reliable system , The cameras they make for this bad boy are excellent(night and day) Anyway the best product out there for the money , Get it cheaper at Tekstation.com


Christopher
San Jose, Ca

I think before you tell people they can get it cheaper at that other website you mentioned, you should tell them the DVR the other place sells does not have the hard drive installed like this one from Amazon. When you add a comparable 500gig HDD to the other places price it goes up to $823.99 ! Even using obama math that is higher than the Amazon price. (this is as 6-3-2009)