Side by Side Comparison of: Zmodo vs Jooan

This system has good value for its low cost. I opened the box, plugged everything together in my study to test it, all the parts worked and the display looked cool. It took me four hours to run 400' of cable (hidden in walls and out to my home's exterior), mount the cameras and hook up everything, like the NVR box, mouse, my display monitor, etc. I misplaced a camera mount and called Zmodo who sent me another, free.After everything was connected the system continued to work as described in the product info description on Amazon. Great videos of the newspapers being delivered at 4am or a sparrow flying too close to the camera. I had some challenges setting up my iPhone 6 to communicate w the system and called Zmodo customer service. In less than five minutes it was up on my iPhone and my portable PC. Now if we could only get the people approaching our front door to stop wearing hoodies or dipping their face down as they approach the cameras' security would be perfect.Look, if a retired CPA can get this Zmodo system to work with only one service call for iPhone connectivity it must be good. YMMV

Can't beat this system for the price. Installation was a pain in the a$$ for me, just because I had to run the Ethernet cables through my attic. Everything else about the setup was simple. I ended up upgrading to an 8 channel NVR so I could add additional cameras. So far I have the 4 spoe Ethernet cams and 3 Wireless Zmodo 720p cams (which also work well). After setting up the wireless cams with my wifi network they automatically synced up with the NVR. With the 7 total cameras, my 1TB hard drive stores about 3 1/2 weeks of video.NOTE: I did have to upgrade my modem & router to get this system to work consistently. I had an old router/modem gateway that couldn't handle the constant connection required and it would drop offline quite often (3-4x day). I've read other reviews that complain about the NVR system having issues with dropping off and I would say it's probably due to their internet, not the NVR itself. Also, if installing camera's outdoors you must weatherproof the Ethernet connection! I purchased an ethernet cable crimp kit so that I could customize the length of the cables and reduce the size of the holes I had to drill to run the cables. The kits are very cheap and easy to use (youtube can show you how).This system isn't as user friendly as some others, but once you get used to how it functions it's just as good as the systems 2x the price.

Surprisingly simple to set up. Power over ethernet is the way to go; no extra power cables required so i am glad i went that direction, and for the money spent i couldnt be happier. images and video to my phone also easy to set up and everything seems to work just as advertised.i am even transmitting from the dvr system wirelessly to my router in another room .. needed to plug the system into a repeater because i couldnt get cat 5 into my office anymore ... works fine and doesnt bog down my wifi .. seems to lockup my system about once a week so far .. but if that gets to be a pain i will spend the $30 to buy a better repeater and solve that problem.still playing with motion detection sensitivity .. and night vision is not anything to brag about .. but my goal with this set up was as a deterent first and as a way to monitor the new pool when i am at work .. so i am happy.i guess for money you could get better cameras that would zoom in and identify a persons face from 100 yards ... but i didnt need that here .. i can tell if my son is out by the pool .. or if the water guy is reading my meter out front ...everyone else sees the cameras and the red leds and at least know they are being watched ...

(Review after 2 weeks of use)I was researching for months for a diy - no monthly fee - monitoring for my home. Read some scary reviews but tried it anyway. Unit arrived 6 days after order. Packaging was no problem and item was intact.The system was indeed plug and play except for the port-forwarding. After system (auto) detects camera, the images are there and 5/5 for me (considering I am new in home surveillance). I used 2 flat Fosmon cat6 flat ethernet for 2 cameras to crawl on my window (I can still close my window) and used the 2 50 ft wires that came with the system.Monitoring: used a tv screen at home and Zsight for tablet/ipad/iphone/adnroid units for local and remote monitoring. You cannot view the 4 cameras in one screen using zsight but had to scroll one each (no problem for me). The alerts were fine. I had to play with the alerts settings.Good camera system considering the price and its utility for me. (BTW my background is in health and was able to set-up the system w/o calling support).

For the price I was not expecting a top of the line system. This was the only system in this price range I could find that was wide screen, power over ethernet, color, and high definition. To get all of those features in another system was much more expensive.At first I was horrified with the picture quality. I thought I was going to have to return the system. After playing around with the cameras for a while I realized that there is a major setting that affects the video quality. That setting is indoor versus outdoor. Each camera can be programmed differently, and if you have a camera outside set to indoor then everything is really blurry and extremely bright. You can barely see anything.The cameras are very buggy and require a lot of patience to function correctly. I have only had them set up for a few days, but I've found some odd issues. They are really easy to correct once you know how, but it can be very frustrating to figure out the first time. Here are the ones I can remember:*Indoor/Outdoor Camera Mode* - If set incorrectly the picture is way too bright or dark. The Zviewer PC application does not correctly show the option to switch back and forth. Sometimes the outdoor option will be available and sometimes it won't. If the option is unavailable then reset the camera to defaults and restart the camera and NVR until it comes up in the correct mode.*Indoor mode when restarted at night* - If the camera is turned on or restarted at night it will default to indoor mode. You should be able to get it to adjust correctly by shining a flashlight directly into the lens a few times.That is all I can think of right now. One other thing of note is when installing the hard drive. I do almost all of my monitoring of the system from my computer using PC Zviewer. You MUST connect a monitor to the NVR to format the hard drive. There are a few things that can only be done directly through the NVR, so if you get frustrated that you can't do something then connect directly and check if the option is in the NVR.I'll post a picture of my setup. I only have 3 cameras up at the moment. I haven't installed the garage camera yet.Thanks

