[Cabled System]Techage 4CH 720P DVR CCTV System 1200TVL 1.0MP Night Vision Weatherproof Outdoor Home Security Camera Video Surveillance Kits

These cameras are great! I cannot believe how clear the picture is, even at night. Easy to install and set up.

Update:I have now had it running for about 2 to 2 1/2 months now, and so far, not much of any problems more then listed below. I have now tried a 250gb, 1tb, and now a 2tb drive in it, and they have all worked with no issues. The 250gb and the 1tb I had here, and I just upgraded to the 2tb one, which for my uses, equals about 2 months of backup time.Original Review:This review is an update of my old one. When I wrote my first review, I had just some basic testing on it, with no actual time frame of use. I now have had this up for over a month, with it in use, which is why I found some new things about it. Instead of doing an update section, I am just blending it in to my review to try to keep things a bit shorter. I am going to try to go over a lot of the features, and how things are. Even some things that may help you set yours up. I will say this. If all you care about is does it work, and is the picture quality decent.. The answer is yes.. But there are a few features / settings that do not seem to change much, if at all when you adjust them. But, the system really is not bad. Just some annoyances in trying to get it set up. But that can happen with any system.I try to make my review in sections, so if I start a paragraph about something, I try to keep that paragraph about it. Because of this, if you do not care about what I have to say in the first line, the rest of that paragraph is about it so you can skip to the next one. I do this to try and simplify things a bit and make it easier to read.I am including a couple of photos taken with my camera at the TV. The top 2 cameras are my old 700 TV line cameras, and the bottom 2 cameras are the newer 720p 1200 lines camera's. You can clearly see how much sharper the image quality is on the bottom 2 than the top 2 are. It is only taken as part of the screen so you get a better close up idea as to the quality of these, vs older cameras. I did this because of amazon’s small picture size that they give you for display. I also took these pictures with my camera, so the video is actually better on the screen then in the picture too.During the testing of it, I found some things that I contacted the seller about. I will say that they responded back pretty fast.. Usually within 12 hours at most. .. They were nice and friendly, and gave answers that were easy to understand, etc. So for customer service, I give them a 4.5.What it comes with. A USB mouse, DVR, 4 wide angle cameras, 4 sets of BNC cables to hook it up, a power source for the DVR and camera's, the power for the camera's is a single 2 amp power cord, and then has an adapter that splits that single cord into 4 plugs. The power cord for the system is a 12v 3 amp cord and uses the same plug/end as the camera’s do. You get a basic printed instruction manual (don’t expect too much here), and a manual on a mini CD. there are also some signs to say it is there, but personally, I do not use them. All it does is keep the more honest people away, but, the way I look at it, if they do not know that it is there, then if they are going to do something, they are more likely to mess up so you get their face on video, and less of a chance of them covering it up. That is why I do not put them up.. This is also used on private property too, so if you trespass, I have all rights to record my own property. By they way, those signs are cheap (paper) too, so don't expect much from them.Some basics about the device. The max that you can fast forward through it is 8x. The video records to H264 format and up to 13 frames per second. H264 is the only option it gives you to back it up to. You can change the setting in “main menu / system / Encode” to D1 on any of the cameras if you want to save space on a less important camera. It does come with a program on the disk so that you can view it on your computer. The program file is under “CD-DVD Drive/English CD/Software/Player”. This can NOT be installed from the CD. When I tried, I got the error “Unable to open archive file”. If you take that folder or file, and copy it to your computer, then it will install with no problem. There is a little text document with it, but all that says is “H.264 video files special player.” They need some line or info in there that says that you need to copy it over to your computer to install it. The picture output if you do a screen shot through the program is saved in BMP format. That is the only option to you too. By default, the pictures are saved under "local disk drive (usually C:)/program files/player/picture" folder.What it does NOT come with. Any kind of remote, cable to hook it up to a screen, or a hard drive. It does accept pretty much any version of a 3.5” sata of a hard drive though, up to 3 TB in size. I suggest one with a faster write/read speed.Lets start with the remote. According the description, when I got mine, it stated:GeneralPower Supply: DC 12VBack up method: External storage via USBMouse support: YESRemote Control: YESMicrophone: N/A(audio device on sale, contact us for details)That information has now been changed.. But, by that info, it states that it does come with a remote control. If it did not, then it should have been worded more like the microphone statement is. Upon contacting the seller, I was told "Even though we want to send you one, but we don't have one to send". But, after contacting them to return the system, they said that after talking with their supervisor, they found one that would work with the system and sent me one. My opinion, either company red tape or maybe they had to buy one?? I got the remote in, and while it does work, I found that it is more of a convenience thing more than anything. You can get around on it with a remote, but it definitely takes a little getting used to. For general setup, I recommend using the mouse because it will be many times faster.You can use your smartphone as a remote, but to do that, you need to have it connected to a wireless network. They give you a barcode, or QR barcode as they call it. It is one of the square codes that you see. I do not plan on connecting mine to the internet, so, for me it will not work. The way that they give you to install the app is first, click on of those QR barcode codes to get to