My £180 4CH CCTV Setup - A Review

lee2009 said:
nothing wrong with ebay, just dont buy the cheap rubbish.

i will repeat ebay is fine for used highend cctv gear, thats why i have approx 10 grands worth of high end branded cctv gear, that only cost a fraction of that buying it used on ebay, and none of it has arrived doa, and continues to work to this day

panasonic
dedicated micros
dennard
vista
honeywell
pelco

buy any of the above used to have the same gear used in highend pro installs

you can even get brand new of the above for upto 80% off the normal price, all you have to do is look and bide your time and wait for the bargins.
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You will find allot of wholesalers stick end of line stock on ebay. I stick second hand gear on it, like now I have 3 lots running for kit nothing wrong with it all working. A client wanted some new stuff in so I took it away and its now on ebay. Hunters and CCTV uk have ebay accounts.

As long as you buy smart nothing wrong with ebay.
 
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Swalesecurity said:
Loreline said:
These cctv kits are completely useless.
Click to expand...

What makes you say that loreline please help other users understand the difference.
Click to expand...

I agree - and many thanks for the helpful posts - ditto Lee2009.
Not all of us have made minds up which is why we post here for help.
To be fair to Tim he posted a summary of his experience.
It was timely for me as I was mulling over the same thing - a simple decent cheap and cheerful CCTV package really "just cos" to back up my new alarm install.

It is incredibly helpful to understand the limitations of products we have no experience with from people who do :)
 
I've just been into a house to tear a macro system out! They paid 399 for it 6 months ago 2 cameras had already failed.

Buy smart guys ask us who deal with these day in and day out. DVRs are decent enough its the cabling and cameras.
 
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:D Just logged on for the first time in a while and seen all of these posts! Some people seem to have overlooked the fact I clearly called this a budget setup and said I was a novice at CCTV!

I totally get the CCTV guru's on here being against my eBay and Maplin setup for your various reasons such as lack of quality due to only 420TVL etc. but the requirement for quality surely depends on what you are going to use it for!?

For me this isn't particularly about security, it's about visibility of what's going on as my home office in the back of the garage has no windows so the original idea was the front camera to see when the postman comes etc. then I simply added three more cameras because I could.

Night vision is actually OK on the eBay cameras and they performed surprisingly well in the snow and minus temps over the last few months. The Maplin camera that came with the kit is not so good at night but for the £89 I paid I'd be happy to bin it and just keep the DVR if I was hunting out supreme quality.

All in I'm still happy with what I have for what I paid even though it needs some improvements like a higher amp adapter for the cameras and could really do with a better iPad app as the one I mentioned in my review never came to fruition!

Ask me in a year or two and maybe, yes, the cameras would have died and I'd have upgraded to some more expensive ones 'buy cheap buy twice' as they say.

:cool:
 
What about the screenshots that you were going to attach?

It's good to hear the system suits your needs, which is what it is all about, but the photos you promised to upload would assist other potential buyers to decide if it would be suitable for them.

Cheers.
 
Good point, I forgot about that. Edit: no I didn't, I stuck some in post two before I had four cams.

Attached are screenshots from the App running over an LTE connection (other than the first one) on iPhone 5, forgot to rotate them before I uploaded. I'll get some pictures of the 17" Dell monitor (another £20 eBay bargain too) at some point so you can see the quality off the DVR as it's much better than the App IMO.

DVR App MS500:
DVR App

DVR App


- Included Camera (yes, that's a pile of junk where we're doing some work) on iPhone 5 over LTE
- £9 eBay camera on iPhone 5 over LTE. We use it as a 'dog cam' while we're out
- £30 eBay camera one on iPhone 5 over LTE
- £30 eBay camera two on iPhone 5 over LTE

Edit, rotated them now so deleted the above:
Included Maplin Camera

Included Maplin Camera

eBay £9 Camera

eBay £9 Camera

eBay £30 Camera

eBay £30 Camera

eBay £30 Camera

eBay £30 Camera


Another edit, photos of the monitor from my camera roll, not sure they do it any justice though:

Night vision eBay £30 cam:
DVR at night

DVR at night


All four in Dell 17" Monitor:
DVR View

DVR View

 
that looks very effective at low cost.

how long do we have to wait to know if the service life is acceptable?
 
They look pretty acceptable. What is the night time quality like for the other 3 cameras?
 
How do you get the MS500 App? I have searched the app store but got nothing.
I have something similar to this but can't for the life of me get it to send to an ipad or iPhone.
 
Thanks for the comments guys.

* For me two years would be a decent serviceable life, I'll post back here in two years if I remember ;)

* I got the wrong name, App is VS500 free on the App Store, MS500 isn't compatible. Presume your DVR needs to come from the same manufacturer though?

* Other cameras at night;
- eBay £9 OK but only has a very small room to cover
- eBay £30 number two the same as the one in the image, plus I have an IR security light covering the back garden anyway
- Maplin one a bit more grainy/noisy so not so good

* On the above, I need a more powerful power adapter running the cameras, or shorter cables, as when all four are on there is not enough power to run the IR due to cable length/resistance but I've tested them all individually and now just need to get around to the upgrade when I have five mins spare!
 
anyone have the manual and can anyone help tryinh to hook up to net at home so i can log on to iphone when out please help me
 
D

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