Night Owl 12 Channel 8 Wired 4 Wi-Fi 2K DVR Security System with 2TB Hard Drive

Bought this because of neighborhood trouble and the first unit I picked up had a defect. Swapped out for a new one and it works great. The App however does not work at all so regardless you will not be able to access all the functions due to a bad app created for this product. Cameras work great and are easy to install. Good quality images.

This Is My 2nd Night Owl System. I Live In The Sticker Patch Where Temperatures Reach Over 110 Degrees In The Shade, My First System Has Worked Flawlessly For Over 6 Years 24/7/365. I Bought The 2nd 8 Channel System To Replace My Aging 4 Channel System.

I purchased this camera system since my current system's DVR stopped recording after 5 years of service. I am very pleased with this new system and all of the included features as well as the great video quality. The tech service department was very helpful with assisting me regarding all of my questions and concerns.

I bought this about 2 weeks ago to replace a NightOwl system that was several years old and the cameras stopped working. 6 cameras are nice and the added feature of adding 4 wireless cameras is a nice plus. The new cameras have one drawback, namely they are hard to position; they do not have the mobility of the previous cameras. In order to get an upright video I needed to create several wooden bases in order for camera to point in the correct direction. The images are great at 1080. The verbal command (optional) is poor quality--a very scratchy "Smile, you're being recorded"; difficult to understand. The remote viewing app for my phone and ipad works well once you get used to it. I had some trouble getting it to work. It occasionally lost connection and I needed to log out then log back in, but overall it works well. I like the new, improved software for identifying saved clips and playing them back. This works better on phone/ipad than on the DVD from my monitor. Overall a very good system and much improved over my previous NightOwl system. I was able to use my existing BNC cable which made installation much easier.

Connecting equipment is straight forward. Depending on home construction, running the cables will be easy or challenging! Programming the camera settings (sensitivity, detection area, notifications) is a major challenge as detailed instructions are virtually nonexistent. After a week, l am still trying to get what I want. EG: moving leaves, even spiders, trigger motion events. Using low sensitivity causes no detection. Even with a Master's and 30-yrs working with computers, the setup is still challenging for me!

Turned out I didn't need it! This is my 4th Night Owl system. Each generation gets easier to set-up. I upgraded to add doorbells thinking I would need a wi-fi recorder. Thought I would like the spotlight cameras, but the spotlight comes on a lot without any motion or objects in view, tried every setting available but still on off randomly. Not a lot of adjustability (like sensitivity) as before. It is geared to use the phone app, some settings are not available on the recorder display. I have a 50" TV on my home office wall displaying 8 cameras and wanted to add doorbells and get push notifications when someone rings the doorbell, I bought 2 doorbell cameras but when I add them to the recorder in the app the notification option for pressing the door bell goes away. Also get constant false notifications when added to the recorder, turned off vehicle and motion, left on human/ face detection but still got constant false notifications. Uninstalled them from the recorder and just added them to the app only with just notify if the doorbell is pushed and don't get any false notifications. Haven't tested the other settings installed this way but I have wired cameras covering the area already, just wanted notifications when someone rings my doorbells. If I knew this I could have just installed the doorbells and kept my old system. For most people or first time buyers, this system would be easier to self install and set-up than previous recorders, phone app is adequate and younger would probably prefer the phone app, but for me I miss the more detailed adjustments.

Very complicated to set up and can't monitor it with my MacBook Pro have to use my iPhone. I was told I needed 4 new cameras because the old ones wouldn't work with the new system. I worked on whole day trying to replace the cameras without success so decided to try the old cameras and everything works fine.

The cameras have very good quality but the get stuck on night mode all the time. The only way to get them to go back to normal is to unplug the power supply and plug them back in.

4 out of 8 cameras are no good. Won't exchange or refund. Won't honor any warranty or in store credit to purchase something that does work properly for longer than 90 days.

Too many wires, and they alll have to be plugged in to a wall and the dvr!