The Pros:1. Very high image quality for cameras in this price range.2. Excellent Night IR and cut to good Daylight Color rendering (more about this later)3. Solid USA Based support and phone staff. They will even walk you through router config if you need help, including remote log in support directly on your PC if you need that.4. Almost unbelievable price / performance ratio. The cameras are solid and well machined, appear to be weatherproof, you get the whole kit: cables, 1TB recorder, and software for mobile and PC based, 4 high image quality cameras, all for less than you can pay for 1 Sony camera. This kit is being sold very cheaply ! It is a bargain !5. A good “plug and play” package with everything you need for the homeowner that wants to “give it a go” and install his/her first security system.The Cons:1. The software is a project in development and has issues. It is usable for and will suit most all home users. It is possibly not suitable for a commercial business environment, although it could be made to work in that application with patience and if you have some basic abilities working with these systems. It is being written by programmers in China, and although Zmodo does have a USA based R+D staff, there is a long way to go for them to get up to the standards of companies like Digital Watchdog and Honeywell that have years jump on them. You will be OK with this system and very happy as long as you are not expecting the very latest and greatest security system software.At first I was going to give this 3 or 4 stars but after working with both the system and with Zmodo support staff for the last month I think I can give it 5 stars. The system is very very inexpensive for what you are getting, and must be considered a real bargain, with a few caveats.After talking with Zmodos support staff, and getting a feel for what they are up to there at what amounts to a start up venture (They first organized the Zmodo camera business in 2008) I feel that it is reasonable to assume that they will continue to upgrade and update their software.I set the system up, and it was painless to get running, as the internal software in the NVR does a good job of configuring the IP addresses and getting everything “plug and playing” for you. After 48hrs one of the cameras failed. This is not unusual in inexpensive equipment as you, the customer, are responsible for the burn in and QA that would be done for you at the factory, if you paid 4x the price. I called Zmodo support and was surprised to get a real person here in the USA. They have a very well organized RMA system, and I was sent a replacement camera in a reasonable time frame.Overall I am very satisfied with this system for use as a basic security tool at my home. I have experience working with high end commercial security cameras, and can say that, surprisingly enough, the Zmodo cameras actually out perform some commercial cameras in two regards: many cameras have a devil of a time dealing with “IR cut” or “transition” in and out of light and dark phases at sun up and sunset, but these cameras perform excellent in this regard. Also the whlole system is smooth and not choppy, in real-time full motion recording and transmission over the internet. Not something that you can say about even some high end commercial gear! They do use software compression techniques to allow for transmission over slower internet connections, so the image quality you get on your Andriod or iPhone is no where near what is being recorded “on tape”, so that is not a defect, it is an engineering reality. When you pull the images off the disk you will have access to the full image quality, which brings me to my next important point:And that point is: the image quality passes the “Police Test”. What I mean by this, is that if you record an image of a bad guy in the eye of the cameras within 20 feet, and the lighting is reasonable, you will get a portrait of the character that can actually be used in the real world of police work. Most security cameras and systems simply fail to pass this important test.So, I rate this system as a “buy” if it fits your home use, and if you can deal with a software platform that is, admittedly, not the very best in the industry, but is certainly useable by most out there that probably don't need every bell and whistle anyway.

Excellent camera. I have this mounted on my front porch. Visibility at night is really good. I prefer the IP based camera's over the cctv type. I would like to find a cloud based DVR that could store my recordings so if anyone knows of something like that I would appreciate it. This camera is also quite rugged. Much better quality than I would have expected at this price point. Disclaimer I recieved this product at a dicounted rate for a fair and un-biased review. My opinions are my own and are not influenced by the vendor or manufacturer;

Great low light performance, not the best night vision but gets around 20ft. Good enough for a back door camera.Beware:Device is configured with a 192.168.1.XXX address. So make sure you have a router that will support that.

Great camera. Amazing camera for the price. For the security conscious folks, I would caution that I did monitor the traffic from the camera and it "calls home" to two separate IP addresses. One appears to be to monitor cameras remotely (located in China), I'm not sure of the usage of the other address, but it is located in the US. I just blocked those IP addresses to be on the safe side. I'm powering the camera with a PoE splitter so I only need an ethernet cable going to it.

For those of you who jump to the reviews and skip the full description: this camera does not come with a power supply.For the price, it is a very good camera, very nice 720p image, nice features and GUI. Couldn't get cloud services registered or DDNS but I have a DynDNS account so I didn't bother too much with that. Decent quality product, kinda bulky and may not be the prettiest one available but it does the job very well and por under $40 I cannot complain.

I got the item when it was deal of the day, everything integrated and worked out of the box and all the reviews that underscore "value" are accurate. I see this as a starter system where you can get the wiring in and setup a system that you just might want to replace/upgrade later. Couple items: though these cameras can integrate with other software the NVR and cameras themselves are proprietary in POE wiring layout, volts, and amps. So to sum that up, the wiring itself is Ethernet layout but the POE isn't standard from the camera to the NVR, so if you wanted to replace a camera you have to buy from vendor. On wiring, not all Cat5e is equal, I saw that this was bundled with Cat5e wire that was copper coated aluminum, at 19v and the combined impedance of 5 cameras on cold/hot long runs, you want solid copper wiring. The wiring provided would require close to a 1/2 inch cutout where plenum Cat5e requires much less if you crimp your own. If you perform a quality wiring job that would include using some 1-Gang Round Weatherproof Electrical Box, a service loop or extra wire in that box, and an extra cover for said box when you eventually replace with modern/better cameras. The software, uhmm if you have a router that allows you to reserve an IP address by Mac address, if you understand that, then the software is fine and you can turnoff DSN, UPN, etc. Each camera is itself is a Woot linux instance and if port forwarded would need to have a password changed managed. I would call the software adequate, the cameras adequate, everything "adequate" and this still a starter system for POE system. Your wiring will determine the quality of the power which ergo determines the ability of IR to work, etc.. Your switch/hub choices important, VLAN, Mac address and IP management etc.. if you know what you are doing and understand these terms and you have an old router/firewall WTG54 etc you are gold.. I got what I paid for and think that the wiring and site survey, learning curve is facilitated with this unit. I could add more units with networking and POE/wireless, But I'll probably just go higher end cameras if I do replace with a higher rating for weather. Again for what I paid I'm kumbaya and won't bother chasing an RMA with good wiring which I'm running myself. Best advice: run good wiring and use a good 1-Gang Round Weatherproof Electrical Box.

