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Costco Swann 16 Channel HD NVR Security System with 3TB HDD

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In an effort to clear this up....

 

I ordered the sytem from Costco here

 

http://www.costco.com/Swann-16-Channel-HD-NVR-Security-System-with-3TB-HDD-and-8-1080p-Cameras.product.100070310.html

 

Based off of looks I believe it to be in the 7700 series family of products from hikvision located here

 

http://www.hikvision.com/en/Products_show.asp?id=6528

 

More specifically maybe a 7716? The problem with that is the OEM hikvision only has 8 ports. The Costco one has 16, According to buellwinkle hikvision doest have an nvr with 16 poe ports.

 

Swanns model number for this device is nvr16-7200. I got that directly from the swann tier II when I was talking to him while doing a firmware update to my nvr8-7200. He sent me the manual for it with the disclaimer that it might not be the shipping version.

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You did verify a couple of things for me.

1) Your purchase from Costco is not currently on Swanns web site.

2) Your new system can be optionally upgraded to 4 X 8 = 32GB of storage.

3) Hopefully you can do a full review for us when you receive.

 

Thank You

Chucky

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Preliminary thoughts....This thing is huge. and the vari focal cameras....are gargantuan. You will not be able to use dvd spot with a dvd drive WITHOUT modifications, not sure if the firmware supports it any way. It also looks like shorted me a network cable. Ill deal with swann on that or costco concierge. Im getting all my pics together getting ready to pull the mobo, and the heatsink off the cpu, to replace the heat sink grease, and to replace the sink with a modified copper 370 sink I have, thats not noisy as hell.

 

EDIT:

 

Processor markings

 

TMS320

DM8167BCYG

32C1V4W

786

 

Quick look up looks like a solid chip from TI, Its in their Performace line. Pretty much geared for IP DVR type applications

 

Powered up, not as loud as the nvr8-7200 which is to be expected. When it started I had to go through the wizard but the nvr wouldnt stop beeping all channels were in alarm with no link. I connected a camera, still kept beeping, rebooted, kept beeping, did a restore defualts, No beeping.

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If you get a chance, can you take a picture of the mini dome or bullets next to the varifocal versions, curious to see the size difference.

 

Also, can you see now if it has 16 PoE ports.

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If you get a chance, can you take a picture of the mini dome or bullets next to the varifocal versions, curious to see the size difference.

 

Also, can you see now if it has 16 PoE ports.

 

It does have 16 poe ports. The domes are varifocal domes are 4 inch, and the varifocal bullut is huge. I dont have any of the lorex domes sorry

 

Ill post some pictures here in a bit.

 

In the mean time here are the two bullets

 

http://i.imgur.com/Kk25IOf.jpg

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Thanks, looks like when I first put the Dahua IPC-HFW2100 next to the IPC-HFW3200C. You don't realize how small the little cameras can be. The mounts they put on these makes them look bigger than they are. The same with ACTi where they have the old style bullets that seem normal to me and then they have the ones with the integrated mounts that are huge.

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When you find time can you please post the actual model number of the NVR?

 

 

Thank You

Chucky

 

I already did that. Swanns model number is nvr16-7200

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There hasn't been a tremendous amount of disscussions focused around this Swann 16 Channel system Costco had to offer. Possibly the deal breaker was the price. Seemed like the few that shared their purchase and initial setup experience with this system were positive.

 

Looks like Costco is currently sold out of this system.

 

Thank You

Chuck

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Just get the Hikvision 16 channel NVR, pretty cheap, under $400 shipped.

 

Where you can get it for this price?

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Looks like they have a new 3MP kit up now on sale:

 

http://www.costco.com/Swann-16-Channel-HD-3MP-NVR-Security-System-with-3TB-HDD%2c-6-1080p-Cameras-and-2-Vari-Focal-Cameras.product.100077264.html

 

Is this the same as the earlier kit but with 3MP cameras instead of 1080p? Looks like a decent deal for $2200. But I also just finished making a pretty beefy FreeNAS box with ZFS... With so much NVR capabilities built into the cameras now, what features will I be losing out on by just buying individual cameras and saving to my FreeNAS box vs using a dedicated NVR box such as this?

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Looks like they have a new 3MP kit up now on sale:

 

http://www.costco.com/Swann-16-Channel-HD-3MP-NVR-Security-System-with-3TB-HDD%2c-6-1080p-Cameras-and-2-Vari-Focal-Cameras.product.100077264.html

 

Is this the same as the earlier kit but with 3MP cameras instead of 1080p? Looks like a decent deal for $2200. But I also just finished making a pretty beefy FreeNAS box with ZFS... With so much NVR capabilities built into the cameras now, what features will I be losing out on by just buying individual cameras and saving to my FreeNAS box vs using a dedicated NVR box such as this?

 

Thanks for posting this up. You saved me $300. Anyhow, I have this Swann kit and overall I am happy. Costco confirmed this is the same kit as the one they advertised earlier this month that was 1080p.

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Looks like they have a new 3MP kit up now on sale:

 

http://www.costco.com/Swann-16-Channel-HD-3MP-NVR-Security-System-with-3TB-HDD%2c-6-1080p-Cameras-and-2-Vari-Focal-Cameras.product.100077264.html

 

Is this the same as the earlier kit but with 3MP cameras instead of 1080p? Looks like a decent deal for $2200. But I also just finished making a pretty beefy FreeNAS box with ZFS... With so much NVR capabilities built into the cameras now, what features will I be losing out on by just buying individual cameras and saving to my FreeNAS box vs using a dedicated NVR box such as this?

