A couple of questions if anyone can help:

1) Can these cameras be used on older Zmodo systems? Old meaning like a year old or so.

2) Can two Zmodo systems be used on one ISP connection? A techie friend of mine thinks you may only be able to hook up one system, vs. two independent systems due to dynamic DNS setup, etc.

dalem1984 wrote:I purchased this model. Is that the same one you bought? The details seem to be the same, but my camera model numbers vary from what is (and was) posted. I also received (2) 50' cables and (2) 100' cables instead of (4) sixty footers.


I'm confused! Can anyone provide answers?

Yep, same woot bundle. I guess you lucked out with Sony CCD cameras and a couple longer wires...which isn't a bad thing (unless you needed all cables to be 60' and you want all cameras wider angle 3.6mm?)

The cameras I received are, according to the model # and spec card, all Sharp 1/4"...just as advertised (part of the giveaway in product code is yours are CM-Sxxxxx, mine are CM-Pxxxxx....I assume your S is for Sony and my P is for Sharp, since S is already taken?).

General opinion is that Sony makes a better CCD...so maybe you ended up getting an undercover "Box of Cameras"! :-)

Unless you want to change it, I think you did ok...and like you said, having 2 6mm and 2 3.6mm lenses would allow for some creative viewing options...I'm limited to 3.6mm all across the board.

rcpaws wrote:A couple of questions if anyone can help:

1) Can these cameras be used on older Zmodo systems? Old meaning like a year old or so.

2) Can two Zmodo systems be used on one ISP connection? A techie friend of mine thinks you may only be able to hook up one system, vs. two independent systems due to dynamic DNS setup, etc.

1 - Yes. They just use BNC connectors and a power plug. Nothing special.

2 - Yes. Just give them different IP addresses. DVR one could have 192.168.1.101 and DVR two could have 192.168.1.102. It's better to give them a static local IP address. You'll then setup port forwarding in your gateway router for both DVR units. Don't use port 80 for both units.

eraie wrote:Yep, same woot bundle. I guess you lucked out with Sony CCD cameras and a couple longer wires...which isn't a bad thing (unless you needed all cables to be 60' and you want all cameras wider angle 3.6mm?)

The cameras I received are, according to the model # and spec card, all Sharp 1/4"...just as advertised (part of the giveaway in product code is yours are CM-Sxxxxx, mine are CM-Pxxxxx....I assume your S is for Sony and my P is for Sharp, since S is already taken?).

General opinion is that Sony makes a better CCD...so maybe you ended up getting an undercover "Box of Cameras"! :-)

Unless you want to change it, I think you did ok...and like you said, having 2 6mm and 2 3.6mm lenses would allow for some creative viewing options...I'm limited to 3.6mm all across the board.

I wonder how many others ended up with that mixture of cameras?

Anyway, I like Box of Cameras!

I'm wondering about the power requirements of the DVR, I can't find it mentioned anywhere. Is it dual voltage like most computers? I need it to work on 220V. Does anyone know about this?

djb5842 wrote:I'm wondering about the power requirements of the DVR, I can't find it mentioned anywhere. Is it dual voltage like most computers? I need it to work on 220V. Does anyone know about this?

Yes, for the DVR it's a 12v 3A power supply, works with 100v-240v 50/60Hz.
For the cameras, it's 12v 1.5A power adapter, same voltages/frequencies.

You'd just need to get the proper line plug adapters for the country you're using them in. (it ships with North American 3 prong for DVR and 2 prong for camera)

Is it possible to extend the cables... or buy longer cables. Our end rooms are about 100 feet from where the system would be based.

Dang, that's really good deal. Hard to beat it price wise.

debray33 wrote:Is it possible to extend the cables... or buy longer cables. Our end rooms are about 100 feet from where the system would be based.

You're better off buying longer cables, which are available at a multitude of places online. By daisy-chaining multiple cables you're more likely to experience signal degradation or intermittent signal/power faults. Always best to go with continuous lengths of wire.

Another option is to purchase CCTV video baluns, which allow you to use good ol' cat5 netowrk cable, in between the 2 baluns. You can go up to +/- 2000 feet by using this method, signal will be cleaner and cat5 is generally easy to pull (easier and cheaper than coax cable, which can be used in the same method as well). Cat5 is nice in that it carries video & power, and leaves room for adding PTZ control or audio in the future if ever you want to add those devices.

Is this Woot or the daily suveillance system channel???????

gtiger wrote:Is this Woot or the daily suveillance system channel???????

Huh? What is a woot?