the web site. When I tried this, I got an error through my web browser giving the error below. But, when I tried it a couple days later, but using the link directly “http://fir.im/xmeye” and not using the QR code, I got no problems getting to the software, or installing it. I also had no virus warnings on my home computer on the site either. To get to the site through the QR code, you will need to install a QR code reader if you do not have one installed. Then, after you do that, you scan the barcode that comes up on the screen, and go from there. The error I got when trying it the first time was:X the site ahead contains malware. Attackers currently on 122.228.251.42 might attempt to install dangerous apps on your device that steal or delete your information (for example.... and it continues).. I believe that this came from google (android 5.1 phone), and I have no idea if this is a false positive, or if there is something to it. But since I only got this through the QR code, and not through a direct link on the phone or on my computer. I suggest just putting in the link that I put above.About the software. There was only software on there for apple and android phones. No windows phones.This still leaves you with many options to get around on it. App on your phone if you have a wireless network, and have it connected, buttons on the front of the DVR, Mouse, or try and find a regular remote.. If you plan on using the mouse a lot, the one that comes with it is very cheap, and has a short cord. I suggest buying a better USB mouse. Any regular USB mouse will work. This option does not work too well for me for a few reasons. First, my DVR is right next to where people walk and on a dresser, so it would be too easy for someone to catch the mouse/cord and yank the system down. Also, sitting right in front of a 32” TV to try and view the footage is not the greatest idea either. But that is just me.I have averaged, in hard drive use, about 100GB every 3 days. But to be fair, I have had a lot of recording on mine due to spider webs on the cameras at night, trees on cameras, and our street was repaved in that time, and 2 of the cameras get street traffic, people walking by, and even get hit by flags waving at times.. So, I have probably had about a 90 to 95% record rate for all my cameras over the past 3 to 4 days. If you have less, and set yours to motion detect, then it will be a lot less.. I am still getting it set up where it is best to block out things, like trees waiving, etc.. but that is kind of hard to do for me because it detects the light on the ground as movement.The hard drive mounts in the system by 4 screws on the bottom of the hard drive. There is nothing there for you to mount it on the side. Here, I personally feel that they did not give enough room or clearance under it for proper ventilation, so what I did was put a small 1/16” thick washer between the hard drive and the base to give it a little more clearance for ventilation. The air holes for the ventilation are right under the hard drive, and with no fans, the larger the gap, the more air flow you will get, the cooler it will keep things. I am putting some stick on feet on the bottom of the DVR for the same reason too.I found that the 2 pin white plug that is closest to the hard drive is actually a fan header. Because of this, and to help keep things cool, I took a small fan I had here that was for a computer.. It was something like 1 ¼” or 1 ½” high, and plugged it in that slot, and then, in the back, where there are 4 holes for other models, where it is covered with a label. I just pushed that label off, attached it to the bottom of the case, and fit it in that space.. It fits snug, so there was no need to use screws to attach it, and it now creates more air flow out the back of it to keep things cooler. You do not have to do this, But I did it because I wanted to. To be fair, most systems do not come with any kind of fan either, but even if it is small, I still like the idea of at least a small fan to keep air moving.My current CCTV system is a Night Owl brand one, and it has a D1 resolution of 708 x 480, with 700 TV lines camera's installed. When I got this, I liked it because it used the BNC connectors and cabling just like my current system, so I would not have to rerun the lines, but still get better video quality (1280 x 720), which it does have. I have compared the 2 systems, and the video that they put out side by side, and there is a big difference in the 2 of them. This one has much better video quality. It is like comparing a VCR tape to a DVD.. Or for people that do not know what a VCR tape is, compare a DVD to a Blu-Ray disc.. I found that if you have those really cheap cables that a lot of the older and lower resolution models came with. They will still work, but I get a little bit of light lines going through my picture using those cables. The quality is still better then with my old system though. I know it is the cable because I tried the ones that come with this, and they work perfectly. Luckily, I only have to rerun 2 of my lines as the other 2 I needed longer cables and bought better cables when I ran them.I tried the cameras from this setup on my old one, and vice versa, my old cameras on this one. I found that the higher resolution cameras from this setup would not work on my old system, but, the cameras from my old system worked with no problem on this system. I just got much poorer video from them. If you need to do this for some reason, then you may want to adjust the record video quality to D1 to match the cameras.The light spread on this one seems to spread out more than my old system. Because of that, you have to watch how close to things that the camera is mounted to, along with the angle of the video. For example, you can mount this to the wall, and point the camera at 15 or 20 or even 45 degrees out from the side of the wall, and you should be fine. But, when I ran mine so that the camera was pointed parallel to the wall, I found that I got a lot of reflective light coming back into the lens which made the video horrible at night. There were no problems during the day, only at night with the night vision on. I found this to happen on multiple types of surfaces, from shingle types to pure wood. If you have this problem, try angling the lens a little farther away from the mounting surface. I had this same problem with my old system, just not as bad. On positive note, it makes the night vision work