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Zmodo 4-Channel DVR Surveillance System with 4 Weatherproof IR Cameras
$109.99 + $5 Shipping
Condition: New

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

Can this be run off of, e.g. a car battery instead of the included 12V adaptor? It might make a good security solution for people who lose power (or whose attackers can cut their power).

r4v5 wrote:Can this be run off of, e.g. a car battery instead of the included 12V adaptor? It might make a good security solution for people who lose power (or whose attackers can cut their power).

If you know your electronics, you could have a trickle charger keeping a car battery going and buy or devise a 12V adapter for the car battery to the system. It'd be a poor man's battery backup system.

But you wouldn't want to run the battery straight into the DVR system. The voltage would be unreliable.

I don't get it... why are these systems so popular. Guess it's because I live in rural flyover country? Cannot see wanting this.

Does anyone know how the iOS application to view the cameras remotely works? Is it a good app at all?

At first glance I thought woot was selling a metal octopus.

slotter wrote:I don't get it... why are these systems so popular. Guess it's because I live in rural flyover country? Cannot see wanting this.

Lots of people live in areas where they might want a little extra security in knowing what goes in near or on the property at night. Not to mention all the businesses that could use these for security purposes.

I might be picking one up because I live on a corner lot leading into a subdivision and get a lot of foot traffic. So far no major problems (crossed fingers) but I'd love to have been able to post up pictures of the kid that egged the house last year.

Bought one of these a while back.

NIGHT VISION IS TERRIBLE OUTSIDE. Not to bad inside, up to 20 feet.

If you are looking for something cheep to watch your kids or small business indoors - why not. But outdoor use is pointless unless it is a well lit area.

slotter wrote:I don't get it... why are these systems so popular. Guess it's because I live in rural flyover country? Cannot see wanting this.

UFO's are everywhere man!!!

r4v5 wrote:Can this be run off of, e.g. a car battery instead of the included 12V adaptor? It might make a good security solution for people who lose power (or whose attackers can cut their power).

You can use a UPS. Then you don't have to worry about how to cut over from mains to battery when power goes out.

piskami wrote:Bought one of these a while back.

NIGHT VISION IS TERRIBLE OUTSIDE. Not to bad inside, up to 20 feet.

If you are looking for something cheep to watch your kids or small business indoors - why not. But outdoor use is pointless unless it is a well lit area.

Might be able to install in IR floodlight or something to supplement.

I was about to order one then saw this:

DVR-H8114UV DVR (HD is not included)


No Hard drive? Is that correct?


isnt a 500gb standard in these systems? How the hell do you record.

Someone was stealing massive cuttings from my rose bushes in front of my house - maybe this would help me nab the culprit! Maybe they are the same people who were stealing my Sunday newspaper, too?

No hard drive, so wil not record without adding one.

clintmccaskill wrote:No hard drive, so wil not record without adding one.

thats not a minor detail missing of this get-up.

Get the 16 channel one here:

http://moofi.woot.com/moofi/rollinrollinrollin

drummer425 wrote:Might be able to install in IR floodlight or something to supplement.

There aren't to many on the market, and most have bad ratings. Plus they cost a lot!

tirk wrote:I was about to order one then saw this:

DVR-H8114UV DVR (HD is not included)


No Hard drive? Is that correct?


isnt a 500gb standard in these systems? How the hell do you record.

They probably removed it to bring the price down. If there's no hard drive it works just fine as a live monitoring system, but it won't record without one. Fortunately, even with the shortages in hard drives right now, a good 500 gig drive should be negligible in price.

Need to look into a few things like:

1. DVR accepts audio input although I don't see that the cameras have the ability to carry audio.

2. What type of network access does the DVR provide? If these end up being IP cameras that can be viewed on the internet, then it's a great deal - but I doubt if that'll be the case.

3. How good is the configuration software and is it required? Can the DVR interface be used to configure the system? What is the quality of the software and interface(s)? Do they work properly or, like so many system, have too many flaws?

More research is required to determine if this system is really great or just another in a line of so-so security systems. The future of security system will be cloud-based so that no matter what happens to the physical system (up to a point), the data is safely stored and retrievable. The system offered here will go the way of the Dodo bird very soon but can still provide a level of security.

No HD included, but how cheap is a 1TB anyways. I just bought a 4 channel DVR for 125, this is less and comes with 4 cameras. Yeah they are not the best but they are still good, great in daylight and for night time I would put in a motion sensor light in that area.

Each camera includes a 60-foot cable - so does that mean all 4 cameras have to be within 60 feet of the DVR to hook up to it? If I want one camera on the outside of the house, and I have power out there, I still need to run the BNC cable through a window or something to hook up to the DVR?

Probably a dumb question, but I'm interested in this because the DVR is linux based, can be put on the network and has an iOS client. I live in the middle of nowhere, but I'd love to know if the animals circling the house at night are just deer or bears.

It seems like you would need a VGA compatible monitor for playback... (or at least during setup) And a hard drive if you wanted to store the video. Otherwise you are going to be moving a lot a data over the network constantly to a remote computer somewhere...

John1000 wrote:
More research is required to determine if this system is really great or just another in a line of so-so security systems. The future of security system will be cloud-based so that no matter what happens to the physical system (up to a point), the data is safely stored and retrievable. The system offered here will go the way of the Dodo bird very soon but can still provide a level of security.

