Wootalyzer's Pricing Post! - The price of today's woot item is saved here for future reference
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Zmodo Surveillance DVR 4CH\4 Camera
$119.99 + $5 Standard Shipping
Condition: New

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

Here it is at the Zmodo Website



Video from website I linked to.

wootalyzer wrote:Wootalyzer's Pricing Post! - The price of today's woot item is saved here for future reference
------------------------------------------------------------
Zmodo Surveillance DVR 4CH\4 Camera
$119.99 + $5 Standard Shipping
Condition: New

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

OR $189.99 with the 500GB hard drive!

So I guess the Hard Drive is so I can accumulate hours of footage -where that creepy stranger keeps casing my house, car & (I'm told) - the grounds!

May be overstated, that bit.
But surryously? Hard drive, no hard drive?

*Baffled... in DANGER*

Knifemouth wrote:So I guess the Hard Drive is so I can accumulate hours of footage -where that creepy stranger keeps casing my house, car & (I'm told) - the grounds!

May be overstated, that bit.
But surryously? Hard drive, no hard drive?

*Baffled... in DANGER*

Not a statement to the value of the bundle price, but you need a Hard Drive installed if you want to view this system remotely i.e. on your phone, iPad or another computer.

The zmodo is a little bit basic when it comes to navigating via search.
This manual for the DVR took much longer than it should have.

CowboyDann wrote: Video from website I linked to.

"3G Mart Phone"? That sort of inattention to detail reflects poorly on the company and the product.

Thanks for all the halps- means a lot, it do.

Purty creepy to think about anyone just setting there watching it... hours slipping away.
Lord knows I told myself -never again, not no more.

Well, 3:30 in Vermont, I guess it's time for a warmy toaster-nummy snack.

Many Thanks!!

Just installed this model last week w/o HD. Use motion detect to send email and emote view via iPhone free ap.

Works great after programming router port forwarding.

Night vision distance about 15 ft, daytime picture very good

eocguy wrote:Not a statement to the value of the bundle price, but you need a Hard Drive installed if you want to view this system remotely i.e. on your phone, iPad or another computer.

ThunderThighs is correct..No, you do not need a hard drive to view remotely (at least on the other Zmodo dvr I purchased here a few weeks ago). You'd be limited to viewing live, real-time images of the neighbor's cat peeing on your daisies, or the weird looking cloud roll by, you just wouldn't have the ability to record any of it.

If getting / using your own drive, Zmodo recommends using a 24/7 rated HDD(eg. W-D AV series, Seagate Pipeline or SV35 series), as desktop rated drives might crap out on you prematurely due to the constant writing to disk. Keep in mind that it gets quite hot in the DVR, so choose something with a lower power profile, or even a 2.5" HDD rated for 24/7...smaller footprint, better airflow and less generated heat.

I can only wonder which HDD Zmodo bundles with these kits...is it an actual 24/7 enterprise rated drive or not?

127.99 and 202.58 over at a m a z o n

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=+KDS4-BARBZ4ZN

Why ?

dep411 wrote:127.99 and 202.58 over at a m a z o n

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=+KDS4-BARBZ4ZN

don't forget to add $17 for shipping, not to mention you would be buying from someone called the Waste King.

I personally don't think you need a 24 hr hard drive. I run a handful of computers and devices with hard drives 24/7 on "regular" HD and never (I mean never) had a problem. I even have NAS using the failure prone seagate 2T (early batches) and I never had an issue.

I'm one of the lucky ones I guess, but you definitely do not need a 24hr type HD. Sure, it can't hurt....

I'm sure data centers around the world are using "regular" HD with no ill effect..

It's a marketing gimmick... maybe..
Maybe they are downgrading and cheapening the "regular" hd now to make it lesser drives...

eraie wrote:ThunderThighs is correct..No, you do not need a hard drive to view remotely (at least on the other Zmodo dvr I purchased here a few weeks ago). You'd be limited to viewing live, real-time images of the neighbor's cat peeing on your daisies, or the weird looking cloud roll by, you just wouldn't have the ability to record any of it.

