Swann NVR8-7200

Swann NVR8-7400 Disappointing All Round – Went into Jaycar here in NZ and got the best available Swann system which is the NVR (Network Video Recorder) 8-7400. This being another step over and above the normal DVR (Digitial Video Recorder) has the benefit of one ethernet cable for the power, video and PTZ (if available). Also thought it would be great in terms of features. I was wrong. The pictures from the cameras are good so you can zoom in to see things because the picture is 4K pixels (twice that of FHD 1080p quality). The features on the NVR have a number of things to be to be desired:

1) While recording it will show a man running if it detects motion. If you playback video howrever it should mark the timeline in red where "events" have occurred. This is a hit and miss affair as it sometimes does it and sometimes not. Makes trying to track motion in the playback mode frustrating and you end up watching more video because it is inconsistently coloured on the timeline.

2) When using the unit it will periodically start misbehaving - ie. video playback stops or even the mouse stops working. A reboot fixes this. In fact the maintenance menu has a feature to perform an automatic restart at a certain time each week. This is a throwback to 1.5 decades ago where a Windows PC had to be restarted each week because of memory leaks etc. I thought we were past this now. Apparently not.

3) The SwannLink software only works on Android and Apple phones. Not Windows Phones.

4) The SwannLink software I would have thought would have enabled playback on a laptop from the NVR via the network. In fact you hav to export to a USB stick to create a .264 file to playback. Nothing particularly useful here. Its only real feature is to show live video but that is the least useful out of live and playback options. I would have to say very limited software.

5) I would have thought the cabled mouse could be replaced with a wireless dongle based mouse. Nope.

6) No bluetooth for a bluetooth mouse either.

7) Motion detection is poor. I just cannot get it to do anything particularly well here and so you end up resorting to continuous recording. I have used other systems that work far better for motion detection than this. It really is close to useless.

8) Periodically I have had to unplug a Swann camera and plug back in to get things working. Should not be necessary.

9) Overall being a NVR instead of a DVR (using analog coax + power + RS585) I was expectng something much better. In fact in looking at the DVR features it seems to me that the DVR has some better features than the NVR.

10) Could not get the SwannLink to show live video from NVR. Restarted the NVR and came right. This along with the automatic restart option in the maintenance manu says to me an unfinished product.

11) The registration of the product was supposed to upgrade the warranty from 12 months to 18 months. The survey you have to complete never collects any serial number etc at the end so also looks dodgy.

12) The dynamic DNS feature that Swann promoted in the setup guide does not work and the technical support person said to use the UID instead. Looks like the DNS at Swann does not update with the IP address of the unit.

Overall while not a piece of junk a unit that has an unfinished feel to it. No newer firmware for the unit available and yes you are speaking to someone from Bangalore (or similar) when you ring technical support in NZ anyway. The technical support so far is quick to answer but not particularly helpful. They kept saying to download the smartphone app after me telling them that there is not one for Windows Phone which they acknowledged. Felt too much like a disengaged brain at the other end.

Geoffrey Brown

Nvr8-7400 is just as noisy – Man this unit is nice but is it noisy. It might be ok in a server romm but as a home unit it is rediculous. I have a very small house and there is no hiding from that fan noise I am considering taking off the cover and disabling the fan and leaving it in the cupboard without the cover. That should give it better cooling and a quitter operation.

Noisy Fan – I rang technical support only to be told this noise is normal, but I said this fan will not last, the response was that's how it is. Too all owners please do the following Take a look at the fan to make sure its not clog up with fluff as mine was, get the vacuum cleaner and suck out all the fluff. Atleast this will prevent premature overheating, or failure.

Very noisy – The fan or fans are noisy, we now only turn it on when we go out. I tried putting it under the stand but its still noisy. I'm seriously considering buying another recorder as the cameras & installation are good.

