ANNKE 3K Lite H.265+ Security DVR Recorder with AI Human/Vehicle Detection, 8CH Hybrid 5-in-1 CCTV DVR for Surveillance Camera, Supports 8CH Analog and 2CH IP Cameras, Remote Access (No Hard Drive)

This is the second DVR I have purchased. After my night owl went out this stepped right up and worked perfectly. The software is way better too. I recently replaced my parents DVR too! Perfectly replacment to the crappy night owl ones. And it was so easy to do!

If you’ve been searching for a next-level security system that combines cutting-edge technology with bulletproof reliability, the ANNKE 3K Lite H.265+ Security DVR Recorder is the fortress you need to protect your home or business. This 8-channel hybrid powerhouse isn’t just any security recorder—it’s a technological masterpiece, offering AI-powered human and vehicle detection, crystal-clear 3K resolution, and a compression system that delivers efficiency without compromising quality. Whether you’re a tech enthusiast or someone simply seeking peace of mind, this DVR delivers a flawless, future-proof solution to all your security needs. Let’s start with the 3K Lite resolution—it’s nothing short of amazing. The clarity and sharpness of the footage are next-level, offering a resolution higher than standard 1080p, meaning you catch every detail, day or night. Whether you need to capture faces, license plates, or subtle movements, this DVR ensures that nothing escapes your watchful eye. It's like having eyes in ultra-high-definition, ensuring you miss absolutely nothing. But the real magic? AI-powered human and vehicle detection. This isn’t your average motion detection that triggers every time a leaf blows by—this is intelligent detection that differentiates between people, vehicles, and irrelevant motion. It focuses on the things that matter most, drastically reducing false alarms and ensuring you're only alerted when there's a legitimate reason. Whether it's identifying an unfamiliar face near your property or monitoring vehicles coming and going, this feature provides precision-level security, eliminating the hassle of constant, unnecessary notifications. The 8-channel hybrid capability is another standout feature, allowing you to connect a wide variety of cameras—both digital and analog—giving you incredible flexibility to expand and customize your security network. With ANNKE, you’re not locked into one system; instead, you have the freedom to build the perfect surveillance setup tailored to your needs. This hybrid nature also makes the system future-proof, so you can upgrade cameras over time without needing to overhaul the entire system. Now, let’s talk about the H.265+ compression technology. This wizardry allows you to record high-quality video while saving up to 80% of your storage space. With H.265+, your hard drive won’t fill up quickly, meaning you can store weeks or even months of footage without needing to constantly delete or back up files. This kind of efficiency means less hassle for you and more focus on what really matters—your security. The user-friendly interface of the ANNKE system is the cherry on top. The setup is incredibly intuitive, even for those who aren't tech-savvy. Connecting your cameras, managing footage, and configuring alerts is as easy as 1-2-3, whether you're accessing it via your smartphone, tablet, or computer. Plus, the remote viewing feature allows you to check in on your property from anywhere in the world, giving you 24/7 peace of mind, no matter where life takes you. In conclusion, the ANNKE 3K Lite H.265+ Security DVR Recorder is an absolute game-changer in the world of home and business security. Combining AI-powered detection, crystal-clear 3K resolution, hybrid flexibility, and unmatched storage efficiency, this system doesn’t just watch—it protects. Whether you’re safeguarding your home, office, or commercial property, this is the security solution that leads with intelligence and precision. With ANNKE, you’re not just installing cameras—you’re building an impenetrable shield of security around everything you value. Welcome to the future of protection!

