Review on 📹 ANNKE 5MP Lite H.265+ Surveillance DVR Recorder: 8CH Hybrid 5-in-1 CCTV DVR for Enhanced Security Camera Monitoring with Easy Remote Access and Motion Detection - Supports 8CH Analog and 2CH IP Cameras (No Hard Drive Included) by William Pacino

I tried other brands (I won't name them here) but they were just useless (couldn't stop hundreds of false alarms, detection errors, etc.). With this DVR I was able to eliminate almost every possible false alarm and still get 100% detection, real-time email/SMS alerts and event recording. The DVR records 30 seconds before and 30 seconds after the event and can send real-time email/text with multiple photos of the most relevant images from that period; which is pretty good at capturing what you need to see to pinpoint exactly what happened (i.e. who got to your door, etc.). You can live view one or more cameras simultaneously through the mobile app and the PC app. Viewing event history is very easy by just going to the markers on the timeline or searching for specific events on specific cameras. You can even view events with two cameras synced side by side (which comes in handy when you see people/vehicles entering the field of view of one camera and then moving to the other). The UI looks better than most (nice graphics and easy to navigate). However, the system setup takes too long due to the lack of useful general default settings (i.e. you spend many clicks setting the parameters for each day of the week for each camera, so repeat this many times for 7 days x 8 cameras). = 56 windows to click to set the most common "do this always” setting). Some things (like setting up event triggering/recording and setting up event scheduling) are confusing in many places and easily overlooked. For example, you've set up a bunch of event triggers/alerts but forgot to also go to a separate menu section and set up a recording schedule and then nothing happens, leaving you confused and frustrated. The manual is better than most, but there are still some poorly worded and poorly documented features (e.g. almost the entire "Recording Schedule" section of the UI). To make matters worse, some of the features in this section just don't work (I've been working with their support team (who's been very responsive) on these issues, so hopefully they'll fix it). Perhaps the most useful feature of this DVR is its ability to detect what is known as "VCA events". This lets you set up things like Line Crossing, where you can draw a line and then set it to trigger an alarm if something crosses the line one way, the other, or either way. You can also enable Gather People, Loitering, Remove Objects, Parking, Unattended Baggage, Face Recognition, etc. Shared block domain motion detection. Blocking the area for motion detection (most dash cams support it) will never eliminate false alarms due to shadows, bugs flying near the camera, sprinklers, clouds, car lights, etc. "Line crossing" detection means something happened. to actually move across the line (like your step in front of the front door) instead of just highlighting a square somewhere in front of the camera. This eliminates 90% of false alarms. I've set my system to record both motion and VCA events, but only send emails/texts and audio alerts on VCA events (so I overwrite historical information, but only when something actually happens). Unfortunately you can only set up one VCA event (fixing this would really make the DVR stand out). So I end up using a VCA event for the most important camera (like the front door) and then restricting the range of motion and lowering the sensitivity for the other cameras to limit false alarms there. As with all other dashcams, you'll have to play with the motion sensitivity to get it right. For me, setting the sensitivity to 1 works for motion detection within 5-10 feet of the camera. Aim for 2 to spot movement within 15-20 feet and 3 or more to be further. The higher you should set the sensitivity, the more false alarms you should expect. When setting up the movement area, also limit it to as few squares as possible. Try turning them all on, then see what actually works at different sensitivity settings (you'll probably be surprised). Then remove any areas that you don't really need. This will greatly reduce your false alarms. Bottom line, the hardware works. There are some bugs in the software and some UI issues (I hope they fix them in an update). However, this is the best DVR I've tried. It has more features than most and it works. For the price, you can't beat it.** UPDATE (2019) ** While it's still the best and most affordable DVR CCTV system, analog security systems are almost obsolete. If you don't already have analog cable/CCTV systems (e.g. coax), you are much better off investing in a digital NVR system. It is best to use wired POE cameras and a high quality NVR such as Reolink or Amcrest. Inexpensive NVR systems typically do NOT have all the triggering features (line crossing, loitering, etc.) and will still cost you more than a CCTV DVR system. But the ease of use, higher resolution, application independence, and perspective justify the extra cost.