WD ReadyView Cameras / NVR

[tangent]

Stumbled on these today, anybody seen or tried one? Any idea if they're making them themselves or who's cameras they're re branding? Not sure exactly when they were released, but I'm not seeing a lot of info.

WD ReadyView Surveillance System | WD
WD ReadyView Camera | WD

The 2MP cams don't do tripwire or intrusion.

MicroCenter has the cameras for more than wd.com but the NVR/Cam bundle for less:
2MP WD ReadyView Add-On Surveillance Camera - Micro Center
4MP WD ReadyView Add-On Surveillance Camera - Micro Center
NVR w/ (4) 4MP Cams WD ReadyView Surveillance System - Micro Center
NVR w/ (4) 2MP Cams WD ReadyView Surveillance System - Micro Center








Bueller?

 

[twincitiesguy]

@tangent - I'd like to know the same thing. These caught my eye at MicroCenter the other day but I can't seem to find any useful reviews or information other than from Western Digital. I really like the idea that the cameras are POE powered and record locally rather than uploading to the cloud. I'm looking for something for a small business that doesn't have lightning fast Internet so these attracted me as they won't be constantly uploading to the Internet.

If you received any more information, please share.

 

[c hris527]

What ever company that is producing the system did pretty well by hitching their wagons to the western digital name, namesake alone will sell these. Walmart has them stocked on line.

 

[tangent]

I don't know if they are, but the cameras remind me most of some uniview models.

 

[c hris527]

I don't know if they are, but the cameras remind me most of some uniview models.

The Pic of the NVR is ALL Uniview

 

[aristobrat]

Sensor specs are interesting.

 

[twincitiesguy]

Pardon my ignorance but "sensor specs are interesting" - in a good way or bad way?

Also, these certainly do look like they use Uniview cameras and NVR body (with a WD hard drive). I'm relatively new to these - does Uniview have a good reputation?

 

[twincitiesguy]

Also just noticed MicroCenter now has these on sale cheaper than they were last week. 2MP version for $299.99 and 4MP version for $399.99

 

[mat200]

Pardon my ignorance but "sensor specs are interesting" - in a good way or bad way?

Also, these certainly do look like they use Uniview cameras and NVR body (with a WD hard drive). I'm relatively new to these - does Uniview have a good reputation?

Hi @twincitiesguy

If you're looking to purchase, I would stick with products which you can find more help with on the internet, on this forum that would be Hikvision and Dahua OEM products as I like to not have to wait for customer service to help me - I would rather search the internet for answers.

 

[aristobrat]

Pardon my ignorance but "sensor specs are interesting" - in a good way or bad way?

4MP in a bad way. 1/3" sensors are small and almost always use the older front-illuminated tech -- so that's two strikes against this camera having a chance of having decent low-light image quality. Dahua/Hikvision have moved up to larger back-illuminated sensors, like 1/2.8", 1/2.5", 1/2", and even 1/1.8".

2MP was interesting to me at first ... at 1/2.7" it's a smidge bigger than the 2MP 1/2.8" sensors that Dahua/Hikvision use in their really popular low-light camera models (Starlight/Dark Fighter). Bigger sensors can help increase low-light image quality. But after a quick Google search, I can't find any mention of a 2MP 1/2.7" that's anything special in low light, which is prob why this model goes for $79 vs. Dahua/Hikvision's 2MP low-lights starting at $120.

 

[protocol57]

I wish there was more reviews of these WD NVR bundles... especially regarding the firmware they use. I might bite in a few weeks to get my dad a simple PoE system. We'll see...

 

[twincitiesguy]

For what its worth, I ended up purchasing these for a golf course / bar that I support. They are fairly basic and don't provide the best quality video for distances more than about 30 feet. For a basic set up, we are happy with them. Have had no issues getting them set up and no issues since they were installed over five months ago. We have four cameras currently installed (all indoors at this time). They didn't want to spend much more and this got them what they needed.

 

[OnePositiveDude]

I just got this NVR 2mp Camera setup to upgrade to POE and higher quality. I have a previous Zmodo device Ive used for about 3 years with Zsight app on my phone.

The WD Readyview was only $199 with the 4 cameras and expandability to 8 total.

Im really impressed with the quality on these and the Night vision is excellent compared to my previous crap.

I feel like this is a great deal at $200 and the functionality is more than enough for a random homeowner or small business. The app does what it needs to do and the motion detection is adjustable in a few levels of sensitivity as well as mapping the area on the camera view.

I have the whole thing on a 43" monitor in my closet. Have a look at the difference from the old basically useless night vision compared to the new WDReadyview 2mp POE cams.

 

[Jporterz28]

I'm new here, but wanted to offer my first few days experience with the system. I bought the 4MP/4TB system from my local Microcenter, they had them on sale for $349. So far, I'm pretty happy with them. The quality for the main HD stream is good, the SD substrem isn't all that bad for the interior view that I'm using, outside it doesn't do well at distance, but switching to the main stream is decent. I wasn't expecting top quality, and it has exceeded my expectations so far. The NVR sets up really easily, no account creation to use the app, just scan the QR code. At first I thought this system was about as basic as one would think it would be for the price, but once I plugged in a monitor and mouse, I found that it really is a nice system. It has settings that I still need to learn about, and the one HUGE downside to the system is that the documentation is pretty basic and only covers maybe 30% of what the thing has in it's software.

I'll try to remember to grab some screenshots and share them here.

 

[OnePositiveDude]

I'm new here, but wanted to offer my first few days experience with the system. I bought the 4MP/4TB system from my local Microcenter, they had them on sale for $349. So far, I'm pretty happy with them. The quality for the main HD stream is good, the SD substrem isn't all that bad for the interior view that I'm using, outside it doesn't do well at distance, but switching to the main stream is decent. I wasn't expecting top quality, and it has exceeded my expectations so far. The NVR sets up really easily, no account creation to use the app, just scan the QR code. At first I thought this system was about as basic as one would think it would be for the price, but once I plugged in a monitor and mouse, I found that it really is a nice system. It has settings that I still need to learn about, and the one HUGE downside to the system is that the documentation is pretty basic and only covers maybe 30% of what the thing has in it's software.

I'll try to remember to grab some screenshots and share them here.

$349 seems a bit pricey. I just got a second one of these on sale for $99 directly from the Western Digital website.

 

[mat200]

$349 seems a bit pricey. I just got a second one of these on sale for $99 directly from the Western Digital website.

Hi @OnePositiveDude

You get the entire "4x 4MP camera + NVR" kit for $99 ???

 

[OnePositiveDude]

Hi @OnePositiveDude

You get the entire "4x 4MP camera + NVR" kit for $99 ???

I guess mine was the 4 camera 2mp but total cost shipped was $118.

 

[mat200]

I guess mine was the 4 camera 2mp but total cost shipped was $118.

wow, that's a smoking deal...

 

[OnePositiveDude]

wow, that's a smoking deal...

Yeah I really just wanted the 4 extra cameras to add to my other one I showed earlier in the thread. This was the cheapest way since they sell for $80 each alone.

 

[Jporterz28]

I guess mine was the 4 camera 2mp but total cost shipped was $118.

That is a smokin' deal!

How is the 2MP system? So far, the 4MP system is working pretty well. I'm playing with the image settings right now to improve the low light performance, and with just a few tweaks, it's looking much better. Of course, this IS my first camera system, so I don't have much to compare it with, other than what I've seen online.