For the longest time I was using my cameras with SD card storage to record and playback recordings when I wanted to view them. Although this kinda worked for me, I found that if I wanted to see something on the camera it tended to be difficult to search for things, and then recall them to playback. Sometimes it couldn't complete the search, sometimes it would complete the search but it would disconnect from the camera while I was playing it back directly from the internal SD card. So, I decided to get an NVR so I could have one central hard drive to record everything to.I purchased the NVR without a hard drive and figured that I would just use an old hard drive that I had removed from a scrapped computer in the office. I ended up putting a 5400 RPM 1 TB hard drive from an old laptop into the unit. I will say that although I was able to mount it in the NVR without a 2.5" to 3.5 bracket, I was only able to use 2 of the 4 screws to hold it in. I really wish that Amcrest would drill a few more holes in the bottom of their NVR so people can choose to use either a 3.5" or 2.5" hard drive in the unit without having to purchase or have an adapter plate / bracket. Otherwise everything went smooth and I was up and running.The initial start up was easy, I was asked a bunch of on-screen questions (through the convenient to use HDMI connector) Once I answer those questions and then searched for cameras on the network, and connected to the back of the NVR it loaded everything up and I was ready to go. I did have to enter the User Name and the Password I set up for all the WiFi and other POE cameras not directly plugged into the back of the NVR, but that was to be expected. The first thing I did was get all of the different cameras recording into the hard drive. I was amazed at how fast and easy it was to search and playback of all my cameras. Being used to waiting up to a minute or even 2 sometimes for things to load, and then find the video when I tried to select it, it blew me away how a search of 24 hours of video happened in a matter of about 2 seconds! Then when I clicked on the playback for each of the cameras the video just started playing, no waiting at all! Remember, this is 5400 RPM drive from a 8 year old laptop.The NVR also has the ability to connect seamlessly with the Amcrest Surveillance Pro software. This makes life so easy. One thing that I would have liked to see from Amcrest with this NVR is the ability to play audio from the NVR connected cameras, out of the HDMI connection to the monitor. Sadly you can not. Instead, if you use the Surveillance Pro software you can listen to, and talk back to cameras with both speakers and Mics.A great feature of the NVR is its ability to communicate over the network. This means you don't have to even connect a monitor up to the NVR HDMI output. The NVR software using the IP address of the unit will come up with a TCP login window. Once you enter the user name and password that you've assigned the NVR you have complete control over all the settings. You can even monitor the cameras (without sound and Mic) and playback video recorded on the hard drive.The great part about the NVR, which I hadn't even thought about until I got it, was the fact that I could place the NVR ANYWHERE that I had a network connection. I didn't have to park the box by a monitor to use it. I simply stuffed it away in the attic where I have a switch, and I was able to go to my office and access the entire NVR setup via the TCP connection, OR, I can use the Surveillance Pro software from ANY computer on the internet, or my cellular device to monitor all of the cameras on-location where the NVR is. This means that I can be out of the house, and while at an outside office, I can be watching what's going on with the house. At first I thought that I would have to have access to the NVR box sitting next to it to view the recordings and monitor the cameras, like in a security room. This is NOT the case at all.Overall I'm very impressed with the low cost NVR and how well it integrates with even an older hard drive. There's a fan on the side that keeps everything nice and cool, so I'm not worried about over heating, even though it's a single board design. I called Tech Support to find out about the issue being able to listen out of the NVR and they were knowledgeable and able to answer all of my questions.. So I was happy with the support I received. If you want to set up a full security system including wired and wireless cameras on-site, I think for the price this will give you access to 8 plug in POE cameras, as well as at least another 8 (or more) wireless cameras you may have around the house. All with fast recording playback.I haven't even begun to dig into all the amazing features you can do with the software. Some include (with the correct cameras) heat detection, Facial recognition, Alarms and Zones and the list goes on. With the free software this is a serious security device, and not just a simple Ring doorbell and wifi camera going to a slow cloud service. Heck, this unit even works with the Amcrest WiFi Doorbell which I was able to add