Q-See QT426-5 16 x BNC 500GB SATA HDD, Up to 2TB 16 Channel DVR Security System Q-See QT426-5 16 x BNC 500GB SATA HDD, Up to 2TB 16 Channel DVR Security System

Pros: This is not a zero-support device. As of this writing, there is a firmware to update the code to allow compatibility with Internet Explorer 9. Similar devices are made once and forgotten about.

The performance rivals that of a dedicated surveillance PC, not in terms of raw horse power but the ability of compressing live video via H.264 codec on the fly. This allows the highest possible video quality while being able to serve remote feeds (which are configurable!) on low-bandwidth connections. Lesser devices are highly compressed and people in video are very hard to distinguish.

The features speak for themselves, the H.264 is huge step over other similar devices. You can do almost 100% of the configuration over the network. You can view video using your smart phone AND do some configuration.

I've built stand-alone DVRs and while they are slightly more configurable and powerful, they are nowhere near this price point. If you need a stand-alone box, look no further.

Cons: **THE PRICE IS NOT A CON IT IS WELL WORTH IT***

The only real con are the clunky menus, mouse and / or remote control only interface. Again, most of this is meant to be configured REMOTELY.

That being said, there are some remote menus that options don't stick (like creating a new user). And the software is obviously not natively English as there are plenty of spelling errors.

While the device has life-cycle support (as evident by their firmware update(s)), getting a live person is hard over the phone.

A recent firmware 'broke' the remote access, but doing a 'RESET' from the menu fixed it. This should be an easy QA item to detect and resolve but wasn't.

All these issues are non-critical and the benefits way outweigh the cons.

Other Thoughts: There are some mismatched information on what the box has for features vs. what NEWEGG has for features vs. what the website has for features.

Check their product website for the latest information: http://www.q-see.com/products/security-product.php?ProductId=269

Pros: Pretty nice unit. Has lots of options. I use this for my house. It came with 8 cameras. Cameras are just basic 420 res.. but with with 8 cameras it pretty much covers the house. I use the email features to send to my DroidX. That works perfectly. Takes a lot of fine tuning but for me it was fun to do. installation and hook up is as simple as screwing the cameras where you want them and running the cable back to the DVR and pluggin it in. Everything worked out of the box.

Cons: Menus were a little difficult to figure out. Manual stinks. Cameras that came with it could have been a little higher quality for th e$800 i spent. Don't understand why these things cost $500+ all they do is video capture. but all brands are that way not just this one.

Other Thoughts: I would recommend to a friend. I'm a network tech so the email and network setup may be a little harder for some of you but there are also you tube videos out there on how to do this. 4 eggs instead of 5 because of price and manual.