tigerknight wrote:This is the downfall of a wireless system. Only the data transmission is wireless - you still have to power it.

Maybe we could solar power them for night use? Uh.....nevermind.

So if some crazy lurker breaks into your house, and manages to find your nifty Zmodo command center, and BASHES it. Your up the creek with no spiffy evidence for the fuzz? Unless your uploading to the cloud or a online storage service. - Could anyone verify this?

mleejr wrote:I don't understand these systems for a house without suspended ceilings. How would you actually set up FOUR cameras? You'd have to fish all the cable because nothing is wireless in this kit. You'd have to buy extension cable for almost any modern house. You'd have to snake it all around and through walls and drill and plaster everywhere. You have to buy the hard drive. I'd rather spend a few more hundred and have a wireless. They had a wireless deal I snagged with one camera on 1saleaday a week or two ago for 30$.

When it comes to security, wireless isn't all that great.

Depending on the cameras, they may run on batteries which would be a pain to change out to ensure that the cameras are operating properly. If they have power adapters, now you have to run the cable for those (or hope an outlet is nearby) which makes them 'not' wireless.

Wireless signals are really easy to disrupt. They have to operate on specific bands to comply with FCC regulations and will be suseptable to interference. I'm guessing that the cheap ones operate on 2.4GHz, same channel as a lot of other devices including cordless phones.

Plus, any 2-bit theif can get a simple device for messing up any wireless camera signal.

Also, you're pretty much limited (in most cases involving cheap wireless cameras) to a small distance away from the receiver, and they have to be 'in sight' of each other for the best signal and range.

Wired FTW IMO.

For additional cameras try,
www.nellyssurplus.com

Anyone use this as a baby monitor?
Will audio come thru iPhone interface?

can I paint the camera body to match the exterior of the house?

Im really
Interested in this
Only thing I read On Line on the 7th Paragraph of the Features

The DVR is based on an embedded Linux operating system and includes a remote control for easy setup and operation

Does this Mean would NOT be Able to Hook it to My Network, My PCs run Windows XP SP3.??

What was yesterdays woot?????
MondayMarch 26....
This is very important it has me crazy... My wife thinks I'm a victim of oldtimersdisease and I'm not so sure I'm not..
She's insisting that it's the same Woot both days..
I think my heads gonna explode..

I do need surveillance cameras but I can not hard wire. any ideas what wireless cameras are available(at discount)?

drazoyu wrote:i have bought 2 cameras with 3.2mm lens, because these are 6mm, which means very narrow field of view, so if you want these above your front door, you won't be able to see a whole person, just an arm.. just giving you a perspective what these are like.

I guess if you mount the camera where the doorbell is then you'd only get a small view of a person. I have one mounted under our porch eave and it captures the entire porch, most of the front yard and our pool. Certainly the entire person coming up to the door.

micapa wrote:I do need surveillance cameras but I can not hard wire. any ideas what wireless cameras are available(at discount)?

just realized someone had answer similar/identical question already

tomwill wrote:Anyone use this as a baby monitor?
Will audio come thru iPhone interface?

If we could afford one today we were planning to use it for this purpose. It would work very well with a separate microphone for the audio. And the reception range is only limited by your wifi router or cellular carrier.

I purchased this same system last summer/fall on Woot and added a 1TB drive.

I purchased this as more of a test system before going with a higher-end megapixel POE camera system, so I didn't have high expectations. With that said I've been impressed with a $100 system. It was an easy setup outside of climbing my roof to drill a hole.

I have 3 cameras mounted at my roof line covering my front yard/driveway and one pointed at the front door.

As others have said the camera resolution is not good. It's great for indoors or pointed at the front door at distances less than 20'. Don't expect to be able to have great vids that you could identify criminals with (unless your criminals are dumb enough to stand still and stare at the camera from 5' away). The night vision is only useful indoors w/ some ambient light or at dusk. When it's completely dark outside I can barely make out the shape of my car about 15' away.

My biggest complaint about the cameras (that I wasn't expecting w/ a $100 system) is how the motion alarm is triggered by bugs attracted to the IR at night. Get a large HDD!

I use this system mainly to track the hours of my landscaper and for seeing who is driving down my driveway after my driveway alarms are tripped. Maybe this summer I'll look into installing a better system.

