Customer Reviews for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
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Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
8 Color CCD Camera Kits
Average Customer Rating:
(28 Reviews) 28
(out of 28 reviews)
Rating Snapshot (28 reviews)
5 stars
11
4 stars
4
3 stars
5
2 stars
3
1 star
5
18 of 28(64%)customers would recommend this product to a friend.
Customer Reviews for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
Review 1 for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
Rating:
hummer
Location:Mesa, AZ
Date:December 29, 2009
Value for your $$$ Good Purchase...
Pros: ease of setup, many useful software features, adequate nightvision.
Cons: coax cables are delicate, mouse is jumpy but adequate.
Model Number: QSDT8DP
"A great home system. We now have coverage around the entire perimiter of our home. The night vision quality is good for the money. If you want a killer lux value then be prepared to spend a few thousand dollars on a system. I had to order 4 more 100 ft. cables which are easily found online for approximately $12.00 a cable. It has been my experience that when you couple cables together you increase the chance of failure and can increase db loss, so try to use single factory cables. DO NOT pull these cables through pipes or handle them carelessly. They are not manufactured with commercial grade coax and can easily break. If you use a staple gun DO NOT nick the cable with any staples. We handled the cables with care during our installation and had no problems with any of them. You may wish to use another infrared mouse. The unit supplied is very cheap and jumpy. I would also recommend burning the system in on a kitchen table or work area and let it run for a couple of days. This will allow you to become familiar with the software, test the cameras and cables for any defects prior to hanging them outside. Another useful tip would be to leave what is called a cable maintenance loop near each camera. This will allow you to move the camera to a nearby location if you are not satisfied with its position. I used the RCA style plug from our video monitor to the DVR because it was the easiest way to run an extended cable between the devices. If your monitor does not have an RCA style jack then you will have to use the VGA input on the DVR. Remember, you don't want to install the DVR in a conspicuous place as any would-be thief could rip the unit out and take it with them defeating your purpose. I poured over many home surveillance systems for months and decided on this system due to the night vision capabilities and the reasonable price. I hope you find this helpful"
16 of 16 people found this review helpful.
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Review 2 for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
Rating:
Schlinger
Location:Los Angeles, CA
Date:December 29, 2009
Good but with a few caveats
Pros: good technical support
Cons: no mac support, no blackberry support, no windows 7 support
Model Number: QSDT8DP
"This was our first camera surveillance system purchase. We purchased it to keep an eye on the house when we are at home and away. We had it installed by our handyman and he was able to install it in about 8 hours. He needed to purchase extra wiring since the wires included with the unit were not long enough for us for any location except one. One of the 8 cameras is not working but this could be due to the installation or it could be a faulty camera but I don't know why it is not working at this time.
After the system was installed, I followed the instructions to open the various ports on my router, and then I opened a browser to see the system online but I only saw my Ooma phone system, which I love, setup page instead of the cameras. After phoning Ooma support, I had to change the set up from Modem>Ooma>Router to Modem>Router>Ooma, and our phones were working but I could not see the cameras online. I phoned Q-See technical support and they advised that you can only view the cameras online using a local IP address from inside your network, and you can only view the cameras on the Internet using Internet Explorer running on XP, Vista, or W2000. There is no support for Firefox browsers, Windows 7, Mac computers, or BlackBerry phones at this time. I find it hard to believe that in 2009 a company would not offer Firefox support, which is used on both PC's and Macs. Additionally, you must have a video card with DirectX capability, which most computers do have.
For $500, the system does bring peace of mind but Q-See needs to step up their support for all computer platforms in order for this to be universally recommended."
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Review 3 for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
Rating:
SecretAgent
Location:Texas
Date:December 30, 2009
great product for the money
Pros: cost effective product
Cons: no sound
Model Number: QSDT8DP
"I had looked for a long time at various basic security systems. When I saw this at Costco, I ordered it and have not been disappointed. I have 6 of 8 cameras up and running and the picture is excellent. I have access from the internet up and my iPhone. The instructions were straightforward and "cook book" style, but you will have to have an understanding of networks and how your home network is setup, in order to get it working. Tech Support has been great and responsive. No sound from the cameras, but not a huge drawback. 320 gb drive is nice with ability to handle up to 2 one TB drives. All in all, I'm very pleased."
