Q-See QC808-461-1 8 Channel HD Digital NVR with 1TB Hard Drive and 4 HD 720p IP Cameras (Black/White)

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Price: $899.99 $875.00   

Product Feature

• Full HD Recording Resolution (HD 1080p: 1920 �1080/HD 720p: 1280×720)
• 4 High Definition 720p IP Cameras with 100 Feet Night Vision Range
• Four Built-in POE Ports that eliminate the need for extra cables
• Offsite Remote Recording on IP Cameras
• Pre-installed 1 TB A/V Rated SATA Hard Drive

Product Description

Monitor your home or business with levels of clarity and detail never before possible with Q-See� s completely digital, high-performance 8 channel Network Video Recorder and IP camera bundle. The first do-it-yourself digital recorder of its kind, this bundle is pre-equipped with four Power Over Ethernet (POE) ports, eliminating the need to run a separate power cable or buy extra, expensive equipment, saving both time and money! The four included 720p high definition IP cameras connect directly to the NVR using the included 100-foot RJ-45 Ethernet cables which supply power to the cameras and video to the recorder. The four cameras deliver true high-definition recording, which results in fluid on-screen motion. The system can also accommodate up to four more 720p cameras, or be upgraded with 1080p cameras for even greater picture quality. The Q-See NVR� �s ultimate benefit is the flexibility it affords through its ability to operate and connect with remote IP cameras. This single NVR manages and records up to eight cameras simultaneously regardless of where each camera is located. In addition to the convenience of monitoring various properties, enjoy an extra layer of security by placing the NVR in a safe, low-risk location to limit access to the system and its critical recordings. Calibrated for color-rich image and clarity, the QC808-461-1 is the perfect digital surveillance solution for your home or business. Whether you need to monitor employees or just your backyard, this NVR & IP Camera bundle covers your needs with its flexibility and crystal clear quality.

Q-See QC808-461-1 8 Channel HD Digital NVR with 1TB Hard Drive and 4 HD 720p IP Cameras (Black/White) Review

Surveillance Camera Systems

The following is my security camera experiences in our 2500 sqft. retail shop.

So you want a good camera surveillance system, but can't afford the high prices that professional installers charge? Let me give you some details so you don't make the same mistakes we did over our 2.5 year experiment. Had we known these tid-bits in the beginning it would have saved us a lot of time and money. At first we thought that buying a camera surveillance system would be a piece of cake; just buy one of the many cheap boxed systems and install it. Turns out that was wishful thinking! But in the end we built a high performance system that any "do it yourselfer" can install and maintain, and for much less than professionally installed systems.

Most importantly, remember this; police and courts need clear detailed pictures or videos to identify criminals and defend against frivolous lawsuits! If your system can't do that, it is a waste of money!

1) What video security systems am I writing about?
The systems discussed here consist of a Security DVR, Cameras, and the cable to connect them.

2) What is a DVR?
A DVR (Digital Video Recorder also sometimes call a NVR) is basically a small single purpose computer that stores your surveillance videos on a internal hard drive. Most all have a connector to plug in a standard computer display or HD TV for viewing your videos. Some retail boxed systems actually look like a monitor, but have all the computer parts and disk drive built inside and are very compact.

Note: There are also DVR "cards" that can be installed in a desktop PC computer. They are more expensive, and require hours of monkey-ing with computer hardware and software. Unfortunately, the reliability of PC DVR's is based on your computer knowledge and skill. Leave it to the pros.

3) What about these Surveillance Camera Systems in a box I see for sale at electronic stores?
We purchased several lower cost retail boxed systems (and seriously 15+ different cameras and recorders). They all had such mediocre grainy video, we returned them all! Digital zooming to see more detail with lower resolution systems creates an unacceptable grainy image. You need as high a resolution system as you can afford so digital zoom can produce clear videos and snapshots. We learned this the hard way when a burglar was caught on video with our first analog 420TVL system. When we tried to zoom in to get a good image of his face, it was too grainy to recognize. Even our last analog 660TVL system did a "just barely acceptable" job in my opinion. Although it did help police convict the burglars in our third and last break-in, the zoomed videos and pics were grainy at best.

4) Ok then, what is a good system with decent video for zooming?
The cheapest way to get ok zoomed images are with 600TVL to 700TVL analog cameras and DVR's (surprisingly, these are called high resolution, a hold-over from days past). But for really useful quality video, I highly recommend the newer "Digital HD" (high definition) 720p cameras and DVR's, or the top of the line 1080p models. While a 660TVL analog system is only about 1/3 of a megapixel, the new digital HD systems deliver an astounding 1 megapixel video for 720p models and 2 megapixels video for 1080p. This is substantially better for digital zooming so you can view details, like a criminals face. HD has been around in TV's for years... not sure why the retail security market has been so far behind. But it is finally here.

