Wootalyzer's Pricing Post! - The price of today's woot item is saved here for future reference
------------------------------------------------------------
Zmodo 8CH/4Cam Surveillance System
$199.99 + $5 Shipping
Condition: New

*DISCLAIMER* Wootalyzer! is in no way affiliated with Woot!, and this post may not always be here!

For those times when you don't know who's been in the cookie jar....

Previous woot here

How does a four camera setup have eight channels? Is that like the Beatles using 64 tracks for four musicians?

I have this same system in 4ch and it came with no drive. Works good. Mpeg. Export video via USB

lichme wrote:Previous woot here

do you know how much it was?

We have one of these for our business and I can say it works well. The zoom functions are cool and it was pretty easy to put in. Took 3 of us 2 hours to get the wires through the attic and everything hooked up.

The cameras have held up well and look cool on the sides of our shop.

Bought the 8CH/8 Cam system awhile ago. Easy to install. Unfortunately, the cameras are very low quality - and the ones in that deal had 480 lines. The colors are so bad you probably won't have a shot at giving an accurate description of the perpetrator's clothing (or race) to the police. Don't count on useful night vision either except for the center-most area (think flashlight in the dark). Also, I barely covered our small house with 8 cameras - so 4 will probably only get you partial coverage of most houses. In summary, you get what you pay for. If you need something cheap, this is your system. If you want a mid to high end system, keep looking.

phlypp wrote:How does a four camera setup have eight channels? Is that like the Beatles using 64 tracks for four musicians?

It has room for another 4 cameras. If you look at the picture of the back of the box, it has 8 inputs.

Maybe Woot's just become the Amazon outlet shop, for overstock and other lots of ... crap ... (just not Barrels of Crud lately, it would seem).

I've come close to buying one or another of the wireless camera systems, though. Will have to look for reviews for next time one comes up.

CJSF

lichme wrote:Previous woot here

Work break. Just saw comment noting what I did, different model a bit this time. In the meantime:

product page:
http://www.zmodo.com/outdoor-ir-camera-pkd-dk0866-500gb.html

DVR user manual:
http://www.zmodo.com/downloader/index/download/file_id/310/

can't pin down camera model yet. Previous woot still handy since the comments are similar each time.

I purchased 2 of these units and I must say their tech support is horrible I've waited for hours on hold as well as emailed them and no response it honestly seems to be only one person in their tech support.

I'm trying to set up my iPad and iPhone and they have not responded. Very disappointed.

Anyone know if steam from a shower would make the lens fog up on these?

ThunderThighs wrote:Actually slightly different because the HD is included in this offer.

Not the same...this unit comes with HD and is 8 ch. not 4 ch. this unit comes with 4 cams and is expandable to 8.

i have experience with setting up DVR's and cams and i would recommend this for anyone who has no recording at all.

I installed this unit at a friends house. the wires are thin cheap crap, the cams are ok but view angles suck and DVR works fine but lacks refinement in the OS. Had grainy image on 2 out of the 8 cams and replaced the cheap crap wire run with high end full copper cctv cable and fixed it.

i have not returned to setup DVR functions like wireless viewing or quality settings but friend tells me its working great. for the price you cant beat the package!

great deal.

I think the description is incorrect, it says "704x480 resolution" but below in the specs it's only "420 TV Lines, Horizontal" which is what's listed elsewhere. Shame, higher def would make this more attractive.


[FROM Thunderthighs: 704x480 is the display resolution. It matches the specs for the DVR. The camera is 420 horizontal lines.]

I have the 8 cam version. Just finished installing 4 of the 8 cameras inside today... worked fairly well. However, setting up for remote viewing is really tricky, and the other four cameras for outside have such a wide viewing angle that they're not useful.

Here is a link that might be useful (despite the name, it's not just for macs): http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1254913

aselith wrote:Anyone know if steam from a shower would make the lens fog up on these?

Recommend defogging solution.

I got the 8 ch H264 deal they had about a month ago... still trying to figure out how to f*ing see it from my mac computer. SO DISAPPOINTED this machines are "universal" and instead geared towards WINDOWS machines (or windows systems... ActiveX crap). It seems like a decent systems... just watch out for compatibility.

How does the mobile viewing work? Does this need to be hooked up to a router or something?

Perfect mate for your "Heat Surge" unit. The DVR and monitor will sit on top. Don't forget to mount at least 1 camera in your barn to keep an eye on those darn Amish.

Well, I'm going to buy one... a month ago, they had this for $99 (http://www.woot.com/blog/viewentry.aspx?id=21582) but no HD, this time it's $200 with a 500 GB HD (worth $100 not fussing with it I suppose) and it's a different model for both the DVR and cameras - hopefully better. Still, I've seen Zmodo's in action and I've seen a $10k one... it's a great value but you surely getting only what you pay... this is cheap ($200 for a "full package") and with some finessing you can get it some low quality images and recordings and even iphone/android capabilities - and most importantly, it's the deterrent factor I'm after. (Here's the link for today's - http://www.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=22205)

I got 2 of the previous Zmodo 4ch systems a while back. I had 2 smaller sata hard drives laying around that I used. Works well. A few commnets...