better too because it means the light is not in just one spot.Another small problem I found was with lighting. If you have a large light in the cameras view, it can make the video not so great. Small lights are not bad, but larger ones that can glare in the direct view of the camera can, and will. For example, I have some LED solar lights on the outside of the house, and I have no problems with the video with them. But, those large lights, like you would see on the side of a business, on a telephone pole, or in a parking lot.. When that light, even with it being a couple hundred feet away, was within the camera view, it was messing up the video (only) at night. I have only found this to be a problem with those kinds of glaring lights, and only when they glare right into the lens of the camera. These types of lighting do not affect it from working if they are in the area and you just got the radiant light, only when they are in direct video type of view did I have any problems. . I also did not have any problems with cars going by when they were at a 15 degree, or more, angle, from pointing straight into the camera.The instruction manual is like playing a game of hide and seek. The instructions are so vague, that most of it makes you scratch your head saying, what the heck does that mean. Then add in that they made one instruction manual for many different models, then crammed them all together into one manual.. You have to try and figure out what is for yours, and what is for another model. To get anything even somewhat meaningful, you need to get if off of the mini CD, which mine did not play because of a haze on the bottom, so I had to clean the disk before it would read (I just wiped it with a clean cloth).What I do like about it.. It does a decent quality of image for video. Better than I expected. It is not the greatest, but let’s be honest.. Anything with a BNC connector is all going to be analog, so you will not get crystal clear picture like you will with a digital line because of it. (to be fair, it is still pretty good) I was fine with that if I got a better picture, and I did not have to rerun the lines. I was happy with that much. The hard drive was easy to install. It was fairly simple to back it up on to a flash drive. Reviewing the video was not bad, and I liked that you could skip through the time frames, which means you could skip anywhere from a couple of minutes, up to hours at a time. I guess you could compare it to clicking on the bar at the bottom of the screen like when watching a youtube video. My current system, you have to start at a half hour time frame, and then fast forward until you get to where you want to be.. So yea, not having to do that is good. You can only view one camera at a time when reviewing video though. It has plenty of features to make it very customizable to what you want to do with it. Getting around on the interface is not that bad once you know where everything is. Since I only connected mine to the internet to check for firmware updates, I cannot comment on the internet features.If you plan on using this with it set strictly as motion detect only.. Make sure that all cameras are set to "Detect" and "Alarm" only.. Take off "Regular" in the recording of the camera, or it will record constantly no matter what.. Then, when you go into the "Alarm" setting to get to motion detect, you have to go through one camera at a time and set each one with its own camera. Basically, go to channel one, and make sure that "record channel" is set to just channel 1. Then 2 for 2 and so on. It seems that with this system, if say you clicked say, channel 1, then selected channel 1 and 2 in the recording, it will start recording on both of those channels when motion is detected in just channel 1. But, it is for this reason, you cannot select all of the camera channels, and then select to record to all of them at the same time, because then they will all start recording every time that there is motion on any of the camera's. It took a bit to figure both of these things out.. the camera "alert" settings, and the, take off the "regular" in the recording settings for the camera, things.When I tried using mine, I could not get the "pre-record" feature to work. By default it is set to 5 seconds. I tried upping it a couple of times, turning it up by 5 seconds each time, turning on redundancy, and everything else I could think of. No matter what I did, I could not get the "PreRec" feature in the "record configuration" setting to work. I spent a quite a bit of time to get this thing set up, and getting everything to work. My guess, it us just a glitch in the system.I tried to update the system. While I have no plans on connecting it on to the internet, I hooked it up for a few minutes to see if there was an update. It went online and said “system up to date” or something like that. Basically, there is no update to the firmware available. Maybe in the future they will have one to fix this glitch with the pre-record.The sensitivity I found does work but changes very little in its use. I tried changing it when I first got it, and I really could not see any difference from one setting to the next.. At night, even pieces of dust hitting the light from the night vision would set it off. Even changing it to the lowest setting did not change that.. So, at first, I thought that it did not work. But, after some playing around, I found that it does work, it just changes very little at a time. On a positive note, it is very sensitive, so it will pick everything up, so you do not have to worry about anyone sneaking by at a little bit of a distance, and your camera not picking them up because they are wearing dark clothes.In the end, it is not a bad system, but not great either. For the current sale price, it is pretty decent. It does have some flaws, but to be fair, name a system for this price that doesn’t. I paid a little over $100 for mine.. Just the cameras alone will usually run you that.. Video during night vision and during the day is decent. The build quality of the cameras seems good. But, with no remote (I give them credit for immediately fixing this in the listing), which may not be a problem for a lot of people with the ability to have a phone app or remote, the pre-record not working (which I have to admit is not such a big thing with the sensitivity as high as it is on this), etc.. If you have any questions that I can answer, feel free to ask, and I will reply with what I know.