Review on SMONET Wireless 8 Channel Surveillance Megapixel by Ryan Garrison

This is a good system for the price. LOTS of little bugs but if you're tech savvy this should work. Other Notes/Surprises: - I strongly recommend using a strong password for your NVR. Otherwise, every internet user will see it. But beware, there's a bug: if you use the # symbol in your password, the Android app can't connect for some reason. Other quirky characters can cause the same error. To get around this, I used a long password made up of letters and numbers. I couldn't get the Internet Explorer based web viewer to work. It keeps asking me to install the plugin (even after installing it multiple times). - The Android phone app is not called Eseecloud; it's called IP Pro (from wu peilin). However, the QR code will take you there. There is a bug in the Android app that assumes that if, for example, camera #2 isn't connected, then #3 and #4 aren't connected either (you won't get video). So if you're only using 2 cameras, for example, make sure they're the ones assigned #1 and #2 (factory) - *before* physically installing them. - Be careful with power supplies. There are 5 of them: one for the DVR and 4 for cameras. They are all 12v and all connections look the same. However, the DVR requires a larger one (2 amps). If you put the NVR on a small one, it probably won't work and might even break. The included mouse (to work with the NVR) stops working after a while and you have to unplug and plug it back in. to make it work. (Not: Also note that it doesn't work on glass or reflective surfaces.) - Power Consumption: The NVR itself consumes around 10W and each camera around 2W, so the whole system together consumes around 18W. - The instructions say you need to connect the Ethernet cable from the NVR to the "WAN" port on your home router. This is exactly the opposite of what you should be doing. Your home router's "WAN" port must be connected to a DSL modem. The other 4 ports connect it to computers, devices, your dash cam, etc. I agree with other users that even the 'Lowest' setting for motion detection is too sensitive. The people who wrote the motion detection algorithm should use more advanced algorithms (optical flow and/or Laplacian pyramids). The wireless range seems solid to me. It goes through a few walls and can still pick up my outdoor cameras that are 60-70 feet from the NVR. Please note that the cameras are 1920x1080, the video you see when connected via HDMI is 1920x1080 and the recorded video that you can capture from the NVR via the USB dongle is also 1920x 1080 is, although I feel like it's a bit blocked for that resolution. "Substream" sent to phones etc. for remote viewing, below, 640x360.