Swann – 8 Channel 2TB NVR, 8 x 4K PoE Cameras, w/Dual LED Spotlights, Color Night Vision & Free Face Detection – White

I was looking for a security system beyond a simple doorbell camera and this one caught my attention. I liked the number of cameras, the amount of storage space on the harddrive, and the fact that installation didn’t seem like it would be too tough.
When I opened the box, there was a ton of stuff and I kind of wondered what I had gotten myself into, but once it was all out, it was easy to make make a plan and put it all in place. There is a fair amount of cable provided, but folks with longer runs may need to shop for a bit more. With a drill, a screwdriver and some expanding foam it was easy to get the cameras into place around the outside of my house to monitor the four main entry points.
I haven’t tried to watch the images on the TV, which is certainly and option, I’m happy enough to simply use the app to keep tabs on things. The spotlights are good, but out of consideration for my neighbors I haven’t tested the alarm feature as it seems like it would be pretty loud. The DVR box isn’t much bigger than a standard cable box and should blend in anywhere if it’s sitting out like mine is.
TLDR: Overall, I am very happy happy with this product. Installation is easy enough for anyone with some basic tools and the quality of the image is great!

This was the camera system I’ve been waiting for since it’s PoE. I researched camera systems for the last couple years before buying this one. I purchased CAT 6 wiring instead of using the included CAT 5E since most of the runs from the cameras to the NVR was over 60′ and I read multiple articles that it was worth upgrading the wiring with longer runs. I’ll do this Pros vs Cons:
Pros: Excellent picture and video. You can really zoom in and get great detail, especially through the NVR. The audio it’s capable of is amazing. I was able to hear a neighbors conversation from a good 50′ away no problem. Motion sensors are very sensitive. There are so many ways to tweak settings that it really lets you customize your experience. Cameras are made of sturdy construction and make it so you can really get any angle you want once installed. Installation was easy.
Cons: That customizable experience I talked about takes hours to tweak. There are a lot of settings that you can only adjust on the cameras 1 by 1 rather than using the same settings for all. Gets very tedious. Motion sensors are very sensitive. I know I listed this as a pro as well since you won’t miss anything, but boy these sure catch everything. I have 3 off the front of my house and have played with so many different settings but still these will record when car lights illuminate the grass at night. Then there’s a domino effect since I have them set up to fire the LEDs when motion is detected at night. 1 camera will pick up lights from a car going by which triggers it’s LEDs. When those LEDs fire, the next camera “sees” those lights and fires up it’s own. You can only do a limited number of things on the mobile app vs the what seems to be infinite number of things you can do when going through the NVR. Once connected the NVR needed to do an update but would not connect. Over an hour waiting for customer service the solution was to skip the update at first. Basically I had to turn the NVR back off and disconnect the ethernet. Then turn it on and set it up. I haven’t had a problem since then and everything updates weekly. My last gripe is that you cannot delete any single files from the NVR. Your options are to either format it to scratch or let it fill and overwrite.
That seems like a lot of cons compared to pros for a 4 star rating but at the end of the day it’s everything I wanted it to be. Hard wired with excellent picture.

After having several standalone security cameras, I decided to get a real wired security system that was based on Power over Ethernet (PoE). I am so glad I got this system. This is a really professional security system, just without the off-site professional monitoring (which by the way saves about $50-$60 in monthly fees). Seems like at least one of these complaints sounds like it’s written by a competitor. I can view the cameras just fine, I can hear audio and the video is super clear. While setting them up does take time with running the wires, the feeds show up on your monitor as soon as you connect the cameras to the recorder. I love having the option of continuous recording or recording only events. I also love the spotlights, for as small as they are, they are brighter than I expected.

Love the picture quality and sound quality of these cameras.