Customer Ratings & Reviews

First things first: Installation – this is a wired system which I personally prefer because I feel that it is more secure from hackers than the wireless camera system, also if the internet WIFI is glitchy, the system main hub continues to work with the cameras. Now, being that it is wired, that means you have to run the cables from the cameras to the DVR which is pretty exhausting depending on how and where you place the cameras. I have a 1 level house with usable attic space to get into and crawl around. I was able to amount all 6 cameras around the house to provide total coverage. I ran all the cables down thru the wall to where I setup my hub station with DVR and HD monitor (1080). After the hardware installation (which was the most difficult part) it is pretty straightforward. Plug and play everything from the cameras, power adapters, HDMI cord to monitor, and mouse, then download the app, scan QR code, enter your user settings on both the DVR interface and phone app…. Good to go. Now the fun begins…. This Swann security system is power packed with features!!! Upon powering up the system and viewing the cameras on my 1080 HD monitor I was mesmerized as was my wife. The view was crystal clear and the color just popped out at you. Using the DVR combined with the included mouse, there are a ton of settings to tweak the system to your preference in regards to recording and detection of both movement and heat (infrared). The cameras come packed with a bright white led and red/blue leds with police siren effect that will come on at night when motion is detected according to your settings. There is night vision that automatically is activated when the lighting is dark or even during dawn hours. But if you set the white led to activate upon motion, it produces a bright white light that alerts the intruder, person or critter that they are being watched. Mind you the light is not going to illuminate an entire area like a spot or flood light but it gets the job done. Also when the led is activated, it causes the camera to go into night color mode which deactivates the night vision black/grey output to your monitor to a crisp color output. Depending on how well the area is lighted, the color may be a bit dimmed. If you add the security setting of the red/blue leds and siren, the leds flash just light police lightbar and a noticeable siren is produced from the small speaker built into the camera. With the built in speaker, you can also record sound along with DVR recording. The DVR allows playback of all your recordings and is FREE to view, no monthly subscription to acquire your recorded footage. It includes 2 usb ports on the front, one of which you will need for the mouse and the other to plug in a usb drive or external drive to download your footage. From the DVR is where you will adjust all of your settings (network, detection area, camera settings, app settings). The phone app is usable to view your cameras live and recorded footage from detection. There are a few settings in the app that you can adjust to make your phone image a bit clearer but most everything is done from the DVR. I like the app to view my cameras when I am at work or just anywhere away from the house. Also you can zoom in or out on the app just like at the DVR which is awesome for close up views. The app could use some improvements in regards to a more detailed search of detection footage and fast forwarding, slow motion, and rewinding in the footage. But it gets the job done so no major complaints. There are so many features with this system that I have yet to explore them all to include the Alexa or Google assistant. But the final word on this security system by SWANN is AWESOME! If you have been in the market for a professional like feel security system for your home or small business, this is definitely it. You will not be disappointed.

They suck no range paid so much for this the ringers are better and they far less cheaper than this cameras. I will be taking this useless cameras back I can’t even see my doors.

These camera system has a very unreliable phone application. Application was down world wide for close to 18 hours. System drops off line many times during the day. Red and blue lights on camera never activated.

The swann Enforcer 4K UHD DVR Wired system is an absolutely great choice if you are in the market for a wired security system. The set comes with 4 indoor/outdoor Ultra High-Definition 4K cameras & four more can be added at a later time if you choose to do so. I found the setup of the system to be very easy as long as you can handle general handy tasks, though do keep in mind this is a wired system, therefor you will need a few tools and other materials if you plan to do a proper install and not leave the wiring exposed. The system comes with 4 cameras, DVR recorder w/2TB storage, mouse, HMDI cord, power & video cords, ethernet cable & mounting hardware. The cameras are very clear, have IR & night vision, as well audio & visual alarms which are VERY loud/bright. Everything can be operated once hooked up to a monitor (tv/pc) or through the smartphone app which is very intuitive & functional. I am extremely pleased with this package from Swann & would recommend to anyone.

