Review on XVIM 8CH 1080P Security Camera System with 1TB Hard Drive - 4pcs HD 1920TVL Cameras for Home Surveillance with Night Vision & Remote Access by Flip Shaw

After researching numerous systems - I settled on the XVIM as it check marked all the items I wanted and the reviews and videos posted here were very helpful. The system came with 4 small cameras that must be mounted to the house (I did use a handyman to install these. Placement is super important and before you make it permanent- I strongly recommend temporarily hanging and then turning system on. I didn’t do it this way and had to spend a little extra having my handyman come back and move one camera (and fill in house holes that were drilled). The cameras are WIRED and came with super long cords. My house is 3600 sq ft and I place them on each house corner. I ran the cords to a small closest about the middle point. I did pull up my carpet and ran the cords underneath rather than against the wall (once installed in painted the wall corners with matching wall paint to blend the black cords). Cord placement is very important. Connecting the cameras is a bit easier. You will need to ensure you have a monitor and the correct cord cables. The DVR uses either HDMI or Vega. For some reason my monitor only wanted Vega. The instructions state the starting page would just appear. It did not. I could not get a picture with HDMI so I switch it to Vega and it worked. One thing to note, the original DVR would not turn on- no light on front and it wasn’t the connector cord because I had already switched cords. I contacted customer service through the email and provided my order number. The response was very quick and they quickly replaced at no charge to me. Very easy and smooth. The instructions may look confusing but if you follow each step exactly - it’s fairly easy. When I plugged the second DVR into the Vega cord - the setup immediately appeared. It provided step by step instructions. Another thing to note, you will need to keep your monitor station close to your internet because the DVR is not Bluetooth or wireless. It requires an Ethernet cord directly to the Wi-Fi. Unfortunately, I did not consider this in my already dormant layout and therefore at the present time - I am not able to use the APP function. I do plan to buy another long cord and connect. But I missed understood that when I read through the instructions initially. However, the quality of the cameras are good. I do agree with some of the other posts that some times it can get grainy. But I honestly mine is very good. I love watching the wild animals sneak around at night. This system has the 1tb built in - that was a huge decision point for me. Overall, biggest bang for my buck.