Am I blind? Can't seem to see where it says how long the cables are for the cameras. Anyone?

eraie wrote:Yes, for the DVR it's a 12v 3A power supply, works with 100v-240v 50/60Hz.
For the cameras, it's 12v 1.5A power adapter, same voltages/frequencies.

You'd just need to get the proper line plug adapters for the country you're using them in. (it ships with North American 3 prong for DVR and 2 prong for camera)

Thanks eraie, that's exactly what I needed to know!

bradkindall wrote:Am I blind? Can't seem to see where it says how long the cables are for the cameras. Anyone?

Under Features it says 60ft.
"Each camera comes with a 60-foot power and BNC video all-in-one cable"

bradkindall wrote:Am I blind? Can't seem to see where it says how long the cables are for the cameras. Anyone?

They're 60 feet long each. See the 'specs' tab for full specifications.

taitrt wrote:When you configure the motion detection you cannot use the copy to all function for the cameras. The reason for this is that there is a trigger (motion) and an action (record camera X). When you use copy to all it will often activate the record on every camera when it detects motion on one. Easy fix though, just don't use the copy setting function.

Overall I find this DVR to be very high quality for the price. I previously had a zmodo 4 camera system and was constantly annoyed by the low quality motion detection. This camera's motion detection is fantastic and the remote playback interface is 1000x better than the previous model that I used.

For me, this system is 100% worth it.

Can u Explain this Copy to All feature? Exactly where is it Located in the Menu setting?

I Just Bought one Here on Woot,

and Dont want to Get this Problem with recording all Channels,

Sometimes I would want to Have Just One Camera ,
and that One Channel Recording Full Screen (Eg My Gate Entrance)

does 8 channel mean hook ups for 8 cameras or 4 cameras and 4 audio?after adding a harddrive how many channels will this record at the same time?

ZENISH wrote:does 8 channel mean hook ups for 8 cameras or 4 cameras and 4 audio?after adding a harddrive how many channels will this record at the same time?

8 Channel , Mean it can Hook up 8 Cameras Maximum to the DVR (and Can View all or Seperately)

It can record all 8 Cameras Simultaneously. (on a Split screen)

You Can also Hook up Less that 8 Cameras (if u Wish) Like 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 Etc.

The Zmodo unit Has Only 4 Audio Inputs,
So that means Only 4 Camera (If Equipped with Audio)can record Video & Audio,
Whist the other 4 Cameras (if Attached would Just be Video (with no Audio)

alan0123 wrote:Can u Explain this Copy to All feature? Exactly where is it Located in the Menu setting?

I Just Bought one Here on Woot,

and Dont want to Get this Problem with recording all Channels,

Sometimes I would want to Have Just One Camera ,
and that One Channel Recording Full Screen (Eg My Gate Entrance)

In the record settings, you can define which channels to record, and the schedules for each channel. By default, it records all 8 channels, but you can edit this to record only the ones you want (select the channel in menu first, then set up the schedule, with the mouse you deselect the entire grid to 'no record' for the channels you don't want to record).

The 'copy to all' function basically copies 1 channel's recording schedule / trigger to all other channels...so unless you want to record all 8 under the same triggers, don't use 'copy to all'. I think that's what taitrt was trying to explain about the copy function.

You can toggle the preview and playback screen from 1 ('full screen') to 8 channels, but in essence it will only be recording those that you've defined. When you playback, you'll notice that there was no actual recording for the 'no signal' channels that you disabled earlier.

You'll be able to record all 4 cameras if you want...and just go full screen preview (or playback) for your 1 gate entrance cam. Or, like you wanted, just set it up for single cam record, your call.

I know this sounds confusing, the broken English in the manual has fried some of my synapses, lol, but what you asked is do-able.

If you wanna have some fun while you wait for your package to arrive:
http://www.zmodo.com/media/downloader/516/ZMD-DD-SBN4%20SBN8.pdf

@ Eraie

Re: the Above Explanation ^^

THANKS SO Much for Clearing that up

I am reading the Instruction manual Pdf File Now.

Can I provide remote viewing of the system. Like to secondary users or just a public profile. So someone can view the cameras through a browser, but not have admin access. I seen where there is a mobile app for viewing. I just want to make sure the system can only be viewed via the apps and hopefully a webpage.

If you are looking at a PTZ, you are throwing money away. I've designed security systems for years and you can buy 2-4 stationary cameras and catch more action for the same price as a PTZ. The other issues with PTZ (that you probably haven't thought about) is you have to be physically moving them to see the action. If you move in the wrong direction, you've lost the shot. If you got it pointing in the wrong direction, you've lost the shot. If you have it on constant movement, you will at some point lose the shot. Trust me, you won't be sitting at the PTZ very often. If you do, you need to get a life. We will often put 3 or 4 in one spot to get a full 360 degree view.