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Review 4 for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
Rating:
TopGear
Date:February 19, 2010
Good Value
"I have had this system, my first, for about one month and will try to bring up each area of the product.
DVR unit - It runs on the noisy side. Hook-up is very easy and straight forward. The DVR remote is IR, this seems dumb to me as one should hide the unit some where and the remote should be RF. I really like the motion recording. It does not work well at night, but it does work. It is interesting to see bugs flying around that you never notice.
Cameras - No audio, but unit can handle 4 audio inputs. I believe that for the price they do the job very well. The night vision is not that great but I guess I did not expect any better for the price. If there is a little ambient light it does do well. One of my cameras failed after one week. Awaiting a new one, I have to mail the bad one back at my expense.
Cables - Hook-up is easy, 60 foot with connectors at each end. The connector ends are big. If they staggered the connectors it would be easier to pull the wire thru the wall hole. I did find that I could splice additional wire easily. What they have under the insulation is one red wire for the positive volts DC and a yellow wire for the video with a common DC/video bare wire wrapped around the yellow wire. I did lengthen to 100 feet with no problem.
Mouse - Junk, but serves its purpose.
Software - Works well, could be better.
Networking - This is a big problem in getting it to work. It took two technical support calls to get it working properly. The instructions are not good enough that you can do it yourself. The web based interface will work with Firefox if you install the Coral IE Tab addon.
I don't think you could find a better system for the price."
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Review 5 for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
Rating:
Cornflakes
Location:Los Angeles, CA
Date:February 4, 2010
Great product
Pros: professional system, works on iphone, easy to set up
Cons: cable connectors are big, no support for emailing or uploading, poor user interface
"My original fear of getting a security cam system was the installation and running wires, but as it turns out, with some proper planning and a bit of research, it's not too bad.
The video quality is much better than I expected, even with the cables that comes with the system. It feels like the kind of stuff I see installed in businesses. Definitely not cheap at all.
My only gripe about this is the size of the connectors on the cables. The video connector (BNC) is about 1/2" big in diameter. There's also a molded piece in the middle of the cable that splits the cable into video and power. That piece is slightly bigger than 1/2" wide. In other words, you would need to drill holes that are 1/2" wide in your walls. Had they given the option of connecting the BNC connector yourself, we would be able to drill smaller, neater holes. Instead, what I ended up doing was cutting the wires and splicing them. A bit messy, but it works in the end.
Works great with iPhone. Requires Internet Explorer if you want to see and configure over the web (highly recommended).
The actual interface on the DVR itself is a bit clunky. Not exactly intuitive, and takes some time to figure out. It certainly could be improved.
Night vision on the cameras are decent. The infrared lights on the camera glow red when they're on, so people see a red ring around the cameras at night.
This package comes with 4 cameras with wide angles and 4 with more narrow angles.
Overall, I'm very happy with the system!"
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Review 6 for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
Rating:
UviB
Location:Portland, ME
Date:December 4, 2009
World Class Upgrade from Original Q-See
Pros: feature rich, cost effective
Cons: wish they had an android app
Model Number: QSDT8DP
"This DVR and camera package represent the best product release by Q-See through Costco. The h.264 compression standard conserves disk space, the cameras have good night vision and adequate resolution. The system comes with 4 narrow and 4 wide field of view cameras...lots of coverage. This is a feature rich DVR with a bunch of cool features that make Internet access easily available through the iPhone and Windows Mobile. I'd rate this at 6 star but the rating system only goes to 5."
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Review 7 for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
Rating:
Hank2
Location:Bellevue, WA
Date:May 24, 2010
Great System
Pros: great cost effective system, documentation available online
Cons: install carefully as this is an electronic system, documentation dould be better
Model Number: QSDT8DP
"I have bought 2 different W-See systems, 2 of which are the 8 camera version. I have 11 cameras installed outside and 5 inside. I had no problem wirh the wiring but was careful with the install as this is an electronic system. All cameras and the 3 system functioned perfectly. The 8 camera systems integrate under CMS so I can get a composite of all cameras. Technical support was on a call nack basis, but this is not unusual. Indoors the cameras lack sensitivety under low light but the IR works great, even in totally dark. Even adding second hard disk was easy and the system recognized it. I use my intranet to watch, monitor and program the Q-see systems."
