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 Calvin Chavva

This is my third time reviewing and giving 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 help wanted me to subscribe to the firmware notifications. Had to google the direct link to the firmware download page), the user interface has improved a lot, searching for 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 of 8 . Also video playback seems difficult when viewing 4K recordings. Hopefully video uploads aren't as awkward and painfully slow as some older NVRs, but I haven't been able to test it yet because they there aren't. That seems very intuitive.------ EDIT------ Ok, uploading videos is awkward I think. I have this headless device installed (no tv or monitor) and can't do any at all Download videos from it. To download videos, you need to 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 Noctua 40mm 12V fan.There is plenty of room for a deeper Noctua fan that will move more air and make significantly less noise.After that, that's it only sound that remains, 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.