I Wished I hadn't Bought This – I submitted this review to Swann Electronics for the Swann SWNVK-872004 surveillance kit which includes Swann NVR8-7200 / 8 Channel / 3TB HDD and 4x NHD-820 cameras but got the reply that they appreciate me taking the time to write the review but unfortunately it did not meet their guidelines. I sent an email back asking what was wrong with it and why it didn’t meet their guidelines and to please tell me what needed to be changed. That was months ago and I got no reply. I consider this review to be an honest account of my experience with the product and conclude the only reason Swann Security would not publish it was it wasn’t glowing and singing praises of their product like all the other reviews published did. It would seem Swann Security only publish positive reviews, I think this is very poor and is misleading for consumers to do this.

Anyway here’s my review on the Swann NVR8-7200 8 Channel NVR with Smartphone Viewing & 4 x NHD-820 Cameras word for word as I submitted it to Swann Electronics. The 2 fans in the control box run 24/7 and are VERY noisy, so don't expect to install the unit in what was a quiet spot and be happy, it really needs to be stuffed in an out of the way cupboard. The fan for the main processor is noisy but the power supply fan is really noisy. If your purchase includes a remote controller in the box don't expect it to work very well as this unit is not meant to have a remote controller. Mine came with a remote in the box but after half the buttons didn't work and others were not always responsive I phoned Swann and was told it isn't meant to have a remote with it. Two of the cameras stopped working for no reason, they just stopped recording and I could only fix this with a complete shut down and reboot. Too bad if you go away on holidays for a few weeks and this happens on the first or second day.

My unit is less than a year old and the USB port on the front panel to plug the mouse into has gone faulty and takes up to 10 insert and removes of the plug for the unit to register the mouse. With my previous CCTV system when reviewing the footage with the screen split into 4 to view the 4 channels only the cameras that were recording at the time with motion record would be shown on the screen, when a camera stopped recording the quadrant would go blank, when that camera started recording again the image would be seen. This was good, as your eyes knew exactly which camera to look at to review the footage. However the Swann on reviewing the footage has all 4 cameras showing an image even if one or more isn't actually playing back. The image will be frozen at the time when the recording stopped, so it is really hard to distinguish which camera is actually playing back when looking at the screen. The image will unfreeze when the motion recording stars again but again it is really difficult to tell when this happens. This was a bad point for me with the Swann NVR 8 7200.

UPDATE - I had an enquiry from a reader who read this review. He states. I read your review about swan cctv kit NVR8-7200 and you mention some drawbacks. where did you purchase this from and price please? I am in the market for swan kit, i can see NVR8-7090 which has 2TB hard drive with NHD835 cameras 4 comes with it. DO you think this is better? I have no idea about the security system, but heard swan is good. I need to put 5 cameras in my 2 storey house and planning this. if you know any better kit, please let me know. Thanks in advance.

I sent a reply saying:- Thanks for your interest. I can answer as follows. I do not recommend buying any Swann kit, their after sales service is very poor, they don’t reply to emails or requests for a call back. Swann is located in Melbourne but you can’t get to speak to them. The only tech support number they have is a 1800 number but it goes to an offshore call center in I believe India. The recorder box I have is the NVR8-7200, it has 2 fans in it, one for the internal power supply and another for the CPU. These fans especially the power supply fan are VERY loud and the noise is really annoying. I recommend getting a NVR recorder box that has an external power supply which won’t have any fan for the power supply. I have since listened to a Hikvison control box running and it is only about half or even less as noisy as the Swann. The Swann NHD-820 cameras I found out after purchasing the kit are very expensive if you want to buy an extra 1 or so, the price I was quoted was nearly $300 each. Then I found out they simply are rebranded originally manufactured by Hikvision DS-2CD2032 camera which late last year I picked one up off Ebay for about $110. Both cameras are 3mp. I did buy my kit off some trader from Ebay, it was new and think from memory cost a bit over the $2000 mark. Sorry I am not familiar with the model you mention NVR8-7090 with NHD835 cameras. My model also has a 2tb hard drive. For a 5 camera system you will need an 8 channel recording box or even 16 channel if you want to add a few more cameras later on. Best of luck but I would not be buying any more Swann surveillance products in the future, there are many others out there Hikvision being one that I would seriously look into if I were to do it all again, but never Swann. Cheers.