Lorex16-Channel 4K Ultra HD Fusion NVR System with 8 Smart Deterrence IP Cameras and 3TB Hard Drive

Good sound and video

Easy set up .. my husband did it himself ... Clear picture. Love the fact that I can watch thru an app away from home

This is my 3rd POE security camera system in about 8 years and it is by far the best. I will try to save the reader some time and money with this review.First, if you are disillusioned with Chinese security cameras and want to find something American made, forget it. You won't find American systems online, and even if you find "review sites" claiming that certain cameras are made in the USA, a simple search will reveal that they are not. I went as far as to contact a local camera installer and they admitted that the closest thing is Chinese cameras assembled in the USA. There MAY be some very expensive commercial companies (used for DoD, etc.) which are all-American but the average consumer will never be able to purchase these. Thus, your best option is to find the least-bad Chinese made camera system. Moving on.Being disillusioned with Chinese systems and having realized that there were no American made options readily available, I researched the best Chinese systems. Here Lorex comes head above shoulders above the rest. I read multiple review sites and from what I could gather, Lorex had the best feature / satisfaction to cost ratio.Thus I took a leap of faith. I found the 16 port NVR and 8 camera package extremely reasonable compared both to what I had paid in the past for systems and also for what professional installers were quoting me. (Note that professional quotes did NOT include POE cabling which can be a significant amount of work.)First, the bad points which have been covered elsewhere. FAN NOISE. Wow is this thing loud. I have a full size gaming PC that sits right next to me on my desk and it is MUCH quieter than the fan on the NVR. I mitigated the sound by building a simple muffler out of some of the flexible packing foam that came with the cameras. Plan to situate the NVR somewhere where the noise won't be a factor and also be sure not to impede air flow in/out of the unit.Remote access: Although I have seen this question answered both ways, in my experience while you can LOAD the app on multiple smart devices, you can only USE it on one. You must authorize any new device, whereupon the old device stops working until you again reauthorize it... which unauthorizes the other device. You should be able to install multiple viewers on a laptop/computer with Windows or similar OS.Motion sensing: For me this hasn't been an issue. You absolutely WILL get false positives, and if you have motion sensing active on 8 cameras you will get a LOT of them. However I do not think they are excessive in any way. The vast majority of alerts were legitimately something the size of a bird or larger. Do not expect human or vehicle-specific detection as advertised.HDMI cable for external monitor: My system doesn't seem to support HDMI so I am using a VGA cable. I cannot be sure if this is specific to the NVR or something I did - it may be fixable. This only affects the attached monitor and does not affect remote display.Customer support: I cannot speak to this because fortunately I haven't had to use it. However, I haven't seen ANY POE camera system that has great customer support so plan accordingly.On to the good: Video quality is outstanding day or night. Be sure you are getting the camera you expect, Lorex and other mfg can make it difficult to tell if you are getting 4K or "HD" or some other resolution. Check the specs before you buy. The 4K is ultra clear day or night.Setup and programming is generally easy. I have had a lot of experience with other systems and while not being "simple," at least the setup is fairly straightforward and intuitive. A huge plus was 100% DHCP support (automatic IP configuration on my network) for all cameras and the NVR. I was able to plug and play all 8 cameras plus an additional camera I decided to add later on.Playback mode: After a total nightmare with my old system which forced me to find and load individual files organized into one hour blocks on each separate channel, playback on this system is a dream. I mainly use playback on my network-connected PC, which is straightforward. The alert system for mobile has a very handy feature which allows it to play back a short clip of the motion detected, which saves you from scrolling through recordings.Audio (bullet cameras only): The audio quality of microphone and speaker is weak and muffled. The "alarm" is only moderately loud. I cannot speak to the audio quality of the Lorex doorbell cameras which are supposedly designed to integrate audio.OVERALL: This is a great system for the money. It does everything I wanted it to do (ease of configuration, playback, and image quality) and I don't care about the stuff I don't really use (motion detection, audio, simultaneous mobile device viewing). Consider YOUR needs and make your purchase accordingly.Final note: This is absolutely NOT a paid or compensated review. I am merely paying forward the probably hundreds of hours I've spent installing and troubleshooting several POE camera systems over the past years. BY FAR this is the best I have used.

