INTRODUCTION

   The phrase we live in dangerous times has never been more true than today (at least never before in my entire lifetime) and so just like many other people our top priority is obviously the safety of not only ourselves and the people most precious to us but also of our hard earned possessions. Complete alarm systems and surveillance cameras have always been our two favorite solutions to that end and although these should almost always complement other safety measures (like window bars and security doors) they are much harder to choose due to the wide availability of products with different features and specifications. TRENDnet has released various IP camera models in the past but it wasn't until just recently that they ventured even further by releasing a complete surveillance kit by marrying a network video recorder (NVR) with two HD cameras. Its name is the TV-NVR104K 4-Channel HD PoE NVR Kit and this will be the focus of today’s review.

   TRENDnet is a global provider of award-winning networking and surveillance solutions to small and medium-sized business and home users. Building networking solutions since 1990, TRENDnet enables users to share broadband access, multimedia content and networked peripherals for true anywhere connectivity. TRENDnet's diverse product portfolio includes Wireless, Internet Cameras (IP Cameras), Switches, Power over Ethernet (PoE), Fiber, Gigabit, Home Automation, Network Video Recorders (NVR), Keyboard/Video/Mouse (KVM), Print Servers, Powerline, NAS Media Servers, Multimedia Accessories, and more. To learn more about TRENDnet, please visit www.trendnet.com.

   The TV-NVR104k 4-Channel HD PoE NVR Kit is actually made out of 5 individual parts, the TV-NVR104 network video recorder, two TV-IP320PI IP cameras, 1TB Seagate Surveillance HDD (ST1000VX001) and a small optical mouse. The TV-NVR104 network video recorder is ONViF compliant and features 4 PoE (power over Ethernet) 100Mbps Ethernet ports (delivering a combined total of up to 35W), 100Mbps Ethernet port (for local network connection), HDMI and VGA video outputs (up to 1920x1080p resolution), analog audio input/output ports (2.0 stereo) and 2 USB 2.0 ports. The TV-IP320PI PoE IP cameras on the other hand feature IP66 certified housings (dust and water proof), 1/3" progressive scan CMOS sensors, IR illumination for up to 30 meters, diagonal angle of 89 degrees and can record at a maximum resolution of up to 1280x960p at 25fps (720p @ 30fps). Finally the 1TB Surveillance HDD (ST1000VX001) by Seagate (the TV-NVR104 supports models up to 6TB in capacity) spins at 5400RPM, has a total of 64MB of onboard cache memory and can store up to 13 days of recordings from the two bundled cameras (up to 6.5 with 4). So let's see what this bundle is capable of.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The TV-NVR104K kit is placed inside a large box that has a product picture at the front right beneath the company logo and above the main product features.

On the left side we see the features list printed in 6 languages while on the right side TRENDnet has placed some pictures of how the cameras show on monitors and TVs.

At the rear of the box we find the package contents, two pictures showcasing the various connectors of both the NVR and the cameras and some of the available product features further down.

The entire bundle is placed inside two cardboard boxes with the NVR power adapter sitting on the second.

TRENDnet has bundled anything you'd need to setup this kit so aside the TV-NVR104 network video recorder with its power adapter and the two TV-IP320PI IP cameras with their mounting hardware and documentation you are also getting a small optical mouse, two 100ft/30m long RJ45 Ethernet cables, 1m long RJ45 Ethernet cable and an HDMI cable.

THE TV-NVR104K

The TV-NVR104 network video recorder (just our luck, white) features a top plastic enclosure that measures 199mm in length, 199mm in width and 47mm in height.

There are three activity LEDs at the top of the TV-NVR104 (power/HDD/network).

Both the left and right side of the enclosure are perforated.

From left to right at the rear we see the DC power in, RCA audio in/out, VGA video out port, HDMI port, RJ45 Ethernet port, two USB 2.0 ports, 4 RJ45 PoE Ethernet ports and the grounding screw.

As you can all see the base of the TV-NVR104 is made out of aluminum and also has holes for wall mounting.

The two TV-IP320PI IP PoE cameras are small size models (just like most of what we have reviewed by TRENDnet in the past) with IP66 certified enclosures (again white).

Both cameras have a horizontal viewing angle of 89 degrees and thanks to a total of 30 IR LEDs they can illuminate an area of up to 30 meters at night.

Opening the TV-NVR104 is easy and as you can see the 1TB Surveillance HDD takes over half of the interior.

