zjdeere 0 Posted February 6, 2012 I have been reading the posts here for a while and need some help. I have a Samsung SDE4001. It's ok, but not great, during the day and terrible at night. I paid $800 for it. Can I get a better system in a similar price range? I see where the "package systems" are not popular among folks that seem to know about this sort of stuff. I'm looking for suggestions/ideas on better equipment. Thanks for your help! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
buster74985 0 Posted February 7, 2012 I also purchased the Samsung SDE-4001 system (from Sam's Club) to check it out since I was new to the CCTV world. After I purchased it I realized I needed the 16-channel but thought I would keep it for a month or so and get some good shots at different angles to see if it was worth it. I was inticed due to running Cat 5 cable instead of the higher priced siamese cable for video/audio. In the end I took a few hours of video and captured many still shots. Overall I was pleased with the quality of the video and still shots. The only way to get better shots would be to use a Megapixel system which would be a lot more expensive. I plan to purchase the 16 channel system (that comes with 8 cameras) and use the domes more for observation and the bullets in the front of the house by the garage to monitor the cars in the driveway. I plan to purchase (2) 2.6-12mm vari-focal lens cameras so I can ID someone at the front and back door even when mounting the cameras at 17' (2-story house). I've attached a couple of photos that I captured. Let me know what you think. Photos captured at 704x480. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HiTronChuck 0 Posted February 14, 2012 Those are supposed to be 520tvl cams? Those pictures are dismal at best especially given the proximity and FOV. Samsung is a pretty good brand but this just looks like a shoddy attempt to compete with the lower price brands and I'm pretty sure that's why Costco kicked this unit out. I got a Revo Brand home cctv system for my Mom and she loves it. The picture isn't spectacular but it blows these images away. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Numb-nuts 1 Posted February 14, 2012 Before you judge, you should set the back focus see this page to explain I have seen so many fantastic cameras not working at their optimum for failure to back-focus. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted February 14, 2012 Also depends what they used to focus it with, a 3.5" LCD for example wont typically allow you to get an optimal focus. Those images look like some compression issue though, conversion to JPEG probably killed them as well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Numb-nuts 1 Posted February 15, 2012 Also depends what they used to focus it with, a 3.5" LCD for example wont typically allow you to get an optimal focus. Those images look like some compression issue though, conversion to JPEG probably killed them as well. I reckon they have potential, the colours are all there and no colour distortion there's a good chance your picture can be improved significantly. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
buster74985 0 Posted February 22, 2012 All of the cameras in this set have fixed 3.6mm lens with no adjustment possible. The colors are good but if Revo is better then I may look at that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