It's not really clear to me if these will record audio. Does anyone know? I was thinking of using them as a baby monitor but would definitely want audio for that purpose.

rahima53 wrote:I want to output this to a TV and see all 4 cameras at the same time in a 4 square. Will this model do this?

Yes, the zmodo has BNC or VGA video out, its your choice which to use. If your tv can accept those, or if you can find an adapter, like a vga to RCA or HDMI, you are all set.

I run my zmodo 8 channel on my big screen and it works great.

This model will display all 4 cams on a 4 way split.

mpatane wrote:It's not really clear to me if these will record audio. Does anyone know? I was thinking of using them as a baby monitor but would definitely want audio for that purpose.

They will record audio, you can buy a microphone from zmodo or other company that will record from wherever the mic is installed.

You will need to check the owners manual to see how many audio streams this can record, it appears to have 4 inputs, but that does not mean it can record audio on 4 simultaneously.

This unit I have can record on one channel at a time.

alan0123 wrote:Im really
Interested in this
Only thing I read On Line on the 7th Paragraph of the Features



Does this Mean would NOT be Able to Hook it to My Network, My PCs run Windows XP SP3.??

This DVR is a stand alone unit with an network card that actually runs a linux operating system on itself. Its like its own small PC.

I has a GUI that works with a mouse and all features are configured there.

You can optionally connect to it remotely via pc from a web browser to a port you configure in the GUI, or via an application you can install from zmodo, or on your phone in similar manner.

rsilver wrote:onsale at newegg for $89.99 fs



[Moderator: Need a link to prove it.]

That is the daily ad they have, and it requires a promo code and it is not a full DVR system, only a 4 pack of cameras.

micapa wrote:I do need surveillance cameras but I can not hard wire. any ideas what wireless cameras are available(at discount)?

Remember you still have to plug them into power.
So running cables may actually be easier.

CowboyDann wrote:I can't promise this is the same set but this guy says he paid about 200 dollars for his zmodo camera set. Unfortunately the video doesn't capture the hit and run that happened, but you can hear the audio and get a decent feel for the night vision. These fall into about the same price range so I'm thinking you'll get same quality.

EDIT: The cameras that come with this don't have audio, so expect similar video most likely but no audio. Thanks aftab7000!


Edit: Of course if this was an episode of CSI all you would need to do is zoom in and the plate magically appear and be easy to read. (What am I trying to say? Keep your expectations realistic and you'll be Okay with this set)

This was my video that I posted youTube. The video clip is from last Thursday night. My Neighbor's parked car in the street got hit pretty hard. The driver's side door got smashed, window broken and mirror broken. I also post another video sample of the same camera during the day from last Halloween.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF_w0wGejnM&feature=youtu.be/


The quality isn't the best, but if you want an inexpensive system, I highly recommend the woot offer. My family has had a lot of fun with the system and it's been very dependable. It's been running for almost a year and no issues. I've written a review about it and the additions that I did. Good luck if you buy one of these. Hopefully this review will help.
http://dinofiocchi.com/post/20012289184/woot-zmodo-surveillance-system-with-dvr-and-4/

nicklcarey wrote:This video is a little old but it explains how to setup your dvr for remote viewing. It is a little complicated if you have never gotten friendly with your router.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ks8RH8RjwI

I should also mention that the DNS service that it was integrated with no longer offers free DNS service. There are still a few out there so give google a try..... and good luck.

NO-IP.org works aok with zmodo dvr's

mujeff wrote:Each camera comes with 60ft of cable? That seems a bit short if you have a large area. Even placing the DVR in a central location of my property, I don't think 60ft would be enough. How easy (and inexpensive) is it to add more length to that? Does it degrade the image quality?

You can buy power and video balun's that work with Cat5 network cable and extend them up to 750' feet per run.

These are cheap on Ebay, I will post a picture of some below.

Hope that helps.

Links? I have been looking for something like this but wireless. I can't stand wires.

This is a low cost system (cheap). I bought one and it works fairly well.

One aspect is with the disk, you should really get an AV drive since there is no fan in the box, so you need a drive designed for devices like this. Depending on the size, the disk is going to run you over $100.

The field of view is not great, it should be wider.

It attaches to a computer monitor and works fairly well at night, but you need to adjust the system settings and the monitor settings.