5) What about these convenient wireless systems I see at electronic stores?
None of the reasonably priced `wireless' systems we tried worked acceptably.
We tried three, and after our own experience and researching opinions online, is seems none of the lower cost wireless systems available in 2011-2012 work satisfactorily. And unfortunately with wireless, your video can be viewed or jammed with a transceiver available to anyone. Reasonably priced secure wireless security cameras are still a dream.

6) What about these PTZ cameras I see for sale?
PTZ (Pan/Tilt/Zoom) are remotely steerable and optically zoomable cameras. Unfortunately someone has to be at the controls 24/7 to steer them. And wow, the good ones are super expensive! Leave them to the mall and casino security teams. Besides, one wide angle HD camera can usually take a PTZ's place if positioned correctly, though admittedly with less zoom capability.

7) Can I take a boxed Surveillance Camera System home and install it quickly?
Camera positioning takes a lot of thought! Don't just slap them up, think about what the cops will need to see. When we got broken into the second time, we couldn't see the guy's face on video because of a baseball cap. We then remounted some cameras lower. Surprisingly, floor mounting some cameras gave us the best video coverage. Also, different cameras are available in normal, wide angle or telephoto models for special video coverage needs. We have a floor mounted telephoto pointing at the front door to catch facial detail, another window mounted telephoto to see license plates in the parking lot, and four ceiling mounted wide angles to see shoplifting activity. Because our suite has two rooms, one of which is non-square and full of camera blocking racks, I wish we had more cameras...

8) How many cameras should my DVR handle?
For a small retail store, buy a 600TVL to 700TVL analog high resolution or preferably a HD Security DVR, that can handle 8+ cameras! If budgeting, buy a few cameras now, and then add additional cameras later as your budget allows. Over time you will ALWAYS want more cameras. A 4 or 6 camera DVR will need to be completely replaced (more $$$) if you want more than 4 or 6 cameras in the future!

9) How much is this going to cost me?
In mid 2012, a decent quality 8 camera analog 600TVL to 700TVL analog high resolution system costs between $1500 and $2200, and a HD system between $2400 and $3000. You can cut the cost of entry by buying a 8 camera capable DVR and a few cameras now, then adding more cameras later as you can afford them. Many sites are predicting that HD will displace analog as quickly as it did in TV's, but who knows? I just know that buying old technology never works out for me. Bottom line: We found out the costly and time consuming way that less expensive systems were inadequate for protecting our assets and defend against frivolous lawsuits.

10) What about LED day/night cameras?
Rule of thumb: day/night IR (Infra-Red ... IR light is invisible) LED cameras work fine, but only up to about 2/3's the advertised illumination range. No matter what brand we tried they came up short. So buy cameras with an IR range that is about 1/3 more than you need. Also, don't go crazy with the IR range either. We tried a day/night camera with a 50 foot range in a small room, and the picture was greatly overexposed. Note: All day/night cameras with LED's produce black and white pictures when it is dark. That's ok, as long as it's high resolution or preferably HD.

11) Are there cameras that can see in near darkness without IR LED's?
Yes. They are called low lux cameras. Good ones are expensive and need at least a slight amount of well positioned light to work satisfactorily. The two we tried worked, but if the small amount of available lighting was coming from behind or above (moonlight), all we saw was a silhouette of the criminal. IR LED cameras work easier and are better to identify night time crooks for us.

12) What about power for the camera(s)?
Two options: You either need a power outlet near every camera, or power the cameras with siamese type video/power cable. Siamese video/power cable carries video AND power to the cameras from the DVR location, so the cameras don't need a power outlet locally. This is important to get the optimum camera viewing angles needed. Remember that the cable isn't cheap, so budget it in.

13) Watched some security videos on the news, noticed they were jumpy. Why?
It is simplest to explain video the same as film, as actually pictures (frames) that are swapped at a fast rate. 24 to 30fps (frames per second, also sometimes called ips or images per second) is similar to what your TV and theater movies display. This is visually pleasing, but consumes too much disk space for 24 hour security camera videos. DVR's allow you to select the fps, thereby reducing the video storage disk space needed. For our use, 7.5fps missed some action and blurred fast moving people/objects and therefore was unacceptable. 15fps (frames per second) is a good compromise for us, giving fairly smooth more natural looking movement on our videos without eating up too much disk storage space.

14) What other limitations do DVR's have besides total number of camera's?
DVR's have a limit of how many total fps they can process at one time from all cameras.
Example: If the DVR is rated at 60fps total, and has 8 camera ports, the available fps per camera is 7.5fps (60 / 8 = 7.5), too few in my opinion. I would opt for an 8 camera DVR with 120 total fps (15fps per camera), or a 16 camera DVR with 240 total fps (again, 15fps per camera). Both of these would allow each camera 15fps for video capture. (Note that some manufacturers refer to fps as ips.)

So my final recommendation for the small business owner is spend your hard earned money on a 8 or 16 camera (also called channels or ports) HD 720p system (or a HD 1080p 8 or 16 camera if you've got the budget). They are relatively easy to install and operate even for smart non-techies. With proper camera positioning, these will give you great video with good digital zoom to nail the criminals.

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