A 40mm SUNON Maglev exhaust fan is placed on the right side.

One 256MB DDR3 module by Samsung and another by Marvell (Ethernet) are both placed on the top side of the PCB.

TRENDnet also bundles a very small and basic optical mouse for use with the NVR when connected via HDMI/VGA.

HDMI OUTPUT

Once you connect the TV-NVR104K to your TV via HDMI or VGA you will be asked whether or not to launch the setup wizard as seen above.

The setup wizard allows you to setup the time (which we didn't actually) and initialize the 1TB HDD.

After that's done you will see the main feed screen which is divided into 4 areas (two are taken by the bundled TV-IP320PI cameras).

You can access the system menu by right clicking on the screen and selecting it.

From the system menu you can playback recorded files, export them to external drives and schedule when you'd like the NVR to record from the cameras.

From the camera tab you can see the current IP address of both cameras, adjust the on screen display properties (OSD), finetune the image settings and enable the motion detection, privacy mask, video tamper and video loss protections.

The general configuration tab allows you to adjust several NVR settings including language, output resolution, date, mouse speed and password and to setup the network settings such as DDNS, email (for alerts), UPNP and used ports.

You can also configure the live view settings as seen above, choose possible exceptions (for example when the drive is full) and add more users.

As expected from within the system maintenance tab you can check the state of the kit, check the logs, import/export configurations, upgrade the firmware via USB (we had a hard time doing that so we performed a FW update via the web GUI), reset the device to its default settings, check the network status and finally you can also check the state of the HDD (SMART).

Via the scheduled recording tab you can check which days you wish the NVR to start recording, choose the desired resolution and quality recorded by the installed cameras and you can even schedule recording based on available holidays (manual input).

WEB GUI

TRENDnet has once again used the same GUI we've seen so many times with their cameras and routers. From here you can do most things available through the HDMI output so once again you can change the name of the device, add/remove users, set the time/date, adjust the live view settings, perform firmware updates, reset settings to their factory state, adjust network settings, set the desired recording resolution and quality, setup OSD and the various system protections, schedule recording and format the HDD.

VIDEO QUALITY

As you can all see when the TV-IP320PI POE IP Cameras are set to 1280x960p image quality (with the maximum bitrate of 8192Kbps) is quite good (although inferior to1080p models and above). Night vision coverage is also good as expected from a model with 30 IR LEDs.

CONCLUSION

   TRENDnet has released a very versatile and high-quality surveillance kit with the TV-NVR104K. The network video recorder with its HDMI and VGA video outputs can also be used with pretty much any TV set and thanks to the internal 1TB Surveillance HDD by Seagate it can record up to 13 days at 960p (depends largely on the bitrate used). By using two TV-IP320PI POE IP Cameras it’s quite obvious that TRENDnet wanted to keep the price of the TV-NVR104K kit somewhat low so although the NVR itself offers pretty much everything you’d ever want to the video quality of the cameras is simply not on par with 1080p models and above. Of course it’s still way better than what you’d get from a cheap NVR kit but we do feel TRENDnet should further expand the line with highest end models (also with built-in microphones) in order to potentially cover a larger percentage of the market. Some of you may also wonder about just how quiet the TV-NVR104 is and the answer is it’s not very. To be more specific we recorded noise levels of up to 47dBA from 10cm away so make sure you place it somewhere other than your bedroom or living room. Finally in terms of power consumption with both cameras up and running the kit never exceeded 19W so nothing to worry about in that particular area.

   When it comes to price as I type these lines the TV-NVR104K retails for USD349.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 395Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) and in a market filled with low-cost NVR kits we do feel that TRENDnet needs to widen their product line. With the TV-NVR104K you are obviously getting a higher quality kit with better warranty (3 years for the cameras and 2 for the NVR), more features and a pre-installed 1TB drive inside but it’s quite possible that people on very tight budgets may not care much about these things. All said and done we liked the TV-NVR104K kit and we feel that it’s the best complete kit to reach our lab to date (both when it comes to review samples and bought products) and for that it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Good Build Quality
- 2 HD/XVGA 720p/960p POE IP66 Certified Cameras
- Up To 4 POE Cameras Supported
- HDMI & VGA Video Output
- Stereo Audio Input & Output
- NVR Features
- 1TB Seagate Surveillance HDD
- Easy Installation
- Bundle

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- No Audio (Cameras)
- Noisy 40mm Fan