So, these NVRs have come a long way since the analog DVRs of yesteryear. I already have a few Amcrest cameras and thought I would try this out to see if it was any good.Surprisingly, the NVR itself is actually very good. Mine shipped with older firmware as well but I updated it to the latest firmware they had for it (May 2020) and it made a huge difference in using the NVR both at the NVR itself and the web interface.This NVR (and system?) is different from Nest, Arlo, Wyze, and others as it’s very much a DIY product vs. out of the box solution with Cloud storage. The setup I thought was pretty painless. I just popped a hard drive into the chassis and went through the on-screen setup wizard with the included mouse and I was off and running. The cool part about is that it will search for and allow you to add the cameras during the setup wizard – no manually adding the IP addresses of your cameras as it will find them for you – pretty slick!Speaking of hard drives. The NVR seems pretty tolerant of the drives you put in it. To start, I first tried a Western Digital “Blue” desktop drive. No issues. Then, I tried (and am currently using) a 5TB Seagate Desktop drive that I shucked out of an external hard drive case. Not sure how long it will last, but at any rate, I would recommend using any drive rated for security camera usageiOS app and notificationsThe Amcrest app (Amcrest ViewPro - iOS) is okay and notifications work quite well. I found that the notifications were on par with both my Nest Outdoor cam and Wyze cam when there was activity – surprisingly very few false notifications. I didn’t even have the notification area configured and it worked quite well out of the box – I would feel pretty confident that if I were to configure a set area it would send me notifications when there was motion. Inside of the NVR, it shows you a picture that the camera sees with a bunch of “cells” that you can highlight and have it only look for motion in those areas.Additionally, what I forgot to mention earlier is during the wizard helps you set up your NVR for access outside of your home by having you scan a QR code with the Amcrest ViewPro app. It will create what is called a Peer-To-Peer connection to the NVR so no opening up ports in your home router – that part was super easy and works pretty well as far as I can tell.When you receive and tap on a notification (and there are several options to decide what a motion notification does when you tap on it).It will take you to the motion even but it adds 10-15 seconds of recording prior to the event itself. I found this a bit cumbersome – but otherwise functional. Finding previous motion events and recording in the app itself was pretty cumbersome in general – so I would recommend only using the NVR itself or the web interface to look at recordings.This NVR and most Amcrest cameras are actually a re-brand from a company called Dahua – and because of that, you can use Dahua’s programs and apps to interact with Amcrest devices. So, when I’m at home I like to use the Dahua iOS app called “DMSS” which allows you to scroll through your motion events in a list (with a small preview) and tap on them to see the event.I hope the Amcrest ViewPro app follows suit as this is a better way to find motion events when using your mobile device. The DMSS app will not work with a Peer-To-Peer connection outside of your home so when I’m away I use the Amcrest ViewPro app to connect to my NVR.Motion Events and Downloading RecordingsFinding motion events is pretty easy. The NVR will highlight the motion events with blocks of yellow. These blocks are present on the NVR itself and the web interface.However, downloading motion events and recordings is different.This is an area where I actually ran into some trouble but it gave me the opportunity to engage Amcrest Support via email. (Quick note on support – someone did reply to my inquiry and it seemed it was roughly 24 hours between replies back and forth over e-mail which I thought was fine.)Prior to updating the firmware on my NVR, I was able to download videos via the web interface, but after updating the option where you specify a start time and end time disappeared.I worked with their support and ultimately it was suggested that I use the desktop client. In this scenario, I ended up using the Dahua version of the desktop client called “SmartPSS” and using that to download my videos. There is an Amcrest version but I couldn’t get it to work. You can download the videos directly from the NVR itself but they will download in a “.dav” format which requires a proprietary player to see. If you use the desktop client you can download your videos in a “.MP4” format which is a more standard format and will play on almost any device. I really hope in the future Amcrest will fix/add the option to download the videos from the web interface.Downloading the videos from the desktop client is pretty painless. For more information on how to do this, I would recommend watching this video on YouTube. It’s from an account called “Auckland Security Cameras” and the video is called “How To Playback and Export CCTV Video Using SmartPSS”. The video does a good job of showing you how to use the software to find and download videos from your Amcrest NVR.In the video description, it has an “extra note” which says the following: “EXTRA NOTE: Pause this video at 2:14 and you'll see a 1 hour default time span which will show up when you click the scissors the 2nd time. Grab the red right edge and drag it to the left so you only get the minute or 2 that you're after.”As a tip – you may need to “zoom-out” on the timeline to see the ending mark for your video you’re trying to download.PerformanceI