ANNKE H500 8CH 4pcs 3K 5MP Camera PoE Security System, H.265+ NVR with 2TB Hard Drive, Outdoor Bullet IP Cam, Color Night Vision, Built-in Mic&SD Card Slot, Smart Motion Detection, Works with Alexa

At first, I have no idea about which security system to buy, since Amazon showed me so many search results. After comparing and researching, I added four 5MP security kits to my shopping cart: ANNKE DVR kit, ANNKE NVR kit, Reolink NVR kit, and ONWOTE NVR kit. Finally, I bought this ANNKE NVR kit.My reasons for this: 1. POE system, because I want to install a camera for my garage, but the garage is a little bit far away from the house. The DVR system will lose video quality because of the camera installation distance. What an unacceptable fact it is. 2. 4K NVR. Other security kits are equipped with 5MP NVR and only support 5MP camera, but this NVR supports cameras up to 8MP. I got a 4K TV, so I also bought 2 ANNKE 4K cameras. The display effect is really amazing, beyond my expectations. 3. H.265+ or maybe called H.265 pro+ is the most efficient video compression according to Google. The advantage is that the memory usage of recorded video will be smaller, you can store more videos, no longer wasting money to change hard drive for larger memory. Also, it reduces the bandwidth pressure and plays more smoothly. Mobile phone remote viewing will not be stuck, very powerful technology. 4. It supports color night vision, but this is actually called starlight color night vision. I find it can still maintain color images in the dark environment, and the image is very clear.I am very satisfied after using it for 2 weeks. I can see the scenes clear no matter in the day or night. And it is easy to install, you can add more cameras to this system for wider coverage, too. It maybe can work for 10 years and not be outdated. Highly recommended.

I purchased this unit (N48PAW with 4 cameras) along with an additional 3 cameras. Planning to add another shortly.Setup was pretty easy. Between skimming the manual and following the on-screen prompts I was able to get the system up and running in less than 30 minutes. There are YouTube videos but I didn’t need them.The cameras ARE capable of being pointed in any direction. I made the main adjustment before mounting the cameras and fine-tuned them later. I have some mounted on the side of the house and others on the eaves. I was able to adjust all of them so the picture is upright.The mobile app is decent. The default view is standard definition but can be changed with a tap on the HD button on the screen. You can also play back in the app. The playback functionality is better from the DVR screen but is sufficient for my purposes.Running the wires was a pain due the the layout of my house. Would be much easier in a basic ranch house or during a new construction. This isn’t a complaint, though. I knew going in that this would be the trickiest part. Two of my cameras are in an outbuilding 100 feet away from the house. For those I ran plastic conduit with direct burial gel-filled cat5e cable inside. Probably overkill but I don’t want to do it twice!Overall I am impressed. The picture quality is very good. I can read license plates from 50 feet away. Night vision works well though I haven’t tried a night time license plate test yet. For the money this is a decent system and I would buy it again.11/10/2020 Update: After 14 months of continuous operation I had an issue with the NVR. I cntacted Annke tech support and after several emails do diagnose the problem they replaced the unit at no cost to myself. Nice to see customer service like this.

Picture quality is good. Recording seems to go well. If all I needed was an in house recording it would suffice. But I want to view remotely and it is convoluted to the point of I've given up. I managed two business networks with multiple ap's. And if a business is going to sell in the US you'd think they'd get some native english speaker to edit their information. Come with a remote, but you have to use a mouse just to sign in using a drawing.

For those that aren't aware..power over Ethernet (POE) cameras will require you to snake some cat 6 cables (included) from the camera to your recorder. I Included the tools and extra materials I required to accomplish this in the attached images. I decided to cut the RJ-45 connectors off the Ethernet cables to make them easier to snake through my walls, and then used a crimper tool (shown) to attach new connectors after.One piece of hardware that will probably be necessary for anyone mounting these cameras are junction boxes (also shown in the images). I purchased DS-1280ZJ-XS Aluminum Bracket Junction Back Box ($50 for a pack of 4 on Amazon) and they were of extremely high quality worked absolutely perfectly. Other than that, you really just need the necessary tools, assuming a DIY install. I ended up installing 3 of 4 cameras, one at each entry of my home.Onto the review....The cameras provide decent picture quality. They have quite a large field of vision, are fully weatherproof, and the night vision is outstanding. The recorder interface is pretty nice--2TB worth of storage (plenty), easy to sync and setup the cameras, and the phone app is great for remote monitoring. It delivers as advertised and was everything I was looking for. The only negatives are I had originally hoped for even better picture quality. It is still very good (esp when viewing on a 2k+ monitor) but, I definitely wouldn't be able to identify a licence plate number from a car on the street via my front door camera. The only other issue is that the motion detection recording is actually too sensitive, even when on the lowest setting. In my case, this is causing the cameras to record almost non-stop (at least during the night), because of the bugs flying around in front of them. This just means you may find yourself scrolling through a lot more footage than expected during a playback, even when recording in motion detection mode. Personally, I am not that bothered by this, but, some people could be.Again, overall this setup works as advertised, has great features, and plenty of harddrive storage. Installation isn't too bad if you're a DIYer. And, the picture quality is good. I'm happy with the purchase.