Review on 💾 Diskless Synology NVR1218: 2-Bay Network Video Recorder by Justin Herman

The old cliché "good, fast, cheap: pick two" sums up this product. Here we have good and cheap. I have been using Synology NAS devices for many years and have found Synology products to be extremely reliable, customizable, and secure. This device has it all. Synology NVR software is simply superb and camera brand agnostic, allowing you to choose cameras based on your specific application. The key feature of Synology Surveillance Station is that each camera requires an additional license. This box contains a license for four cameras. If it suits your needs, this device is great value for money - where else can you get a branded NVR with proven, improved, supported and well-tested software at this price point? So far that sounds like a five star rating. but there are some clues. The box is noticeably weak. It's sufficiently capable of handling four cameras if you carefully adjust your camera settings. With my 5 megapixel Reolink cameras, only one stream from the camera with the maximum resolution can put 100% load on the processor. Of course, 2k at 30 fps is an absurdly high resolution for surveillance, and if that's what you're looking for, then this device isn't for you. When it's set to record four camera streams continuously at 640 x 480 10 fps and roll back to 1920 x 1080 24 fps when an event is detected (camera triggered), my setup runs happily and reliably. The web interface is a bit sluggish at times, but it works reliably and it's remarkably good Synology software that I trust. Can this box really work with 12 cameras as claimed? I seriously doubt this, certainly not a solution that would satisfy most users. The second catch is the license costs. A license to add 4 more cameras costs $200. This license is transferable when you purchase a new Synology product. In the context of high-end surveillance systems, that cost isn't terrible, but in the context of the amazingly affordable, entry-level systems you see here at Revain, it's a significant amount. Overall I really like this device. . It does exactly what I want at a very good price. The quality, security, and customization I got from my Reolink/Synology setup for a total price of less than $600 is surprisingly, surprisingly good. On the downside, I have serious doubts that there's much more room for expansion here, and it's going to cost $200 if I want to try it. If you plan to use four cameras or fewer and can live without the full resolution of your cameras, the value and features of this box are hard to beat.