I had this system setup fairly quick thanks to my son for helping pull wires while I was in the attic. My system has a 2 TB hard drive installed and so far I can go back 13 days to review recordings...I'm impressed. The picture quality is good and the infrared night vision works well. I can view my live camera feeds remotely from anywhere using my iPhone. In fact, the attached picture displaying all four cameras was a screenshot taken on my iPhone. I have this system connected to my 720p TV using a VGA cable. The 2nd picture attached displays the infrared quality and recording screen though my TV.The system mouse is a little choppy when navigating through the camera system and going through the recordings. Other than that it's a decent system and fairly easy to setup.I didn't buy this system from Amazon, but purchased it from Woot for only $100 during a one day sale. There are better systems on the market, but couldn't pass on this system for the price.

I am very pleased with this system. The price paid vs. the quality and features is a good value. The picture quality is a big improvement when compared to the old 560 TVL analog system that it replaces. It came with pre-fab cables but I purchased some bulk Ethernet cable and connectors and made my own custom lengths. This also allowed me to drill smaller holes, then make up the connectors.The system booted up and worked on the first try. I purchased an inexpensive 40 inch TV with a RGB connector and I am getting a very good picture. The DVR has ample storage capacity for my needs. It also has ample basic programming features. The motion detection is maybea little too sensitive at the lowest setting. Bright sunlight and clouds moving overhead will set it off. Also bright sunlight with the shadowof tree leaves moving in the wind will activate the motion detection. The mounting bracket for the cameras is disappointing. Even when tightened the camera can be easily moved if it is bumped. With any outdoor camera you can get a spider web that needs to be removed. With this weak mount, you need to be very careful not to bump the camera with a broom or brush when removing the web.

Crime has gotten increasingly bad in my area. Wanting to make sure I am creating as many lines of defense for myself as possible I purchased this unit.The box it ships in is surprisingly small. The NVR is about the size of a small dvd player. The cameras are fairly small as well. Since this system is PoE the video and power are contained in the Cat5 cables. Only having to run 1 Cat5 cable for each camera makes installation a snap.You can use longer cables if you need the length. Zmodo recommends you upgrade to CAT6 cables for cable runs between 150 to 300 feet.I was able to get an acceptable level or surveillance for my property off of the included cable lengths. (2 X 50 Ft & 2 X 80 Ft)Setup is very easy although you have to hook up the NVR to a VGA cable to get started. Afterwards you can simply use the Zsight app to monitor the cameras with your smartphone.Many people insist on using this as an alert system which it is not really designed for. The NVR can be setup to send you alerts when the cameras detect movement. I would highly recommend against these settings. The software is very sensitive. With the sensitivity settings all the way down you will still be bombarded with perpetual notifications. Simply change the settings to Overwrite and record constantly. The included 1Tb hard drive will store about 30 days worth of video and start erasing the oldest recordings for the newest recordings. Allowing you plenty of time to go back and look for evidence if you notice your property has been tampered with.If you do seek a quality alert system, many people have claimed success with third party software such as ispy or blueiris. You can simply use your PC to monitor the video feeds and store pictures and video clips. Using this method will provide you the best of both worlds. You will have a perpetual 30 day loop of video and alert service with your PC.The cameras I have installed are all outside. It has been over a year since I have purchased this unit and all the cameras are working great. I have them all placed under the eves so they are naturally protected from moisture. The IR lights provide some assistance at night but if you live on a large property you may want to consider purchasing a separate IR light.The IR lights around the cameras emit a red light when the IR is active which will draw attention to the camera. I don't consider this to a be a problem as it acts as a deterrent.Now I am looking at integrating some indoor wifi cameras from Zmodo into my current system. I am very satisfied with my purchase.

I am no expert, but did a lot of research before ordering the Smodo system and think it was the best option for me and most other people wanting a security camera system. It is the easiest to install and the quality of the camera's, day and night, is very good. The downside on hardwired and wireless systems in they need a electrical power outlet close by and in most cases that is not available and must be installed. The PoE IP Ethernet solves that problem and doesn't impact quality.There were two problems, one with careful handling worked OK and one that will require the DVR/Unit to be replaced, but they were very willing to replace it (the VGA output doesn't work but the cameras and system can still be accessed by a computer or cellphone). The other problem is the adjusting screws in the base mounting. One was actually cross threaded when received and the others could have been. The screw hole is too large and has a minimum of thread surface. With careful attention to replacing the screws it was possible to mount the cameras - don't over tighten!. Many people will not realize this is a problem area and have problems mounting the cameras.In summary, would I recommend it to a friend or buy it again, YES! This is the right product at the right price. With better screw holes and better quality control of sending the DVD/unit out with a defective VGA output it would definitely be a 5 STAR product!