If getting / using your own drive, Zmodo recommends using a 24/7 rated HDD(eg. W-D AV series, Seagate Pipeline or SV35 series), as desktop rated drives might crap out on you prematurely due to the constant writing to disk. Keep in mind that it gets quite hot in the DVR, so choose something with a lower power profile, or even a 2.5" HDD rated for 24/7...smaller footprint, better airflow and less generated heat.

I can only wonder which HDD Zmodo bundles with these kits...is it an actual 24/7 enterprise rated drive or not?

garyhgaryh wrote:I personally don't think you need a 24 hr hard drive. I run a handful of computers and devices with hard drives 24/7 on "regular" HD and never (I mean never) had a problem. I even have NAS using the failure prone seagate 2T (early batches) and I never had an issue.

I'm one of the lucky ones I guess, but you definitely do not need a 24hr type HD. Sure, it can't hurt....

I'm sure data centers around the world are using "regular" HD with no ill effect..

It's a marketing gimmick... maybe..
Maybe they are downgrading and cheapening the "regular" hd now to make it lesser drives...

Actually, I've visited several large server farms, and I can assure you that they do not use 'consumer' rated drives.

I also run several computers and 2 NAS boxes...but the difference is that the DVR is writing to disk 24/7, constanty...whereas my equipment might be on 24/7, sure, but sitting idle for a good portion of that. I use enterprise drives simply because I value my stored data, and I feel more secure with drives that have been designed with a higher MTBF and better power/thermal profile for 24/7 usage. I don't particularly enjoy having to re-build my disk arrays, so I opt to spend a few bucks more for drives that are built for the purpose.

I'm guessing Zmodo had to make this recommendation to cover their a$$ after some users probably called to complain about their drives burning out in a short amount of time?

There have always been different 'qualities' of drives out there...consumer / enterprise / special application...so I don't think it's a gimmick. But I agree that quality / warranties aren't what they used to be a few years ago.

How good is the clarity daytime or nighttime?

BTW, even though it isn't listed, this system works with Windows Phone 7 just fine. App is free too.

HELP HELP
someone please HELP. I should never have bought this thing. I tried hooking this up, but to no avail. I really don't know much about it. The book is so hard to understand. Hey do you think support would help me out??? Probably not.

garyhgaryh wrote:I personally don't think you need a 24 hr hard drive. I run a handful of computers and devices with hard drives 24/7 on "regular" HD and never (I mean never) had a problem. I even have NAS using the failure prone seagate 2T (early batches) and I never had an issue.

I'm one of the lucky ones I guess, but you definitely do not need a 24hr type HD. Sure, it can't hurt....

I'm sure data centers around the world are using "regular" HD with no ill effect..

It's a marketing gimmick... maybe..
Maybe they are downgrading and cheapening the "regular" hd now to make it lesser drives...

Nonsense. A 24/7 AV-rated drive isn't necessarily more expensive. Here's a breakdown of various Western Digital 500GB hard drives:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136697

$79 after $20-off code. The RE4 series is a top-notch drive with a 5-year warranty. It's excellent for DVR applications and 24/7 server environments. This is overall probably the best drive WD makes.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236155

$99 for a "standard" green drive. Only has a 2-year warranty.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236345

$99 for a "standard" black series drive. Also only has a 2-year warranty.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136944

$84 for an AV-rated green drive. Has a 3-year warranty. This would probably be the best choice for this application because they run cool. I use the 2TB version of this drive in an eSATA enclosure with my FIOS DVR.

So, the most expensive drives are the "regular" drives with the shortest warranty...

Can this be viewed using wireless internet on an I-Pod?

hazmat0001 wrote:How good is the clarity daytime or nighttime?

It isn't too shabby...we're not talking HD or super high quality, but it's pretty clear / good color during the day, and B&W (IR illuminated) during the night was decent. Call it surveillance cam quality, you'll be able to see things that go bump in the dark.

I'm speaking of the CCD cameras that came with the kit I bought a few weeks ago(different than this). This one here comes with CMOS cameras, which perform differently than CCD....generally speaking, CCD performs better than CMOS in low light situations and is less 'noisy' (image noise), but both technologies are quite usable. Keep in mind, it doesn't matter if it's CCD or CMOS if it's a crappy camera to start with. In my experience, these Zmodos don't seem to be super high end, but I wouldn't call them crappy either... they do a do a good job for the price.