The cables are thin and can be damaged.

The camera might be weather proof, but the connectors, which are close to the camera, are not.

With all that said, it seems to work fairly well. You can connect it to your home network and view it other places. For the price, it is nice insurance to keep an eye on things.

I have the 8 camera model and I love it. I was able to swap the lens on one of the cameras with a wide angle lens I bought from Frys some time back for 5 dollars made for a Q-See camera. I can see my entire backyard now but I lost night vision. I did not know that there is such a thing as a night vision lens.

I need to find a lens that will fit that is wide angle and night vision. Does anyone have any suggestions?

the viewing angle # of degrees is rather small

I got one of these last year for myself and another for my business. The DVR itself is pretty good. Software isn't always intuitive but is fairly solid and has good features, like fine grained control of motion sensing.

The cameras it comes with are very low quality and do NOT do sound. The DVR box itself supports sound as well as pan/tilt/zoom but you have to get different cameras. That deal sold 1/3" cmos chip cameras which aren't very sharp. They work well for basic security however.

The original deal I got advertised "weatherproof", but the specs (which at the time they did not make available before ordering) indicated a range of about 40-95 degrees. So apparently temperature doesn't count as "weather". They are completely useless in the winter outdoors here in iowa, and I suspect I will also have problems in the summer unless I shade them.

They sell a wide variety of other cameras, including pan, tilt, and PTZ capable for a wide range of prices. They also sell a few with heaters in them that can operate in the cold, but those are quite expensive.

I had to RMA three of my cameras - one was DOA and the other two wouldn't even get down to the stated low temperature point before starting to flip, but their RMA service was swift and fairly easy to use. One of them I paid for an upgrade exchange and am still waiting for the replacement to arrive. (was out of stock for several months)

Technical support is marginal on the average. The tech lines (phone and online) are frequently manned by salesmen that have NO technical skills, so you often have to call/chat at a specific time for real help. But when you DO get a tech, they provide fast, high quality support. The "24/7" chat is often not answered after hours.

The claimed ipod/iphone viewer support works, but if you want to view with a computer, you are confined to Windows, due to their requiring active-x. This was a nasty surprise for us here at work, with all macs in the building.

The brackets ours came with are cheap and are buggers to get the cameras positioned solidly. Even cranked down as hard as I dare for breaking the pot metal, they sometimes slip and have to be repositioned.

So the bottom line is, it's about a fair price for what you're getting.

Can you hook this up to your router via eithernet and view cams via cell phone?

Dear All:

Today's hot deal Zmodo 4 Camera Surveillance System for $99 includes (4) cameras each with Power Connector: RCA 12V DC and (1) 12V/1500mA 4-way (splitter) Port Power Supply to connect to the CCTV Cameras. One important fact to remember is that the DVR requires an internal hard drive for recording footage. Support DVR backup is possible via USB flash drive, removable drive, recorder and network.

Woot, woot!

Zmodo Technical Support

macwall wrote:Can you hook this up to your router via eithernet and view cams via cell phone?

YUP YUP ! =)

konigstein wrote:the viewing angle # of degrees is rather small

You can buy different cameras with different lens sizes.

I bought an a channel that shipped with 4 3.5mm cams that are good for wide angles, and 4 more cams with 6mm that are good for down the side yard shots.

here is a good site that shows the FOV by lens size.

http://www.sweeting.org/mark/lenses/cctv.php

bridan wrote:Bought this system last time. Had trouble installing HD. I called ZMODO and found out I needed a minimum 500gb HD my 320gb would not work. I didn't find anything about this listed anywhere. FYI

Thanks for the heads up! I have an infinite amount of 320GB's laying around that I was hoping to use. Now I'll have to find a spare 500GB or higher.

bridan wrote:Bought this system last time. Had trouble installing HD. I called ZMODO and found out I needed a minimum 500gb HD my 320gb would not work. I didn't find anything about this listed anywhere. FYI

This is total BS! Mine has a 250GB HDD in it and it's working fine. And yes I enabled telnet to allow root access. =)

~ $ fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 250.0 GB, 250000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30394 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 374 3004123+ c Win95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda2 375 30394 241135650 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 1 1 0 0 Empty
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.

alan0123 wrote:Im really
Interested in this
Only thing I read On Line on the 7th Paragraph of the Features



Does this Mean would NOT be Able to Hook it to My Network, My PCs run Windows XP SP3.??