- The motion detection has a 2 - 3.5 second lag from the time it detects motion and it records the motion. Having prem recording on/off, or, the quality of the records doesn't seem to effect this. So, 2-3.5 seconds of each motions recording will be lost. I noticed that I was getting motions of nothing (cars passing by). Then I tested by placing my hand in front of the camera and counting seconds with my fingers. 3 1/2 fingers is where most of the motion recordings started - and the start of the motion was NOT at the end of the previous NORMAL recording! This happends on both units, so I do not think it's faulty units. Using the perm recording and turning motion off gives me 24/7 recording. The status display says 9999 hours with a 320gig hard drive. Which is a little over a year! Can that be true? I havn't checked it lately to see if it's gone down.

- The cameras IR is actually very good. it will throw a spotlight though is it's too close. 1 Camera in a completly dark room 20x40 foot flooded the entire room with IR - it was amazing. I expect the IR was bounching off the walls and ceiling.

- I agree with a previous poster. You may want to get better cable. The outside cameras have a bit of fuzz and lines in them, and I needed to reduce the motion sensitivity. I would recomment laying all cables out and placing the cameras were you want them first before drilling and installing.

- The software included on the PC is actually quite good. However, viewing the recordings on the pc with them can be difficult.

- On my android phone, I'm using IP Cam Viewer Pro. I can view all 4 cameras live from within my network at home, or, away from home via 3G (at a lower refresh), or on Wifi. I can also view the other Zmodo unit's cameras at the other location.

- The cameras are not wide angle. For viewing entryways or front doors, one really wants a wider angle lens. I was slightly dissapointed that I couldn't see more, and have it on my list to look for wider angle cameras, or lens replacements.

I'm still trying to find if an update is availiable to flash the unit to fix the motion lag.

I'm not saying this unit will perform the same. Just letting you know how the 4ch units is working for me.

For the price it's still good. For most motion, missing 2-3 seconds of the begining of each motion shoudn't be a problem. Turn motion off, and perm recording on, and you won't miss anything.

kevieugene wrote:How does the mobile viewing work? Does this need to be hooked up to a router or something?

Setup an account with DynDNS unless you have a static public IP address. Most residential services not on dial-up will have a dynamic IP address with a preferred IP address but the preferred IP isn't guaranteed to stay the same. If you're on dial up (who uses dial-up now?) you're SOL as far as I know since it won't even handle the constant image stream. An account with DynDNS is free by doing a trial version of one of their accounts then canceling the service, they allow you to keep one address for doing the trial.

Once you have a static IP address you need to setup port forwarding in your home router. This allows sections of your private network to be accessible from you public IP address. You only want to open ports that are needed and not open all ports.

The DVR must be connected to your router in some way then it's as easy as entering your DynDNS host name then the port number. I run my DVR to a second router setup as a repeater running DD-WRT. That second router talks to my primary router inside the home so I eliminated the need to run a cat5 cable from the DVR to the primary router.

To access things, say my host name is GixxerSixxerhome.dyndns.org. I've enable forwarding of port 8080. To remote view and access the DVR I type into the URL: GixxerSixxer.dyndns.org:8080. I then enter my login info and start getting the feeds.

To access from a smartphone you have to go through the same DynDNS account process and the port forwarding. You then need to grab an app for mobile viewing and enter your host name, port number, and login info. IP Cam Viewer Lite should work for smartphone access with this DVR.

You'll want to hide the DVR in an obscure location because if a thief steals the DVR it's pretty pointless. I mounted a board in the rafters of my garage. I then tapped an electrical outlet and created another outlet near where the DVR is. I also made sure I had enough room to mount a UPS so if the power is cut I'll still get some recording ability.

We have a surveillance system (not this one) BUT when we got robbed last year and everything was taken, a system like this helped catch the guy that did it and get all of our crap back, pretty awesome if you ask me.

aselith wrote:Anyone know if steam from a shower would make the lens fog up on these?

What are you doin? Sounds like a good time!

mikebwca wrote:
- The motion detection has a 2 - 3.5 second lag from the time it detects motion and it records the motion. Having prem recording on/off, or, the quality of the records doesn't seem to effect this. So, 2-3.5 seconds of each motions recording will be lost. I noticed that I was getting motions of nothing (cars passing by). Then I tested by placing my hand in front of the camera and counting seconds with my fingers. 3 1/2 fingers is where most of the motion recordings started - and the start of the motion was NOT at the end of the previous NORMAL recording! This happends on both units, so I do not think it's faulty units. Using the perm recording and turning motion off gives me 24/7 recording. The status display says 9999 hours with a 320gig hard drive. Which is a little over a year! Can that be true? I havn't checked it lately to see if it's gone down.

