Record over 2 years’ worth of footage on the included 500 GB hard drive
$ 479.99
DEFENDER 21031 SENTINEL 8-Channel Smart Security DVR with 8 Ultra Resolution Outdoor Security Cameras
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3 thoughts on “DEFENDER 21031 SENTINEL 8-Channel Smart Security DVR with 8 Ultra Resolution Outdoor Security Cameras”
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One solid outdoor video surveillance system,
A few years ago I installed a PC-based security system similar to this from Q-See in our old house. It was quite a bit more complicated than this all-in-one setup as it involved setting up PC-based Hardware, buggy software, and 13 different types of indoor and outdoor cameras.
At the moment, I haven’t permanently installed the camera’s yet, as they are temporarily placed inside and outside of the house in various locations as I evaluate the system and determine the best placement. So let’s walk through the system so you hopefully have a better idea of what you’re getting into, and how it performs.
UNBOXING:
There are 3 separate boxes, in a bigger box. One has the DVR itself and associated material. And the other 2 larger boxes include all of the camera hardware and wires. The wires for the cameras are 65′ and combine both the BNC (for video) and DC power connector into one cable. This should make running wires much easier.
The end of the cable that goes to your DVR will connect the BNC cable to the DVR, and then the DC power cable connects to a 4-way DC->AC adapter. This is much prefered to the older designs where each camera had it’s own bulky transformer to plug into.
There is mounting hardware for the cameras, which is rather basic. You’ll want to check this out and make sure it’s suitable for what and where you are going to mount these cameras into. You definitely don’t want them falling down. I’ll get more into Installation later.
They’ve also included an RJ45 network cable, RCA cable, Quick Start Guide, and a small USB mouse. The USB mouse is small and cheap, but you can use any USB mouse you have laying around. If you want more instructions, you can use the included mini-CD which has a full PDF users guide. Or just download them directly from Defender’s website. I do recommend the latter as I already noticed a few changes between the two. The on-line materials are more up-to-date.
INSTALLATION:
While I do have an extensive background in computers, drilling holes and running wires is not my strong suite. I neither have the expertise, equipment, or time to correctly install these cameras in the new house. At least not to my satisfaction. We just built a house that’s 1 year old and has no attic, just limited crawl space. The last house had a huge attic making installation relatively simple. So I’m going to leave this to professional’s once I’m ready for installation.
If you want to do this yourself, it’s important that you’re comfortable drilling holes and running cables in your house. The Quick Start guide handily includes a drilling template for the mounting brackets. They also instruct you to use a 3/16″ drill bit, not included of course. The only tool included is an allen wrench to adjust the position of the camera on the included mounting bracket.
Running the wires and mounting the cameras is generally considered the “hard part.” You’ll want to make sure the compact DVR is in a location where it has network connectivity (for remote viewing) and of course, power. Sorry, no WiFi here.
If you want to have this professionally installed, this can get rather pricey. From shopping around my area, you’re looking at anywhere from $100-$200 per camera depending on how much labor is involved and how many you have. This is assuming you want it done “right,” and not just have a wires and holes all over the place. The good news is that the more you have, the less they normally charge per camera.
CAMERAS:
Before talking about the DVR’s, we should spend some time on the camera’s themselves. I’ve used equipment ranging from cheap (and useless) $40 cameras to some very nice setups getting past $300+ a piece. As is often the case, you certainly do get what you pay for.
These are surprisingly fairly decent outdoor day/night cameras. I’d expect to pay around $100 a piece with cables for the quality I’m seeing here, so it’s a pretty good value with the DVR. There are 36 IR (Infrared) LED’s that will glow red at night, which provide the night vision. These are going to be quite visible from the street and should provide a nice deterrent on their own. Not to mention they just look cool. 🙂
They are advertised at 100ft night vision, but realistically, you’re looking at roughly half that. Mostly because any further than this, and you really aren’t going to have any idea what you’re looking at. However, if there is some ambient light such as a street light, your range will naturally extend quite a bit. But in 0 lux (complete darkness), it is more limited. Of course for home surveillance, that is really more than enough.
