Zmodo, a well known brand around these parts. Get your tips, tricks, and questions answered... but only if you post some!

Good systems. I really like the dome cameras they have here.

For outdoor use I really prefer having the camera and the light (or infrared) source separated. Visible and IR light attract bugs, and if you have a motion sensing system it will be triggered constantly by the bug critters.

Indoor use though, the domes are nice.

$149.99 a few months ago on woot. Sorry I didn't see it then. Still not a bad price. $150 a month ago on 1SaleADay also... probably will come up again.

Infrared type? Not listed here or at the Zmodo site, but IR LEDs for these appsmostly come in two wavelength ranges; 840-870nm, and 920-950nm; the former produce a visible dim red glow that can 'give away' the camera (or illuminator) in a very dark environment, but are cheaper; the latter are not visible to unaided human eyes, so are more appropriate for security camera applications.

In lieue of provided specs we should probably assume these are the visible IR LEDs but it would be nice to know for certain.

Are there links to past discussions? I'm thinking seriously about buying one, but want to make sure it's not going to bite me later.

Is the remote access usable and nice? Primarily through iOS, but also curious about web browser compatibility. Does it really only work with ie?

Are the recordings available remotely, or just live surveillance? Can I download sections of the recordings remotely, or is the only method via USB flash drive at the recorder?

When copying video to a USB stick how is the video timestamped?

How well does the machine recover from power outages - are all settings saved, or do you have to set it up again? If you don't have a hard drive in the machine are the settings still saved? Is the clock set by NTP, or does it have a realtime clock with battery internally, or does it forget the time and, like a VCR, require user intervention after a power outage?

Would the dome surveillance camera work as a video baby monitor, using my iPhone and/or computer as a receiver?

MissHornsby wrote:Would the dome surveillance camera work as a video baby monitor, using my iPhone and/or computer as a receiver?

Get a wireless IP camera like FOSCAM. It connects to the wireless router and you can see it on your iDevices/Androids/Windows over 3g/Wifi + it has a PTZ, You can move camera also has 2-way audio.

2-cable cameras? No thanks.

PoE, please. Sell me the future, not the past!

I bought a zmodo system from woot july of last year(2011). system went out after six months, tried countless times to contact customer service but rang busy and then was put into que for over an hour. got to slot one and noone ever answered. left a message never got a call back, tried emailing etc and no contact. This company does not stand behind its product or their so called one year warranty, hard to get a warranty coverage when all you get is frustration from this company, they are cheap for a reason. DO NOT BUY

Is there a cheaper way to extend the video/power cables? I bought the 8-cam unit a while back but have moved and haven't hooked it up yet. Mine only came with 60ft cables, I think, definately not 130ft. I needed more than 60ft at the time (and likely will when I move into my permanent place), but didn't know how to go about making longer cables so I never hooked it up because of that reason.

hw21 wrote:I bought a zmodo system from woot july of last year(2011). system went out after six months, tried countless times to contact customer service but rang busy and then was put into que for over an hour. got to slot one and noone ever answered. left a message never got a call back, tried emailing etc and no contact. This company does not stand behind its product or their so called one year warranty, hard to get a warranty coverage when all you get is frustration from this company, they are cheap for a reason. DO NOT BUY

You try pulling the HD and formatting it? One I got a good while back did that once. Formatting on a PC, reinstalling and letting the Zmodo system run its format resolved the issue.

You don't have to go to the cheap route when you are shooting with "Canon 7D, 40D - Canon 100-400mm L IS, 1.5x Kenko TC, Canon 500mm f4 L IS, 60mm Macro"

ba1980 wrote:Is there a cheaper way to extend the video/power cables? I bought the 8-cam unit a while back but have moved and haven't hooked it up yet. Mine only came with 60ft cables, I think, definately not 130ft. I needed more than 60ft at the time (and likely will when I move into my permanent place), but didn't know how to go about making longer cables so I never hooked it up because of that reason.

I'm a bit confused. The title says there is a 500GB HDD but the description says no drive is included.

Is the drive just thrown into the woot box when shipped or is it included but just has a bad description?

yuxiet wrote:You don't have to go to the cheap route when you are shooting with "Canon 7D, 40D - Canon 100-400mm L IS, 1.5x Kenko TC, Canon 500mm f4 L IS, 60mm Macro"

Spent all my money on photography equipment so no money to buy cables with.

Before you hook this up inside your house and punch a hole through your firewall so you can view your cameras remotely, you might want to check out this disturbing tool that will neatly pluck all the usernames and passwords off a large number of Zmodo devices. The bug may have been fixed in later versions of the software, possibly including the ones sold here today... but how can you tell??

Anyway, look: These are cheap. They work surprisingly well for as cheap as they are. I especially recommend them for interior monitoring. But you're not going to get the best performance out of these units. If you want better, pay a LOT more, or spend a lot of your time with a Linux box and Zoneminder.

ba1980 wrote:Is there a cheaper way to extend the video/power cables?