currently have (2) 4K cameras recording at full resolution at 15 FPS and (1) 5MP camera recording full resolution at 20FPS and the NVR doesn’t seem to mind. The NVR has a bandwidth monitor of sorts that allows you to see the available bandwidth and how much the cameras are using. In this case – it says I have 88Mbps of bandwidth available and with the 3 cameras, it's sitting at around 66Mbps left so I would feel confident adding a couple of others without issue. I did notice though – when playing back on all channels one of the cameras didn’t and in the frame, it said “Outside of decode ability”. This is fine – because I don’t think I’ll be searching more than one camera at a time anyways.A quick note on web browsersWhen using Chrome the NVR asks you to install a Chrome Application called “Amcrest Web View”. The application works fine but I also found it works just as well without the plugin/application inside of Firefox, Opera, or Edge.SummaryOverall – solid NVR for money if you’re aware of the limitations.Notifications work great and I’m pretty darn satisfied with the cost/usability balance. Sure, there are systems that are easier to use and setup – but will cost you at least double what you’d spend on the cameras and NVR, and probably have cloud access fees. This one – no cloud fees, and the cameras are super affordable and would easily allow you to keep an eye on your home or business.Amcrest is always my product of choice when it comes to reasonably priced camera surveillance systems. This NVR with either internal POE power for IP cameras or just IP control are quality products with many features and functions that I am still trying to master after a few years installations jobs. Amcrest tech support is excellent, providing timely courteous assistance when issues come up. I have learned a lot from their senior tech, Carlos B., over the years, always getting back to me in a timely manner, sometimes logging into my customer's NVR with permission in order to guide me to a solution. I would highly recommend Amcrest NVRs and cameras. John LorensDon't let the BlueIris community coerce you into buying 'their' software that requires setting up a personal dedicated PC to run an NVR. BlueIris is overkill if all you want are basic needs of an NVR (record, manage, view remotely or locally via TV, motion detection, web and mobile phone access and export recordings) and don't want to pay a lot of money for features you don't need or want, plus the cost of running a full PC 24/7 is more costly than the NV4108-HS. This (NV4108-HS) dedicated NVR can be used with third party cameras and like BlueIris requires an external POE switch. Amcrest does make an NVR counterpart to the NV4108-HS that has a built in POE switch but the major issue is that you MUST access any cameras, connected to their internal switch, by way of their NVR interface and you cannot access these connected cameras directly though a separate web browser (or similar). This is a pain if you want to tweak some specific camera settings. With the "NV4108-HS" and a separate POE switch (like a Netgear GS305EP switch) this setup offers the best of both worlds with the added bonus of being able to separate your NVR and cable runs. For example, you can have this NVR next to your TV and have all the camera cable runs isolated to the opposite side of your home and run a single CAT cable to the NVR and you can add more POE switches when and if needed. The NV4108-HS allows one to connect to and manage/view camera feeds via a:1) Web browser2) Mobile Phone3) or directly through a connected monitor or TV (this is something BlueIris cannot do)To add more details to 3) above and what also sold me on this NVR is that you can connect this NVR to your TV and by using your TV's remote, you can switch to the NVR HDMI (or VGA) input and instantly view your camera feeds as you configured it. WIth BlueIris, you have the additional steps of needing to login to your computer bring up BlueIris (if not already has desktop focus) and then get to the camera view section. The NV4108-HS defaults to showing your camera setup whenever you get logged out of your NVR and is always instantly viewable.The NV4108-HS can be setup to allow you to access your home cameras from anywhere in the world and has a very intuitive recording/playback interface and runs more efficient than a PC. Another issue with running BlueIris is dealing with Windows automatic updates, random crashes and running subsystem services that you don't need that takes processing and voltage power. If you want to have a low maintenance NVR that provides all the basic functionality you need with very low power consumption, I'd recommend a stand-alone dedicated NVR, it doesn't have to be this one. If you "need" to support many different camera brands and want specific functionality, like face or license plate recognition via AI, overly complex motion detection schemes (the NV4108-HS has built in suitable motion detection, by the way) and don't mind all the hassles of managing, cost and upkeeping of BlueIris and required PC and that is your only option, then by all means go with BlueIris. But I would advise anyone getting into the NVR world is to first do your homework to see what you need and don't let the bias BlueIris community coerce you into buying 'their' software when you view the posts at IPCamTalk. This NVR is a great performer, cost effective, offers all the basic features you need, takes minutes to setup and offers no headaches.Aparece un NVR pero no era. Esta todo perfecto, pero deberían cambiar la foto si no es lo que venden. Al ver lo. No tenía que abrir, porque era una cámara vigilancia, no es lo que he pedido NVR según de la foto y descripción.