to this NVR as well! I would strongly suggest this unit to anyone that wants an easy setup and use of instant playback and monitoring from anywhere in the world. Especially for the price!I've used the Amcrest NV4108E-HS for three weeks now and wanted to post a review. First, I'll mention some of the specs. Supports 8 channels of POE or non-POE cameras H.264 and H.265 support It supports 4K, but people often miss or maybe it didn't use to be stated that you are limited to 80Mbps total bandwidth from the cameras. This has to do with Gigabit Ethernet maximum speeds. A page in the NVR UI displays the current bandwidth. Supports (and includes) a USB mouse. You can also attach an HDMI monitor/TV for local viewing. You can use remote access over a web browser. Chrome does work fine even if the other reviews mention it wasn't working. You must install a plug-in.So, for the reviewEverything was packaged nicely in the box. Everything was in the box including an extra power cord. I think that was an accident.My option didn't include a hard drive. I installed a hard drive that I already had. It was an easy install and the cords for SATA power and data already in the case were the perfect length to reach with no extra cable which could reduce airflow.Next, I hooked up the network cable to my router, the provided USB mouse, a monitor, and power.When power was applied it came up just like you'd expect. This is when I ran into my first head-scratcher. As shown in an image, it gave me a country of Uzbekistan and a language of ENGLISH and video type of NTSC. The only option I could change was NTSC. English is my language so that was good, but I am in the US, not Uzbekistan. I did not see any way to change that selection so I just continued on and never noticed any issues from that selection.I'm sure the text for the UI dialogs was done in a non-English country. While most of wording is good enough to know you are doing, one that you see all the time is that is uses the word "save" instead of "ok" as shown in an attached image. On the main UI, you have 6 large main buttons plus a smaller Management button. Management is where you go first so I'll talk about that first."Management" is where you go to configure your cameras, network, notifications, storage settings, time/date and a few other things.The "Camera" page is a busy page, but don't let it overwhelm you. It has a "Device Search" button that allows it to look on both your network (including Wi-Fi) and the POE ports on the NVR. Once a camera is added, you can edit the camera information to change any configuration details you need to. The NVR supports many major brands of cameras and ONVIF and finally a custom setting if you don't have one of the supported brands.The "Network" page allows you to configure the camera DHCP network."Live" does what you'd expect - It allows you to view 1-8 cameras and choose which stream of the camera you want to watch. If your camera is a PTZ, then you can move the camera from this page."Playback" is used when you want to review saved footage - At the bottom you will see a timeline strip for each camera you have selected to view. The timeline is color-coded into Regular, Alarm and Motion. Motion is marked whenever motion detection has been triggered. I will typically review all the motion detects in areas that I don't expect much motion. The Alarm setting is for abnormal situations that might occur and Regular is for standard constant recording. While all the standard features you'd expect are here, this is the one area that I believe could use the most improvement. A few things that come to mind are a much easier interface to allow a selection of an area to review or save, an easier way to speed up or go forward/backwards in a clip, and information that shows what resolution settings the clip was recorded in. Again, what Amcrest has here is standard for the industry, I just believe it is the area that could use some improvement."Alarm" has many settings that can trigger and event for things like the network going down, a bad username/password being entered. These settings are mostly looking for people attempting to tamper with the camera system."Operation" lets you check to see how your system. For instance, the hard drive information will be listed here along with the S.M.A.R.T. info. You can also check to see what resolution each camera is configured at, NVR firmware and settings import/export.There are a couple more options for configuring your attached display and audio which I won't go into.So now for the pros and consPros• Live view is simple to use either locally, on a remote networked PC using a browser (yes, Chrome works) or on an Android device• Easy to see past recordings• Reaction speed in the UI is quick (no log)• Has an option to do a periodic reboot in case you find something that causes a problem periodically. I ran it for weeks and never needed a reboot, but it is a nice option.• Supports multiple users with different permissions.