Can someone say why not purchase this 8-Channel ZModo version for $199 (sans hard drive)?

http://www.amazon.com/Zmodo-Surveillance-Weatherproof-Cameras-PKD-DK0865-NHD/dp/B00681YJRA

Sold by Amazon.

commander49 wrote:HELP HELP
someone please HELP. I should never have bought this thing. I tried hooking this up, but to no avail. I really don't know much about it. The book is so hard to understand. Hey do you think support would help me out??? Probably not.

Email them or call them....I did both, and they were extremely helpful & quick in responding. Try searching their FAQs or videos, some details are better presented there than in the manual.

spiderr wrote:Can someone say why not purchase this 8-Channel ZModo version for $199 (sans hard drive)?

http://www.amazon.com/Zmodo-Surveillance-Weatherproof-Cameras-PKD-DK0865-NHD/dp/B00681YJRA

Sold by Amazon.

Yes, because this Woot system has cameras that are 480 lines of resolution, while the above linked system has cameras with 420 line of resolution. But, the extra 4 cameras may make this a good deal for some...

I am wondering the samething?

eraie wrote:

I can only wonder which HDD Zmodo bundles with these kits...is it an actual 24/7 enterprise rated drive or not?

My experience with these types of cameras, the ones with the IR LEDs ringing the outter edge of the camera is as follows:

Once the camera glass gets dirty the IR light gets reflected back into the camera and causes a washed out nightime picture. I wish they would provide a regular CCD or CMOS camera without IR LEDs and I would purchase a separate IR illuminator.

eraie wrote:ThunderThighs is correct..No, you do not need a hard drive to view remotely (at least on the other Zmodo dvr I purchased here a few weeks ago). You'd be limited to viewing live, real-time images of the neighbor's cat peeing on your daisies, or the weird looking cloud roll by, you just wouldn't have the ability to record any of it.

Eraie is right, you don't need a hard drive to view the cameras remotely. You actually do however have the ability to record footage while viewing remotely which stores the video on the computer you're using to view the footage. What you don't have the ability to do is have the DVR make the recording for you automatically.

what is thw width of 'field of vision' for cameras? how do you install 4 ceameras to cover the full exterior of a house? do the power and video cable come withit

Question? I see this has a Linux OS. Will transferin to a windows OS be conpatable?

How long are the cables from the camera?

ScottR1 wrote:How long are the cables from the camera?

zmodo web site says 60'

ScottR1 wrote:How long are the cables from the camera?

60' is what it says

Old school analog cameras and DVR, the 80's are back again. The world has gone past this and evolved into networked cameras with HD resolution. Check this blog at http://ipcamnetwork.wordpress.com

Very simple to add the hard drive. I purchased this system and added my own hard drive. Had it up and running in no time. Everything is self explanation. The manual is a bit tough to understand, but its all very basic. The hardest part is running the cables.

jjpeters1100 wrote:Very simple to add the hard drive. I purchased this system and added my own hard drive. Had it up and running in no time. Everything is self explanation. The manual is a bit tough to understand, but its all very basic. The hardest part is running the cables.

Could you please elborate on how you installed the hard drive? Did you format first using Linux or does the machine format the drive itself? Is there a Zmodo interface one can see via the RJ45 port on the back? You said the manual is a little tough to read, what makes it so difficult? Is it a language translation problem? Thanks for your help. I too want to install my own hard drive, most likely a 2 TB WD, Thanks !

bonolabs1 wrote:Could you please elborate on how you installed the hard drive? Did you format first using Linux or does the machine format the drive itself? Is there a Zmodo interface one can see via the RJ45 port on the back? You said the manual is a little tough to read, what makes it so difficult? Is it a language translation problem? Thanks for your help. I too want to install my own hard drive, most likely a 2 TB WD, Thanks !

Open Dvr up, plug hard drive in, power on. INSTALLED.

Here's something I'm a little concerned about (unfortunately, after placing an order): can it be setup (and fully controlled) via the network connection? I don't have a monitor to hook up to it directly.