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Review on πŸ“· GW Security 8 Channel 1080P PoE NVR HD IP Security Camera System with 6 Varifocal Zoom Night Vision 1080P Security Cameras - 2.8-12mm Lens, Indoor/Outdoor, Pre-Installed 2TB HDD, Network Remote Access by Ron Collins

Revainrating 1 out of 5

Hands off or very practically with hardware/software!

Hands off. Motion detection doesn't work at all on one camera and is unpredictable on the other five, with three out of six devices not accepting and holding time input. The NVR and camera documentation is the worst. ------July 2016 Update This six camera system was installed on a Gigabit home network using Cat 6A Quad Shield cable. Two of the cameras had intermittent connectivity issues that persisted after replacing the Cat6a connectors on both ends. Eventually, two ports of the 8-port POE switch included in this system stopped working. One transmits no power, the other no data. I replaced the POE switch with a Texas WS-GPOE-16-1U Gigabit 16-port WiFi injector. This device is not a switch but a 48VDC power injector. current rack mounted. My network load was smooth right away compared to the very intermittent performance I had before. I suspect this was because the 10/100GW POE switch needed to be plugged into my Cisco gigabit switch and the different speeds of the two caused network collisions. Also, the WiFi Texas device is externally powered, so I left out the incredibly loud fan of the GW-supplied POE switch. I gave up the GW NVR software and disabled all alarms. I still only use the GW NVR as a bulk recorder for GW cameras and still need to use the GW UC utility on my PC to change camera settings in firmware. I replaced the monitoring software with Blue Iris version 4. It works seamlessly with the GW cameras alongside the two additional ReoLink cameras. The motion detection algorithms are absolutely top notch. I only record motion alert videos on local hard drive. When I record something on the Blue Iris site, I have the full recording available on the GW NVR should I need it. An added benefit is that after replacing the GW POE switch with a Texas WiFi module, my CPU usage on the Blue Iris has been halved. direct rain only Florida humidity. It was fairly easy to remove the faceplate and dry the unit in a very low oven and then once cool blow it out of the can with dry air before reassembling it. The camera seems to be mechanically well constructed. The front panel is sealed with an O-ring. My guess is that the water entered through the rear grommet that goes through the power cord and is the gland. A "neck" formed around this cable where it passed through the sleeve. A small amount of silicone grease used in factory assembly would probably have prevented this. I reserve the right to judge electronics. After replacing the POE switch, I had no more problems in about four months of operation.

Pros
  • Beautiful packaging
Cons
  • So-so