 

Thanks for posting this up. You saved me $300. Anyhow, I have this Swann kit and overall I am happy. Costco confirmed this is the same kit as the one they advertised earlier this month that was 1080p.

 

What are the negatives / positives in your experience for this kit?

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Looks like they have a new 3MP kit up now on sale:

 

http://www.costco.com/Swann-16-Channel-HD-3MP-NVR-Security-System-with-3TB-HDD%2c-6-1080p-Cameras-and-2-Vari-Focal-Cameras.product.100077264.html

 

Is this the same as the earlier kit but with 3MP cameras instead of 1080p? Looks like a decent deal for $2200. But I also just finished making a pretty beefy FreeNAS box with ZFS... With so much NVR capabilities built into the cameras now, what features will I be losing out on by just buying individual cameras and saving to my FreeNAS box vs using a dedicated NVR box such as this?

 

Thanks for posting this up. You saved me $300. Anyhow, I have this Swann kit and overall I am happy. Costco confirmed this is the same kit as the one they advertised earlier this month that was 1080p.

 

What are the negatives / positives in your experience for this kit?

 

I have another post on here with some initial feedback. Overall I feel I made a great choice. I researched things to death before I went this route. I wanted an all-in-one NVR system with built-in POE that was easy to setup. This kit did it. I did have to call their support team to help setup the remote viewing, but they resolved it easily. Ask me any specific questions and I'll be happy to help.

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Is the box larger than the 8 ch. NVR? The specs for the 16 ch. states: "•HDD: 3TB installed (expandable to 32TB based on removal of the supplied 3TB and replacing with 8 x 4TB HDDs)". Seems like it'd need to be much larger than the 8 ch. to accomodate 8 each 4TB drives!

 

I've also been told that the 3MP recording is at 15 fps.

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Hey Jim,

 

The 16ch NVR is a 2U device which allows for the extra space for 8 HDDs.

 

There is suggestions though that the 16ch will be changed to a 1.5U device. That would cut available space to 4 HDDs.

 

3MP recording is @ 15fps. I'm not sure I see the benefit of 3MP over 1080P apart from bragging rights.

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Howdy "Mr. Swann",

 

Even with a modest reduction - that's a lot of HDD capacity! 8 cams is plenty for my uses, but it's nice that that particular NVR is designed for fairly significant usage of up to 16 HD cams! I'd love to be able to compare 3MP vs 2MP at my own home to understand the difference & potential benefit. But, that's not an easy option - so I'll continue to be pleased w/ what I already own. By the way, the Swann View Plus mobile app has been very reliable for the past couple of months (when I downloaded it). My only "gripe" is that it doesn't seem to allow me to view at higher res while on my home network - as the previous version did. Is this a correct understanding? There seems to be less options for resoultion settings now, although it's still adequate.

 

Cheers,

 

Jim

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Hi Jim,

 

Yes, they did mess with the program. I don't know why they bothered to be honest, but strange decisions do get made.

 

FYI, even with the HDD capacity reduction, it's not such a big issue. You can always use a NAS to increase space in addition to what you have in the NVR (Gb Ethernet recommended).

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I'm not sure I see the benefit of 3MP over 1080P apart from bragging rights.

Surely 5mp is an worthy increase, no? I'd sooner just go for 2mp now, or plan for 5mp in the future as 5mp seems to be next up.

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I'm not sure I see the benefit of 3MP over 1080P apart from bragging rights.

Surely 5mp is an worthy increase, no? I'd sooner just go for 2mp now, or plan for 5mp in the future as 5mp seems to be next up.

 

 

 

5MP would be awesome! But the difference between 2MP and 3MP may not be so dramatic to sway me! I'm generally in favor of "more is better" when it comes to resolution - but since I already own the 2 MP system - I could never justify upgrading to 3 - just for the res alone - all other factors the same.

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Hey Jim,

 

The 16ch NVR is a 2U device which allows for the extra space for 8 HDDs.

 

There is suggestions though that the 16ch will be changed to a 1.5U device. That would cut available space to 4 HDDs.

 

3MP recording is @ 15fps. I'm not sure I see the benefit of 3MP over 1080P apart from bragging rights.

 

 

I hope the reduction happens!. I got rid of the 8 port I had for the 16 port. And its great. Swann is great I love it. And I could flash the cameras to get 3mp out of my kit.

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Hey Jim,

 

The 16ch NVR is a 2U device which allows for the extra space for 8 HDDs.

 

There is suggestions though that the 16ch will be changed to a 1.5U device. That would cut available space to 4 HDDs.

 

3MP recording is @ 15fps. I'm not sure I see the benefit of 3MP over 1080P apart from bragging rights.

 

 

I hope the reduction happens!. I got rid of the 8 port I had for the 16 port. And its great. Swann is great I love it. And I could flash the cameras to get 3mp out of my kit.

 

For all that are interested, the reduced size 16ch is landing on the 15th. Will be a little while before it's listed though.

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These cams have a smaller horizontal FOV on 3MP than 2MP, as well as a 4:3 aspect ratio compared to the 9:16 aspect ratio of the 2MP, so if you had a need for either of those, the 3MP would be useful. If you want the HD aspect ratio or the wider view, 2MP is better.

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