This is the second set of Defender cameras that I have had. The first were the wireless and they just did not work for me. Some of them worked and others had either no signal or they bounced in and out. I returned them and ordered the wired cameras. Here is the scoop from here. They work very well when viewing on your TV or PC. The problem that I am having is with the remote play back. It just does not give good playback when trying to do it remotely. It either freezes up or is extremely slow. I have very strong wifi signal, so it is not the wifi that is the problem. I spoke with Defender today and was told that they are aware of the problem and they will have an update in the next two to three weeks. The night vision is ok, but not exceptional, when compared to my previous cameras that were in use for twelve years. With the night vision it is difficult to tell the difference between a cat and a fox at a distance of thirty to forty feet. The day pictures are crystal clear and no problems at all, with very nice images. They also have a very good I.T. department and are pretty easy to contact and will give you quite a bit of help when needed.

I've looked at other cameras for a while and I've had a chance to use other people's cameras at different times. For the money, you can't beat the Defender series. I preferred to get a hard line connection to the cameras (in case of the router going out or there are connection issues) and I have yet to have any problems. I ran the cables through my attic (1 floor, 3 bed/2 bath) and had plenty of room in the line. Depending on your house size, you may need to get extension cables. You need to set the cameras up inside the house on a table or something BEFORE you wire everything up in the attic to check and make sure everything works properly. You don't want to spend time wiring and then find out you have a short in the system! One of my cables had a short and ran hot, but I contacted the company and they sent a replacement very quickly. I've had this system for over a year and I've had no problems whatsoever with the system. The user interface is very simple (takes a bit of a learning curve to master), the cameras are clear and night vision is good. I love the motion sensing but it will take some working to get just right. Bugs and shrubs will set it off but that is easily fixed with some lawn maintenance! :) I'd recommend setting up the dvr to record over old footage, otherwise you will run out of space quickly. 1tb hard drives are too low in today's world for most thing including camera storage! Just be sure to save your video before it gets written over! The iPhone app is awesome..... If you are on wifi! A cellular connection just won't load the live video which is a bummer. The notification system is a mess too, so you'll get a ton of messages if you have it set up. Overall a quality system and I won't take a star off due to the app issues because they are manageable and I didn't buy it for the app! If you are looking for a hard line camera system that's simple to operate and work, this system is a good deal!

I've been pleasantly surprised by this unit. The picture quality is good, the angles are very wide. I've seen some complain on lens distortion. That's a given with a wide angle lense. The camera housings are plastic, but appear to be well made, time will tell. The only thing I plan on doing is upgrading the hard drive. With 1080 quality, 1TB doesn't go far (about 4 days with 8 cameras).

Update: I forgot the add that the IR illumination leaves something to be desired. I have installed cameras from about half a dozen different manufacturers, and the IR LED array on these are by far the worst.

I worked tirelessly to set up System for Remote PC viewing to no avail. I got this message from Chat Support today:

Darrielle
We would like to inform you that at this time we will no longer be updating our Web User Interface for the Defender HD product lines. The reason being, due to the continuing browser changes and upgrades we are not able to guarantee a seamless experience for our customers using the web user interface. Instead, we are focusing on bringing you the best possible mobile viewing experience on iPhone and Android smartphone devices through our Defender HD app. We will continue to provide support documentation, but will no longer promote its use as we will not be releasing updates for compatibility with future browser updates.

For the most up to date features and viewing capabilities please download our Defender HD app available through the App Store and Google Play.

At this time, our Web User Interface is compatible with:

"¢ Safari
"¢ Internet Explorer

*Compatibility with the above browsers is subject to change without notice.

12:50:15 PM
Me
To clarify. Defender does not support remote viewing through PC anymore. This is the main reason I bought the system. If this is the case I need to return the system

12:51:47 PM
Darrielle
That is correct.

12:53:03 PM
Me
Ok. then. I'm surprised that no one has stated this with all the research i did on you product. I will copy and paste your above statement to User Reviews for others to to take note before purchasing your product.

12:54:25 PM
Darrielle
This information is on our support center for the DVR.

12:54:52 PM
I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this may ave caused you.

12:55:15 PM
You can still access your DVR via the app on your smart phone or tablet.

12:55:39 PM
Me
...there's no reason for someone to visit the support center unless theyve already purchased the product....I'm sorry to...I was a QSee customer before, I'll have to go back to them.
12:56:16 PM

Video is clear once you switch it to HD. The app will always show the cameras in Standard Definition and you need to change it every time to HD. There is a big difference in quality between the two. There is no way to save your settings so that you don't have to go thru this every time you open the app on your phone.

They used to give you the option to view the cameras using a web browser. At the time the only one it supported was IE but now they have removed or in the process of removing this capability completely. Not sure why! Only way to view the camera's remotely is from your phone.

Support is another disaster. There is a chat on the web site and honeslty haven't used it. Once I do get a chance to ask questions it is closed for the day. So the next option is to email them. Usually takes 24 hours or so for a response so cases take days if not weeks to resolve. You ask a question....24 hours later you get a response. They need more information, you email them with the info, 24 hours later you get a response. So yes this can go on for days and days before your issue is resolved. The company is located in Canada maybe that has something to do with it.