Swann 4-Ch/2-Cam 500GB Security System

Deal Chatter Electronics
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Swann 4-Ch/2-Cam 500GB Security System
Price: $139.99
Shipping Options: $5 Standard
Condition: New

Comparison Links:
[Google Products](Swann - Google Shopping 4-Ch/2-Cam 500GB Security System) - [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/s/?field-keywords=Swann 4-Ch/2-Cam 500GB Security System) - [Previous Woot Sales](Google 4-Ch/2-Cam 500GB Security System)

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[Preview 1][Preview 2][Preview 3][Preview 4]
http://d3gqasl9vmjfd8.cloudfront.net/f17e169c-7bf9-46a1-924e-fcbbc7d74237.jpg

Swann 4-Ch/2-Cam 500GB Security System
Price: $139.99
Shipping Options: $5 Standard
Shipping Estimates: Ships in 1-2 business days (Monday, Dec 30 to Tuesday, Dec 31) + transit
Condition: New

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Previous Similar Sales (May not be exact model)
11/4/2013 - $159.99 - 12 comment(s)

11/30/2013 - $159.99 (Woot Plus)

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Check out the Product Page for more info
Read some reviews over at Walmart

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Alright experienced users, tell me what you know about these. We’re in the process of buying a townhouse and my husband wants to set up a surveillance system. The one he was looking at is close to $400 (but came with 4 cameras). I told him that Woot sells them all the time and if we waited long enough, we could get what he wanted from Woot at a better price. So tell me, is this the deal we’re looking for?

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Need some support? Every kind of support you can ever need can be found here

and

Let’s learn all about the warranty

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I thought this review from Walmart seemed most helpful. Thinking of buying for Mom. Probably not. I thought the cameras would be wireless. Good Luck to you and husband. Happy New Year!

Suitable Home Monitoring for technically inclined
07/22/2013
Product has all the right features and is reasonably priced. Not a HD system, but people are recognizable in day time. Will work out of the box (live views) but it takes time to understand and tweak configuration options. Not for the technically challenged.
PROS:
Great Features: live view, recording on schedule, on alarms per camera.
Viewable with monitor, TV, over ethernet, Internet, smartphone (android worked well).
Video records searchable by date, time, camera.
Swann DDNS Server works well (use if internet connection gets dynamic IP address from ISP). Can sends alarm emails (works well with web-based Gmail).
Package comes with all accessories and cameras have decent length cables.
Recorded files saved to other drive (eg USB) can be played with Windows Media Player not just Swann player (as manual states)
Good live technical support (but must have basic knowledge of IP Networking, DHCP, DNS…).
CONS
Cameras resolution OK in day time, so-so at night (people not recognizable). Short focus (10ft)
Cameras cannot be mounted inverted as image will be upside down (would be convenient for attaching under eaves).
Motion detection (compares subsequent images and is NOT an infrared sensor detecting warm bodies) not reliable outdoors if you have any kind of plant in field of view because slight wind motions trigger alarm even when restricting sensing areas with the setup screens. Changing ambient light (clouds temporarily obscuring sun) also triggers false alarms.
False alarms are less of an issue for ‘recording on alarm’. Hard Disk fills up, but oldest records get overwritten when the disk is full. Still, you have to watch a lot of records to find an actual intrusion even if you know the date.
False alarms are big issue if ‘sending email on alarms’. Outdoor cameras will send dozens of false alarms each day even when sensitivity is set to very low, eg 2/8. Recommendation is to configure email on alarm for indoor cameras only.
This explains my low ‘Meets expectations’ score. I want to be alerted reliably on intrusion outside, not watch live monitor screen all day.(hide full review)
Was this helpful?70

8

Cheapest security upgrade buy several “Beware of dog” signs for fences and front door. Also I installed top of the line Alarm box on outside of house (empty box,inside bought for $5 garage sale).
Cut down on people coming to moms door by about 75%.

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Does anyone know if this would work as an indoor viewing system? I need to monitor what is going on in a room at another location and want to be able to do that from my house. So this would send the image over the internet to my home, right?

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Thank you! We’re super excited and hoping nothing goes wrong to mess things up. I did read those reviews after posting my question (the post didn’t show up until after I posted) and a lot of it was greek to me. I’m keeping it open to show my husband, along with any info I get here. Happy New Year to you, also! :slight_smile:

We have a ‘Beware of Dog’ sign posted at our rental (and the big dog with a mean bark to go along with it) and my husband even thought about buying the dummy cameras that Woot was selling a while back, but now that we’re thinking about moving to a new, busier neighborhood, he’s wanting the real thing. Anyone would have to be stupid to break in after hearing our Boxer lose her mind at the first sound, but she’s usually crated when no one is home, so that’s not a fool-proof deterrent.