UPGRADING THE RATING OF THIS PRODUCT To 4 Stars (August 12, 2014)Ok, quick update; the image quality and camera field of view of this system is very good, overall system performance is very good also. Per Zmodo product manual recommendation I installed a high performance 2TB Seagate ST2000VX000 harddrive with this system. At highest image quality settings and 25 frame/second each camera uses about 25 Gigabytes per day disk space. So, that's about 100 Gigabytes/day for 4 cameras or about 18 days of constant recording using BEST CBR quality at 25 frames/second. If image quality is reduced from BEST to Very Good, and change CBR to VBR, and reduce frame rate from 25 to 15, the recording time can be increased about 50% while sacrificing very little on image quality.As far as I know, among all ZMODO products 720p cameras offer the best image quality, even better images than the 960h analog cameras. All things being equal a digital camera seems to have better color detail than an analog camera such as 960h.Unfortunately, if you reboot the cameras in the dark, they will not focus properly and images look blurry until sunrise or a bright flash of light (such as car headlights) shines on the camera and allows the camera to refocus. So I avoid restarting the system at night and fortunately after a few days of tweaking/configuring the system once you adjust the configuration settings to your liking, you won't have to reboot frequently. I hope this problem will be addressed in the future firmware updates...The other downside with this system is that there are 3 different user interfaces that you need to use in order to access all the functions/configuration settings of the system (direct Console offers some functions, but not all, ZVIEWER software has some functions but not others, and finally using Internet Explorer ACTIVE X plugin gives you some other functions (firmware upgrade and browsing video files is easier using AcvtiveX mode). But unfortunately there's not a single user interface that provides all the functions and configuration settings in one place, so you have to switch back and forth using 3 different user interfaces to adjust all system configuration settings and functions.Hopefully in the coming weeks/months ZVIEWER software interface will be upgraded/refined so all system settings can be configured with it. Browsing and downloading previously recorded files through internet explorer interface is much easier than ZVIEWER software. You can see details such as file size, duration information using internet explorer. But, you must use ZVIEWER software to change default recording length or image quality or change frame rate of each channel.==================================================Original Review Below:Do not reboot or power cycle the cameras at night or when it's dark or the image will become blurry/out of focus.I just got this system couple days ago with 2TB Seagate hard disk, and just like another reviewer I found that my cameras become blurry if I reboot them at night! If a bright flash of light shines on the camera (like car headlights) the image restores to normal (or you have to wait till morning for the sun rise). Rebooting the camera or resetting image settings does not help at all once camera becomes blurry.ZMODO please test this problem in your lab/factory and hopefully issue a software fix. I believe during the reboot that takes about 30 seconds, the camera is initializing image settings (white balance, focus, etc...) and during this time the IR lights may not be turned on or it maybe too dim for camera to properly initialize the camera. Whatever the problem, this is very disappointing.Otherwise (as long as you don't reboot the cameras in dark) the images during the day and night are very detailed and clear. The wide viewing angle (2.8mm lens) allows me to see the entire street 180 degrees with just 2 cameras.There's some learning curve with the software, the IP cameras individually have too many configuration settings that are redundant (NTP, etc)Zviewer software can not remotely make all configuration as from the console and the console does not have some of the features as the ZVIEWER software, so you end up going back and forth using both of them.I'm thinking about returning this system and getting the analog 960h version.

The camera itself is very nice. It feels well built.

Bought this to replace my similar security camera, and I have not regretted it. It has a very solid build, the video quality is outstanding. My only complaint is for motion detection, it wasn't very intuitive.

Not as clear at night, day vision is good.

Good value. I've now installed enough of these that I've figured out how to do it, and this one held only one surprise: each one seems to come up on a random address in 192.168.1.xxx. Most come up on a fixed address, and lots of people with they'd come up DHCP enabled. What I hate is the use of the 192.168.1 subnet, with a mask of 255.255.255.0. The 192.168.0.0 network is a 255.255.0.0, and that's how my network is setup. Every time I get one of these things I have to setup a temporary net for it (or change my laptop to a fixed address and plug the camera into it).The software that comes with these is the usual junky CMS stuff, and you need to use Internet Explorer and soften a lot of Active/X security settings under Internet Options->security, in the Local Zone. You may need to put the device's address explicitly in the local zone by numeric value.The "device manager" hidden in the "updates" folder is semi-useful. It will find the device so you can configure it with IE. I haven't figured out how to use it to configure them.In practice, though, you'll be better off doing your setup with the "ONVIF device manager" software freely available, and using another ONVIF DVR program. I use Blue Iris, which has no problem setting these up. You could also use the free ISpy, that I find that uses more cpu on my PC and Blue Iris works better.For those who are on something that doesn't have Internet Explorer, you can use VirtualBox and a time-limited virtual machine that Microsoft makes freely available for testing from [...]

Work as needed and were very cheap compared to competitors. It says it requires an outside power source, but I just used a PoE data/power splitter and got a PoE switch. Worked without a hitch, and don't need each camera running to a power outlet in some way now.Works well with a Jooan NVR, which i would completely expect.

This was a good little camera. Bad part, is that it only works with the proprietary software.

The product overall is of descent quality. The cameras produce a descent picture but do not expect it to be clear on anything past 35 feet or so. If you have that need get 1080 resolution unit/cameras.PROSRelatively easy to setup- the email notification isn't as easy as I expected it but it is not that complicated eitherThe scheduling of when / what to trigger those notifications isn't as easy to setup as I expected itCables to connect the camera come in two different lengths and they seem to be long enough for most applicationsCONSThe warranty process is very cumbersome - they seem to not believe the customer when the customer says you bought it in USA from store 'X'.My BIGGEST issue is they changed the software that you can no longer view 'Higher Definition' on your cellphone. Why pay for something you can't use remotely. I want to be able to recognize the person from 35 feet away but I NO LONGER can. They claim nothing has changed but it has so that is a second negative hit against them. Everyone else is improving the quality of their software, resolution and Zmodo is downgrading it.Would I buy another Zmodo; unless they fix their 'HD' streaming I would not buy their product.

