Customer Ratings & Reviews

I always like to consider the effort a company takes in packaging a product because, for me, it is indicative of the overall quality. The reason I say this is that if a company doesn’t see fit to consider every detail, then chances are the product will almost certainly be inferior. To that end, I have to say that I was quite impressed with the way in which Swan package its “Master Series 8-Channel, 4-Dome Camera, Indoor/Outdoor Security System.” As we all know, package shippers have forsaken any commitment to making sure packages are handled carefully during transport, and damaged products are an all-too-common experience. Swan has seriously taken this into account with the way they “nestle-pack” their products. In short, the product arrived intact and ready to go. Everything was organized and easily unpacked. The quality of the NVR and the cameras is evident from the start. There is nothing cheap about the manufacturing of any of the equipment. The box contains a Two-TB hard drive, four cameras, cables, power cord, and everything else necessary for installation and set-up. Before installation, it is important to figure out where you want your cameras. For me, this was easy seeing as I had already installed a Swan camera systems some years ago. Butt I do remember that the previous installation was a bit difficult…there were the multiple trips up and down a ladder as I ran cables all throughout the attic to the desired locations of the cameras. I had to drill holes, mount the bases, and do all the connections. Thankfully it was not the dead of Summer so the heat factor didn’t present too great of an obstacle. But let me get back to the point. You have to lay the groundwork first. If you want to have outdoor surveillance, its important to figure out exactly what areas are most important, and if cameras can be installed to cover those areas. Once all the preliminary steps are out of the way, its time to set everything up. Included with the unit is a quick-start guide that outlines the basic procedures…get the NVR powered up, get connected to a television or monitor, go through the set-up procedures, run the cables, hook everything up, download the app, and start recording. The app is probably going to be your main interface with the system. Of course, there are those things that you can do via the NVR, such as setting resolution, setting up your account and so on, but for the most part the app is the work horse. You must first make sure you are connected to your internet. Otherwise, the app will not function at all. This was a frustrating experience for me. As I said earlier, this is my 2nd Swan security camera system, and all the credentials for the old system are still registered under my email. After what seemed liked hours, I finally gave up and used a different email. This too had its shortfalls seeing as the NVR was already programmed with the old credentials. Long story short, I had to reformat the NVR and start all over…again. But finally I met with success. Now this dilemma will only be encountered if you already have a Swan account. Otherwise it will be extremely simple. For some reason it takes an extraordinary amount of time for the app to boot up and connect to the cameras. I have a decent internet connection, so I can’t really understand the slowness of the app trying to connect. I really have to stress how slow the connection process takes. I have had to wait several minutes before it actually connected, and there are times when it won’t connect at all. The strange part of this is that under the Devices tab it shows the camera if offline, but yet when I tap on the camera under the My Devices tab, it shows the camera is online. This issue was present in my other Swan system that I installed about five years ago. The app was simply not up to par, and unfortunately they haven’t seemed to invest much effort in trying to work out all the bugs. On the bright side of this is that even though the app shows the cameras offline, I still get alerts via the app that motion has been detected. I have a few WiFi cameras outside as well, so I can still see what is going on around the house. The resolution is another strong point to the Swan system. Although I’m not fluent in the technology they use, (upscaling to 4k display) I have to admit they do a great job with it. Camera resolutions for both day and night are amazingly clear. There is a slight trade-off in that the cameras’ field of view is limited to 80 degrees, which, with four cameras, leaves an overall 40 degrees gap in available video coverage. I can think of some instances where this could be an issue, but I think that for the most part, this won’t be much of a factor. I really want to give the Swan Master Series 8-Channel, 4-Dome Camera, Indoor/Outdoor Security System a better rating, but with the shortcomings of the app’s workability, and the obvious concerns this raises, I can’t honestly give the system greater than a three-star rating. I want to, I sincerely do, but until Swan finally overcomes the app issues… Would I recommend this system to friends and family? Yes, I would. I have to consider that my experience might be unique, and that the issues might actually exist within my own internet bandwidth, as I do have quite a list of devices connected. But then again, in today's world, having a long list of connected devices is commonplace, and should be accounted for.