In the the box is a bundle of 3 boxes labeled 1,2, and 3. 1 contains 8 Channel DVR with 2TB Hard Drive, and the other two will have your cameras and all its wiring. The wiring is a 60 foot of BNC cable for each unit. Please note, to install you should have a drill with 5/8 bit, silicone caulk, a Phillips head bit or driver, and a ladder. Once you decide where the camera will be placed, installation is pretty simple. Next download the Swanns app, this is where you can get lost in the UI (user interface). The level of settings are robust and abundant. Just to name a few, heat detection, motion detection, voice recording, voice activation, height management and motion capture area. Then there is one of my favorite parts, syncing to my Google home, and it was super easy. I piped the live feed to my 4k 120htz TV and the live feed was like sitting outside watching it all in person. Once night fell I went back to check out the NV picture quality, and I was shocked to see it was in color, not that grainy green stuff. If I would guess the resolution did drop a bit but the quality was still really good. Range was also cut down in color mode, my estimated guess is about 15m or 30ft, but you can switch to the IRNV mode which is a greenish-gray mode that gives you a lot more distance. Faces and words were highly identifiable which is a testament to the cameras capability. Another great feature is you can get turn off your flood lights; this is a feature built into the cameras and passes in front of the camera. There is a small LED flood light that comes on, which is very bright, lighting up the entire area where the persons move which also allows for the color night mode to capture the person on the full color vision. I believe turning off the light is a good deterrent to keep animals and people away from your house at night time. There were a few raccoons completely spooked by this, when it was triggered on their movement, as I was watching the review from the night prior. All in all, this is a great out of the box system. 4 out of 5 from me . I will definitely recommend this to friends and family trying to find an off the shelf solution with a decent price. The only negative that I can say is I wish that the wiring that comes in the box was cat5/cat6 instead of BNC cable, just a personal preference but for an out of box system, the wiring is good.

This Swann 4k Enforcer DVR system turned out to be an upgrade in many ways from my previous custom home camera system using open source software. For several years when family and friends have asked about my system, I’ve always recommended that they look into a pre-packaged system from brands like Swann, rather than rolling their own. I’m happy to see I wasn’t mistaken. There were a few frustrating issues that I’m honestly surprised to see on a camera system from an established brand. More on that toward the bottom of this review. Out of the box the system came with 6 4k cameras, the 2TB DVR (with a Seagate drive), 6x 50 foot BNC+power cables, 2 12v 2A power adapters, 1 12v 1A power adapter, a wired optical mouse, hardware, a few quick start guides, and other documentation. The documentation was easy to understand and was helpful in getting my thought process organized for the install. I have great attic access from two places in my home so pulling wires was a non issue. For one of the cameras, the 50ft cable is nearly at its limit but for the other cameras the cables were not a problem for my centrally located DVR in a 1700 sq ft suburban home. All of my previous cameras were 2mb (1080p) POE cameras, so I did have to replace all the cabling. While the Swann system does require 3 separate power adapters if you plan to use all 6 cameras, the power requirements of the system overall are very low. The whole system uses less than 50 watts of power. For comparison, my Linux camera systems’s server was drawing over 60W at idle – plus the power requirements of the cameras. Of course it would be easier to run CAT6 for POE cameras vs the BNC/power cables for these analog 4k models, but the analog cameras have almost no setup required. The only frustration during install is the cameras were ALL oriented upside down inside the box. Once you bend the camera's "elbow" you must loosen and rotate the camera head so it's not upside down. Not a big deal - after my first camera I made sure to do it all in one go. Setting up monitoring and alarm schedules was pretty easy. The cameras all have infrared sensors so they have a separate alarm mode where an IR source is detected in frame, this makes it easy to sort through recordings that don’t have any people moving in them. When you set up the alarm regions, it’s a simple to use interface where you simply deslect squares on a grid for what areas you don’t want to monitor. In my front yard for example, I deselected a tree in the yard, as well as most of the sidewalk. I was able to easily enable motion detection around my mailbox, but I won’t be recording every step someone takes on the sidewalk in front of my home. I admit was somewhat dubious about the possible quality of an analog 4k camera. I am happy to say I was wrong. The quality is fantastic on these cameras in both low light and on bright sunny days. License plates are clearly visible at the end of my driveway, and faces are identifiable from 30 feet away in my back yard. Low light performance is a pretty big upgrade from the POE cameras I was using from a different vendor. The Swann cameras also include an LED “security light” feature that is extremely bright considering the size and power usage of these lights. I’ve actually positioned a camera over my trash cans outside just to use the security light as a motion light at night. In addition to the white motion light capability, the Swann cameras have an “enforcer” capability with an audible siren and blue and red LEDs. The siren is not incredibly loud, but I imagine if I were a trespasser I would be pretty alarmed if I entered a space and a blinking blue and red LED and siren started going off. Connecting the DVR to my home entertainment system using HDMI was as simple as any other device. I did have issues with the USB ports not fully recognizing my wireless keyboard/trackpad combo – it only recognizes the mouse input. A small onscreen keyboard pops up when you need to type any text in the interface, so this isn’t a dealbreaker, but it is frustrating. Connecting the Swann system to use Amazon Alexa and Google Home were relatively simple as well. On Alexa I had to set up the Swann skill, and on Google I had to sync the accounts. Telling my voice assistant to cast a camera feed to my chromecast is pretty cool. Quality is slightly lower through the Chromecast than direct connected, but it works for my purpose (seeing who’s at the front door, for example). The quality of playback is fantastic on both a 1080p and 4k screen. Unfortunately the system has an achilles heel when it comes to the accompanying mobile apps. The app for android is almost unusable. If the app goes to sleep you have to completely close it then relaunch to get it to connect to the camera feeds. Saving a screenshot or manual recording from the app is impossible, it saves it to a non-existent directory. Opening the playback screen for recordings results in a completely blank page, no previous recordings are visible. The only saving grace is the ability to log into your DVR remotely to view live monitoring of the camera feed, without having to set up port forwarding. The iOS app is much more functional but still is stuck with outdated design language and crashes constantly. At least on iOS you can view recordings and save screenshots, although the share video function does not appear to work. Finally, there is no true web portal for the DVR – only a plugin that requires Internet Explorer to run. Given my main personal laptop is a chromebook, this makes using the DVR as a “monitoring” system an exercise in frustration. I can open the android app on my chromebook, but then I only get a distorted live view unless I size the window perfectly. From Windows the situation is slightly better, as you can at least use the plugin through IE 11, and it works nearly as well as directly connected (if not better). Just seems like at this point they should develop a modern interface which can be used from any browser. As a traditional DVR based system, you can easily connect a USB drive to the DVR and save files to give to police. For most users I think this is the most likely use case, so I find it hard to knock the Swann system much for this. Ultimately if you are wanting extremely high quality recordings, tons of capacity, and fairly easy setup, this is a great system. The added functionality of Alexa and Google Assistant is very useful. If you are primarily an android user, you’ll be limited in functions unless you’re actually at home and able to get in front of the DVR and your TV. For iOS users, the app is dated and not exactly perfect, but still fully useful and takes 4k screenshots. I break my score for this Swann Enforcer 6ch 4K DVR as such: Android user experience: 2 stars iOS users: 4 stars Image quality of recordings: 5 stars Ease of installation and setup: 5 stars Additional features: 4 stars Overall: 4 stars