The warranty was 1 year when I purchased this system. Between 16 and 20 months, 2 of the cameras failed. I understand that the warranty is now 2 years. These cameras are sealed, seem to be good quality and I had them out of the weather. I'm not sure why the failure rate is so high. Be prepared to replace cameras from time to time if you purchase this system.

Thought the product had wireless - after running 100 ft of wire from my router to the device thru walls and such, installation was fairly simple. But be prepared to run wires.If you go to their website for help - you'll find none. There is no 800 number to call, no customer support, just links to PFD's on installation.This product software does not work well,untill you install additional software. The app doesn't work at all on my android, unless I am on the same WI-Fi as the camera are - no good when I'm away from the house! . Every two to three weeks on PC, I have to uninstall and install the software because it says "device not active" when it is. Very frustrating. Had to download (an pay more money) for an app that works with this product. This information came from another review for the Blue Iris (PC software and Android App) - Seems to be working ok now.Wish I knew this before 3 months of frustration!

Read some of the other reviews on here. Most of the complaints are correct. The software for these is complete garbage. The cameras themselves seem very high quality. The night vision provides decent contrast yet shorter range and lower definition, and the IR LEDs glow faintly red in the dark. The FOV is fairly wide, but part of the trade-off is they can't make out detail at a long range.The software is garbage. The web interface and stream viewing is via ActiveX control only, so it will only run on Internet Explorer. Furthermore I had to run in compatability view and tweak my security settings to get it working at all, and installing the activex control itself ran into complications on at least one computer I tried it on. zmodo support is.... passable. Staff is friendly, but the product interface and documentation isn't great. I encounter a lot of errors when applying settings, changing menus, or switching between devices via the web portal. There's also lot of extraneous features which are not functional with this model of camera. However, on the whole, it's "adequately functional" to perform the most basic tasks required of it. You can view channels live, or sift through past footage of motion detection events. It has a DynDNS feature also, but I'm not using it--rather I'm using my router's dynamic DNS to direct traffic on specific external ports so I can view remotely.The software is garbage. Have I mentioned that yet? It's so bad, that even zmodo themselves somewhat acknowledge this and provide a page on their knowledge base site detailing how to make these cameras work with a third party recording software: http://kb.zmodo.com/index.php?action=artikel&cat=1&id=306&artlang=en I also saw someone on here recommend Blue Iris, but at $60 for the software suite I'm not sure I'm ready to make the plunge, since I'd need to build an always-on Windows box to run it anyway. I've used various suites in the past for CCTV setups like this, so I'm fairly knowledgeable. Your free options will be limited compared to the paid software out there, unfortunately, but you do have options. To use third party software however you need to bypass the box altogether and record to a dedicated machine, since the box only works with its own embedded software. Each of the cameras themselves has the same software and interface as the box, however there are also raw video streams available you can tap into on them if you want to just stream it elsewhere.The Android app is ok, I'd give it 3/5 stars, while the iphone version is better, 4/5. I had issues with needing to log off and back on again whenever transitioning between the local wireless network and 4G on the go. Also, and this is important (I found out the hard way): The first person to register the device to their mobile app becomes the sole administrator of the device. My roommate registered it to hers for testing while we were setting it up, and now I need to contact zmodo support to reset my device ownership so I can register it on mine, otherwise I have no options to configure alerts, settings, etc... I have a feeling the phone app will consume a lot of 4g bandwidth if I leave it running a lot, however, so it's mostly just for peeking now and again or receiving push alerts of motion detection events. Unfortunately, the software doesn't seem to readily feed you the footage of the event that set it off, so you just get the alert and then have to go digging through the footage to find it.There's an alarm feature as well, which seems a little redundant, since to use it, you need to hook it up to an alarm system to trip it... seems like a good way to help any burglars track down and disconnect/walk off with your CCTV system and all of the footage on it.Overall I think this system was worth the price premium over the next system down due to the better quality and versatility of the IP cameras provided. Since the cameras are good, the only weak link is the software, and if that really matters to you, you can always upgrade by using third party software to run everything.

Cameras work well, not as sharp as i'd expect from an advertised 720p, but better than many security camera examples I've seen.The DVR interface is fine. I really wish the remote administration features were available with a web browser other than IE. Luckily I do have some Windows computers on my network. The Macs can't access the DVR at all.The android app to remote view over wifi-4g is terrible. It worked fine a few versions ago, but the last 3 or so versions crash every time I attempt to login. I've resorted to using ipcam viewer lite which works well, although setup is a bit more complicated than the zmodo app.The hard drive failed after less than 3 months. Viewing of the cameras continued to work, but no recordings were being saved. I replaced it with a new WD purple and it appears to be working correctly again. Hard to blame zmodo for a WD drive failure, but it broke nonetheless.