The Swann Master Series 8 Channel system with 4 cameras has been an excellent addition to our home security toolbox. The POE setup is very easy, and is probably my favorite part. Having only one cable going to each camera really does simplify install and maintenance. The 2TB NVR is HUGE and can store all the video we will ever need and them some. We do not have the full time recording turned on, just the detection. With this configuration we will have video for months if we ever need to refer back to it for any reason at all. I have had cameras in the past that did not work very well at night but that is not the case with these. The night vision is excellent, even in my super dark back yard. This is a big deal for us as that is the area that we most wanted to secure, so this definitely nailed it in that area. The overall install only took me a couple hours, mainly running the wires but it was totally worth it in the end. The Swann Security app is also very easy to use! We love being able to access our cameras, no matter our physical location. Great for peace of mind! Overall this was a great value for what I feel is a very affordable price tag, and checks every box we wanted.

Swann has a reputation for developing high quality surveillance systems for the home. With the Master Series 8-Channel, 4 Dome Camera PoE Wired 4K UHD 2TB HDD NVR Security System, they have continued with the tradition. This Swann system comes with everything most of what you need to get started with you security system. It comes complete with 4 cameras with mounting hardware, Cat 5e cabling, and the NVR system. These cameras are PoE meaning the power for the cameras is provided by the NVR system through the Ethernet cables attaching the NVR and camera. You will still need an Internet connection to the NVR if you wish to use the accompanying app for iOS or Android and a monitor to see each camera. Set up does take a bit of time to get this to work. You will either need to be handy with some tools or get someone to install the cameras. For outdoor security, you will need to run the cables from outside to the NVR inside, so some consideration must be given to how that is to be done. The cable management becomes the hardest part of the setup. Also for outside cameras, you need to make sure that the connection between the camera and Ethernet cabling is water-tight and secure. The connector is included, but you still need to make sure it is installed correctly. Water getting into the connection will eventually short the camera and make it inoperable. Once everything gets set up, you can tune your cameras however you like. The 4K (3840 x 2160) cameras perform extremely well. I had no problem getting clear images of people within proximity to the house. You can see license plates when they are 50 feet or so away and make out people from even farther away than that. With an 80-degree field of view, you can see broad areas around your home or business. The cameras are very durable and can handle temperatures below 0 degrees and well over 100 degrees. They even hold up well in the rain. Having now tried both the standard style cameras and the dome cameras, I prefer the dome cameras. I was worried with the dome cameras that I may have trouble mounting it to the side of the wall. This was a non-issue. You can connect them on a ceiling/overhang or to the side of a wall. The cameras also can produce color images even at night at over 100 feet. The hard drive on the NVR is 2TB. You can set it up to record only motion events or continuously. If you use motion detect, the Swann system does a fairly good job of capturing all the event without cutting off. I used to have a system that would only record for 30 seconds from the start of an event. The Swann system will record if the event goes even if it is more than 30 seconds. In this mode, you will be able to go months without running out of room on the hard drive. Otherwise, you will still go weeks with continuous recording. If the NVR is connected to the Internet, you will be able to connect to the app on iOS or Android. With the app, you can view and listen to live cameras or view playback and download individual segments. The app works very well and is easy to navigate. This system does only come with 4 cameras. The NVR is capable of handling up to 8 cameras. You can mix and match the dome cameras with the standard style PoE cameras. You have different layouts you can select on the monitor as well so you can show 4 cameras at a time or 8 cameras at a time depending on your setup. Overall, I love the Swann 8-channel, 4 Dome Camera PoE Wired 4K UHD 2TB HDD NVR Security System. The biggest concern is getting everything wired with the system. It does take work. Once it is setup though, the camera works great. The images are crisp and clear. If you are looking for a security business for your home or work, I recommend this system for the job.