It depends on what you mean by 'cheaper'. Using a device called a 'balun' you can send the video over cheap twisted-pair cables and stretch the length out quite a bit. However, most baluns only carry one signal -- video. Of course, with a little shopping you can find a device to put the power on the twisted pair, too.

Now, however, you've got a messy stack of adapters going on and you've spent money on a spool of Cat-5 and a pack of adaptors... Is this actually cheaper?

I bought 1000' of Cat6 for wiring a network in my new house. It works just as well for extending camera wires. I cut the ends off the stock camera wires and soldered them onto the Cat6 using one twisted pair per wire.

ba1980 wrote:Is there a cheaper way to extend the video/power cables? I bought the 8-cam unit a while back but have moved and haven't hooked it up yet. Mine only came with 60ft cables, I think, definately not 130ft. I needed more than 60ft at the time (and likely will when I move into my permanent place), but didn't know how to go about making longer cables so I never hooked it up because of that reason.

I've used standard video coax cable at work to extend the cameras. The only difficulty may be that the cameras and DVR's use BNC connectors rather than the screw-on F-type. We use BNC's for other applications so I had the connectors and crimp tool. Power comes from a 12V wall transformer. I picked up a couple of cheap ones since I didn't want to run the power back to the DVR.

ba1980 wrote:Is there a cheaper way to extend the video/power cables? I bought the 8-cam unit a while back but have moved and haven't hooked it up yet. Mine only came with 60ft cables, I think, definately not 130ft. I needed more than 60ft at the time (and likely will when I move into my permanent place), but didn't know how to go about making longer cables so I never hooked it up because of that reason.

I'm curious what everyone does to secure/conceal the DVR unit? After all, if someone breaks in and carries it off, it doesn't do you much good. I'm more worried about that than actual installation issues, thus I consider and pass on these when they show up on Woot.

No I did not. I posted on other zmodo sales on woot around that time with my frustration with the company.

PemberDucky wrote:did you reach out to us when all this was unfolding? keep us in the loop when things like this happen!

This is what I've been thinking of doing with one of these set ups.

I am the Pinewood Derby Committee Chair for our Cub Scout Pack. Last year I projected the heat participants onto the wall and the Scouts ate it up. They were able to see who was on the track and they could call out their favorite cars.

I've been thinking of getting one of the no HDD systems and placing cameras along the track and then projecting the four shots also. I think it would be fun to see a cameras eye view of the start, the transition and two of the finish line.

My question to all those induhviduals that have worked with these systems it... will this work? The gym we do this in is well lit.

What say you?

The way I see it, you get what you pay for. Don't short yourself when it comes to security! Go with Digital Watchdog or Ganz. Very reliable!!

Jensen Computer
[mod: url removed]

Hodakaroadtoad wrote:I'm curious what everyone does to secure/conceal the DVR unit?

They're cheap enough that I'd consider buying two, hooking the camera's up to both, and having one hidden in the attic or elsewhere. They'll find the visible unit, take it and be satisfied they left no evidence behind. Meanwhile all the same video is being captured by the hidden unit.

stienman wrote:Are there links to past discussions? I'm thinking seriously about buying one, but want to make sure it's not going to bite me later.

Is the remote access usable and nice? Primarily through iOS, but also curious about web browser compatibility. Does it really only work with ie?

Are the recordings available remotely, or just live surveillance? Can I download sections of the recordings remotely, or is the only method via USB flash drive at the recorder?

When copying video to a USB stick how is the video timestamped?

How well does the machine recover from power outages - are all settings saved, or do you have to set it up again? If you don't have a hard drive in the machine are the settings still saved? Is the clock set by NTP, or does it have a realtime clock with battery internally, or does it forget the time and, like a VCR, require user intervention after a power outage?

I purchased one of these systems awhile back and have been very happy with it. Please see my review. It answers most of your questions.
http://dinofiocchi.com/post/20012289184/woot-zmodo-surveillance-system-with-dvr-and-4

I bought a 4 channel dvr off here in May, then sold it to a neighbor and got the 8 channel with Domes. The Domes are horrible at night even with all my exterior lights on.

My suggestion is if you are buying one, consider that you are just buying a DVR. Because the included camera's are not that nice.

The camera's I recommend are on Amazon. They are called VideoSecu 1/3" CCD and have like 50 Reviews. The camera's are $45/ea shipped and blow any zModo camera I have ever had out of the water. I uploaded a video to demonstrate the quality.

Also, if you want to try to extend how many days of coverage you have you can alter resolution (CIF,HD1, etc) and change frame rate down to like 15 FPS.

Overall I like my 8 channel DVR. But seriously get better camera's. These are just starter cameras.