Buy the stationary cameras and you will be happier and catch more of what you need.

taitrt wrote:When you configure the motion detection you cannot use the copy to all function for the cameras. The reason for this is that there is a trigger (motion) and an action (record camera X). When you use copy to all it will often activate the record on every camera when it detects motion on one. Easy fix though, just don't use the copy setting function.

I've gone over the config at least a dozen times (no exaggeration). I've only installed two cameras, and have put the project on hold until I determine if this is really going to work or not. I've not used the 'copy' function. I've verified that there is NO motion record set on the unused channels, and unchecked the 'record camera X' triggers, just in case.

Oddly, while it does record all 8 ports 24/7, and logs show "motion alarm" (not just motion detect, but "motion detection alarm"... I have alarms disabled, also, so that's wrong)... when I view the recorded data for each camera, the recordings are registered as Normal Record. The three types of record available are Normal, Triggered By Alarm, and Motion Detection. (The Chinese origin is becoming obvious here, as they don't carry the same labeling or terminology through different areas of the interface). All recordings show Normal, so while the system logs indication "motion detection alarm" there is no Motion Detection recordings nor Triggered By Alarm recordings present.

See that disconnect, right there? Logs are showing motion alarm activity, but it doesn't record them.

One camera is in a garage area, and constantly shows motion alarms, when there are no people present (nor spiders in front of the cam, or anything else to trigger it). Watching it realtime in IE I see a short burst of static about every 6 seconds, so that *may* have something to do with the false positive. I haven't asked Zmodo support about this yet, and I really don't think they're capable of giving a response.

Speaking of, the IE plugin lets you "black out" areas of each camera's frame to mark where you *do not* want it to trigger motion from (like, where a plant may move in the breeze, for instance). About 80% of the time, that part of the UI in IE breaks, so editing that is basically impossible.

Comments about IR limitation are spot on. The claimed 60' has got to be some theoretical maximum obtained in ideal conditions. An associate of mine is covering a wide area with his cams and has found IR LED floodlamps to throw easily to 100', usually for under $10 per (w/o power supply).

Has anyone found a download for their firmware?
Skimming through the manual, it appears it has some internal update function that I'm guessing downloads the file from their site. I'd love to get a tcpdump of the initial connection (for the URL).

I'd love to see if I could extract a filesystem from their firmware image as it would allow for customization. A coworker was planning on buying this until he realized it was locked down and you couldn't run an rsync job on it... what good is it if it's stolen from the site you're trying to protect?
(I actually have a Zoneminder system doing just this for the same reason)

The fact that they don't have source code downloads makes me wonder if there's a GPL violation here too.

The IE-only comments here and in reviews on other sites is a deal-killer for me... all my machines are Linux or Solaris and my wife's are all Apple (Mac and iPad).

Does anyone have any video samples of the quality of the recorded playback?

futurekill wrote:I've gone over the config at least a dozen times (no exaggeration). I've only installed two cameras, and have put the project on hold until I determine if this is really going to work or not. I've not used the 'copy' function. I've verified that there is NO motion record set on the unused channels, and unchecked the 'record camera X' triggers, just in case.

Oddly, while it does record all 8 ports 24/7, and logs show "motion alarm" (not just motion detect, but "motion detection alarm"... I have alarms disabled, also, so that's wrong)... when I view the recorded data for each camera, the recordings are registered as Normal Record. The three types of record available are Normal, Triggered By Alarm, and Motion Detection. (The Chinese origin is becoming obvious here, as they don't carry the same labeling or terminology through different areas of the interface). All recordings show Normal, so while the system logs indication "motion detection alarm" there is no Motion Detection recordings nor Triggered By Alarm recordings present.

See that disconnect, right there? Logs are showing motion alarm activity, but it doesn't record them.

One camera is in a garage area, and constantly shows motion alarms, when there are no people present (nor spiders in front of the cam, or anything else to trigger it). Watching it realtime in IE I see a short burst of static about every 6 seconds, so that *may* have something to do with the false positive. I haven't asked Zmodo support about this yet, and I really don't think they're capable of giving a response.

Speaking of, the IE plugin lets you "black out" areas of each camera's frame to mark where you *do not* want it to trigger motion from (like, where a plant may move in the breeze, for instance). About 80% of the time, that part of the UI in IE breaks, so editing that is basically impossible.

