Zmodo 4 Channel 720p HD Complete sPoE NVR Security Camera System w/ 1TB HDD

I had previously given this product 1* because after I had ordered, each time I clicked on my order to check on it, a 1 TB Hard Drive was included in the image. I therefore thought it was missing from the shipment. However, after I enquired, the seller contacted me and advised that the Hard Drive was not included; seller should correct the photo that keeps showing that a 1 TB Hard Drive is included. This Zmodo camera system is technology ahead of the other cameras on the market with a price which doesn't break the bank; it is also an upgrade from what Zmodo offered last year. I am very pleased with my purchase.Having now installed the cameras, I am updating my review. The main drawback is that the NVR and the POE switch should be separated so that the NVR can be stored in a safe/locked place since this is where all the information/storage is kept. If someone breaks into your house and steals this piece of equipment (since by design it has to be out in the open), it doesn't even matter that you had cameras installed. Hopefully for next year, Zmodo will realize this and change this aspect of the design to make the product worthy of 5 stars.

Despite the problems, I would buy again. I am going to give a long and detailed review in case anyone wants information on some of my issues/concerns as I detail below. I am as far away from an expert on video as you can get.First, the big positives. The PoE is great. This means one wire to the camera rather than two. The camera signal and power for the camera itself are on the same cable. These were easy to install, except the fact that I had to drill holes and snake wire through my house. Wireless cameras are something I didn’t want to deal with, and I have read a lot of recommendations against wireless security cameras.For the price, this system is the least expensive I could find that had high def PoE cameras. I don’t think you can get what is included for anything less. Note that the monitor wasn’t included (I have several spares around the house), nor was the hard drive, which I bought separately. Buying the hard drive separately is something I would recommend unless the thought of opening the unit, making a few basic connections, and putting in four bolts scares you.I am not a big electronics guy, but the instructions on installing the hard drive were clear and easy to follow. The biggest problem I had was lining up the screws with the holes to secure the hard drive, and that really wasn’t a problem. Also, on the size of the hard drive, I went for a 4 TB drive, the max. I got the 4-channel model and have installed all cameras. I goosed up the video quality as high as it would record, and I figure I store way over a month of recordings on the hard drive. I can tell I could have easily gotten by with a 2 TB drive. Make sure you select the right hard drive when purchasing separately. There are special technical requirements for hard drives that go into an NVR – that means not any hard drive will do.Besides installing the hard drive (first time I have ever done such a thing), the rest was even easier. Just plug things in and they worked. The camera quality is high def, but don’t expect to read a license plate from more than 30 feet, especially at night. The cameras are 720p, which I think are the lowest rating and still be considered high def.Now for the problems. My DSL has a slow upload speed, so I have elected not to take advantage of remote viewing of the cameras, say on my iPhone while away from my home. I have good download speed, but crappy upload speed. While this is not a knock on this system itself, it is something to consider and I think there will be many folks in my position. So, I am not sure this feature will work well given my available network resources. Also, for some reason, when I plugged the NVR to my router (two feet away), it messed up my wireless connections for other devices on my home network. It created some sort of conflict that I never bothered to troubleshoot. I don’t intend to upload or access the recordings through the Internet. Also, the documentation is an issue which I will explain below.The next thing wasn’t my biggest problem, but I would think this could have been easily resolved and therefore the biggest annoyance. The documentation that came with the camera was a quick setup guide. I wanted the full manual, and there was a link. But Zmodo’s website doesn’t give you a clear indication, based on the model I purchased, as to which to download. If I got the right one (and I looked for over an hour), I believe the manual is meant for several models. This isn’t a big deal but wasn’t as detailed as I would have liked. For example, it wasn’t entirely clear, because of the model I purchased, whether the option in the manual pertained to mine. Sometimes there was an asterisk that identified this, but other times not. I had to presume, for example, that the remote control didn’t come with my model (if it did, well I didn’t get one). The manual I had showed that one should have shipped. My experience is that some electronics have features only available on the remote and nowhere else. So I had a dilemma, should I install this or not. So, I read the entire manual, and nothing in the manual referenced the remote except briefly on one or so pages. Eventually I reasoned that I purchased a model that came without one. Either this is true, or they didn’t give it to me and should have (I can tell you if I got it, I probably would never use it). Because of the confusion on the manual, I am still not 100% on whether I have the right manual downloaded (I would say I am 99%).Troubleshooting isn’t in the manual either, it refers you to the website. And the website isn’t all that well organized in my opinion given the questions I have had. One little thing too, I’m a bit of a dolt, and it wasn’t clear to me that in the evening, the camera image switches from color to black and white. I thought I had changed a setting which I was looking for until much later I figured this is what happened (how the heck am I supposed to know that?). Simply informing you that this will happen would be a great help to me. Also, the specs on what to expect as to camera range and quality would be nice. At night, the range decreases. For someone like me, it isn’t clear that this would happen. I had to find out after I installed the cameras.Finally, the biggest issue. The system comes with 4 cameras and 4 cables: 2 at 50 feet and 2 at 80 feet. Sometimes, when I look at the playback of what is recorded, I lose the two cameras hooked up to the 80-foot cables. It takes sometimes up to an hour or so for the NVR to reacquire the camera image to one of the cameras. My guess (and this is a guess) is because of Poe, the signal is weak on the two cameras with the longer cables. The unit takes time to pick it up. Possibly one of the cables was bent or crimped (also a guess on my part). But nothing in available in the troubleshooting addressed anything on this issue. It isn’t even clear to me I am in the right part of the website searching. I should be able to find my model #, search the website, and see if what is written there pertains. This problem is much worse on one of my cameras attached to an 80-foot cable. This black out of the camera also occurs every morning on that camera when the image switches from black and white to color.

