questions → what's a good security camera system? (4-camera)

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What's a good security camera system? (4-camera)

Oct 4, 2012 9:12 PM

There are a ridiculous amount of different companies and slight variations of the same thing out there now, plus all of the individual cameras, DVRs etc.. So this is one of those things that I'd really like to get some input from other people who know more than me :).
Also, I'm sure there are a lot of other people who will be glad to have some insight on this too.. more and more people seem to be investing in security..

I'm interested in all the information I can get, but for the moment I'm looking for
A motion activated 4-camera system w/ DVR. Camera quality is important.. don't need SUPER HD, just good enough to ID people.

drchops drchops

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I have got 3 different CCTV systems one from Woot! and two others from different places. 1 was a Zmodo 4 channel that, another was a 4 channel (brand unknown, and the last was an eight channel.

All are viewable over the internet, or with a monitor. The 8 channel one is also viewable using a smartphone.

As far as pricing goes, I don't remember exactly what I paid. For the 4 channel systems might have been about $140.00. The 8 channel system maybe $180.00

Also, while the systems were inexpensive, the installation costs were pretty high since they only come with about 60' of cable per camera. I had some pretty long runs.

Also, some came with hard drives, some didn't. Depending on what you are using it for, you might need to go with a more expensive system with better cameras as the cameras included have a pretty narrow field of view and short range at night.

bill7718 bill7718
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Here is a current screen shot of the newest 4 camera system. I don't remember the brand but I can find out later this afternoon/tonight if you would like to know.

bill7718 bill7718
vote-for4vote-against

The screenshot was from this system: EYE "Q" Security System
Model Number — EYE-Q-2. I bought it for $185 from 1saleaday about 9 months ago.

The 8 channel system was made by Zmodo and bought from Woot. It was the one that did not have the hard drive. Paid $190 for it and put a 1 TB HD in it for less than $100 more. Link to the Woot!

Without going into a lot of technical detail, the eye-q system is better than the zmodo.

And beware, both have manuals that seem to be written in chinese, translated to japanese, translated to swahili, translated to spanish, translated to english.

bill7718 bill7718
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And I know this goes without saying but I'm aiming to get it as cheap as possible :)

drchops drchops
vote-for2vote-against

I have been looking at a few myself for work purposes, and depending on your needs you might want to make sure that a hard drive is included. That is usually a major difference in price points.

jsimsace jsimsace
vote-for2vote-against

@jsimsace: Yeah, that's definitely true.. I've always thought that was kind of a deceptive way to do things - they know a big percentage of their customers aren't going to notice the "*No HDD included" on the box.
That's not that big of an issue though, if I have to buy a HDD separately so be it. I've been shopping cameras on and off for years (bought a few too) but the market has never been this saturated with 'em.

drchops drchops
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@bill7718: That's great to know.. that's kind of what I was wondering. If that's the case I may end up just putting my own together and just buy the camera, cables and DVR separately.. realistically I'll probably end up buying the kit though heh

Yeah, I'd definitely appreciate it if you could get the info on that.. those look pretty good, are those the dome-style ones with an axis it can turn on?

drchops drchops
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ZMODO 4-Channel Outdoor Security System w/ 4 IR Night Vision Outdoor Cameras, Smartphone & Remote Monitoring available at 1saleadayfor $99.99 without the hard drive. Deal expires in about 3 1/2 hours.

Also, a good place to shop for hard drives is PriceWatch

bill7718 bill7718
vote-for1vote-against

I appreciate the heads up.. ZOMDO was actually the first one I looked into, but I haven't heard great things about 'em lol.. because they're so cheap they're really popular so there's lots of great feedback about 'em.. they sound like good setups but I'm trying to get some decent cameras going and the quality seems to be hit and miss on those

Comparing these two, do you see anything that would make the Swann wroth $150 more?

Rosewill $200 - no HDD ($250 with a $50 coupon)
Swann $350 - 500gb HDD

drchops drchops
vote-for1vote-against

@drchops: At a glance, the Rosewill system.

Why? 8 channel DVR -- you can add 4 more cameras later if you wish and you can get a 1 TB hard drive from pricewatch for about $65 which doubles your capacity.

So for about $265 you get a system that is expandable with twice the storage space of the other one.

bill7718 bill7718
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You can find lots of this security things on securitytome.com now are free shipping

stome87 stome87

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