epols

They will work. Costco also offers this 4mp system and it goes on sale for 1299 every so often. http://www.costco.com/Q-See-16-Channel-HD-IP-NVR-with-3TB-HDD%2c-8-4MP-Cameras-with-100'-Night-Vision.product.100213199.html Since its costco, you can return your original system for a full refund if you wish. Thanks for the info. My original Qsee was a budget winner and has worked out preetty good, so I'm hoping that 4MP system goes back on sale again pretty soon.

I purchased the Q-See (Dahua) all in one NVR/4 Camera set from Costco a few years ago ( http://reviews.costco.com/2070/100003211/digital-periph-solutions-q-see-4-channel-hd-digital-nvr-with-1tb-hard-drive-and-4-hd-720p-ip-cameras-reviews/reviews.htm?sort=submissionTime&dir=asc ) and have been really pleased with them. It's time to expand my operation, so I figured I'd check in with Costco again to see what they had. I see they now offer a 16 channel (16 POE ports) 8 Camera 1080P system with a 3TB NVR: http://www.costco.com/Q-See-16-Channel-HD-IP-NVR-with-3TB-HDD,-8-4MP-Cameras-with-100'-Night-Vision.product.100213199.html Given that there are only 8 included cameras and my old system is the same brand (albeit with a lower resolution), I'm wondering if I can just plug the existing cameras into this new NVR infrastructure and have it control all 12. The Q-see 16 Channel/8 Cam system is significantly more expensive than the Lorex or Swann systems, and so I can see the value if I can integrate with my existing cameras, but otherwise I'll likely look at something cheaper. Q-See does sell a much cheaper 8 channel system (https://www.costco.com/Q-See-8-Channel-HD-IP-NVR-with-2TB-HDD%2c-6-1080p-Cameras-with-100'-Night-Vision.product.100129001.html), but it looks like it comes with lower-speced cameras and the tiny chassis doesn't scream quality to me.

I've been thinking about going the ispyconnect route, providing my own hardware for the DVR and then using my existing POE switch for the cameras. Anyone have any experience with that software?

Let me summarize what I have and what my goals are: I want to have an IP Based DVR system that can connect to 8-10 POE cameras and record fairly high definition with some limited night vision indoors and outdoors. I have a Netgear 24 Ports switch which will power up to 12 ports with Class 3 15Watt POE. Some of the cameras could be as far away as 110 feet from the switch. I've looked on Amazon, NewEgg and Costco's websites, but all of the systems are unknown brands with very vague information. I currently have a Clover DVR system that runs four cameras over BMC, with a crap resolution and user interface. So what I'd like to have is: DVR with 2TB storage that can record 8-10 cameras at a high resolution and overwrite as needed. I want to communicate with these cameras via IP addresses only, and I only want the cameras to have a Cat5 cable running to them. So my questions are: 1) Can anyone suggest some all-in-one solutions that are reputable and of decent enough quality (including the cameras) 2) can anyone suggest a good standalone DVR that I can then add cameras from a multitude of manufacturers to via IP address 3) likewise, are there any suggestions about which cameras would be good? 4) For the outdoor cameras, what sort of weatherproofing do I need to do to the connections where the Cat5 runs in? 5) Is POE good for 110 feet? My budget is around 1500, but I'm a little flexible. Please don't laugh, constructive criticism would be great here. Thanks!

Found the solution to my problem... My DSL modem was indeed in "Router" mode, and it needed to be in "Bridged". The modem wasn't forwarding all requests to the router, so then the router could never redirect the request to the proper computer with port forwarding. As soon as I was able to switch the modem over, it worked perfectly as advertised. I had only used cable modems before, and never experienced such problems. I'd much rather my higher quality linksys be doing all of the routing tasks rather than my free POS DSL modem. Anyways,thanks for the suggestions!

I found my IP address by both using google ("my ip address" or something similar came up with it). And I also used the IP address found with the auto find feature on dyndns . org . I have the Login & PW for the DSL modem, you're saying I need to check to see if NAT translation is available, and look for possible alternative IP addresses? I wouldn't be surprised if DSL was the cause of this whole mess.. I'm now working remotely so I'll have to talk my dad through the process of checking... Thanks for the input!

The documentation referred to using port 5800, which I have setup in port forwarding. My setup is as follows: DVR connected to linksys 54g router. router connected to DSL box with XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX IP. I've assigned the DVR a static IP outside of the range of my DHCP so the internal IP doesn't change and cause problems for port forwarding. I've forwarded port 5800 to the static IP for both UDP & TCP (although the documentation says just to forward TCP, I've tried it both ways). Registered with dyndns, and setup a domain to forward to my Sprint assigned IP. While testing, I've avoided using the hostname forwarding, and just been trying h++p : / / IP . ADDRESS : 5800 . When on my LAN, this will launch an active x control and install an app to allow remote viewing. Currently, I cannot connect from outside the network. I can ping my IP successfully, and I've even tried using telnet to access the client (which I can do internally), but to no avail. The computer I'm using to attempt a connection is located behind a router, with windows firewall turned off. I've tried opening my ports on this side as well, but no luck so far. I can provide any additional info about my config if anyone needs it to diagnose. thanks!

I'm actually not using dyndns right now. I figured i'd just use the ip address and port. Once i can get the remote features to work, ill setup the ddns. Should I be using it? as far as I know, all that really does is assign a hostname to my ip, and is mostly for convenience factor (helpful with changing IPs). So in summary, I've tried this now from outside the network. I flashed my router with the latest firmware, set it back to factory defaults and started over. I setup my port forwarding. I also assigned the DVR a static IP address outside of my dhcp range (I'm assuming there should be no issues there). So im forwarding only port 5800 to that static IP (should I be forwarding any others?).

I've also changed the port to 200 to see if my DSL modem was perhaps blocking 5800.. Port 200 works for LAN, but i'm not able to access it from outside the network. Also.. I've been testing this by using my external IP : port number. That external IP is what my DSL modem is getting.. that's what I should be using, correct?

Basics: Its a clover usa DVR system that is supposed to allow remote viewing over port 5800. I'm able to get it working just fine within my network (LAN) but not from outside the network (WAN). I've assigned a static IP to the DVR (outside of the default DHCP range) and port forwarded all neccesary ports (300 & 500). That wasn't working, so I instead set that IP address to use DMZ. I've verified my settings with DYNDNS, and i've checked and rechecked all of my network settings, but I still cannot connect remotely. Does anyone have any clues? The manual for the system didn't provide much troubleshooting information. I'm desperate at this point...