FreeLunch

I am using the QSee QC app that's free. I don't know if that translates to the free or premium app on IDMSS - however - the apps look identical. What does the pay app do that the free app doesn't?

Everyone's needs/requirements are different, however, they may match some of yours. I was looking for an out of the box system since I didn't want my PC being linked with my security system. I wanted 1080p and some way to easily see if someone came to my front door. I first bought a Lorex system and realized that motion activated alarms don't work worth crap on the Lorex system. Even setting the sensitivity down to the lowest possible setting resulted in 50 alarms over the night. After reading and some help on here I decided I needed to get a PIR. I also realized the NVR I had from Lorex didn't support an external alarm. So the Costco handy return warranty came in play and they took my return with no issues. I then bought a QSee. I wanted to get the Swann, but they were out of stock at the time. I installed the QSee unit and the firmware is a bit buggy. It has weird behaviors that you can't explain sometimes. The positive news is that it does push notifications! Whenever, the PIR is activated, it sends me a push notification in near real time. It's better than getting emailed photos, since you can tap on the push notification and it brings up a video of the event. So instantly, you know if UPS dropped off a package, or a solicitor is at your door, etc. This feature alone was more than I wanted. It works great when it works. Going back to the firmware bugs, one day the push notifications stopped working on my ipad and iphone. Therefore, with 2 devices, I'm pretty sure it's the NVR firmware. I didn't really change a setting. I rebooted a couple times and tried settings things (back/forth). It started working again without a config change. I can't explain it, just weird. Anyway, I didn't see push notifications in the Swann literature, but I wouldn't want a system now without it. Getting emails is nice, but not as good as push notifications for me. The QSee NVR is much louder than the Lorex. The QSee also allows you to pick different cameras from different vendors. I do see some flakiness with the QSee firmware (even with QSee cameras), but I think this is a nice bonus, if it works, to be able to add cameras from different manufacturers. In addition, they have built in firmware controls for controlling a PTZ camera, if I get around to adding one of those. The PIR I got has been pretty much 100% accurate. I did need a ceiling mount to point it in a better direction towards the floor, however, after I did that, I would say it's been near perfect. No false alarms, picks up people 100% of the time when I want it to. So, it's nice that it works. Final pet peeve - both the QSee and Lorex firmware isn't the most user friendly. You would have thought they would have better firmware or better documentation. So, I hope this helps some people out their in their decisions. Some people may prefer a PC based NVR, which I may do in the long term future. However, I liked the idea of a box system providing POE, NVR, cameras, and cables. If there is something that I don't like, I can easily box it up and return to Costco.

Unfortunately the settings in the DVr only allow me to have a very granular setting on sensitivity of 0, 1 , 2 ... I hear what you're saying but the firmware doesn't allow it

Costco doesn't currently have a HD nvr 8 channel package for swann. However there is a qsee package. Any thoughts of the pros and cons of either? I was thinking of getting the swann but they removed that from their site. I know that they could bring it back in the future. Just wondering if I should wait for the swann.

Any chance you can take some pictures of it with a reference object? I'm just wondering how big this is and if it would be too big!?

I logged into my Lorex NVR and it looks like the rs 485 had some setting for a PTZ camera not an alarm from what I can tell. (Plus the manual says the rs 485 port isn't supported). Yep - not wanting to spend thousands of dollars on a low res thermal camera. I believe the PIR solution is probably the best bet from what people are saying. I'm glad Costco has easy returns as it doesn't look like this solution will meet my needs. On Costco, they didn't have lower # camera Swann systems in stock anymore. They did have a Q-See system with a PTZ camera that looks interesting. I guess from another post it sounds like the PTZ camera is freaking huge. I don't want a basketball hanging from my house! But it would be nice to be able to do ptz functionality out front. More importantly, it does have the PIR alarm inputs. I read up on Milestone and was thinking about going that direction. However, I'm not sure if my older PC (Core 2 Duo E8300) will run it and say 4-6 cameras well). In order to test the system, I would then have to get a PC, software, cameras, and a POE switch. I do appreciate everyone's input. It's not easy finding a solution that will fit in my desired budget and meet my "to be determined" needs! As I learn more about about this stuff, I am slowly figuring out what I need.

There are a lot of false positives at night (presumably from bugs, etc). However, I notice at dawn/dusk there are a lot and in the afternoon when the sun starts creating shadows there are a lot of false positives. I did change the motion detection area and set the sensitivity to the lowest and it doesn't help much. It's a LNVR 380 seen here: It does have 1 RS485 connection - but the manual says it's not supported. In Buellwinkle's review on the hikvision ds-2cd2732f-is 3mp camera he says the camera supports a PIR hookup to the camera. So, I guess the NVR wouldn't recognize the alarm signal coming from the camera?

Disclaimer - I am new to all this, so just trying to get up to speed. I purchases the Lorex 1080p 4 camera/NVR solution for $799. I thought it might be a good match for my needs and I know if there were issues, I could easily return it. After installing it and learning more about POE cameras, I figured out the following. I am using it at my house and wanted to get a better idea of events occurring at my house. What I believe I figured out is that I want to get good motion detection. That way I know when UPS dropped off the package, or when some solicitor knocked on my door or some "solicitor/thief" continually knocks on my door to scope out my house. Using the pixel based motion detection with Lorex NVR/cameras - I am getting tons of false positives. I like that it sends me emails with pictures, however, getting >100 false positives a day isn't what I want to sift through. So, I read where Buellwinkle posted about using a PIR device with a Hikvision camera which I could add to my system. I also saw where theWireGuys mentioned a thermal camera system that looked pretty cool -- (However is it very pricey?). I also read someone on here complaining about getting 1 or 2 false positives a day which to me is reasonable. So, is there a way or better cameras/software/NVRs that can do motion detection? Or do you have to go high end/high $$ to get there. Even though I set my DVR to record 24x7 and have a 2TB hard drive, I'm amazed at how fast the cameras are chewing up hard drive space when recording at highest quality. Thanks for your input....

Obviously, 3MP has a million more pixels than 2.1 MP. However, is there much difference between the two in practical use? I'm considering this for a typical residential setup.