Wootalyzer’s Pricing Post! - The price of today’s woot item is saved here for future reference
Zmodo 4CH\4Camera Sony CCD
$139.99 + $5 Standard Shipping
Condition: New
DISCLAIMER Wootalyzer! is in no way affiliated with Woot!, and this post may not always be here!
Hmm woot iv been looking past few weeks… Anyone have any sample video? Mobile so hard to look myself
Security cams on Woot? Must be every other day again. We must live in a world full of fear for such high demand.
I’m done with analog systems like these. You can’t make out enough facial detail to ID anyone. I’m waiting for a good deal on some 2 megapixel outdoor day/night IP security cameras.
Can you buy the no hard drive model and add one yourself?
I am so with you on waiting for some TCP/IP 2+ MP multi-camera setups at a price we will/can afford to purchase them for…!!
I just installed one of these yesterday (the previous January version of the Zmodo 16-channel kit) and the BNC cables bundled with these were very delicate and inferiorly made.
I think the wires were damaged while it was fed through the pipes because I connected them before installing and it worked as it should, but after installing the wires and connecting the cameras it was nothing but “video loss” no matter what we did. We set up four cameras (out of eight) and only two had video. I had no problems with the DVR and cameras.
I’d suggest using a more rugged BNC wiring (can be bought from Amazon, eBay, Frys, Best Buy, etc) like the Swann’s if you’re planing on feeding the wires through some pipes (especially with bends) and cover the heads of the cables with masking tape. That pretty much worked for me.
Did I mention how crazy the lines get tangled? @_@;
Some installation tips:
- Cover the wire heads (as stated above).
- Test system before installing.
- Get better wires!!
- Length of cables may be too short, either get a longer wire or connect two cables with a coupler from RadioShack ($4/each).
- You’re going to need at least eight hours installing depending on how you want to hide your wires.
- Don’t expect it to be crystal clear or able to read a licence plate.
I’m pretty sure you can… it’s like swapping out a hard drive for a desktop.
And a sample video (of the previous model, which I would assume would be alike because I don’t see the current versions yet):
[youtube=7Uh7HwoWUkU][/youtube]
You have the option of checking today’s woot and clicking away. Sorry this bothers you. As someone who just had his convertible top slashed, I’m looking for security cameras/recorder like this.
Yes, you can. It will accept a SATA drive up to 1TB.
Yes. Ive got the 4 camera and 8 camera models (4 camera one came without a hard drive). Pretty easy if you’ve ever installed a hard drive before.
This is fun we can see which states are the most paranoid. (for good reason maybe)
What would it take to watch these from remote location, can they be viewed over an IP address? IE nanny cam.
I got ones of these on a day special at Home Depot for a little over 400 shippse…http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6697371&SRCCODE=PRICEGRABBER&cm_mmc_o=2mHCjCVybgwTyz__wyCjCVqHCjCdwwp&cpncode=27-141561679-2
Second this… Anyone know? Would like to get this but the Ability to see it from an IP or On my phone is just as important as the DVR aspect.
As was mentioned in previous postings for zmodo camera systems ditch the cables and buy a spool or two of cat-5 or better Ethernet (use cl rated cable if pulling in plenum, etc) and then get a pair of bnc and power dongles for each camera on ebay.
The dongles seem to vary widely in price, connectors, and quality of construction but they let you run cables significantly further distances and much more easily than trying to mess with the bulky connectors. You should be proficient in crimping CAT5 RJ11 connectors to use this method.
Note that the dc signal will only make it about 200ft or so, so you may need a separate dc power supply for longer runs.
I WOULD NEVER BUY ZMODO AGAIN
I got a 4-camera package off Woot a few months back. I hate it so much, I’m making my first product comment on Woot.
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the interface is awful. Full of “made in china” typos, it’s almost impossible to use. Like your Mac or iPhone? This is completely the opposite.
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speaking of Mac … the website doesn’t work on Macs. Yes, it’s in a web browser, they could have easily designed a universal interface … but no, you’re 100% screwed if you have a Mac. (the supposed Mac app didn’t work at all-- check its 1 rating in the App Store)
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So I got the iPhone app. Useless. The reliability of the network connection it sends is atrocious. It sends a signal, but continuously drops one camera or another – which makes NO sense from a networking perspective … it’s the DVR sends the signal, not the individual camera… so how could it drop only one camera?? Yet I get “Network not found” type messages on one or 2 cameras EVERY time I use the app.
So if something happens downstairs while I’m home, do you think I’ll be able to quickly check my app and see who’s down there? Not likely. -
The quality of the saved video is vastly lower than watching it on a monitor … even after I’ve (supposedly) maximized all the quality settings. So I probably won’t even be able to make out the Perp’s face afterwards.
Anyway … That’s my experience, please do your research, and know how awful this product it is. And Woot – please, don’t sell Zmodo crap again!!!
That is a regular DVR just better quality but no 2mp system
Lotta demand for ghost-hunting equipment, though.
This seemed to be a black art at first because zmodo manuals may not always clearly describe the subject.
First you need a dvr with the hard drive or buy one yourself and install it. I would recommend staying away from SATA lll drives as the zmodo dvr we used would not boot with a SATA lll drive installed. I think the drive acts as a buffer for remote viewing over networks with higher latency.
Then connect the dvr to your LAN and make sure you know its address on your network. For remote viewing a static (or reserved dhcp) address works best. Change the default password on the dvr. Note that the passwords in my manual were wrong but an online version listed the correct passwords.
Then set up port forwarding in your router/cable/dsl modem for the required ports for remote viewing. These may be different from model to model. Zmodo does offer a service to do this for you for $$. They do seem to document this fairly well in the manuals that I have seen and port 8888 seems to be a default port for this among zmodo dvrs. There is also a remote server port too that you may need to proxy but you can test these without breaking too much. Zmodo seems to stress the fact that they don’t want you to change he ports but I didn’t have any trouble changing one to 443 in the hopes that it might be allowed over standard ssl ports (even though the traffic isn’t ssl ).
Once you know the internal ip of your dvr and have setup port forwarding you will likely want to set up a dns alias for it and will need a service to do this for you unless you own and/or manage a domain name that you can add additional names for AND you also have static ip addresses from your isp. Most people will probably need to use a free dynamic dns service to associate their dvr with a friendly name.
Once you have a friendly name registered it is time to load an app on your phone. MeyePro and ipcamviewer seem to be popular ones for the android and have ad and ad-free versions available. The apps included with zmodo will work with either iPhone or droid but aren’t as user friendly. Setup the app to use the full dns name, dvr ports, password and user name and you should be good to go.
You may want to test with the ip first or go to a windows pc and use the remote viewer activex plug-in that loads in your browser to test all of this. Sorry mac users but I don’t think there is a remote viewing option for you. The www.whatismyip.org site is handy for for testing as well if you aren’t comfortable with the dns stuff at first. Note that your ip address will likely change for most isps so this method isn’t a good long term solution to replace using one of the many free dynamic dns services.
Good luck!