Q-See Surveillance System QC918-8Y6-2 8-Channel HD Analog DVR with 2TB Hard Drive, 8-1080p Security Cameras (Black)

This product has a lot of potential, but unfortunately it is just not quite there yet. The cameras and video quality are excellent, but for a product that costs over $700, the support and seamless operation that should be there isn't.=== The Good Stuff ===* With a few glitches, setup was fairly easy...ignoring the fun and games of running wires. The system comes with a wiring kit, but I ended up using my own wiring and power supplies. I had a spool of RG6 left over from another project, and I just felt better using this than the wire that came with the cameras. Also, a couple left over power supplies let me give each camera its own power source and I didn't have to worry about drop in the lines. The setup of the actual system went pretty much as the quick install guide indicated.* The picture quality is quite good. I have one camera mounted about 120' from my front gate, and you can still make out quite a bit of detail. Not quite license plates, but close. If you play around long enough with the setup, you can configure cameras to only record motion, have a programmed "tour" of camera angles shown on the main monitor, or set fixed times for recording. I also configured the DVR to send video to my iPhone, and this worked with a simple button press.* The cameras mounted easily and disappeared into the white eaves of my house. The motion sensors on the camera seems pretty sensitive, and I am not quite sure if it is adjustable or not. As it is, it picks up traffic at about 150'. It does not appear that you can disable motion for a single camera, although I am still banging my head against the interface.* The unit ships fairly complete. It includes an HDMI cable, a mouse for controlling the user interface, everything you would need to wire the included cameras---at least for 50' or so, an ethernet cable and power supplies.=== The Not-So-Good Stuff ===* For a product of this price point, the documentation is horrible, bordering on non-existent. Only a minimal quick-start guide ships with the system, everything else is supposed to be on-line....except that it isn't. The Q-See website shows no documents for this model, and there seem to be some differences between the ones that are there and this one. The "search" function on the website borders on useless.As an example, I had what I thought was a simple question. How do you delete video that has been recorded? There is certainly no obvious way that I could find to do it from the interface. Typing "delete" into the search feature on the support website brings a set of hits about everything but. There is no users guide or manual for this product, and trying the other ones points to menus or boxes that my software just doesn't have.* The tech support is a joke. There are three options, email, telephone and chat. I figured I would pose my delete file question to one of them. I started with the chat. I was second in the queue for about 45 minutes when I finally gave up. Next I tried the phone support. After being on hold for 20 minutes, I figured I would just press 1 to "leave a message which will be answered by 7:00 tonight". Of course the mailbox was full, so you couldn't leave a message. An email was never answered after at least three days.* The DVR has quite a bit of fan noise-probably not something I want in my living room. That sort of messed up my plans to use the TV as the video monitor. (Video out is through either HDMI or VGA).* The user interface was a bit fussy and clumsy. With the exception of deleting files, I think I figured out most everything else. but there sure are a lot of little icons (many without help bubbles) to deal with. The iPhone app has the same problem, although most of them are sort of intuitive. As near as I can figure, the DVR will either support iOS, Android, or PC/MAC interfaces, but only one. That may be a function of the auto-configure, and may be negotiable if you are willing to play around with all the firewall and network settings,* There are a number of passwords on both the Q-SEE websites and the hardware itself, as well as usernames and camera names. It is not always obvious what goes in which blank on the config menus.=== Summary ===There is a lot of potential in this system, but I honestly think it needed another month of so of debug, and certainly more time spent with documentation. If you are a reasonably competent PC setter-upper (say, an NAS device), you will probably get through 90% of the setup with no problem. Good luck if you need tech support. The images are clear, and the hardware seems to work well.After seeing the level of polish of the user interface, I do have some security concerns. For this reason, none of the cameras will be used indoors for the time being.

I wish the cameras didn't need so many cables to be installed properly.

Within two months two of the cameras stopped working. Amazon won't do anything since it is beyond their 30 day policy and hopefully the manufacturer will stand behind their warranty.

First, I am commenting on a system I bought from Costco. Its full name is Q-See 8-Channel HD Analog DVR with 2TB HDD ( 8-Channel DVR, QC958 and 8 HD Bullet Cameras, QCA7209B. For me, this system I bought worked pretty well, hence my recommendation. Whether it applies to your system, or the system on display here, is something I am not sure. Below is my review, as published on Costco.I received this system just today (2-23-2017), and spent about three hours installing two cameras on two locations. (Will be installing two more tomorrow.) They functioned pretty well, and I was able to view the recordings of myself doing the DIY. What's amazing is the easiness with network set up. (Hence five stars.) Once you connect the DVR to a wired Ethernet port, the network is up. (It doesn't seem to have wireless connection, though.) Then you install mobile app Q-See View (mine is iPhone), scan the on-screen QR code provided by the DVR, login, and monitoring becomes active instantly on your iPhone. (There is no need to enter the serial #, for the DVR already has it.) After I changed the channel/camera name, it got updated right on my mobile device. I will update if I come across issues. For now, so far so good. To sum up, the best part of this security system is the fact that you can easily start monitoring via your mobile device, and the network set up is really easy. (Installing individual cameras, of course, is NOT easy, and proper tools and skills, or a contractor, may be needed.) Then, if somethings happens, you can retrieve the footage as needed.

I am giving this system a low rating for one reason. The screws they use in their cameras are complete and utter crap. No matter how careful you are, the first time you try to adjust them, they strip. I've tried everything to prevent it -- I have 16 cameras. And every single one is stripped. I am using duck tape and blue goop to get them pointed in the right direction. It's HORRIBLE.And you CANNOT replace the screws. I've tried that too. They strip when you try to remove them. And they're tiny, and inset, so I can't even use my tool to remove stripped screws.The DVR is just fine. It's great. But the damn screws are driving me insane.