I'd suggest you double check your frames per sec setting. If it's a low setting that could explain the long lag you see before motion is detected.

If that's not it then the processor is probably underpowered. Motion is "detected" by comparing past frames. When a certain number of pixels/frame change that event is ID'd as motion. My DVR (Digital Watchdog) is instantaneous for motion detection and even at the lowest setting I still find I gets a lot of false positives from leaves blowing on the ground or just changes in sunlight level.

My DVR can be set to 24/7 record and highlight motion events in recording timeline. I don't know if this DVR does that too. IMO it would suck to watch a week of recording at 4X speed just to be on the look out for criminals. When I review footage I just click through the motion highlights and skip the dull stuff in between.

On my DVR with a 500g HD I get 7 days of 24/7 recording from 4 cameras at 30fps using H.264 compression. I actually get 9 days but I leave a 2 day buffer to review footage because the data will be overwritten and there's no guarantee I'll notice a problem the day it happens. My DVR has already caught the neighbor's troubled teenage checking if doors and windows are locked. Without that 2 day buffer I may not have seen it before it was recorded over.

Can someone suggest a better cameras to buy for this system?

I took delivery of an 8 cam Zmodo system just last week, but sent it back and got one from a different mfg.

I should have read the specs better first - The only problem I had was that the cameras (while they appeared well-built) were CMOS, and for the best IR resolution I needed CCD. The replacement was roughly $120 more, but night time is when I really need a video system to shine.

aselith wrote:Anyone know if steam from a shower would make the lens fog up on these?

LOL, Evil Person!

PilotFishBob wrote:I took delivery of an 8 cam Zmodo system just last week, but sent it back and got one from a different mfg.

I should have read the specs better first - The only problem I had was that the cameras (while they appeared well-built) were CMOS, and for the best IR resolution I needed CCD. The replacement was roughly $120 more, but night time is when I really need a video system to shine.

Alright, share with the whole class, what system did you buy because some of us are in the same boat as you are when it comes to wanting to see in the dark.

I just bought this Zmodo 8CH/4Cam Surveillance System....when I receive and try out, I will let you guys know....

I bought the 4 channel version a few weeks back and have not been able to get the DVR to write the video files. Tech support has been an absolute joke. Purchase at your own risk. (a Computer Network professional for 26 years)

@PilotFishBob: What brand/model did you end up going with, if you don't mind me asking?

How many hours of recording can you get with 4 camera running on a 500gb HD?

Do these cameras record sound?

Zmodo cameras get middling to poor reviews on Amazon. I'm looking at Foscam, all of which get much better reviews. (And, having read through the reviews, most of them seem legit.)

bblhed wrote:Alright, share with the whole class, what system did you buy because some of us are in the same boat as you are when it comes to wanting to see in the dark.

Unless you are in a rural area, most burglaries happen in daylight, when the homeowner(s) are at work. Criminals are stupid, but usually smart enough to realize that at night, they risk getting blasted by the homeowner's weapon, plus they also tend to "relax" at night with the drugs they bought from their last break in. The thieves that steal copper wiring, etc. do work at night, AFAIK.

I looked at these Zmodo systems for a while since they were offered here a several times on woot. I also looked at the higher resolution offerings from Logitech which seem to get better reviews then these systems but I did not like how you have to go thru there servers to access. I also did not feel like trying to run wires around my house for cameras so the Zmodo just did not fit the bill for me.

So I decided to try some Foscam wifi cameras. I first ordered the FI8918W model thinking they were the latest model of camera but then later found out that the FI8910W was actually newer and had built in IR filters for more accurate color during daylight hours. So I ended up getting three of the FI8910W cameras. Now you still need power for the cameras so even though they are wireless they have to be mounted near an outlet to work. Also they are not made for outdoor use but I have read some have mounted them under eves (not in direct weather) and have had no problems with them. So far I am very happy with the cameras. I can view them on my iPad, my Android phone and any computer or mac. They have built in web servers, and motion detection and can record to a NAS or computer hard drive. The night vision is fantastic (you can make out everything just not in color) and the tilt/pan gives you TONS of area coverage as one camera lets me look at my dining, living, kitchen area due to open architecture house layout.

All of my research has shown me that there are LOTS of options out there for video security and it is changing very rapidly and getting better and better every day. I would not be surprised to see HD wireless cams (720P at least) in the next year with all the bells and whistles at a reasonable price.

Do your research and read reviews and comments from actual users and try and get some actual demos if you can before purchase. Foscam sent me an email with links to actual cameras I could play with... and no before you even ask they were not setup in steamy showers! But at least I was able to check out the image quality and tilt/pan and other features before I purchased them.

Hope this info helps someone in the their search for video surveillance needs.