The Swann Enforcer 8 Channel DVR comes with 4 indoor/outdoor Ultra High-Definition cameras. For more can be added later. This is the eighth Swann System I have used, by far it is the best. This system is smartphone ready. You can also control it via Hey Google or Alexa. The system is set up wired, so you do not have to worry about loss of signal. If you have power, it is recording. The weatherproof cameras have flashing red and blue lights, along with a spotlight and siren. There is also a color night vision, allowing you to see color video up to 32 feet black and white beyond 32 feet to a max distance of 130 feet. The 4K Ultra High-Definition video allows for magnification with out distortion of video. This system utilizes heat and motion sensors. The DVR comes with a 2TB hard drive, and the ability to back up to the cloud. I would recommend the Swann Enforcer 8 Channel DVR to family and friends.

I will never buy this brand again on my second system first one last few months and stops and second one just doesnt work good, phone app sucks nevee works right, going with another brand.

Often the alarm system cannot be accessed with a mobile phone, and the network transmission rate is poor! I want to return it

This is the most ridicules purchase the i made in my life Don't buy this stupid camaras you can't hear nothing! I was really tupid!!

It's now 12-26-21 purchased in October. It now says , hard drive not found.. Junk

Very generic. Not a good machine the DVR don't work and it's poor quality

Not impressed with this system. Keep getting an HDD error. The mobile app works sometimes.