I took a star off due to the cables are very flimsy. The cables being Poe are pretty important as they will be run from the base to wherever you put the camera which could mean tens and tens of feet away and might need to go through walls and other house cavities. I bought a set of 100 foot stronger cables. Another issue is why only 8 channels, today’s house are fairly large and 8 cameras are seldom enough to give good security coverage. I think for the cost that better quality should be a no braine4 to included, cheap out somewhere else but not in this important item. As I have Poe switches and Poe wireless transmitter, setup was a breeze. The connection is quick rock solid and vibrant images. Superb video quality. The dome cameras make mounting easy and the field of view is immense compared to my other cameras. The night time images are fantastic as well, detail is very good. The included 2TB is expected and so far working flawlessly. Internet cone t when out and about is so quick, so alerts to you can be viewed immediately on your phones. The Swann software I have used before and nothing new but Rick solid and so why mess with a quality software suite.

Swann POE security cameras kit was surprisingly easy to install and set up. The hardest part was running all the cables to a central HD unit and you will need a small tv or monitor to review video clips. The quality of the video is 4k quality and the night vision is also very sharp. When using the app it can be a bit slow since it does rely heavily on the data setting. Overall this is a very good security system and very easy to use.

There's lots of security cam options out there that are app-based that are really easy to setup and start using, and I've used several different kinds. They all seem to have similar features -- the mounts are easy to install but not incredibly strong, alerts are somewhat programmable to suit the situation, they have cloud-based storage so you have to pay a subscription to unlock all the features, they don't usually have local storage so you have a very limited history of recordings and it's hard to save stuff, and remote viewing is sketchy. This system is very different from that. The setup takes some work and patience and configuring the app is confusing. You do have to create a local account on the recorder at home, and you need a different account to log in to the app. If you're serious about having a high-end security camera system, it's worth it. You get some really useful features, like you can set up a recording and sleep schedule for each camera, you can select which parts of the image to detect motion, and the recordings are time-stamped and saved. There's 2gb of storage which can hold a whole lot of video, but you can offload and store important stuff as long as you want. The image quality is fantastic. It has high enough resolution to get recognizable images of people and I can zoom in to read text like license plates. Of course, the higher resolution the more storage it takes. Finally, these mounts are bullet-proof. Well, probably not literally, but they are very strong and tamper-resistant. Once you get them mounted and tightened, a stranger would have a real hard time trying to figure out how to remove it. So, this is a professional system, quite a bit more work to set up, but worth it.

Swann is a respectable security camera company, and their newest product the Master Series 8-Channel, 4-Dome Camera, Indoor/Outdoor PoE Wired 4K UHD 2TB HDD NVR Security System is a complete package in one box. Let’s break everything down, inside the box you get four wired dome cameras. You can basically play some almost anywhere around your house. I say almost anywhere, because they are restricted to as far as the cable can go, the main difference between wired cameras and wireless cameras is that one comes with a wire, and the other has a internal battery. The drawback to a wired camera is that you have to run the wires throughout your house, including through walls, and even the through the attic. The benefit to wired cameras is that you never have to charge any kind of batteries. Next up is the beefy 2TB HDD NVR, this is the computer that powers all the cameras, and receives all of their video feed and stores it internally. This is the brains of the operation, and with it, and the included mouse, you’re able to tinker around with different settings, settings like camera sensitivity, how long you wish each clip to record, the length of each clip etc. 2TB is plenty of storage for the average household, when it starts to get full, the device starts deleting the okdest videos, you can save whatever videos you want at any time. 4K recording means he will get the clearest videos, eight channels means you can add up to four more cameras, there’s an app you can use to watch recorded videos and get notifications, sync it with Alexa, Amazon devices etc. pretty impressive, considering all you get inside, one affordable box.

