Review on Amcrest NV4108-HS 4K NVR (8CH 1080P/3MP/4MP/5MP/6MP/8MP) Network Video Recorder -Supports Up To 8 X 8-Megapixel IP Cameras @30Fps Realtime by Ryan Lawson

I'm reviewing it for the third time and knocking it down to 3 stars. Still works, but now I have a video I want to download. You must directly plug in the USB flash drive to download. 10 files downloaded in 15 minutes. Each file started at the same time but took the right amount of time to match what I uploaded. I ended up with 10 files that ALL started at 1:30am with the longest being about 3 minutes long, so the part of the video I really wanted (from 1:35 to 1:45) wasn't any of the files. . In fact, I've tried several times to get videos for different days/time periods and every time I'm not getting the correct time period. ***** First test and first version below here ***** First impression was not good, apart from working it was easy to connect 2 amcrest cameras, an amcrest doorbell and a reolink camera . The firmware was released in 2018 and was just as bad as the firmware on my old 1080p 4ch DVR I used 4 or 5 years ago. Even worse considering he wanted me to install an extension in Chrome to use it. After updating the firmware to the latest 2020 firmware (without the Amcrest website wanting me to subscribe to firmware notifications. I had to google the direct link to the firmware downloads page) the user interface has greatly improved and the search after recorded data has become easier. and no extensions were needed in Chrome. I had issues with both of my 4K Amcrest cameras just "spinning" instead of showing live video when I tried to view it in the browser. My laptop (Core-i5 8th Gen) doesn't seem to be able to show the browser (black with counter) but my desktop (Ryzen9 3900X) shows all 4 streams fine if I explicitly select the main stream when connecting each camera. Video playback also seems difficult when viewing 4K footage. Hopefully video uploading isn't as awkward and painfully slow as some older NVRs, but I haven't been able to test it yet as it isn't. That seems very intuitive. ------ EDIT ------ Ok, uploading videos is cumbersome in my opinion. I installed this headless device (no TV or monitor) and I can't download any videos from it at all. To download videos, you must use the NVR directly and have a USB flash drive connected directly to download videos. I forgot to mention in my first review that it comes with a noisy/annoying fan. I highly recommend replacing the fan with a 40mm 12V Noctua fan. There is plenty of room for a deeper Noctua fan which will move more air and make significantly less noise. After that, the only sound that remains is a permanently installed hard drive that makes the box vibrate. This can be remedied with some isolation pads if you try to install it somewhere quiet like I did. However, for the price, I'm not giving stars for having to take those extra steps.