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- Review count1
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- First reviewAugust 7, 2017
- Last reviewAugust 7, 2017
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- Average rating4
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- First review commentAugust 12, 2017
- Last review commentAugust 12, 2017
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Tonii's Reviews
Safeguard your home with this Night Owl video security system. The eight-channel DVR with built-in 1TB storage includes a rechargeable battery backup for recording up to 160 minutes of footage during a power outage. This Night Owl video security system includes four HD cameras with motion-detection capability and night vision range of up to 100 feet.
Posted by: Tonii
First and foremost, I did not purchase this item from Best Buy, but I did buy it from a local hardware store since it was on sale at a lower price (at the time). With that said, this is a very good product (with some flaws). Now, are there better security camera systems out there? Most definitely, but also very likely to be at a higher price.
The initial configuration was pretty simple, but I can definitely see someone who is not much of a computer savvy or has any technical knowledge to find it somehow difficult. You need to ensure the necessary ports are opened on your router/gateway in order to be able to view the cameras remotely either via the mobile app (through port 9000) or on a PC/Mac software application (through port 2050 or 2051). Also, to make things easier, it is probably best to configure a private static IP address on the DVR so that it does not change every 24 hours or so and you lose remote access. Depending on your gateway's brand, you would probably have to reserve one of the IP addresses on your current network and then assign that to the DVR via Static IP rather than DHCP. All these steps/instructions can be found on the product's manual that comes with your device. I would suggest going over this before getting anything out of the box to ensure this is something you feel comfortable with.
I did run into some an issue with remote access using the Night Owl HD CMS Mac software application. The current files available for download directly from the NightOwl website are outdated (at the time of this review and at least for Macs). I had to contact them via their Chat Support which luckily for me, I was able to get someone right away who was able to help me fix my problem. The solution was to uninstall the old version and re-install it with an updated version of this software, which the representative was kind enough to email me. The current version is v1.2.03 for Macs, so make sure you are at least at this update release if you are using a Mac. Once I installed the new version, I was able to enter all the necessary settings and get it working successfully. Below are some of the Pros and Cons I was able to find:
Pros:
- Integrated backup battery will continue recording when you lose power.
- 1080P recording is a major plus
- Smart Infrared Technology definitely helps decrease the number of unnecessary notifications.
- Night vision provided good-enough image quality.
- Able to get notifications to your smartphone or email address when detecting movement.
- 1TB HDD to save all your recordings, which can also be upgraded up to a 3TB HDD.
- Easy to setup & configure (the hardest thing was possibly running all the wires through my attic)
- Integrated backup battery will continue recording when you lose power.
- 1080P recording is a major plus
- Smart Infrared Technology definitely helps decrease the number of unnecessary notifications.
- Night vision provided good-enough image quality.
- Able to get notifications to your smartphone or email address when detecting movement.
- 1TB HDD to save all your recordings, which can also be upgraded up to a 3TB HDD.
- Easy to setup & configure (the hardest thing was possibly running all the wires through my attic)
Cons:
- Included cameras (Night Owl Security 2 Pack Add-On 1080p Wired HD Analog Security Cameras with Heat Based Motion Detection) do not have any audio at all (one-way or two-way)
- Smartphone app (for iPhone devices at least) need improvement in many areas.
- It takes 5-10 seconds to connect to the DVR when launching the Night Owl HD app on iPhone.
- Live View does not refresh automatically. You have to select the DVR device which in turn will change the view to default of 9 cameras (3x3).
- Live View puts all cameras in portrait mode and not landscape mode, and there is no way to change this setting or at least not one I have found yet. This gives a weird view which for many may not be such a big of a deal but it is a bit annoying. I am sure this can easily be fixed with a software update.
- The default stream is SD-SMOOTH (standard definition). You have to manually change to HD-CLEAR every time. I think HD-CLEAR should definitely be the default view, I mean who likes watching standard definition on their smartphones nowadays?!?
- No auto-focus or facial recognition.
- Included cameras (Night Owl Security 2 Pack Add-On 1080p Wired HD Analog Security Cameras with Heat Based Motion Detection) do not have any audio at all (one-way or two-way)
- Smartphone app (for iPhone devices at least) need improvement in many areas.
- It takes 5-10 seconds to connect to the DVR when launching the Night Owl HD app on iPhone.
- Live View does not refresh automatically. You have to select the DVR device which in turn will change the view to default of 9 cameras (3x3).
- Live View puts all cameras in portrait mode and not landscape mode, and there is no way to change this setting or at least not one I have found yet. This gives a weird view which for many may not be such a big of a deal but it is a bit annoying. I am sure this can easily be fixed with a software update.
- The default stream is SD-SMOOTH (standard definition). You have to manually change to HD-CLEAR every time. I think HD-CLEAR should definitely be the default view, I mean who likes watching standard definition on their smartphones nowadays?!?
- No auto-focus or facial recognition.
Overall, image quality is pretty good but not great (this could either be a pro or a con, you decide). The cameras are 2MP which is not bad. However, I own a 2MP interior camera which provides better image quality both during daytime and nighttime. Again, this is a very good security camera system, depending on your expectation & needs. Although I did mention multiple cons, I am definitely not disappointed at all in my purchase, hence the 4-star rating. I am sure most of the things I mentioned can be addressed with a software update hopefully in the near future. I have had these cameras for about a month now and so far, I am satisfied and definitely recommend them.
My Best Buy number: 3313268440
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Tonii's Review Comments
This SanDisk Ultra Plus SDSDUSC-064G-AN6IN SDXC memory card features Class 10 UHS-1 speed for high-quality video recording performance. The 64GB capacity offers ample space to store photos and high-definition videos.
Overall
1 out of 5
1 out of 5Didn't work with my Cannon camera
By justme
Would not format with my Cannon Rebel T1i. Now have this card and can't even use it. Not happy!!!
Tonii
Not compatible... read user's manual
August 12, 2017
The reason why this SDXC card does not work with your Canon Rebel T1i camera is because it is not compatible with it. This is clearly stated on the user's manual, it only supports SD (Fat16 format) or SDHC (FAT32 format which goes up to 32GB of storage). The SDXC memory cards are formatted in exFAT, which allows them to support more than 32GB and theoretically up to 2TB of storage capacity.
This is the reason why there are so many misleading bad reviews out there --- because many users do not do the necessary research prior to purchasing a product.
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0of 0voted this comment as helpful.
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