No one Answered my Question........BUT

I BOUGHT it ANYWAY......it a Steal of a DEAL.

I Just Realized (Even though Not Advertised) It Can Also Support PAN TILT and ZOOM Cameras. (It has a PORT in the BACK (PTZ via RS485)

I believe it should be able to work with my WINDOWS XP Based PCs, Even if it Doesnt I can Always use it to Record Movies off my Cable BOX.

mujeff wrote:Each camera comes with 60ft of cable? That seems a bit short if you have a large area. Even placing the DVR in a central location of my property, I don't think 60ft would be enough. How easy (and inexpensive) is it to add more length to that? Does it degrade the image quality?

The 60 ft is really meant for like a one-story house. But you could always find a BNC connector (a separate twist to connect video plug and power)

Link: http://www.amazon.com/VideoSecu-Security-Surveillance-Installation-CBV150/dp/B0017KZ8Y0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332869250&sr=8-1

And the unused 60 feet cable could be linked together with another 60 feet cable to be 120 feet! (If you could find a BNC/power joiner not sure what to call it)

adelacuesta wrote:can I paint the camera body to match the exterior of the house?

I guess so.. just don't paint the lenses now.

tomwill wrote:Anyone use this as a baby monitor?
Will audio come thru iPhone interface?

The cameras that it comes with does not support audio input.. but the DVR does support input/output audio.

alan0123 wrote:Im really
Interested in this
Only thing I read On Line on the 7th Paragraph of the Features

The DVR is based on an embedded Linux operating system and includes a remote control for easy setup and operation

Does this Mean would NOT be Able to Hook it to My Network, My PCs run Windows XP SP3.??

Technically you can hook it up to your network... the DVR itself is like a PC tower computer.. all you have to do is add the monitor and you're all set. Don't really need to hook it up to anything else.

alan0123 wrote:No one Answered my Question........BUT

I BOUGHT it ANYWAY......it a Steal of a DEAL.

I Just Realized (Even though Not Advertised) It Can Also Support PAN TILT and ZOOM Cameras. (It has a PORT in the BACK (PTZ via RS485)

I believe it should be able to work with my WINDOWS XP Based PCs, Even if it Doesnt I can Always use it to Record Movies off my Cable BOX.

I replied to ya!

http://www.woot.com/Forums/viewpost.aspx?PostID=4929561&PageIndex=4&ReplyCount=156#post4930142

joshobra wrote:The 60 ft is really meant for like a one-story house. But you could always find a BNC connector (a separate twist to connect video plug and power)

Link: http://www.amazon.com/VideoSecu-Security-Surveillance-Installation-CBV150/dp/B0017KZ8Y0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332869250&sr=8-1

And the unused 60 feet cable could be linked together with another 60 feet cable to be 120 feet! (If you could find a BNC/power joiner not sure what to call it)

BNC barrel connector!

joshobra wrote:The 60 ft is really meant for like a one-story house. But you could always find a BNC connector (a separate twist to connect video plug and power)

Link: http://www.amazon.com/VideoSecu-Security-Surveillance-Installation-CBV150/dp/B0017KZ8Y0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332869250&sr=8-1

And the unused 60 feet cable could be linked together with another 60 feet cable to be 120 feet! (If you could find a BNC/power joiner not sure what to call it)

Cat 5 baluns work great, I posted a pic above, you can get 10 of each on ebay for $15 or so.

In for one!

When doing IT work for a previous employer I've used similar Zmodo systems. Before I left they switched over to all IP cameras (with PoE connectors.) But the few existing Zmodo DVRs they did have still worked great and have been around for 5+ years recording constantly. I only remember having one HDD go bad but Zmodo sent us out a replacement even though I'm pretty sure it was well out of warranty. Great company and great support. Hope this thing works out!

These units are quite a bang for the buck. I have one and have been quite suprised by the ease of setup and quality of the images. It's a breeze to set up on a home network. I gave mine a fixed IP address on my network and can access the unit from any PC in the house. I can also remote in to any PC that has the client set up on it and view inside my house from anywhere in the world. I've yet to play with an iPhone connection but that will be my next step. In short - great quality unit and easy to setup.