I bought this system almost a year ago but I'm 65 yrs. old and had no one to put it up for me. My grandson is off from college because they closed colleges because of corona virus so he set them up. They work amazing BUT there is no disc . so I can't record anything. It was supposed to come with a 1 TB disc. There isn't even a place to fit a disc unless its supposed to be inside. Can you please help. Seeing as it's almost a year theres no send message to seller button.

These are impossible to setup and way out of date they sent me a trash system I would not recommend them at all

easy to setup and program

The unit working good as expected, I installed an one terabytes hd. The picture shown with HD but arrived without HD installed.

Did not come with hard drive as shown. No contact information to reach out to support.

Having trouble getting it to work properly. Also confusing to hook up.

Hard to set up. Automatic settings for your rooter simply dont work. Lots of problems if you not IT eng. Android app. rubbish. Can not access recorded footage from phone or PC using Zviewer when you want. If want to skip record fotage just not appear. App freezes often. Daytime picture quality OK. Time on DVR no accurate. After week time changed over 1h! I would not recomended this product.

Situation: Auf dem Dachboden soll der Receiver stehen da man dort wunderbar mit den Kabeln am schnellsten unters Dach kommt.Die Kabel sind Klasse. Durch die sehr schmale Form lassen sich die Kabel wunderbar in vorhandene Kanäle legen oder unter den Dachpfannen fix plazieren.Zuerst habe ich nur 3 Kamers angeschlossen gehabt. Die 4te sollte erst kommen wenn die Schilder für die Videoüberwachung angebracht sind. In der zwischenzeit ist eine Kamera kaputt gegangen ( das Bild wurde bei Helligkeit sehr stark weiß und fleckig ).-> Zmodo..... naja ich denke die mühe den Support zu kontaktieren kann man sich sparen. Entweder man bekommt Links zu YouTube Videos wie man das Kabel in den Receiver steckt oder garkeine Antwort. Die verstehen entweder kein Wort oder sind wirklich einfach nur stumpf. Man redet immer von Servicewüste Deutschland.... da kann man nur sagen bei Zmodo herrscht ein ServiceSchwarzesloch.<-Also hat Amazon es wiedermal gerichtet ( dafür ein sehr großes Lob ).Die Defekte Kamera ausgetauscht und komisch oh komisch... das Kamerabild ist von CH1 nach CH4 gewandert. Also habe ich die letzte Kamera auch noch angeschlossen und siehe da... als hätte ich es nicht schon geahnt.... klappt nicht. Die Kamera meldet sich nicht am Receiver an. CH1 ist Timeout. Receiver neu gestartet nix.Ein Admin Remote über das Webinterface habe ich auch nicht hinbekommen. Es können sich immer nur Gäste über das