Customer Reviews

Swann S243-16U-11111 16-Channel Digital Video Recorder

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

 

 

I have the DVR8-Net-Plus, which is just 8 channels. The motion sensing is fair at best. Revieiwing the recordings is weak. Often it does not even work when using the time stamp, so I have to settle for the 'event' list. You can transfer video via the USB port, but the file is only readable by the client s/w.
The client software (NetViewer 1.5 dated 2005) that you use to connect your computer is TERRIBLE. Its the only means of transfer video to your computer into an AVI format (because the recording on the HD is a proprietary format - I thought the removable HD was actually going to be useful, silly me). Its also used to view live feeds via the network (which often freezes for a few seconds when the unit senses motion and starts recording). You cant just select a time/date to review, you have to open an event list and choose a time stamp. That is not so bad, except this list has always been corrupted for me. I've returned the unit, tried a different HD, reformatted - still only a partial usable list. Video quality that you transfer off is horrid! I've tried all the AVI codecs they provide - its just plain bad (and I use the highest video settings on the unit). Finally, I would like to mention that the remote becomes none responsive and only unplugging the unit fixes this. No big deal when it used to happen maybe every other month, but lately its happened daily this last week. I've owned this unit for about a year.
If they updated the client s/w to make video transfer more easy and better quality and the remote didnt get locked out, I would rate 4 out of 5 since its cheap compared to real surveillance systems.

I bought this system with 4 indoor/outdoor cameras about 2 years ago to protect our expensive toys. In the early morning hours of 1/2/2010, we picked up a prowler trying to beak into our car and our home. Later did we learn that many of our nighbors had their cars broken into with items stolen. Our cameras picked up the prowler and we were able to give a positive ID as well as a copy of recording to the police. Without this system, our entire neighorhood would have had no idea who had done it.
Pros: Easy to set up, do take time to read the manual to understand how to set up recording as well as how to search for an event. Make sure this is hooked up to a recordable device (VCR, DVD-R, ec.)
Cons: You do need a HD added (extra expense), I bought a 500 GB HD, (the highest GB advised) but it will record for two weeks before overwriting itself. We chose to record in real time so more memory is used up faster, but if you choose to record slower, you can record for a longer period of time. Also, records best in bright light, so I would suggest that for night time, have good lighting intalled and on. We use several motion detection lights outside our home. The brighter the lights at night, the better the picture.
I do not have this hooked up to my computer (another great feature) for remote surveillance, but you certainly can do that. It comes with the CD program for your computer.
This system easily paid for itself yesterday. It's hard to put a price on piece of mind.