Aposonic A-BR18B5-C500 8 Ch + 5 CCD 420TVL Bullet Cameras + 500GB pre-installed HDD with H.264 Level Kit Solution, Mac OS X App fully supported

Pros: n/a

Cons: I had the Aposonic A-BR18B5 for over a year. Today it just does not work. It has some sort of blue screen of death. It has also been terrible to own. I had to keep fixing something every month. I even bought new cables because one by one they all stopped working. I would recommend not to buy it unit.

Pros: Read the manual. Take an hour to get familiar with the configuration options. Works directly out of the box.

Cons: Mounting hardware is a bit fragile and cheapy. Can't backup directly to a network drive.

Other Thoughts: I use this system to bust my neighbors trespassing, vandalizing and littering on my property - directly around my house. Facial recognition is not possible at more than half the max focal range. Night vision is impressive. For the money, not a bad choice for me.

Pros: I really like the remote access ability that allows me to check my property on my cell phone or tablet.
The network set-up was somewhat difficult because of my modem/ router configurations but I called up Tech Support and they had me up and running in no time. I was very impressed with their knowledge and professionalism. If you have any questions at all be sure to call them...I bet they can help you out.
Running the cables was the most time-consuming aspect of my set-up but it wasn't ridiculously difficult. Make sure you measure your cable runs to be sure that the supplied cables will be enough. Just take your time when mounting/setting your cameras and there should be no problems.
The ability to tweak each camera is also a neat feature. It may take a little time to get the camera settings where you want them but it is definitely worth it.

Cons: My only complaint (and it is a trivial one) is the fact that the owners manual is on a DVD and there is not a hard copy included with the system. I probably will end up printing a hard copy anyway; I just hate using my own paper/ ink. If this is the only problem I have then I'd say the system is pretty darn good.

Other Thoughts: If you are looking for a Department of Defense grade system this is not for you. (Sorry, but you won't be able to make out a license plate from 6 blocks away.) If you are looking for a basic surveillance system that has alot of features for a great price then look no further. This camera system is a great supplement to a monitored alarm system to protect your home/ business/ property. I have been pleasantly surprised at how well this system has performed to date.

Pros: The equipment works.

Cons: The embedded software is *not* intuitive.
The ball swivel mounts are made from an *aluminum alloy* that is simply TOO SOFT. It dents and make fine adjustments difficult.
The 1/4-20 threads are TOO SHORT. Trying to mount a camera from the TOP threaded hole is frustrating.

Insufficient NUMBER of IR LEDs per camera.

Other Thoughts: One irritating thing, the coils of wiring are NOT oriented the same way. Some coils will spool out from the center and some will spool out from the outside. Watch out. I had to re-pull one run b/c the MALE power connector spooled out from the outside.

Also, the IR LEDs have a faint red glow. This allows anyone to detect your cameras.

Will not buy or recommend this brand.

Pros: I almost purchased (the similar) 4 channel DVR unit, but wanted to account for any possible future growth and thus purchased this 8-channel unit- I am glad I did. There is a lot of functionality here for the price and overall, a very good value. The DVR unit, cameras, and cables all seem to be of very good quality however I did purchase a separate spool of siamese cable for longer runs.

Remote viewing is especially important to me, and it works great after opening up my router's ports, as instructed. There was an issue with viewing on one computer using IE (not the cameras fault however- I think it was a browser setting) but a quick-fix was to view it using Mozilla/Firefox (which works great by the way).

I am especially impressed with the customer/techincal support of this company (Aposonic)! Numerous emails to them resulted in quick responses (within 12 hrs) which were very helpful and professional. Nice change of pace Aposonic- keep it up!

Cons: The software interface is good, but not great. For the most part it is quite functional, just not very 'polished' or refined. There are MANY useful features throughout it however.

Low-light viewing is acceptable, but not very great (as with many other cameras in this price range). I am exploring options to supplement the camera's built-in IR LED's with an IR illuminator.

The camera mounting brackets are Ok, but I was hoping for a bit sturdier- especially since these will be mounted outdoors.

Other Thoughts: I would recommend this unit to a friend (and have already). The manufacturer's stellar customer/technical support is a huge positive factor, and one which should also be taken into account (in my opinion).

Pros: very good for price easy setup

Cons: dont like the software and very bad quality on night one of the cables dont work so i have to spend $40 more but i have to buy a larger cable anyway

Pros: Relatively painless to install. Worked right out of the box.

Cons: The included cables are flimsy. Definitely buy better cabling!
Configuring for remote viewing was less than straight forward. I had to call my IT company for assistance.

Other Thoughts: A good buy overall. The included cameras are about what you would expect, (pretty good, but not great). So far the system has worked without a hiccup.

Pros: This is a complete solution. I was ab le to pull the inlcuded cables and mount hardware in a couple hours. After configuring a few things (such as record over previous video) it just works.

Cons: Poor site technical FAQ's. Self help is not an option. Getting mine network capable required an hour on telephone technical support with a tech logged into a PC on my network.

Other Thoughts: It is not a plug in and forget solution. I didn't have a monitor to devote to it at first and when I wanted to review video from that day it had filled up and stopped recording new video. I mark that as my bad.

IMHO the default should be to record over oldest video, but someone else would then complain about that setting.

On balance this is an great value. If you are looking for a home or small business video surveylance solution with the option of remote access you should consider this option.

The cameras are video standard cameras and not network cameras. The video recorder can be configured to be viewable on a network.

Pros: was planning to install CCTV equipment for my new store opened this June, as well as the old ones in other locations. I was looking for a device that is able to monitor more than one location at once. So I read through this unit's overview and found it is capable of what I was planning to do. I bought two sets of DIY kits with the same DVR, one comes with 8 cameras, the other with 5 cameras. Spent an excellent afternoon installing these units in my stores, and both of them work just great. I am able to view both stores in the same remote screen. As far as the video quality, those CCD cameras are giving me way better and clearer images than the old CMOS ones. I'm not an expert about camera lens and all, but they sure make difference. Now I am able to monitor these two stores of mine at home or on the road with my HTC Evo. Too bad they did not implement the great features on IE to mobile phones, but I just can't ask for more for this price. I also noticed that I could add more

Cons: Non so far