For $115 shipped, I think it's safe to say that what you're getting with this system is "Cameras displaying on a screen." and not much more. I saw something about the software they use being something called "Netviewer", which looks like it may just be a VNC-alike that relays you what's on the video output for the DVR. So basically, you remote in and see video on a VNC-type display. Not what I was hoping for, but fairly reasonable for the price.

Product website:
http://www.zmodo.com/catalog/product/view/id/1290/s/security-ir-camera-pkd-dk40207/category/3/

for what it's worth, model # is listed as PKD, not PDK. Too late to correct in the front page?


[MOD: Fixed! THANKS!]

http://www.amazon.com/Surveillance-System-Silver-Weatherproof-Cameras/dp/B00589F5S0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320384747&sr=8-1

amazon has it listed at 300. hard drive and small monitor next to my computer are...negligable. i can probably use my old external if i wanted to..great deal, i'm in for 1.

TellarHK wrote:They probably removed it to bring the price down. If there's no hard drive it works just fine as a live monitoring system, but it won't record without one. Fortunately, even with the shortages in hard drives right now, a good 500 gig drive should be negligible in price.

Guess I missed the hard drive shortage issue. Hard drives have been so cheap that I ignored the fact that this system is sans a hard drive. Read that in March, though, the supply of HDs should return to normal, but then again, we are also fighting the inflation which will be/is rearing its ugly head. Can you still buy a GB hard drive these days (all I consider buying is TB now)?

tirk wrote:thats not a minor detail missing of this get-up.

Agreed!

Product manaul:

DVR: http://www.zmodo.com/downloader/index/download/file_id/1002/?___SID=U

Mobile phone (Symbian, Windows Mobile) monitor option with DVR:
http://www.zmodo.com/downloader/index/download/file_id/1002/

I have this. Got it from woot a few months ago. I put a 1.5 TB disk in it.

I can access it using a web browser. Firefox does not work, requires IE.

I can also access it using my ViewSonic tablet I got from woot. I use an app called "IP Cam Viewer Basic" by Robert Chou. You must configure each camera, so if you get the 16 channel model (see previous post) it could take awhile!

I'm tempted to put one outside my house just to see what would happen. WHAT WOULD I SEE? Most likely nothing, but WHAT IF I did see something? That would freak me the hell out! Do I want to know about murderous ghosts and supervillains lurking out there in my yard when I'm not watching, or do I want to live my life in bliss not knowing?

Zetabee wrote:I'm tempted to put one outside my house just to see what would happen. WHAT WOULD I SEE? Most likely nothing, but WHAT IF I did see something? That would freak me the hell out! Do I want to know about murderous ghosts and supervillains lurking out there in my yard when I'm not watching, or do I want to live my life in bliss not knowing?

They are not outside! They are in your house!!

whatsamattaU wrote:Product manaul:

DVR: http://www.zmodo.com/downloader/index/download/file_id/1002/?___SID=U

Mobile phone (Symbian, Windows Mobile) monitor option with DVR:
http://www.zmodo.com/downloader/index/download/file_id/1002/

Good lord! The Engrish borders on incomprehensibility.

anyone else hoping Woot! sells the kindle flame?

slotter wrote:I don't get it... why are these systems so popular. Guess it's because I live in rural flyover country? Cannot see wanting this.

I live in a rural area. I have one of these units that sold a few months back that came with a HD. (I was wondering why this unit was so much cheaper!) One (interior mounted) camera watches the back door and the family room basically to keep an eye on the kids. The other three cameras are mounted on the exterior and monitor our gate to see if I remembered to shut it, our AC unit (crack heads are in the country too), and the path to my shop in the back. It's true the IR is weak outside but we have a motion activated floodlight so if anyone walks up - they'll be BUSTED! I am pleased with the purchase and would do it again. WELL worth the money!

paintfiction wrote:I live in a rural area. I have one of these units that sold a few months back that came with a HD. (I was wondering why this unit was so much cheaper!) One (interior mounted) camera watches the back door and the family room basically to keep an eye on the kids. The other three cameras are mounted on the exterior and monitor our gate to see if I remembered to shut it, our AC unit (crack heads are in the country too), and the path to my shop in the back. It's true the IR is weak outside but we have a motion activated floodlight so if anyone walks up - they'll be BUSTED! I am pleased with the purchase and would do it again. WELL worth the money!

So does this mean the cameras that are mounted on the outside, plus the one you mounted on the inside, are all wired within 60 feet of the DVR? How did you feed the camera cables from the outside of the home into the home? 60 foot cables are long, but if one is trying to keep the cables out of sight, it might be hard to wire up 4 cameras to surround a house, even a small one.

sqfreak wrote:Good lord! The Engrish borders on incomprehensibility.

My favorite: "Caution: In some area, the power supply is irregularity, it will cause the DVR-4108 working not normal-operation, the DVR-4108 will be damaged in serious. In this surroundings, suggest select the stabilized voltage supply."

Also - the admin password is 666666.

I wonder if you can do some linux hackery to this to do things like auto backup cron jobs, NAS, dropbox, etc. They give you an "admin" name in the previously posted manual, which isn't root but might take you somewhere.

I grabbed one for my brother's place sine he's had quite a bit of theft recently. I have tons of old harddrives laying around so that's a non-issue.

My current setup is 8 cameras piped into a cheaper ebay purchased card in an old Win XP machine I had laying around. KVM switch to tie everything together and I'm solid.

Now I can reenact my own Paranormal Activity scenario! Huzzah!