Comments about IR limitation are spot on. The claimed 60' has got to be some theoretical maximum obtained in ideal conditions. An associate of mine is covering a wide area with his cams and has found IR LED floodlamps to throw easily to 100', usually for under $10 per (w/o power supply).

If you're sure that you've set things right, even after a dozen tries, and it still doesn't work, contact Zmodo...maybe your unit is defective? Are you saving your changes and rebooting the DVR between attempts?

FYI, mine only records the channels I tell it to. You have to disable recording (via the grid), channel by channel that you don't want to record (eg. every grid block should be white). If you are still recording all 8 channels after disabling the ones you don't want, then either you're missing something in your setup, or the box is defective.

"Triggered by Alarm" - have you physically connected your DVR to your alarm panel, via the wire terminals on the back? That's what this is for. If you are not connecting an alarm system to this DVR, you won't have alarm trigger events, so don't bother with this.

My logs show my motion activity - when it starts, when it stops, and I can click on it to bring up the recorded video. I also had a few false positives in my totally dark garage, I'm thinking there may be some power blips or something that may slightly affect the image or IR intensity, so the DVR detects this small pixel shift as 'motion'. I've set sensitivity to low, and it seems to have improved.


Instead of IE and the unstable plugins for playing with this box, you can create the same masks in the DVR's GUI.

Anyone else still waiting for their Zmodo camera order to ship? I ordered mine around 8am PST on 8/1. My shipping status says awaiting shipment. if I order something online and it read 'available' I expect to ship within 24-48 hours. I'm beginning to think there wasn't any in stock. I'll be canceling my order on Monday afternoon if I don't see my shipping status change. Oh, I already sent an email to support@woot.com, no response. :P

glabifrons wrote:Has anyone found a download for their firmware?
Skimming through the manual, it appears it has some internal update function that I'm guessing downloads the file from their site. I'd love to get a tcpdump of the initial connection (for the URL).

I'd love to see if I could extract a filesystem from their firmware image as it would allow for customization. A coworker was planning on buying this until he realized it was locked down and you couldn't run an rsync job on it... what good is it if it's stolen from the site you're trying to protect?
(I actually have a Zoneminder system doing just this for the same reason)

The fact that they don't have source code downloads makes me wonder if there's a GPL violation here too.

The IE-only comments here and in reviews on other sites is a deal-killer for me... all my machines are Linux or Solaris and my wife's are all Apple (Mac and iPad).

I already own a Zmodo 8 camera system for over a year now this is my second unit I've ordered. I'm a IT junkie, not a Linux genius but know enough to get around. I have not found any downloads or hints as to what the root password is or found copies of the Linus shell online. In a way, I'm glad, I allow my mobile media port open on my residential router so I can monitor remotely. I would hate for a hacker to find a vulnerability on my unit and use it or intrude on my home. In my opinion I don't blame them for keeping these details locked up tight.

eraie wrote:You're better off buying longer cables, which are available at a multitude of places online. By daisy-chaining multiple cables you're more likely to experience signal degradation or intermittent signal/power faults. Always best to go with continuous lengths of wire.

Another option is to purchase CCTV video baluns, which allow you to use good ol' cat5 netowrk cable, in between the 2 baluns. You can go up to +/- 2000 feet by using this method, signal will be cleaner and cat5 is generally easy to pull (easier and cheaper than coax cable, which can be used in the same method as well). Cat5 is nice in that it carries video & power, and leaves room for adding PTZ control or audio in the future if ever you want to add those devices.

Warning: I purchased two fully shielded high 100 ft cables from fry's it was already tipped to fit the camera and DVR, no cutting, my two cameras now show poor video quality. I thought my camera was bad, but when I hooked one of these cameras to the out of box 60' cable it looked fine. I wouldn't recommend anything over 75ft. Anything beyond that you may need a power jumper or relay to give it a little more juice to deliver a better video signal to the DVR.

calbor wrote:Anyone else still waiting for their Zmodo camera order to ship? I ordered mine around 8am PST on 8/1. My shipping status says awaiting shipment. if I order something online and it read 'available' I expect to ship within 24-48 hours. I'm beginning to think there wasn't any in stock. I'll be canceling my order on Monday afternoon if I don't see my shipping status change. Oh, I already sent an email to support@woot.com, no response. :P

I got mine Friday in IN. Mine shipped from IL. Woot still says awaiting shipment. Shrugs.

Does anyone know how to rotate the video of the camera? I need to go 90 degrees clockwise due to the install angle on one.

