Boogieman

You will be sorry running an analog system...there are other systems with better reviews (most reviewers at costco are just technologically challenged)....aside from MUCH better picture quality there are lots of benefits using IP. You can use a single cable to both power the camera and transmit data (much easier to pull the cable)..the qsee is a rebanded dahua and good for the price. Also with ip, if you buy a separate poe switch for 50 bux you can avoid having to homerun the cameras to the nvr...as long as a single cable is connected to the network you are good.. Here is a good comparison..make sure to watch in 1080p mode..

Spend the extra money and install an ip HD system.. It will blow away those analog systems any day. http://www.costco.com/Q-See-8-Channel-HD-NVR-Security-System-with-2TB-HDD-and-6-1080p-Cameras.product.100128993.html

yes, the OP said no warranty is fine..firmware upgrades will always be available via the forums and third party sources...if you are buying many cameras then you can insure yourself against any failure by the money you will save... In fact you can even buy one or two extra to have around this way you dont have any downtime for repair...

No not all swann is rebranded hikvision but most of their 1080p and 3mp cameras seem to be.. hikvision does have its own vms software..but if you are using the nvr you dont really need it.

Good call, you cant really go wrong with costco...if it doesnt work, just return it.

Seems to me that OP was trying to extort some free cameras from them...not cool.

No, in fact i run my hikvision 3mp cameras in 2mp mode (because it provides a wider field of view, this is not the case in all cams)..also a 2mp sensor will often have better nightvision than 3mp..its not a hard and fast rule.... Your problem is your mounting location and your expectations... regardless, the price went back up to 799..

No camera is going to help improper mounting...lower the cameras...they are weather proof and dont need to be under eves.. Dont get the 5mp...it will have poor nightvision..although they seem to only be 1080p.. The 1080p is fine.. You will not be able to read a plate at night with ir on...you need ambient light, or alter the camera settings so that it will only catch the plate and nothing else..lots of posts on plate capture.. Dont expect any system to perform miracles unless you are willing to spend serious money... There are tons of sample captures online.. network camera critic has a bunch of good video.. This might be a good option if it stays on sale for 499 http://www.homedepot.com/p/Q-SEE-Platinum-Series-4-Channel-1080p-2TB-NVR-Surveillance-System-with-4-1080p-Cameras-100-ft-Night-Vision-QC824-4C9-2/204907708

369+tax=400, im in jersey so newegg and amazon both charge..plus the 50 dollars per camera license...10 cams brings you cost to 800. Two recorders is way overkill...do you have to pay for double licenses on both boxes? You still need a device for live monitoring? The total cost of a synology solution is more than the cost of a system that can handle blue iris and your cameras...its just a matter of preference...i love the options built into blue iris that synology simply does not have available to it... Also i need a large monitor with live view... As an aside, with blue iris, you can actually record to 7 auxilary locations (aside for the new and stored folders on the actual machine). The folders or drives can be local but they can also be NAS. This allows you to record to another nas drive hidden away as well as simultaneously recording to your blue iris machine. (by cloning cameras and recording one to the nas and one to the machine)...this would let you record to a cheap nas with no added license fees...heck you can record to more than one if you are paranoid.. Even if you take blue iris out of the equation, you would be better off running hikvisions with their ivms software...you could buy all new cameras for the cost of the synology..

Yes the switch or injector i listed will be more than adequate...

They all make NVR...make sure to match the NVR's to the cameras..If you get hikvision cams then get a hikvision NVR...Otherwise you may have compatibility issues, particularly with motion detection. Also all the brands mentioned have their own VMS software that will run on a pc..

What's happening in about 3 weeks? My guess: absolutely nothing. Dropcam does have a big leg up on security. Works right out of the box and is pretty secure. I dont see how its more secure if all you data is on someone elses servers..

Not one word in that sentence is accurate.

1/3=.33333 so its more than a .2 difference.. With dahua if you get the 3mp camera the horizontal field of view will remain the same whether you set it to 2mp or 3mp...however the 2mp camera itself is different. With hikvision if you set the 3mp camera to 2mp you will get a wider view... Wider view is not always preferable because you lose some detail as the pixels are spread over a wider area...also depending on the area a wider view will result in capturing a wall or other area that you dont want.. 3mp will give you more vertical fov and may be something you want in a particular location.

What are you trying to record?

What cameras do you intend to use with it? Do you want ip? or sdi/cvi? Start reading the forum..

Look at hikvision or dahua as you mentioned..They have very good cameras. Are there better brands? Sure. Are they worth the premium (7-10x) generally not, at least for home use. As technology improves you will be able to swap you cameras with those that have features that even the best cameras today lack...when you spend 100 per camera it makes it easy to swap..when you pay 500-1200 not so much... There are tons of sample images online...judge for yourself..

Dont know what cameras you are using but i dont see artifacts in faces or images.....compression or not, the notion that sdi/cvi is better image quality than ip is not correct..

What are the specs on the pc you are using now? processor? what cameras do you intend to add?

sdi and cvi, while new, are not replacements for ip..the are a stopgap for the interm if you have coax and dont have the ability to replace the cable (its also good for specific long distance runs)...As ip cameras get better its really easy to swap it out if you have ethernet..but i would not run coax on a new install... if you go with cvi or sdi, run ethernet with baluns (which i believe works fine with those technologies) I dont know why you have this idea that sdi/cvi will have better image quality than the same camera with using ip....

aurmol, what is your application where 1-3 seconds of latency is relevant?

Unfortunately not..

As you already know the IP addresses of the cameras (eg. 192.168.254.2), you won't need to use the SADP utility. Why do you want to access the camera's menu? You should only need access if you want to change a setting that is not available in the NVR menus. There are lots of important setting on hikvision that are not available via the nvr...if my memory serves me right, noise reduction and WDR among others.

You can access the cameras directly if you connect your pc to the NVR..there are other methods described in threads here as well..

Is there a reason you want to update your firmware? If you dont know what you are doing and if the firmware is not compatible you will brick your NVR..there is a post about folks bricking their cameras and nvr's every day...ask yourself if its worth the hassle...is there a function thats not working?