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I'll write a longer review when I have time.
The Swann DVR I had just died after almost 2 years. And I'm so happy it did (read my review on the Swann DVR)
I have had this DVR about a month now and I'm blown away by how much better it is.
I have not set up the internet access yet, so I'll update my review when I do that. But in every other way this DVR is better than the Swann.
I was very surprised to to see the picture was sharper than the Swann on my monitor. Which seemed strange since it has the same cameras.
The playback sharpness is MUCH SHARPER on this DVR. This is because the compression method used must me MUCH BETTER. The live feed and the playback look the same actually, you can't even tell it's a recording. Even on the the Swann's highest setting the playback looked like garbage.
This DVR comes with a mouse! So using the system is much like using a computer. You have cursor on the screen icons, which is really, great.
the remote on this one actually works. On the Swann you had to hold the remote about a foot away from the DVR. And even then you might be fast forwarding a 2x speed, hit pause and have the speed go to 3x, hit stop and the speed would go up to 4x.... really the the Swann was a piece of garbage.
The search is MUCH better on the Defender. You can check only 1 camera at a time, instead of having to review every single camera.
The record options are MUCH MUCH better. For EACH camera you can set it to record all the time, motion, or not at all. On the Swann, you have not choice how you set 1 is how they are all set. On the Defender, you can set them each individually.
The motion detector actually WORKS on the Defender. I think it has some kind of pre roll. When you playback sometimes there will be no movement for a second (and you might think the motion detector was set off by mistake), then someone will suddenly enter the frame so as I said, it must have some kind of pre-roll function built in. On the Swann, sometimes you would only see someone just after they were leaving the frame, you would see a shoulder, but no way to identify the person, even though they had walked down the hall 15 feet straight towards the camera!
The Defenders Motion detector goes off ONLY WHEN THERE IS MOTION! On the Swann I had to constantly tweak the brightness and contrast to keep the motion detector from going off every 10 seconds sometimes. (Literally, not set right the motion would go off every 10 seconds in a hall with no windows. Then the florescent bulb in the hall would go out and be replaced, I would have to set it up all over again.)
The Defender still records while you are in playback mode! The Swann stops recording in playback mode :(
I really could go on, but don't have the time at the moment, after I set up the remote network access I will finish the review.
UPDATE:
May 8,2011
I forgot until now to finish the review!
When I originally set up the network access (remotely from my laptop) There was a slight error but I called the tech support who helped me put the "something" outside the "something range" (I forgot exactly what we did) and since then it has worded flawlessly. I just checked it after not using it for months and I'm still connected! I have not set up use on my iphone yet because I'm still running OS3 and have not updated to OS4. I've been too lazy to clear all my photos and videos off my phone. So I'm not sure how the iphone app works....
This is a great machine. I just learned that I can set it to show all 8 cameras but when there is motion in one camera it will fill the screen on that camera for 10 seconds (or longer if you want to set it that way). This is a nice setting because after a while you don't notice movement in the tiny frames. But when suddenly you have 9 squares (only 8 cameras) and the screen jumps to full screen mode you notice that, so you notice the movement in the frame. Great for when a delivery person comes to the door and you have headphones on.
UPDATE
Feb 2013
The product still works great but Defender no longer seems to have phone support. The live chat is what live chat always is.... you sitting there waiting for someone to respond when they do eventually respond it's pretty clear they have forgotten your particular problem since they are chatting with many people at the same time. It took me 45 min to get a very, very simple problem resolved. I can't recommend their customer service anymore and am knocking off 1 star I almost want to knock off 2 but I have had a good experience with this product until today. I hope the company wises up.
I do now have an iphone OS that allows use of the system. But you can only monitor not playback.
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