It's on the first one. Look at the last sentence.
"Surveillance kit includes an 8-channel H.264 real-time standalone DVR, two dome cameras, two bullet cameras, four video + power cables and a 12V DC power supply
The DVR is an 8 channel, fully integrated, real time, and hardware based standalone digital video recorder
Supports up to 2TB 3.5" SATA hard drive (500GB hard drive Included)
A hard drive is not needed when using cameras for surveillance, but is required when using DVR for recording camera images
The DVR is based on an embedded Linux operating system and includes a remote control for easy setup and operation
DVR functionality is easily controlled by using either the remote control or the front panel controls on the DVR
DVR supports network access through Ethernet RJ45 interface
Support DVR backup via USB flash drive, removable drive, recorder and network
The DVR also features the most updated 4G/3G mobile support Preview via mobile phone (iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry and Windows mobile phones)
Use the 15-pin VGA output to connect a computer monitor (monitor not included)
Playback resolution 704x480
The cameras included in the kit are weatherproof, day/night, security cameras with 30ft night vision
Record Mode options include Continuous, Time Schedule, and Motion Detection
Each camera comes with a 60-foot power and BNC video all-in-one cable
All four cameras are powered by one AC adapter using a 4-way power splitter
Hard drive & monitor not included in the package"

No you would still need a DVR with no HD. Because the systems use the network connection via the DVR to transfer the vid to iPhone.

You can get a cheap DVR with no HD though so its overall still the best deal you are going to get for a setup like that!

MissHornsby wrote:Would the dome surveillance camera work as a video baby monitor, using my iPhone and/or computer as a receiver?

Did the cameras you purchased back in May have CMOS or CCD image sensors? I'm guessing they probably were the lower end Zmodo line of cameras that do utilize CMOS sensors. If this is the case, I would definitely have to agree that they are not going to give you the highest resolution image. However, it looks like these kits have CCD sensors for the cameras. Therefore, these should be similar to the cameras you mentioned from Amazon.

The type of image sensor is probably the single most important feature to look for when buying a security camera because it has the largest influence on the outcome of the video you see on the other end. CCD is a higher end sensor while CMOS are a cheaper alternative.

illusion71 wrote:I bought a 4 channel dvr off here in May, then sold it to a neighbor and got the 8 channel with Domes. The Domes are horrible at night even with all my exterior lights on.

My suggestion is if you are buying one, consider that you are just buying a DVR. Because the included camera's are not that nice.

The camera's I recommend are on Amazon. They are called VideoSecu 1/3" CCD and have like 50 Reviews. The camera's are $45/ea shipped and blow any zModo camera I have ever had out of the water. I uploaded a video to demonstrate the quality.

Also, if you want to try to extend how many days of coverage you have you can alter resolution (CIF,HD1, etc) and change frame rate down to like 15 FPS.

Overall I like my 8 channel DVR. But seriously get better camera's. These are just starter cameras.

Previous Woot for the Zmodo BRN-KDS8-OARCB22N 8-Channel DVR Surveillance System with 2 Dome Cameras, 2 Bullet Cameras etc was on July 31 at http://tech.woot.com/forums/viewpost.aspx?postid=5105920

Some medium reviews there, but some very skeptical views. Check it out. Based on those reviews I would not buy that item. Don't know about the rest of the items in this lot.

Anyone have these dome cameras? I bought a four-camera Zmodo system a while back. My only complaint is that the cameras that came with it are bullet cameras (ie narrow field of view). I would like to replace two of them with wider angle cameras. Would these two dome cameras do the trick? Or are they the same bullet camera in a different package?
-Mark

The first set had 1/4" cmos which was utter crap. The second set had 1/4" CCD ...they were slightly better (at least the color was better) both sets were 3.6 mm. However, the VideoSecu 1/3" CCD camera's have been the best one's I have ever owned.

sethhill2 wrote:Did the cameras you purchased back in May have CMOS or CCD image sensors? I'm guessing they probably were the lower end Zmodo line of cameras that do utilize CMOS sensors. If this is the case, I would definitely have to agree that they are not going to give you the highest resolution image. However, it looks like these kits have CCD sensors for the cameras. Therefore, these should be similar to the cameras you mentioned from Amazon.

The type of image sensor is probably the single most important feature to look for when buying a security camera because it has the largest influence on the outcome of the video you see on the other end. CCD is a higher end sensor while CMOS are a cheaper alternative.

I have one of these domes connected on my house right now, however they are going to be the same as the bullets.

Like a previous posted said, you want CCD not CMOS camera's and if you want a wide view 3.6 mm would be just fine. If you want a zoomed in view ... basically just up the mm ... for example 6mm. It will be a narrow zoomed in shot.

markwild wrote:Anyone have these dome cameras? I bought a four-camera Zmodo system a while back. My only complaint is that the cameras that came with it are bullet cameras (ie narrow field of view). I would like to replace two of them with wider angle cameras. Would these two dome cameras do the trick? Or are they the same bullet camera in a different package?
-Mark