I have had a couple of different versions of video camera systems in the past, both wired and wireless with different features that I liked and disliked. This system has several pros and cons. Pro: Great value for price. Easy to set up and deploy. Lots of features and ways to fine tune or personalize the system. The 4k HD video clarity is excellent and the dvr feature records for up to 6 months. Cameras have bright spot lights and sirens that can be toggled on and off. The recording system can do stills or video. Cons: The wired system may not be the easiest to set up in some existing homes. Each camera has a video feed wire and a power/ac wire to power it. If you have ample attic space or eaves it may be easier to run the lines from the cameras. I found issues concealing the wires. I also had to work around a short power cord for the camera. I did not have outlets close to the best spot to place some cameras. The wired cameras do have much better clarity and video quality than some of the wireless and older wired systmes I have seen and used. I recommend this system to those who have ability in their space to deploy each camera with wires that need to run back to the base and a power wire for each location.

Broke less than a month.product not worth buying.hard drive sucks

I received the Swann Enforcer 4-camera, 8-channel 4k 2TB DVR system for free for an honest review. This system is 2 TB so Swann claims you can store up to 180 days of footage, depending of course on video quality settings but the 4k quality is fantastic! What sticks out to me about this system is that it has a VERY LOUD alarm built in which is nice if you’re going to be away. However, if it’s inside the home and it is triggered by motion/heat and it gets accidentally set of, you’re going to be in for a rude awakening! These cameras also have LEDs which serve two purposes. One, the lights can serve as a flashlight/spotlight on motion sensor. They are bright white lights which I find a huge plus! No longer do the cameras have to rely on IR, they can now use their own lighting for better detection. Second, the LEDs can flash blue and red for motion/thermal sensing which I think would scare most would-be thieves or intruders. I tried out the night recording and I was impressed by the clarity. These cameras have NO audio, but the DVR unit does have 4 audio input channels if you want to connect that separately. There is also no microphone, so you cannot talk to someone using the cameras. Since this system comes with 4 cameras, you can add 4 more cameras to this DVR system. You can connect this system without connecting to the internet, but you will be relying on the mouse and on-screen keyboard for your setup (you’ll have to connect to a monitor or a TV via HDMI/VGA). If you do connect to internet, you can download the Swann Security App (Highly Recommended). You can control Home/Away/Night settings and turn on/off lights and alarm. A more advanced feature I did not try is facial recognition, where you can register up to 5 different faces and several profiles per person so that if a registered face is recognized by the camera, you will get a notification. If you like using Google/Alexa as your personal assistant, you can link the App to it and tell your assistant to show you the cameras. The app also allows you to link to Dropbox if you have it or you can plug in a USB drive to the front and download video, otherwise, you can just download it directly to your phone using the app. I recommend it.

Security camera systems are something everyone should have. Whether it is to protect you or your neighbors, it becomes invaluable when needed and can even deter potential criminals. When looking for wired systems, this Enforcer Security System by Swann makes an excellent choice. Hardware: The cameras themselves are quite excellent. 4k video offers incredible image quality compared to the 1080p ones I had before. The included lights are also decently bright, allowing you to record in color at night when turned on. Installation is easy, and typical for a wired system. Once it is hooked up to the DVR, the camera is immediately ready to start recording. Looking at the internals, the included hard drive is a 2TB Seagate SkyHawk, which is a surveillance rated hard drive. The connections are glued, so not sure why that was a decision to be made, but it does make changing the hard drive a little more difficult if needed. No fan, so the entire system is silent and does not get that hot at all. Software: One of the best selling points for me in a security system is how robust its software is. For starters, their app is rated 4.5 stars in the apple store, and that alone speaks volumes. It's easy to use and link to your DVR, and there are absolutely no fees tied to it. You can access your cameras, along with your recordings with ease through your smart devices, and the connection is quite fast as well. You have the option to link your dropbox account and save recordings to the cloud if desired. However, I do wish the option to save to a local network drive was available. Even if you don't want to use the system through the app, the built-in software is also quite decent. The layout is obvious and adjusting your settings does not require an additional manual. You can individually customize how you want each camera to behave without much trouble. Most importantly, viewing your past recordings in their video player is not a terrible experience. To conclude, this is an excellent system for anyone looking to get their feet wet with a wired surveillance system. I would definitely recommend this product for anyone looking for a decent and reliable product to protect their home.

Horrible cameras for the price paid. Quality is not good.

Wanted different cameras but best buy wouldnt return these.

Received defective camera. Best Buy wasn't a help for replacement.