Thanks

chadbailey wrote:Does anyone know how to rotate the video of the camera? I need to go 90 degrees clockwise due to the install angle on one.

Thanks

the small photocell at the 6 o'clock position (below the lens) is your reference for a normal position. Keep it oriented at 6 o'clock.

The dome camera: you can gently twist / turn the camera housing within the gimbal; it's pretty tight, but you should be able to move it around (that's what she said).
The gimbal itself also moves. Just be careful not to pinch the cable if really pushing it far off center.

For the bullet, the shade/cover slides off, and can be mounted in different positions...mounting holes on the camera housing are offset by 180, so you have a couple options.

calbor wrote:Anyone else still waiting for their Zmodo camera order to ship? I ordered mine around 8am PST on 8/1. My shipping status says awaiting shipment. if I order something online and it read 'available' I expect to ship within 24-48 hours. I'm beginning to think there wasn't any in stock. I'll be canceling my order on Monday afternoon if I don't see my shipping status change. Oh, I already sent an email to support@woot.com, no response. :P

As was explained to me last month when I ordered mine, and aside from woot's 'up to 5 days' rule before shipping, this item is drop shipped from Zmodo's warehouse in IL (at least that's where mine came out of).
It's more than likely that it did ship, but Woot might not have access to updated tracking info from Zmodo yet.

But, Zmodo was pretty fast...I received mine within a week of ordering.

eraie wrote:As was explained to me last month when I ordered mine, and aside from woot's 'up to 5 days' rule before shipping, this item is drop shipped from Zmodo's warehouse in IL (at least that's where mine came out of).
It's more than likely that it did ship, but Woot might not have access to updated tracking info from Zmodo yet.

But, Zmodo was pretty fast...I received mine within a week of ordering.

Thanks for the info bud!

eraie wrote:If you're sure that you've set things right, even after a dozen tries, and it still doesn't work, contact Zmodo...maybe your unit is defective? Are you saving your changes and rebooting the DVR between attempts?

FYI, mine only records the channels I tell it to. You have to disable recording (via the grid), channel by channel that you don't want to record (eg. every grid block should be white). If you are still recording all 8 channels after disabling the ones you don't want, then either you're missing something in your setup, or the box is defective.

"Triggered by Alarm" - have you physically connected your DVR to your alarm panel, via the wire terminals on the back? That's what this is for. If you are not connecting an alarm system to this DVR, you won't have alarm trigger events, so don't bother with this.

My logs show my motion activity - when it starts, when it stops, and I can click on it to bring up the recorded video. I also had a few false positives in my totally dark garage, I'm thinking there may be some power blips or something that may slightly affect the image or IR intensity, so the DVR detects this small pixel shift as 'motion'. I've set sensitivity to low, and it seems to have improved.


Instead of IE and the unstable plugins for playing with this box, you can create the same masks in the DVR's GUI.

In some cases (if you have a sophisticated residential router ; e.g. Cisco residential layer 3 router/switch). You can put the interface you have your Zmodo on, on a different VLAN, then create a virtual firewall rule, only allowing the relevant ports open to the other VLAN. Therefore minimizing the broadcast traffic and port saturation. For a while my router kept indicating that my Zmodo was causing excessive session warnings. I put it in its place and all my problems went away. I also got faster Internet responses too and don't have to reboot my router as often.

Just got mine today and have a bunch of questions.

1. What is the function of the "NVM55" monitor. The IE connection seems to work with it or without.

2. Can the menu functions of the unit be adjusted remotely (like setting the time, etc.)

3. I can't get the Zmodo or the IP Cam Viewer Lite Android apps to connect. Any hints?

4. What are all the ports about? I use port 88 for my IE connection (not a problem) but what are the Command (5050), Media (6050) and Mobile (7050) ports and how are they used?

Thanks

I'm having a hell of a time getting the remote viewing setup. I can see it on my LAN, but cannot from WAN. Any tips? I've tried forwarding ports, but it doesn't seem to work.

Hey WOOT where is my order??? I bought the 4 channel a while back and that POS stopped working and now my 8 channel is nowhere to be found...If I wanted a zero channel camera system I could have saved me a couple bucks!!!

ralphloren wrote:
1. What is the function of the "NVM55" monitor. The IE connection seems to work with it or without.

OK, I figured out what the NVM55 is. It's to allow management of the system functions from a PC.

On Vista or 7 is MUST be run in XP compatibility mode. Service Pack 3 compatibility seem fine.

Mac, phone and tablet guys are, I guess, SOL.

HOWEVER, I've got the NVM55 software running but it can't find the Zmodo!

Any ideas?