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Im also tempted to get one of these. Im going to be moving to Montreal next month and Ive never been outside of the US, yet alone with my own apartment. Debating about what kind of security system I want.

Can I plug any security camera into these systems or does it need to be Swann brand? I imagine those video lines in aren’t restricted to these low quality cams are they? I was thinking about getting a really nice outdoor, HD, infrared camera for the front door and set these Swann ones inside due to their okay~ quality.

Thoughts?

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I saw the cons on the walmart review, they seem significant. The two that stuck out are poor resolution at night (when most break-in’s occur), and can’t be mounted upside down on an eave which is the most likely place to mount them. On top of that some other systems offer wireless cameras. Running cable to these cameras might not be an easy task depending on where you’re going to mount them.

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I saw a couple of reviews saying you couldn’t mount it on an eave, but I’d like to point it out that you can and the only issue is that the picture is upside down. I don’t think that would be an issue really if you needed to look back and watch something, or get an ID of a perp (Law and Order fan here…).

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Installed this system in the past year - works fine - the resolution is ok and as far as mounting the camera can be turned 360 degrees so I dont know why anyone would mount it upside down.

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Actually most residential break-ins happen in the day when people are at work and/or at school.

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Oops meant to add running the camera cables can be a pain -drilling through brick etc. - comes with no sound and adding mics is more cable running

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I’m going to put my 2 cents here. I was on the same boat a few months ago in that I wanted a home security camera setup. The choices were either this all-in-one proprietary system vs. standalone camera setup (like Foscam, Dropcam, etc…).

I chose the latter. I bought a few Foscam 8910W’s and set it up through out the common areas of my house. I’m still working out the kinks, but I’ve been pretty happy with it.

Pros of Foscams:

  • Relatively inexpensive for what it can do
  • Wireless
  • Easy to setup. Once you get the process flow down, its super simple. If I wanted to expand, it takes me 2mins to setup.
  • a bunch of options for cameras depending on your requirement (PTZ, HD quality, fixed camera, outdoors, etc).
  • viewing is available on every device (Android, iOS, Web Browsers, dedicated Mac App, etc…)
  • recording is also available locally on those devices
  • email/txt notifications on motion/audio triggers.

Cons:

  • need some technical knowledge to configure it (IP forwarding, assigning static IP addresses, DNS port forward, SMTP setting, etc)
  • stock software still needs improvement
  • QC is not 100%. Out of 6 cams I bought, one was defective where the IR light doesnt work. Merchant was able to replace at no cost.
  • PC needs to be running 24/7 for IP forwarding/optional recording
  • takes some serious space in your harddrive for recording. Bear in mind that I’m still playing with the settings… but I’m clocking in @ ~2gb for every 3hrs of footage per camera. Thats 12gigs per 24hrs per camera. Multiply that by x-number of cameras you own and how many days you want to keep the footage, then you may need a dedicated hard drive.

I bought a IP cam software called Blue Iris and still trying to configure it now… its much better than the stock but just needs time to get used to the different configuration options.

A couple of months into it, no regrets. Good luck in your decision.

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Stop looking at me swann!

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These analog cameras are obsolete. Get yourself an IP based security camera system. The IP based system will give you unmatched HD quality and great views at night.

Get yourself these: http://www.costco.com/Swann-HD-1080p-NVR-IP-Add-on-Bullet-Camera-2-pk.product.100039914.html

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I bought this last month for $10 more. Fry’s now has it with a $20 rebate. There are cameras with better resolution and the night vision sees longer. These are 400 lines. But better cameras cost more $$. I added 2 more cameras. One I had, the other I bought for $10 from Frys after rebate. It is the same camera as the ones with this unit. You can get them through Sunday 12/29.
http://www.frys.com/product/7672097?site=sa:adpages page:P104_WED date:122513

This was easy to set up, and works great! I did have to buy a longer wire from ebay for $8 to put one of the cameras where I wanted to. You can monitor your house from anywhere using Internet Explorer. It needs Active X to work. You can also download the video. That account is free.

There is no sound with this unit, so I added a older camera that had sound.

I have it set up with motion sensor, and the video records over after 7 days.
Here are captures of the 4 shot view and 1 of a camera in complete darkness.

http://MYZEPHYRS.COM/WEB_IMAGES/SWANN_CAMERAS.jpg

http://MYZEPHYRS.COM/WEB_IMAGES/SWANN_DARK.jpg