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Review 8 for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
Rating:
Mastertech
Location:San Diego,Ca
Date:December 9, 2009
Beware
"DVR should have had a 320 gig hard drive installed but was shipped without one...VGA output works for 5 mins then goes to no signal [solfware glinch]...BNC output ok..but not happy with picture.. I will Return Items.."
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Review 9 for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
Rating:
Jitu
Location:Chicago
Date:December 29, 2009
Good product
Pros: price & costco
Cons: no audio
"This is Exellent for the price you paid
I am using Q-see form 1 year and there was no problem
You cannot aspect camera quality same as Camcorder I do not see anything wrong for setting ( if you not familier with electronics then it will be hard for you same like you set your DVD player)
overall i recommond this product for the price and based on my Experiance with other 3 diff sytem from other company,"
I am using Q-see form 1 year and there was no problem
You cannot aspect camera quality same as Camcorder I do not see anything wrong for setting ( if you not familier with electronics then it will be hard for you same like you set your DVD player)
overall i recommond this product for the price and based on my Experiance with other 3 diff sytem from other company,"
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Review 10 for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
Rating:
Trini
Location:San Jose, CA
Date:April 29, 2010
Need a lot more work
Pros: motion dectected recording
Cons: ie only, web application manger freezes during playback, manual is hard to understand
Model Number: Q-See 16 Ch H.264 Network DVR
"This is our first security system. We don't have any issue with setup because we are very technical people.
The quality is something that need some work. I am not sure if this is the good price for this quality or not, but it can use some improvement.
UP:
1) Motion Sensor recording - This is great that we can just playback area where motion is detected.
1) Motion Sensor recording - This is great that we can just playback area where motion is detected.
Down side are:
1) Picture quality - You can tell that the person entering your home is a male or a female, but you cannot see the person face clearly. At night, cannot tell at all if you don't know the person.
1) Picture quality - You can tell that the person entering your home is a male or a female, but you cannot see the person face clearly. At night, cannot tell at all if you don't know the person.
2) Web Application for remote access - only support IE. Sometime the app freezes during playback and you have to close your browser and start all over again. I own a MAC, so cannot use IE. I had to install VMWare and install window virtual machine.
3) Backup 164 file and converted to avi. the avi cannot be play by your normal media play if you don't have the right codec. It would be nice if it support various recording resolutions, such as 720x480.
4) DVR is a little noisy to me. It would be nice if it's more quiet.
So far all the cameras are working. We only have it for a few weeks, so let see how long it will last. We have to restart the DVR once, but we lost our connection and cannot monitor it.
We will try it out a little longer and see. So far, it's okay, but i think it could be better."
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Review 11 for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
Rating:
Flcat
Location:Orlando, FL
Date:March 3, 2010
Good Purchase
Pros: quick set up, cameras settings easy
Cons: instructions not very good, mouse not the best, camera cable could be better quality
Model Number: QSDT88GRTC-320
"We had the first camera installed and system up and running after work. The instruction could provide more information and details. The cable connections did require the larger holes but we were able to buy a female-female connector to connect two cables together. We will purchase higher quality cable to see difference in video. Night vision works on people walking around and some animals (better in cameras with outside lighting in view). One of the cameras (wide angle) is not as clear as it should be. Good buy for the money and we have not done the internet connection. We were able to view system from a computer using router ip address(delay in video). It's been running for 2 weeks."
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Review 12 for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
Rating:
Tulsa
Date:February 24, 2010
Had to Return - Mouse Port Would Not Work
"Had to return, the USB mouse port would not work. Manual suggests trying plugging and unplugging mouse several times if it's not working, but that was to no avail. Manual also suggests trying other mice - I tried the one that came included (which should have worked) and tried 3 other mice, all to no avail.
Without working mouse, you cant (or at least not easily) set up many of the features, such as the motion sensor. Also, remote had to be directly pointed to box at very close range for it to work, making it impossible to have monitor and box in seperate locations since mouse wouldnt work.
In good news, costco paid the return shipping and promptly refunded.
On a side note: cables for cameras are white, which may be an issue depending on color scheme where used."
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Review 13 for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
Rating:
Jeweler
Location:NJ
Date:February 23, 2010
Great equipment/ Easy installation
"After reading and doing some research about camera systems I decided to take a roll of the dice with this system. I figured if it was bad I can always take it back to a costco store and get a refund. The installation was SIMPLE, a true plug and play setup. The DVR is a little small on space, I am recording 6 cameras at once 24hrs a day and after a week I need to clear out some space. To get the system for remote monitering I called up the customer service for Qsee and the agent logged on to my computer and set it up. If you are using a router it can be a bit tricky was was completed in less than a half hour. Compared to quotes around $2500 this is the BEST deal around!!!!!"