Summary: Bought to replace apparently failed DVR (older Sannce equivalent to this model), found two failed 12v adapters that might have fixed the problem, but new software and AnnkeVision app seem to be worth the $60. Exhaustive detail: Our Sannce 8-channel DVR quit working, so I ordered the Annke 5MP box that looked like it would be a direct replacement. With the coupon it was just over $60 with tax (no HDD, of course.) Way cheaper than anything else, and the reviews sounded like it was the best way to go for us. I moved the HDD from the old unit to the new box and did a cable-by-cable swap between the old and new boxes. I was really bummed when it worked just like the old one - the red power light was on, but no video on the monitor. I went to help.annke.com and saw that the first Troubleshooting step for lack of video was to try replacing the power adapter, even if the power light was on. I switched to the new power adapter, and immediately there was a beep and I heard the HDD spin up (hadn't noticed the lack of sounds using the old adapter.) Apparently they've seen this one before. I proceeded with the setup and downloaded the new app. The setup is not well-explained in the quick start guide, but the on-screen interface is a bit less confusing than the old one was, so I muddled through the basics. I had to provide an email and set a password, way more security hoops than the old one had. I now had video with pictures from 4 of our 8 cameras. More troubleshooting found that ANOTHER 12v adapter had apparently failed (it will power 1 camera, but when you plug in the 2nd one you lose the working one.) I was pretty upset to realize that I might have gotten by with just a couple of 12v adapters (I had replaced two or three of them since the original installation, so I should have known to start there, even though the lights were coming on.) However, the Annke Vision app is much more user-friendly than the XMEye one the old box used, and the motion detection actually seems to work, with the playback video that was captured leading up to the trigger event (I'll know more about false alarms when the other 4 cameras come on line, and when I see what happens after dark, but I had given up on making the old box detect properly.) And there are new functions (line crossing and other ways to trigger recording) that other reviewers rate highly. Maybe I'll even download the manual and check them out! Also note that you can add two wireless cameras in addition to the 8 wired ones the old box supported. Conclusion: Seems well worth the very reasonable price, definitely the way to go if you have wired cameras installed already.

I used this to replace my failing Samsung/Hanwha Techwin DVR. The user interface on the unit is snappy and intuitive. You can access the system on a desktop browser with the local IP, but it requires Microsoft Edge on Internet Explorer compatibility mode because it still uses the old Silverlight plugin. It's 2024, it should work on every browser with HTML5 and not Silverlight. The mobile app is pretty good and up to date. Motion detection with hotspots works good on the low-medium setting. Playback speed unfortunately maxes at 16x which is pretty pathetic for a security system. My old Samsung could do 32x and 64x which made watching a day's worth of footage take just 10 minutes. Also, while you're installing the hard drive, you might as well install a small fan at the same time. This whole unit is passively air cooled and does not come with a fan. All my DVRs before have had a fan, and I already had a premium Noctua fan. The chassis has pre-drilled holes for a fan and there is an unused 2 pin fan connector on the motherboard. You may have to get creative with making a connector that will fit. I think the addition of the fan should lead to longer life of the unit and hard drive.

Begin forwarded message: Kyle , absolutely the worst UI i have ever encountered, try to configure a camera and select A4 as an example, make the a selection Motion, then go to Video tampering the UI goes back to A1 . Ridiculous, if you are not paying attention you are actually working on A1 parameters. This should not happen, very confusing makes configuring the system confusing. Issues with false alarms, I am sure if i beat it up enough or basically don't enable these features I won't have another problem ,but what's the advantage of having a dvr with AI , or plate reading , much less then other features. Now I am understanding that even though support both on the phone and online give instructions as to how to delete footage , i am now being told I have to reformat the complete hard drive, absolutely ridiculous couple that with the lack of any documentation either as an e manual or written one makes this system less than favorable. Your phone support Vania was spectacular but the system its self is severely lacking. Take for example the email setup , no where does it tell you that you have to make a passkey rather than a password , took me several days and only got through this with the help of Vania. Even she had to search the web and found someone on You Tube that figured this out ,again no help form any manuals. For these reasons , i am going to return this useless DVR for lack of better wording, on the plus side its a nice unit but its operational functions are severely lacking. If you have no further solutions , its going back to Amazon and I will be purchasing a different brand.