• Excellent customer support. They are totally ready to help with any request I have had.Cons• Nothing groundbreaking in the UI - on par with other NVR's on the market• Wording (language) could use some touch-upIn summary, this NVR does what it is supposed to. Once you have everything configured like you want it just works and works. You can leave it and forget it. It does have lots and lots of options so you might spend quite a while to figure out what you want. You need to be careful to not go over 80 Mbps for the camera bandwidth. It does help you out by showing the rate you the bandwidth the cameras are consuming. I like this NVR and have no problem recommending it to another user.tl;dr - Company shipped an open-box return as a new item. Was missing HD mounting screws, and the previous owner had changed the admin password. At the time of this review, I have not been able to get the password reset.edit: Customer service is unable to reset the password and says to send it back. The company who makes the device (who claim to be affiliated with the seller) say that this is an amazon problem, that they ask that all returns be sent back to them but amazon does not comply. I'd take that with a grain of salt, myself, but that's their position. It's not their fault, there's nothing they can do about it.Longer version:So my company has been having some real problems with theft of tools and metal products. We've decided to install a surveillance system to try to see where the stuff is going. I bought this item as it appeared to meet my needs (IP cameras, POE, remote monitoring/alerts).When I opened it up, I noticed that the shiny plastic surfaces didn't have the removable protective plastic that you normally see even on cheap imported electronics. No big deal, I thought - some companies don't use it, and I don't care if it gets a little scratched anyhow.So I go to install the hard-drive. For budget reasons, I bought a 4TB WD Purple, this was lucky, as the manual says that it only accepts 4TB drives, despite the amazon page saying it takes 6TB drives. I can't comment on which is the truth. When I turned the device upside down, I noticed that there were shiny circles around the holes where the HD mounting screws bite into the metal. 'No problem', I assumed, they probably connect a HD during QC, maybe they screw it in for some reason?I open the unit and go to install my HD inside. 'Hunh, they didn't include a set of screws to install the drive. That's weird, the manual says four are included.'. Luckily, I have a box of such parts at home. Unluckily, I'm not at home. I make the 45 minute round trip and retrieve the screws.Hard-drive mounted, I plug the device into a monitor, connect the mouse and cameras and fire her up - ready to start configuring the cameras. Now, the manual says that the first thing that will happen is that a popup will appear asking me to change the password. This does not happen. 'No biggie,' I think to myself. Sometimes these manuals are written about obsolete firmware. I'll just find the option to set a new admin PW,And I can't log in. None of the default passwords work. I try variations on capitalization, try to connect to the default user account, nothing. It begins to dawn on me. This is a used device. Someone bought this, plugged it in, and changed the default password. They didn't like the device for some reason and returned it. The company, being both unethical and incompetent simply sent the device back out to another customer. They didn't bother to do a factory reset, they didn't bother to make sure the device worked, and they didn't bother to make sure that all the accessories that are meant to be included were included.I tried to navigate the password reset feature with the manufacturer, but their phone tech support person asked me to call back (long story) and when I did two minutes later the company had closed for the day. So now we have no security system for at least overnight, maybe for the whole weekend. That's the level of quality you can expect from this seller - I would suggest buying from anyone else.Compre el articulo para poder grabar los videos de un par de camaras 4K tambien de Amcrest: IP8M-T2499EW y IP8M-2597EB-28MM. Sin embargo cual fue mi desagradable sorpresa de que puede grabar los videos 4K, sin emabrgo no puede reproducirlos. Describo mi experiencia con el producto a continuacion:- Puede grabar a 4K (como lo indica), pero a la hora de intentar reproducir los videos grabbados, resulta que no se pueden visualizar a traves de las aplicaciones ni del NVR, debido a que la capacidad de procesamiento no alcanza para ello. Hazme el favor!!!! Intenté hacer la reproduccion a traves de las multiples aplicaciones disponibles en diferentes computadoras, pero la aplicacion se cierra al reproducir solo uno de los videos almacenados en el NVR.Antes de tener el NVR, yo tenia la captura en la memoria de la camara y desde ahi podia reproducir los videos, con algo de latencia pero funcionaba, sin embargo, con el NVR ya no es posible. La unica manera de reproducir es bajando la calidad de los videos grabados y solo asi se pueden reproducir desde el NVR. Por si las dudas, estuve navegando en la pagina del fabricante donde mas de una persona se ha quejado por esta situacion y en algunos casos devolvieron el producto, en mi caso, aun sigo evaluando el conservarlo o definitivamente devolverlo, ya que simplemente no me es funcional de esta manera.