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Review 14 for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
Rating:
servo
Date:February 4, 2010
Very Good
"After reading the reviews submitted and deciding to go ahead with the purchase I can say that I'm very pleased with this product. Installation was straight forward and the port forwarding is not bad at all. Overall had the whole system up and running and viewing the camera's over the web in a couple hours. Great setup for the price."
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Review 15 for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
Rating:
Anonymous
Location:California
Date:February 4, 2010
Fair Value
Pros: cheap, works reasonably well
Cons: cheap, medium to low quality
"Understand, these are low resolution units so don't expect sharp pictures or the ability to identify people except from very close range and not at all at night. At first this system worked well for the money, but 3 of the 8 cameras have faded out over time. Higher quality replacement cameras have significantly improved the quality, but you can't do any better than the overall system resolution. If medium quality imagery is adequate, this is a good buy."
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Review 16 for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
Rating:
Anonymous
Location:Holbrook NY
Date:November 23, 2009
Great Deal!
Pros: ease of use
Cons: none yet
"Excellent system easy install works great even at night. Easy on screen menu's never even had to read the users manual.
I can monitor my home from anywhere with my lap top or cell phone."
I can monitor my home from anywhere with my lap top or cell phone."
33 of 37 people found this review helpful.
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Review 17 for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
Rating:
Nikkco
Location:Miami, Fl
Date:December 15, 2009
Not that good as it appears to be
Pros: costco's return policy
Model Number: QSDT8dp
"I thought this was a new product from Q-see but it turned out to be the same old cameras & old DVR program as in other models but just repackaged in a new outer box. This is the 3rd unit I have owned from Q-see and I have had problems with all of them. This one too is going back. The camera quality is not very good and the DVR program is hard to use and outdated."
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Review 18 for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
Rating:
LLtia4U
Date:December 10, 2009
MIXED REVIEW
Model Number: QSDT8DP
"THIS PRODUCT IS NOT FOR THE FEINT OF HEART!!!! If you have no experience with port forwarding and IE browsers,DYNDNS (domain name servers!!) etc then this product may require professional set up!! OK in all fairness I managed to figure it out (I have a computer science degree) but it took too long to understand the instructions to make it manageable. THIS IS NOT PLUG AND PLAY!! Good things: night vision is good, 8 cameras, motion recording OK but can be annoying. BAD: no sound from cameras, picture quality is so so, way too complex to set up, instructions are too professional oriented vs the regular guy.Due to cable length constrains TV monitor must be close to your router.
NOT SURE: have yet to get iphone working. Although im beginning to get used to it, its been a month and I think I will return it because the interface is not user friendly. Yes you can buy professional installation but after buying a system with no sound would you want to spend more money on it ????!!!!"
NOT SURE: have yet to get iphone working. Although im beginning to get used to it, its been a month and I think I will return it because the interface is not user friendly. Yes you can buy professional installation but after buying a system with no sound would you want to spend more money on it ????!!!!"
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Review 19 for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
Rating:
Disappointed3
Date:December 28, 2009
Not Recommended
"I purchased this system to replace an existing system as it looked like a great deal, compared to spending twice that to upgrade my existing system. When it arrived, I quickly looked for a quick setup guide to get up and running. To my surprise there was no such thing, in fact the documentation supplied did not have anything on the initial setup. Don’t get me wrong there was documentation, but nothing that was suitable for a person who is not familiar with these types of systems. After getting the system started, it became apparent that this system was lacking all the way around. I found the video quality poor at best. The program was not intuitive nor user friendly. The mouse was difficult to control and had no settings for adjusting it. I guess it is still true. You get what you pay for. I returned the product the very next day."
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Review 20 for Q-See 8 CH H.264 Network DVR CIF Real-time Recording
Rating:
shopper365
Location:San Bernardino County, Ca.
Date:November 28, 2009
Easy home monitoring
Model Number: Q-See 8 chan.H.264 Network DVR
"Easy to set up, works great, good night vision. Included lots of directions in packaging if needed. Also included a card with information for obtaining professional installation services."
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.
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