Update: I was able to purchase just the NVR which now has a 3 yr warranty, so I did not have to change cables, cams, etc.Update:I purchased in August of 2014. In April of 2015 my cameras began to have a problem with the IR cutout switch. The switch would "stick" on filtering IR at night giving a fogged image. I bypassed the IR switch which allowed decent night recording but with a washed out color during daylight. For surveillance this was adequate so I didn't RMA the cams. In December of 2015 the NVR lost power and won't power on. Zmodo has rejected my RMA request as out of warranty. Surveillance equipment should feature reliability. I now must replace the entire system including re-cabling and remounting cams because of the proprietary Poe system. I was just about to upgrade to the 1080P system after Zmodo support indicated I could still use my 720P cams with the new NVR. I guess the NVR failed just in time to save me from another mistake.pros:fairly good images. phone app works nicely on my samsung and htc smartphones.onvif compatiblecons:minimum 720p. my asante 720p cam is actually higher res and it is noticable.can't access ip cams with some other software, i.e. zoneminder, uses microsoft dll.conclusion:very good value and better than my analog cams by far.

Most reviews here for this camera are Fake. Check the user history for the reviewers. The only thing they reviewed are this camera only.This camera is the worst. After 4 hours of messing with it. Still unable to configure the camera.It is all in Chinese. There is no way to use this any way.Edit:Finally figured out how to get it working in blue irisHere are the steps1. Change the IP address with the included device manager software (installed from the CD) to whatever your network looks like. I changed mine to 192.168.3.xx2. Launch Internet Explorer and add the camera to trusted sites, and also change security settings as described here http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie8-windows_other/windows-has-blocked-this-software-because-it-cant/2e60d481-b8a3-4a1a-af73-afcb5a3f2e363. User internet explorer to browse to the camera at 192.168.3.xx4. Install the activex as prompted.5. At login, select the appropriate language before login.6. Go to "DeviceCfg" and then to "Advanced" and then to "Account".7. Change password for the admin account.8. Reboot as needed9. Once up, go to blue iris and add camera with the new IP 192.168.3.xx10. Select "Empire" as camera make and then "Empire IPC-1" as the model.Updated the rating to three star given that I was able to get around the hickups.

Camera is ok but comes without a power supply. That in itself sucks. Could of bought a different camera with power supply and saved myself the hassle if I had known!

1) Formats a 3TB hd to 500Gig with no warnings or complaints.2) Uses ext2 filesystem. Its ok, but there is no journal.3) Uses proprietary POE power. This means that you can't just point the IP of camera to the NVR even if its on a different floor. Example: I'd like one of my cameras to come from a different server room. I can't just configure the device to use a different IP because, I can't add a POE adapter on different floor.4) Goofy live streaming app. Can't even full screen one camera, but I can look at small images of four cameras. It has buttons for this, but they do not work.5) Must have an account with their other events app. Why should I need a 'cloud app' for direct streaming.6) They tried to oversimplify their cam events app, so you can't even specify an IP. I have like three different routers in my house. So I'm out of luck unless I want to put this thing on one network. The android app can't even find the NVR. I have to use a QR code to allow it to enter an IP. That's a good idea, but not allowing a power user to enter an IP is just a waste of everyone time.Update:7) If your network DHCP server is slow, it will polute your network with its own DHCP 192.168.1.xx. It doesn't filter it out for your LAN connection like it suppose to.8) I have Android TV. I cannot rotate the screen to see the play and stop button on the tv. With their android app, that keeps me from viewing it just like I do on my phone.Conclusion:IP cameras should give you a ton of flexibility, but not with this weird configuration. Beginners will find it straightforward if they have a simple network setup. I think this is the best value for the price but it still needs polish.Update May 22, 2017One camera has completely failed and will no longer turn on. Today a second one is half black because its failing. The NVR has to be rebooted often, it refuses to playback the history half the time. I had been using them a little over a year.

This is my first security camera system. I have had this system in place for over a year now. I have 4 cameras pointed toward the driveway and front of the house. I want to see if someone comes into my yard or tries to break into my car. I will start with how well this system works. In the middle of the day someone walked by and came down my driveway. They were looking like they wanted to steal my daughter's bicycle in front of the garage. My daughter happened to see this guy out the window and let us know there was someone in the driveway. We immediately ran to the window to see him walking away. Empty handed I assume. I yelled at him through the window as he took off running. I know all this because my daughter saw him and I was able to rewind the video to see that he heard us and was not able to grab anything. At no time did I receive an alert from this system. I went outside to look and starting receiving alerts from all 4 cameras on myself. No events were triggered by this potential thief. This system is sensitive enough that I receive false alerts all the time but not when it counts.The app that gives you remote status (Zsight) on your phone is even worse. It has login problems all the time. It stops sending alerts because login failed. The other problem is when you are actually able to stay logged in then it decides to disable notifications all on its own. The only benefit this system has is a live view of the front of my house. Do not count on this system to alert you when you need it. I am currently looking for another system. It will not be Zmodo.

Update:Obtaining tech support for this product has proven difficult. I was promised a user manual two weeks ago, which I never received, and I have not been able to get the videos to stream to the mobile application, which worked only for a few days.It the system were easier to disassemble and pack than it actually is, I would have sent it back by now.---These cameras work as advertised, and the basic setup is straightforward enough.The cameras provide high quality images, and the night vision is acceptable. The motion detection feature works, although it would be nice to be able to have a higher degree of tweaking.However I am having an extremely hard time locating instructions for this specific model,and the OS it comes loaded with. Therefore I have not been able to fully understand and configure all the features included with the system.The support site is a mess, and the method used for locating each model is not very helpful.Finally, the connection between the cameras and the cables is difficult to protect. The connector is large enough that in order to get it to through a wall would require a big hole.I ended up wrapping the connection in plastic wrap and then covering it with duct tape to make it less vulnerable.Overall, for the price it is a suitable system for home monitoring that's comparatively easy to install and get going.