- Es muy ruidoso. Tiene un pequeño ventilador que hace bastante ruido. Lo coloque en la sala donde tengo la TV principal y ahi conecte el NVR para poder monitorear las camara a traves de la TV, sin emabrgo el ruido que hace el ventilador es bastante alto, como para tener una estancia tranquila como solia ser, trate de coultarlo tras la TV y ahorar unos metros de cable, pero aun así, el ruido es bastante.- No venia con el CD de los programas, aun cuando la pagina de Amazon y la caja indican que si viene. Al parecer no es mucho problema por que puedes descargar varias aplicaciones de la pagina del fabricante, aunque tampoco es la idea andar buscando el software, cuando se dice que viene incluido.- Su interface no es nada amigable y es muy dificil de configurar si no eres una persona que le guste andar buscandole a estos menesteres electronicos. Resulta que el fabricante cuenta con varias aplicaciones que puedes emplear para la administracion del NVR y de las camaras. SIN EMBARGO, resulta que no todas las opciones de configuracion y visualizacion estan diponibles en todas las aplicaciones, es decir, en una aplicacion viene algunas opciones de configuracion que no vienen en otras, por lo que debes instalar varias (en mi caso son 3, desconozco si haya mas...) para poder administrar en su totalidad los equipos. Y si no eres una persona familiarizada tanto con la administracion de equipos de este tipo, seguro vas a tardar en poder administrar correctamente y sacarle jugo a lo que tienes.- No apta para trabajar de forma profesional. En mi caso lo compre para administrar dos camaras que permiten monitorear el frente de mi casa, sin embargo, se nota muuucho, que no tiene la capacidad suficiente para poder administrar mas equipos en 4K, si tu idea es administrar mas de 2 camaras 4k, buscale por otro lado. Con camaras de menor capacidad, no creo que tengas problema, el desempeño paraece no tan malo.- El PoE funciona bien, otra de las razones por las que encargue el equipo.En definitiva NO RECOMIENDO ESTE PRODUCTO dada sus limitadas capcidades.I bought one of these, installed a 6 TB hard disk drive, added a couple of outdoor Amcrest cameras, and the whole setup was a nightmare. Impossible to set up without their tech support. The cameras lost contact with the system way too often. All in all, the entire setup was a complete and utter waste of money, and all of it other than that 6TB drive, is now in the trash.Once, when one of the cameras went offline, and I was 500 miles away from it, I called Amcrest tech support to get their help in getting it back on line. After giving me a few things to do in the app, the tech guy said "okay, now go and unplug the camera from the back of the NVR..." I was flabbergasted...told him I was 500 miles away from the camera...he had no way of getting it back online. Useless...out of date...old technology...don't waste a penny of your money on this company's equipment.I rarely write negative reviews but this time, other customer have to know how bad is the amcrest customer service!During a night, i murder happen in front of my shop. Then, in the morning, a police officer asked me to extract the video from my camera to help him resolve the case. I tried to extract video but i was not able to do that, so i contacted amcrest tech support...It took 8 days, many email and 3 phone call before i get help from amcrest, but it was too late: with my hard drive, this recorder just record 4 days back!! So 8 days after the event, the video that the police wanted was already erased! This is very frustrating because now the police officer think that i refuse to give him the video, and he think that i have something to do with the murder in front of my shop because i refused to give him the video!!!Amcrest tech support is VERY SLOW, VERY BAD, and the put me in a VERY BAD SITUATION!!!!I'm not the only one who complain about this inexisting tech support, trust me, if you dont need teck support this item is not too bad, the only issue i have with this NVR is when i plug 4k camera (from amcrest too) it lag... Other 4mp camera run smooth, but the picture using the 4K cams is laggy/jumpy on my monitorIt is complicated to understand all the function at first, but for the price i paid nvr is not to bad (as long as you dont need help from tech support)Pude conectar cámaras de 4mp de otras dos marcas. Las reconoció fácilmente gracias al protocolo ONVIF.Trae un procesador rápido , comparado con el de otras dos marcas que use.No deja usar la comprensión en formato H.265 desde el NVR, creo que depende de la cámara. No la he probado con una cámara 4k.Hace ruido , pero no es molesto.Tengo unas dudas en cuanto a la cantidad de energía que envía. Ya que en una ocasión envió “ruido” a las cámaras.No he logrado configurar las cámaras vía http desde la pc al NVR. Puedes configurarlas desde el NVR , pero solo cosas sencillas.Dentro del nvr hay un led de color rojo que está constantemente encendido.