I have tried other brands (won’t name them here) that were simply useless (unable to stop hundreds of false alarms, detection failures, etc.). With this DVR I was able to eliminate nearly all possible false alarms and still get 100% detection, real-time email/text notifications and event recording. The DVR records 30 seconds prior to and 30 seconds after an event and can send real-time email/text with multiple pics from the most pertinent images from that time range; which pretty much perfectly catches what you need to see to determine exactly what happened (i.e. who came to your door, etc.). You can remote live view any one or several cameras simultaneously from the mobile and PC app. Reviewing event history is straight-forward by simply jumping to tick marks on the timeline or searching for specific events on specific cameras. You can even view events with up to 2 cameras synchronized side-by-side (which is really handy for seeing people/vehicles entering one camera’s view and then moving through to another). The UI appears better than most (nice graphics and easy to navigate). However, setting up the system takes an inordinate amount of time due to lack of useful common defaults (i.e. you spend a lot of clicks setting options for each day of the week for each camera—so lots of repeat this for 7 days x 8 cameras = 56 windows to click through to set the most common “do this always” setting). Several things (like configuring event triggering/recording and configuring event scheduling) are confusingly in separate places and easily missed. For example, you set up a bunch of event/alarm triggers but forget to also go to a separate menu section and set up the recording schedule and then nothing happens—leaving you confused and frustrated. The manual is better than most but there is still some poorly worded and badly documented features (like pretty much all of the Recording Schedule section of the interface). Making this worse, some of the features in this section simply don’t work (I worked with their support (which was very responsive) on these issues so hopefully they will fix this). Perhaps the most useful feature of this DVR is its ability to detect what they call “VCA Events”. This allows you to set up things like “line crossing” where you can draw a line and then specify that an alarm should trigger when something crosses the line in one direction, the other direction, or either direction. You can also trigger on “people gathering”, “loitering”, “object removal”, “parking”, “unattended baggage”, “facial recognition”, etc. I find that the “Line Crossing” feature is the ultimate way of eliminating false positives associated with the more common block-area motion detection. When you block out an area for motion detection (most DVRs support this), you can never really eliminate false positives from shadows, bugs flying near the camera, sprinklers, clouds, car lights, etc. Detecting “line crossing” means that something has to actually move across a line (like your front door step) as opposed to just set off a square somewhere in front of the camera. This eliminates 90% of the false positives. I set my system up to record on both motion and VCA events but only send emails/texts and audible alarms on VCA events (so I over record for historical info but only alarm when something really happens). Alas, you can only set up one VCA event (fixing this would make this a truly stand-out DVR). So I end up using the VCA event for the most important camera (e.g. the front door) and then limit the motion area and turn down the sensitivity for the other cameras to limit the false alarms there. When setting up block-area motion detection, like all other DVRs, you will have to play with the motion sensitivity to get it right. For me, setting the sensitivity to 1 works for detecting motion that is within 5-10 feet of the camera. Try 2 to detect motion within 15-20 feet and 3 or more for further out. The higher you have to set the sensitivity the more false alarms you should expect. Also, when setting the motion area, limit it to as few squares as you can. Try setting them all on then watch what actually triggers with different sensitivities set (you will likely be surprised). Then remove any areas you really don’t need. This will greatly reduce your false alarms. Bottom line, the hardware works. There are some bugs with the software and there are some UI issues (hopefully they will fix these in an update). Still this is the best security DVR I have tried. It has more features than most and it works. For what it costs, you can’t beat it. ** UPDATE (2019) ** While this is still the best low-cost security CCTV DVR system, analog security systems are all but obsolete now. Unless you have analog CCTV (i.e. coax) cabling/systems already in place, you are much better off investing in a digital NVR system. Your best bet is to go with wired POE cameras and a quality NVR like Reolink or Amcrest. The low-cost NVR systems tend NOT to have all the triggering features (line crossing, loitering, etc.) and will still cost you more than a CCTV DVR system. But, the ease of use, higher resolution, app independence and future proofing is worth the extra cost.

I've been using a DVR and some CVI cameras from Amcrest for a number of years now. One of the input channels on that DVR failed recently, so I was shopping around for a low cost replacement, just hopping to get something "good enough" and spend a minimal amount of money to get it. I decided to give this one a try after reading reviews here and watching a few videos on YouTube. I'm glad I did! It's so much better than I expected... lol In fact it's quite the upgrade from my old Amcrest unit. The interface is so much better, modern and faster. My old DVR only had 4 inputs, and I have 4 cameras. So I have 4 more empty inputs that I can use to expand later if needed. What's really nice though, is that it can handle two IP cameras in addition to the 8 coaxial inputs. I have one pan/tilt IP camera that I've added successfully. It's quite nice having all the cameras in one device, and also able to check them all in the one app on my phone or PC. Speaking of PC, I used a piece of software called Guarding Vision, which is recommended on Ankke's site. It works well! Having h.265 compression means I can store a lot more video on the same drive I was using, compared to h.264 with the old DVR. I took the 1TB Seagate Video drive out of my old DVR to put into this one. The AI motion detection works surprisingly well. On every camera/DVR I've had in the past, I end up turning off motion detection because I usually get just as many false positives as missed actual motion... lol This one works good though. I've seen very few "false" positives triggered by insects flying by, etc, but it's actually been able to properly detect people and vehicles, and tell the difference between then. I have it set up so it records 24/7, but with motion detection on, it still marks motion on the timeline in the playback which is perfect! I can also have it send emails or notifications too, but chose to turn those off for now. Definitely consider this if you're looking for a nice security DVR at a nice price!

Had old Samsung system thar just worked but b=needed upgrade. This system works but features like search are kludgy, some functions don't work, and many are disabled. Get what you pay for