System is simple to set up and connect to your phone for remote viewing. I had been putting this camera install off for a couple of years until my car got broken into. The power over internet (POI) helped my decision. Only had to run the eithernet cables from the box to the camera and I was all set up. 4k is also the way to go.

SUMMARY: Very Loud NVR (can hear NVR two rooms away, in our house) & Horrible Support! Run away from this manufacturer as fast as you can!DETAILS:Cameras are nice and clear, two-way audio works clearly, flood lights are bright, which can be programmed to stay on 10 - 30 seconds ...Here is where some issues start ...System Setup (Day One) - Starts with the mouse would not work to get the system setup going. Support guy says, unplug and move to the USB cable for the mouse to the front of the box and don't worry about the back USB not working. HOLD ON!!!!!!!! Brand new Product and I can't even get it setup due to a defective USB Port. WHAT ELSE COULD BE WRONG WITH IT????? The first sign of poorly manufactured technology. After doing this, and then having a mouse pointer visible on screen (after connecting it to my TV via HDMI cable), I was able to click on the chevron on the bottom right, and completed the setup. Oddly enough he did not think it appropriate to explain how he envisioned getting the defective USB port fixed on a brand new security camera system priced over $1000Night Vision - Does not do a good job at all in very low lite areas. The only thing that really helps is when the flood lights come on. They are set to come on with motion detection, so I don’t think we’ll miss anything.Active Deterrent / Motion Detection - does not distinguish from a human, car or tree blowing in the wind despite "features" stating this, inferring it might actually do it. I even lowered the sensitivity level by individual camera settings, to 2 (second lowest setting).System Volume - The Lorex NVR that is in our spare room could be heard in the living room, with the master bedroom in between, in our one-story bungalow. It’s driving my wife nuts, so she called the company for support.Product Support - My wife called Lorex Technology support to address the system noise issue and spoke to "Gary." He started to go thru a series of questions that sounded like an insurance company trying to say no to a claim, which was especially obvious when he asked which cable I used for power when setting up and turning on the system, to which I said ... “the power cable that came with it, I did not feel the need to go out and buy another.”He then asked where the noise was coming from, the hard drive or the fan? To which my wife replied, "I don't know." He then instructed her to remove the cover to expose the fan. REALLY? I asked him to send me an e-mail putting in writing that you are specifically asking us to unscrew and remove the cover, and confirm that it would NOT void the product warranty. Gary replied, don't worry it’s not going to void the warranty this is part of the normal trouble shooting process. REALLY? I advised him I was NOT going to do anything that under most manufacturers' warranty clauses would void the warranty, to which we went back and forth several times, and lastly, I told him if there was NO E-mail from him, I will NOT remove the cover. He stuck to his position and refused to put in writing what he was asking of us. I left it with my wife from that point on to finish the conversation with Gary.He asked my wife to do a video recording of the noise and e-mail it as a response to the email he would send her with the case number. I received (not my wife) an e-mail which stated, “the case was closed.” She called back and was told they were having technical difficulties and to respond to the mail to reopen the case. Not sure why that was a great idea, so I just downloaded a utility software that measured the volume from the system at 81db.UPDATEAfter not receiving any follow up that was promised, my wife called them. They said that after consultation with product management they determined that the volume of the NVR was appropriate and not defective. She advised them that if they were trying to say live with it, she was not pleased with that response and wanted the matter escalated. She was advised she would be receiving a follow up call within 72 hours.... nope, no call back. A week later she has to call them. Short story ... she is told the volume of the NVR is acceptable and she has to keep it. Asks for it to escalated and again she is told someone will call her within 72 hours.DOES SHE GET A CALL BACK? NO! - a week later she calls them back. Again no concern or acceptance of responsibility for a defective product that has a defective USB port and is excessively noisy. They double down and say that it and you have to live with it. She says, no well be sending it back, and we processed the return for the order plus the extra cameras we bought with this system.