The camera installation was very simple and straightforward. The ability to power the cameras over the ethernet cable made the job pretty do-able for most people. The quality of the cameras appears to be well built. They appear to have a tight seal to protect against the elements and have a good weight to them which will hopefully make them durable. The NVR was very easy to setup, power, ethernet and internet connections and you are done. The trickiest part for me was going thru the menu system and configuring the features properly, there was a lot of trial and error. I wish there was a tutorial which explained more than the introductory videos on their website. I don't really use the extras options because the area i am in has way too much foot traffic and i want to avoid a ton of notifications. The APP has been very easy to use and the load up times are pretty quick. I know people claim the more 4k cameras the more lag or drag when playing but i have not experienced any issues. Thew video for playback will load and once it loads i play it and it plays fine. The detail in the images is great, i enlarge and even tho it blurs slightly the images, text, plates are still legible. I definitely recommend it , all you need to do is get past the initial menu setup and settings on the NVR and you are onto the APP which is easy. You can clip videos and share easily.

After previously moving from a battery operated camera system to a wired camera system (got tired of always recharging the cameras, especially since they were in not the easiest places to get to), I wasn't completely satisfied with the BNC style cables with power provided separately as I seemed to always have some sort of interference on the image. I decided it was time to move to a POE (Power over Ethernet) camera system, and the Swann - Master Series 8-Channel, 4-Dome Camera, Indoor/Outdoor PoE Wired 4K UHD 2TB HDD NVR Security System seemed like a good option to go with. Although I didn't have any issues with the bullet-styled camara on the other wired system, these dome cameras do have a little bit of an advantage, mainly in setting the position (it uses 3 rubber positioning boots to hold it in place, so no tightening screws to deal with and hoping it stays in place), but also in looks. Getting to where I could mount the cameras was a little tricky at first. There are no instructions included on how to separate the mounting base and I could not find anything on the Swann site (thank goodness for being able to search for videos). You can guess that it twists to separate, and it does, but it wasn't the easiest for me at first, mainly because I had tested out positioning of camera. One hint to make it easier: make sure the camera portion is still pointing straight out. Otherwise, the rubber positioning boots seem to give just enough friction to prevent the unscrewing of the base. For positioning the camera view, it looks to have a tilt range of about 60º, but when installing the base, be aware of where the rubber boots are and where the cable coming from the back of the camera would be going, making sure the cable can fit in between, otherwise you probably won't be able to get the desired tilt. If you are not able to place the cable junction completely out of the weather, it does come with a protective "boot" to cover the junction. Although there are no instructions on how to attach the boot, it seems that the O-ring will go around the ethernet receptacle side. On the ethernet cable itself, add the smaller screw-on piece, then place the thicker foam around the cable (there is a hidden slit there already) and then the longer cover piece (with the "teeth" going towards the foam/smaller piece). Plug the cable into the ethernet receptacle and twist on the longer cover. Then, slide up the foam/smaller piece and screw it on the end of the longer cover. Although it provides 4K video, it is done through upscaling (think of watching a FHD Blu-ray movie that has been processed to view on a UHD/4K TV). While it may not be quite as good as a native 4K image, it is still somewhat impressive. And the night mode works quite well, with the many night-vision lights helping to light up the viewing area. When viewing the NVR on a display, there are many different settings that can be changed. Probably the most important is for recording, where the Mainstream (higher resolution) and Substream (lower resolution) can be fine-tuned to your needs, from Resolution (for the areas you may not need the full 4K), FPS (1-30), Video Quality (6 settings that I'm guessing this controls compression), and Bitrate. There is also the option to turn on or off audio recording. Also, to have continuous recording, the Record Schedule (under the Record menu) will need to be updated to Normal for all the times (it is off by default). The only thing I am a little disappointed in is for accessing the continuous recording. Instead of having a full daily timeline that you can go to any time to start watching (like when trying to see when something that wasn't saved as a detected event occurred), it just records in about 23-minute chunks, so you will need to access the Playback section and open each video file until you find what you are looking for. Under the Alarm menu, the Detection section is where the areas can be turned on or off and the sensitivity set for the detection events. If you have a PC or a Mac, I would recommend downloading the Swann Security App from the Swann website. Not only does it let you view the camera live feeds and recordings, it also gives you almost the same style of interface (but a different "theme") as working directly on the NVR (where you can change all the configurations, not just look at the recordings/live view). This is great, especially if the NVR will be kept in a less than accessible location. Our other system doesn't provide that. To get to the configuration, go to the Home tab (house icon at the top), Device Management, then the settings sprocket under Operation on the right. A window will pop up, with all the same configuration options available that are on the NVR, with only a few differences in layout here and there. The app for mobile works pretty well (we use the Android version). It gives pop-up notifications where there is a detection event. Tapping the notification will take you to the live view. While the mobile app is function, one thing I feel is missing (which the app for our other system provides) is an image snapshot integrated with the notification. I find that highly important, especially when the notifications pop up on my watch with that image. I use this to easily/quickly keep track of when family members (especially our teen drivers) arrive or leave with a quick glance. It seems that it is only included in the Secure+ plans and only for wireless devices, not wired systems, which is extremely disappointing. So, it seems I will need to keep at least one camera running on my other system to handle the image notifications as I wouldn't want to pay for a plan even if the image notifications are finally available on the wired systems. So, this could be a really great security camera system. Although dome cameras have a nice design and the image quality is really good (day or night) and the fact it uses POE for the connection, the missing important functionality that you would expect to have by default, especially for a system at this price point, leaves it as just a camera system that records and can be viewed on your phone.

