Review on ZOSI 1080P Wireless Security Camera System by Marcus Akram

Here's the thing. I installed them in an apartment building where I have problems with tenants. That's what they work for. They're inexpensive and I had access to my own hard drives. Pros: The quality of the camera is surprisingly good in terms of both resolution and physical durability. They don't look cheap or light. Hopefully time will tell how waterproof they are. The seller seems to have good reviews about increasing the warranty, so we'll see how things develop again. It's also good that the system supports up to 8 channels, so you can add more. The resolution is also very good, allowing you to choose standard or high resolution when viewing the app depending on how fast you want the buffer to run depending on your connection. High resolution is very good. The bad side: The software just sucks. This is PITA to get you started. I've connected many systems, even my own SWANN system (which is really nice once you get it working), but this one just won't cooperate. Firstly, it forces you to create a random password recovery account, which is strange as there is no reason to ever retrieve the password as the "LOCAL" account password is required to log in. To do this, you can simply restart the system. Given that this is a VERY foreign (Chinese) system, it is food for thought. Second, getting the system to work with the app was insanely difficult and the instructions are TERRIBLE. I explain that below in my setup tips. Also, the Android app (which I use) is pretty bad. Does it work on my phone (Pixel 2), does it work on my renter's phone (Samsung) but isn't compatible with my Pixel C? Also, it requires some weird permissions. Go ahead and turn off all Android access that the app doesn't need, like phone, microphone, and others. I'll try turning them all off one at a time until it just works. I don't like that it requires access to local storage (which may be required for playback), location or camera. I want to install this on my Pixel C tablet but it's not compatible. Also on a Samsung phone you can get a 4 window view, but for some reason I can only view one camera at a time on my Pixel 2. I do not understand that. Now a few setup tips that I might plan to shoot a video on so others don't get frustrated: No matter how many times I've tried setting this up with the IP/Domain settings, it doesn't last. I personally prefer this method for troubleshooting and checking. No matter what ports I forwarded on router and brainbox, it just doesn't work. I chose the QR scanning method. This got me nowhere for about an hour each on 2 different days. I FINALLY figured out that when scanning the QR, the app placed about 20 random invisible digits after the QR serial number. One day I realized I had removed them and entered the LOCAL password and it was finally connected. Again, you set up a random account when you install the app, but that's about it, it's very suspicious to be honest. After the app was installed and connected, all I got was black screens everywhere, all four cameras are black. Then I realized that on the back I had 4 cameras connected to slot 5-8 and not 1-4. I don't understand why that mattered to the unit. It's strange why the application only dims 5-8 even though it says it's connected. I set the cameras to 1-4 and suddenly the app worked. On the device itself, all cameras looked fine, but the application is just very picky. Tech support seems to ONLY exist in China, but when I emailed through Amazon, I received some assistance from someone who emailed multiple image requests. Remove any personal information about the IP address when sending images to technical support. Next I need to figure out how to use capture and playback and set up an email account to send pictures.! So here are the tips! Use the LOCAL password to login, NOT the account password! MAKE SURE the cameras in the port are ok, otherwise it WILL NOT work! MAKE SURE the app doesn't put spaces after the QR serial number when scanning! Fix the app and you have a VERY reliable and affordable camera system. Update - 05/31/19. I had to replace a system that I was constantly locking up and rebooting. It won't keep correct time either and that has been an issue since installation but I thought it was a bug and just noticed the difference. Also, every time it blocked it reset the time when I changed it. It was easy to get a replacement anyway, but I had problems again after installing it. I just can't get the thing to work with the app. Apparently there is a new app in the Android store called ZosiSmart and although it's the same DVR (I think) I have to use the new app because the serial numbers have changed. This gave me a bit of trouble and required a few restarts of the dash cam, but eventually it got a signal and connected. Seems to work fine, although the new app is a bit slower than the old one. Anyway I have a backup of the camera system that works on my devices and let me tell you thank god I did it because it helped me get out of a few jams in just a year. I can position the cameras of the system to see all 3 houses and their parking lot, as well as watch the street (which I have already told the police in the area where I have the system if they ever need video footage. I am very i cooperate well with the department in my city). and it's very mutual. If you have any type of rental or business it's really a good idea to establish a working relationship with all law enforcement agencies that cover your areas. I would especially like to thank Emma from ZOSI for helping me through this process via email. .