I purchased and installed this camera system myself. Everything worked great for about a month. The set up was easy (other than having to crawl through my attic to install the wires). The cameras were clear, the app for iphone worked without any issues. Then I started to experience some issues. First - one camera stopped working. I contacted Zmodo and they sent me a replacement pretty quickly. The replacement worked just fine. Second - I started to experience issues with all my cameras. The colors during the day were not correct. It seems like the cameras are not reading greens properly, so my lawn would appear white. Zmodo recommends that I refresh the cameras but that doesn't work. The problem only occurs on certain days and I cannot determine whether there is a pattern or it just randomly occurs. Third - the app (zsight) is very buggy. At first the app was fine. One update from the app store caused the app to not allow me to view recorded content. That is no big deal as I could just access the recordings from the actual HDD. The latest update has rendered the app useless. One cannot view the cameras unless connected to the same wifi network that the system is connected to. This makes the whole system useless. I would not recommend this system. I would recommend a high definition system that has the software of a larger and more well known company.

I wanted to like this. Cool system, good price - too good to be true. Only two of the four included cameras worked out of the box. One camera continually resets over and over and the other works for about ten minutes then freezes until you unplug it and plug it back in. This is unacceptable. The two cameras that work are awesome and the system is easy to set up, but really? Half the product is dead out of the box. Maybe I have a lemon, I don't know. I'm currently on hold with customer support expecting to go through the usual "did you turn it off and back on again" routine until they've exhausted their options before I get to the part where I ship them the defunct cameras (at my own cost) and have them send back some potentially defunct or short lived replacements. Fingers crossed. I hope things go well - I STILL want to like this system.

The cameras and NVR (with WD Green drive 1TB) are quite small. The images are good (720p). The cameras have dual streaming: one at higher resolution (720p) for the NVR recording and another one at QVGA for the network viewing.In the bright sunny day, sometimes the cameras don't have enough WDR to clearly show the face of a person in the shadow (depending on the amount of the light reflecting to the person) when part of the image is very bright.If a person run in the front of a camera, the camera may have a hard time to clearly capture the face of the person in moving. I'd give them a better rating if the performance of the cameras meets my expectation.The cameras can sense the ambient light and they turn on the IR illuminators and switch the IR filter automatically in the night. The quality of the night vision isn't impressive. Additional lighting in the night would help the images.Warning: Zmodo sPoE is not complied to the standard IEEE 802.3af PoE and don't use the power injector from other vendors to provide power to the IP cameras. Please go to Zmodo Knowledge Base FAQ to find the wiring diagram.The setup procedure is relatively easy for me:I have a Netgear router and I made sure the DHCP server in the router was on and UPnP was enabled before the camera system was powered on.After power-on, use Zviewer on a PC on the same LAN to search the NVR and cameras in the LAN (LAN search). All devices should show up. Add all devices and double click the cameras to view the live images.After I set them up, I changed the default passwords of the NVR and each camera at once since someone in the internet could hack into your NVR and cameras with the default password. (Procedures to change passwords by Zviewer (PC version): Right-click the NVR or the cameras and select Remote Settings. Next select User Management and select Admin and click Modify User button. Enter new password.) (After the passwords are changed, Zviewer may not be able to connect to the devices. Procedures to login the NVR and each cameras in Zviewer: Right-click the NVR or the cameras and select Edit. Enter the new password and click OK.)To use Zviewer (PC version) to watch the live video streams outside your LAN without DDNS. You need to know 1. your internet or WAN ip address; 2. the external port numbers corresponding to the internal port 8000 of NVR and each camera (obtained from UPnP page in your router); 3. the username and the password for each devices. Run Zviewer and click Add devices. Use IP Search and manually enter the WAN IP address and the external port numbers and so on for the NVR and cameras.If the router is power-cycled, the WAN ip address or the port numbers may not be the same and you may need to re-enter the new ones in IP Search.Updated: 3/14/15After about one month operation, the NVR kept showing 'Disk is not formatted' even I formatted the hard disk or I power-cycled the NVR. I am in the process to contact zmodo.com for the RMA. Down-grading the stars to 2 stars.

Buyer beware: This camera makes outbound TCP connections to web hosting servers. I haven't yet examined the contents of the traffic, but it sends ~ 250 Megabytes / week to a web hosting company. None of my other cameras do this. Fortunately, my router lets me disable internet access per device. The camera has a maximum of 2 connections, and was a rather pain to figure out the RTSP connection URL.The camera is mounted in my barn, but I would probably not use this camera for inside home security.The picture is good and so is the night vision, that's why I gave it 2 stars.

Won't power correctly even with standard POE splitters. Even when finally powered, doesn't communicate with network (no IP address, perhaps requires hard-coded subnet, MS Windows, browser plugins, etc). Extra star just because of specs, value price, and it looks like decent build quality.

Well... it works ok I guess. The included software is nothing short of terrible. No support for any browser but IE. Even then, you need a sketchy unsigned active X plugin. Once the camera is up and running, it actually looks and works quite good. It's ONVIF compatible so works great with Blue Iris or Tiny Cam Monitor. For the price though, I would buy the HOCAM brand instead.

*Video quality is ok.*Night vision is primarily in the center of the camera view.*Keeps losing network connection.

After reading all the good reviews I bought 2 of these cams. Unfortunately the cams only work with their own software. Nice, clear picture, but that's the only reason I gave it 2 stars. First, a minor problem; no power supply. Fortunately it works with most any 12v power supply as long as the connector is compatible. Second, I won't say that I was mislead, but the cam is not designed to work with wifi. There aren't any configuration settings for wifi in the supplied software. Third, it doesn't seem to work with any of the preconfigured cams in Blue Iris. I wanted to use this cam as part of my security system that I control with Blue Iris. I'm planning on returning the cams and buying some that will work with my system.

