Customer Reviews

Samsung CCTV SDV-410Y Video Door Phone

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First of all, let me say that I really thought that this was a great idea. Being able to see who's at my door before letting them in was amazing to me. Those visions of "boogiemen" knocking while my wife's home alone seemed about to be erased.

Alas, it was not to be. The salesman at the security store had sold me this as a door bell replacement. When I opened the box and started reading the "instructions" (3rd generation photocopies stapled together) I realized that this equipment required four wires. Doorbell buttons only use two. How is this a replacement for my doorbell?

Anyway, after running wires along the baseboards in my house, which looked tacky, and installing this equipment I was finally able to see and talk to someone at my door. When I first pressed the button and saw the video image I was shocked by it's quality; it was awful! Imagine a mid 70's black and white TV with no antenna, being viewed through a fishbowl. Then, when my wife tried talking to me through the unit and it sounded like a tin can on a string I assumed I'd done something wrong. I re-read the "instructions", check all the wires and then tried contacting Samsung USA. After several calls, I finally got a hold of someone who verified that I'd connected everything properly and that "That's just the picture and sound quality available at level you bought into. You get what you pay for."

I didn't realized that I'd paid for poor video quality, tinny voice and ambivalent customer service. I'll read the fine print more closely next time.

Needless to say the equipment has been removed and returned. I'm looking into some of Samsung's competitors (Aiphone, M&S, Commax) and will definitely be more selective about my security purchases in the future.

My situation is: I own a 3 level home with a gate on the ground level....which means you have to travel 3 flights of stairs to let anyone in or out of my home. I solved this problem by purchasing this unit and installing an electric door strike on the gate.

I also solved the "cable length" problem. According to the instructions, installations requiring over 75-100 feet, coaxial cable must be used. By using regular computer twisted cat 5e cable, I had my answer. This was an excellent solution and the unit worked fine. I even used the same cable for the video/audio and EVEN the electric door strike since the cat 5e cable has 4 pair of wires (8 single wires). Since the cable is "twisted", I have no interference and I used over 175 feet of cable. The cable was also cheap compared to the coaxial and regular cable I would have needed for the audio and electric door strike.

The image is vivid and extremely clear. Amazingly the audio is also crisp and free from any interference like humming since my installation had the cat 5e cable routed near electrical lines and several fluorescent lighting fixtures in the ceiling.

The ONLY complaint I have, is the volume on the outside video/intercom unit. It is low and you have to speak up on the base handset to be heard clearly outside. This was the case when I tested the unit prior to installation using 15 feet of regular wire. Also, a suggestion to SAMSUNG, I would be 100% satisfied with the unit if you were able to offer a model that supported several outdoor video/intercom units so I can install one on every door/gate in my home.

If you are looking for a cheap video intercom, I would suggest this model to anyone. Also, if you have cable length problems, or bad picture / audio quality, try my solution using regular PC networking cat 5e twisted cable. It worked for me!

We bought one of these for ourselves and We thought it was so wonderful we purchased one exactly like it for my mother to give her for a mothers day gift.About a month after we started using ours it totally went out!!(We had already ordered the one for my mom but had not received it yet)On ours Sometimes the doorbell would ring but no picture was on the screen. Very shortly after that got the one shipped that we had ordered for my mom but that one would not work at all !!!We are very disappointed with these.We have spent approx.$500.total for these two systems and they are both garbage products.We later bought a Commax system and it is working great!!We would certainly advise anyone considering a Samsung brand to not waste their money on these.They are certainly a joke!!