This new offering from Sawnn varies only minimally from their previous camera release. Most specifications are indistinguishable. Physically, these new cameras have a new mounting system where the camera, itself, functions as the ball in the ball-and-socket mounting. This is a departure from more tripod-like mountings where the camera was fully attached to a mount that had its own ball-and-socket (-ish) system for adjustment. The new mounting system is more difficult to mount and more cumbersome to use. A terrible decision for the physical manipulation of the camera. An immediate turnoff. The biggest plus in Swann's new designs is using an ethernet cable to carry both power and signal so that these wired cameras can be installed using a single included 60' cable. Older versions required using separate power and signal cables - for outdoor installations that created a nightmare installation scenario. Setup on the console is easy but clunky. The OS and interface look like something that hasn't been updated in 20 years. Navigation is not intuitive. And the console does not support keyboards - so your (required) password has to be entered by mouse clicks. That means using a secure password creates an immediate complication for the USER. Swann's smartphone app presents a MUCH better interface for the console than the console presents by itself. But for immediate surveillance, I would always choose to view the huge monitor on my console rather than my very capable but hand-sized smartphone. The last camera system released by Swann had something they called "color night vision" that I was never able to understand. This new system has better B&W/infrared detection than its predecessor but both systems give unusable night vision at more than about 25' (Swann advertises these cameras as having night vision in total darkness at 130'). Motion detection and thermal sensing in these cameras seem responsive as advertised - but useful imaging in low light is restricted to objects close to the cameras. For what it's worth: over the lengthy time I was reviewing these cameras, one of the four cameras stopped working altogether. That seems like a bad thing. So....I have a lot of gripes about many peripheral issues with this system and these cameras. But the fundamental problem I have with this system (and with their last release) is with the camera resolution. Video quality is advertised as 4K but it is actually UPSCALED video - lower resolution video that has been processed to present itself as 4K video. In all of my tests here, the video I recorded looked very nice for objects at close range and objects at a distance were rendered terribly. However Swann is choosing to upscale their video input, it seems to smooth out moving objects close to the camera but it blurs objects at a distance. There seems to be a rapid drop-off in quality after about 25' or so. As such, I think these cameras aren't going to be very useful outside. Inside a building (home or business) where the camera is covering a shorter defined range, these cameras will be better able to render useful information. Using them outside, I found them able to detect motion and heat, but mostly unable to render usable information about that motion. The console and cameras are disappointing throughout.

Easy to is install, the app is excellent and cameras have very good quality video.