Webinterface anmelden und keinerlei Einstellungen vornehmen. Also muss man Setup einstellungen immer Vorort vornehmen. Für die Sicherheit ist das gut für den gebrauch eher suboptimal.Die Oberfläche zum Einstellen sieht auch eher aus wie ein Webinterface Projekt einer Schulklasse. Aber das kann jeder für sich selbst entscheiden. Für den Preis kann man wohl auch nichts anders erwarten.Mal etwas positives: Die Kamerabilder sind sehr gut. Bei Tag und bei Nacht kann man alles super erkennen. Das Design ist schmal und modern gehalten daher kann man die Kameras auch super in Ecken verstecken wo sie nicht direkt ersichtlich sind.Endfazit: Die Kameras und die Kabel sind super. Design und Form sind einfach zu hand haben. Der Receiver ist nicht so toll. Die Software ist rotz. Für ein Unternehmen welches sich so aufplustert ist so eine Software abzuliefern echt ein Armutszeugniss. Made in ChinaDen Preis finde ich auch etwas Fragwürdig wobei das teuerste die Kameras sein dürften.Man muss selbst überlegen ob man das Geld für dieses System ausgeben möchte oder evtl doch ein paar Euro mehr in die Hand nehmen möchte für ein anstänig Programmiertes System. Ich würde es zurückschicken aber leider ist meine Frist abgelaufen. Ergo ich muss jetzt damit leben aber empfehlen kann ich das System nur bedingt. Ich hätte mehr Geld für etwas anderes Investieren sollen ^^ ( das dann wohl Lehrgeld ).Werde noch ein kompletten Werksreset des Receivers versuchen und schauen ob sich dann alle 4 Kameras anständig anmelden. Ein Rezensionsupdate folgt dann.UPDATE: Die letzte Kamera konnte dann auch Inbetrieb genommen werden. Ich musste auf der Oberfläche unter Kameras die ausgetauschte Kamera aus der Liste löschen. Die Kameras werden beim anschliessen mit einer der IP der Kamera gespeichert.Was noch vergessen wurde .... Man kann ein Display am Receiver über entweder HDMI oder VGA anschliessen. Daher sind alle gänigen Anschlussmöglichkeiten abgedeckt.

Die Kameras sind ok. Allerdings ist man als Laie bei der Anbringung auf die mitgelieferten Kabel angewiesen, da die Kameras einen Micro (?) Usb Anschluss verwenden. Somit kann man nicht selber Cat5 Kabel crimpen und so die Länge anpassen. Die Bildqualität ist ok. Allerdings brauchen die Kameras einige Zeit für die Initialisierung, nachdem man sie angeschlossen hat. Die Wandhalterungen sind nicht allzu hochwertig. Ich kann mir nicht vorstellen, dass sie länger als zwei Jahre überstehen. Die Benutzeroberfläche ist ziemlich simpel. Die Ersteinrichtung geht schnell von der Hand. Der Einbau der Festplatte ist ebenfalls ziemlich einfach. Die Online-Funktionen funktionieren meistens, aber nicht immer!! Alles in allem ist das Set für Einsteiger ok, mehr aber auch nicht.