Update: 10-20-2016 So it looks like they [Zmodo] did not like my negative review and posted a response that seemed to imply they were stepping up to do the right thing after all the problems I had with their system. After a full 68 minutes of wait time to speak to them I spoke to Patty from their customer service department who indicated that they would NOT support the device so my initial review is right. WASTE of money and time with that inferior company. Buyer Beware! If it looks too inexpensive there is a reason.Installed this in December of 2014. Had my first RMA on 2/23/2015 with a replacement camera needed. Had my second RMA on 4/30/2015 with a replacement drive needed. Had my third RMA in October of that year for a complete replacement of the recording unit and drive and then another RMA for a camera again.Every time required hours on the phone. I'm in the IT business and despite my troubleshooting they had to do all of their tests to confirm what I told them each time. For example: No video on channel 1. So I go take camera from channel 1 and put it on feed from Channel 2. Now no video on Channel 2. Seems there is no other conclusion than bad camera but they still want you to put camera from 2 in postion 1 to see if that works. What a waste of time and money. Now I have camera that died again after they replaced it twice and they are using original invoice date to deny warranty.Even when it did work the color was horrible on all but the best lighting conditions. It would jump back to black @ white all the time.Bunk!

This would be a great product if it would last. Mine worked for a few months before it started going offline causing me to be unable to use remote access until I rebooted it. Then at about 18 months the infrared on one of the cameras quit working. While troubleshoot this I noticed that it was no longer recording because the hard drive was full and the overwrite feature was not working. I contacted customer service at 20 months and was told...."here is where you can purchase replacement parts." I purchased my unit 11-29-14 and they say the 3 year warranty didnt start until 2015. Way to stand behind your product Zmodo.

I had this system for a little over a year and it has died. So First off the controls are a pain to use and I never did get it to connect with the app or go online. I continually got an error that my network was configured wrong. I work IT for a living it isn't. The APP is a joke at best. There is ZERO tec support for this thing.Shortly after moving to a new place I set the system up again only to find out it no longer recognized the HD. Ok I get it HD fail over time when used 24/7. So I bought a new 1.TB HD and replaced it... nope the system does not see it. I tried 2 more HD and the system would not see any of them. After looking all over the net I found out that this system will fry its self so short or replacing the mother board (waste of time and money) there is nothing that can be done.Again zero customer support badly written app, poorly created hardware. Buy at your own risk.

Out of the box one camera didn't work but I only needed three. One of the three worked fine during the day but all blurry at night. Zmodo has a known problem with their IP cameras that when your Router renews its lease the cameras quit working until you shut them off and reboot the whole system, sometimes you have to do it multiple times for them to all get working. Their "Zmodo Forums" say they're working on a firmware upgrade but that was over 6 months ago and nothing. If you are trying to keep an eye on a place that is far away this doesn't work out very well. If this is the case never buy their products. By the way, their customer service is non-existent.

This is an okay product for about 1 year. It has stopped sending alert emails and I can NOT format the hard drive. Since I can't format the HDD it won't record any longer.I felt like it did a great job at the price point. The infrared night vision was perfect. I was recommending this system since it was cheap, easy to install, free app and power over ethernet. However at this point I need to change this to a 1 star since the system is virtually useless.Also, one of the camera's is starting to blur out. It was right at the 1 year mark and I was not able to change it out before the 1 year Limited warranty expired.I sent several emails to support, no response. Their live chat is offline even though it states it is during business hours. I just tried calling and waited for 15 minutes before trying to hold my place in line by pressing "1" as the recording stated. Once I did that, I hung up the phone and received a phone call right back. I thought it would be a live person, but it was the same recording, "Thank you for your patience." No idea what to do at this point.

We purchased this product in September 2014. It simply went dead almost exactly 3 weeks after the 1 year warranty expired. I contacted Zmodo and their first response was to buy a new one. They didn't want me through any troubleshooting or other options. They didn't display any form of surprise or remorse for the product dying after just one year of normal use. They indicated that any implied warranty under the UCC has been revoked by the consumer, even though this is not conspicuously inferred on the packaging or in the paperwork. While it worked, the product was just OK. It got the job done. There are a lot of network configurations needed and if you want to view your cameras from your smartphone, you will likely need to contact your Internet Service Provider in order to have port 9000 opened. This can be a pain and some ISPs don't allow it. I don't recommend this product. We'll be buying another product from a different manufacturer, preferably one based in the United States.

Could never get it to work.Might be me.

Trash. It did not appear on my network when plugged in. Lack of PoE support makes this harder to install than it should be. Look elsewhere.Sorry, but I am NOT installing a program from a Chinese vendor with a broken website to configure an IP camera. Better webcams configure over DHCP and have web interfaces. Skip this one.

the camera relies on active X and or flash which windows or most cell phones don't use any more, would not recommend this camera.

I can not believe the extent some companies will go to falsify their user reviews!!! There is no way that this camera earned all the positive reviews posted. I bet that this review of mine will become obsolete shortly as a new listing appears with 47 more 5 star reviews and just a shight description change.THe build quality is toy like and flimsy. The picture quality is lower than a 10 dollar analog camera. The set up is in broken English like garbage text. The application fails to run on my PC. The web interface requires antiquated plugins that are full of security holes... Garbage, absolute garbage.

Camera might be ok but it comes without power supply.........couldn't use it without power supply.........that's why I couldn't tell how good it is, I sent it back.