I did most of the testing in my backyard as it gets completely dark out there at night. I watched as it went from light to dark, then again in the morning, when it got bright again. And the transition from night vision (B&W) to day…
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|Solid 4 stars, with 5-star potential,
I’ve been on the fence about buying one of these systems for a little over a year now and finally decided on this one.
My needs were:
* 4 outdoor cameras
* Good resolution
* Good night vision
* DVR with network capability
* Ability to view cameras from multiple computers and smartphone
* Price range of $300-$350
This system appeared to meet all my needs and I had noticed over the past year that the Defender systems seemed to have the best overall ratings. I further researched the on-line manual for this system (as I frequently do for things that I’m serious about purchasing) and it also gave me comfort that the system would meet my needs.
I’ve had the system installed for about a week now and I am quite pleased with it. That being said, I would like to share my overall experience with everyone, as it may be helpful for those considering this system and installing it themselves, as I did.
I did a few things backwards, but found it helpful in adjusting the cameras once I had everything wired.
First off, the entire system was packaged very nicely – great presentation and well organized. All of the camera cables were rolled up nicely on plastic spools. All parts were neatly arranged and well labeled.
Next, I took everything out of the box and hooked up to my 40″ Samsung LCD via VGA cable to test it out. Note: the manual indicates that if you hook the DVR up using VGA to an LCD TV or monitor that the mouse and remote will not function. I called Defender to inquire about this prior to purchasing and they informed me that the unit WILL work fine via VGA and they were correct. I have no problem with the mouse or remote working using the VGA port and this gives great resolution (much better than using the composite video cable.) The VGA cable is not included with the system, but all other cables you need are. I would recommend using VGA if you can.
After hooking everything up for a test run, I found that everything worked fine. I did notice that the video connections on the back of the DVR seemed to be a bit loose, causing the video to flicker and go in and out if I moved to cables, however, once I had everything hooked up and running I have not experienced this again.
I then proceeded to configure the system and do the network setup, firstly, to verify that it would actually work and do all the things I wanted, and second, so that I could view the cameras from my Android phone while adjusting them, which is very helpful and allows for an easy, one-person installation.
I had no problems at all with the network setup and port forwarding on my AT&T U-Verse router/gateway. I simply set the DVR to DHCP and let it acquire an address. I wrote all the acquired information down, then changed it to Static and input the same information (so that I don’t have to worry about the IP changing. I forwarded the three ports needed for network and mobile viewing and was viewing on my phone within minutes. Defender’s network guide was great and made the whole process very easy. I added the IP address to the trusted sites zone as directed and set security for trusted sites to low and had no trouble with the ActiveX install.
The on-line software is very nice and allows you not only to view your cameras on any computer, but also you can manage every setting on the DVR, just as if you are right there. And, it’s actually easier (in my opinion) to do this via the software, than on the DVR itself, although the DVR’s interface is also easy to use.
Now, on to the installation; here are the things that I experienced that I hope will help future buyers install this system with less pain than I had.
I dropped all of my cables from the attic down into the wall behind my flat screen TV and routed them through an AV wall plate, along with the other cables that were already there (HDMI, VGA, power, etc.) Here is one important thing to note; the cables are neatly spooled up, so naturally I unrolled them all in the direction that they were spooled. While the BNC video connectors are the same on both ends, the power connectors are NOT; they are male on one end and female on the other. AND, two out of four of mine were spooled backwards. This caused me to spend an extra day re-running one cable completely, which I had run all the way to where one of the cameras would be on the other side of the house, down through another very difficult wall to the first floor. I did not notice the problem until I went to plug the camera into the cable and ended up with two female plugs together. So, long story short – pay careful attention to the orientation of the power connectors and make sure you run the cables in the correct direction (the female end should start at the DVR and the male end should be at the camera where it will plug into the female jack on the camera…
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|Make sure you get the right DVR,
A 21030 DVR system should come with a 210013 DVR. I recieved a sn301, a discontinued DVR, with the correct cameras. Sent back. Recieved the same error again. Ordered directly from Defender’s website. Just FYI to all new DYI home surveillance hobbyists. All DIY linux box survellience systems suck for quality, it is a choice of which sucks the least for the least amount of money. I found the correct 21030 package to fit in the upper-middle of quality and price.
PS. Dear Defender people, per your request I have updated my review. Kind of creepy that you got my number x_X
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