Reviews on the Night Owl Home Security System
Dark Owl Photographic camera Review
Dark Owl makes a passable multi-camera surveillance arrangement as long as y'all tin tolerate a slew of cables. Acquire how it fared during testing in our review.
Night Owl
- Includes four cameras
- 1 TB local video storage
The Night Owl security photographic camera system lacks convenience that bigger names bring, but isn't without its charms. Our testing revealed a system that'south a adept fit for small businesses or tech-savvy folks that don't mind stringing a few cables around the business firm. Notwithstanding, most folks might find the system too much of a hassle to install compared to wireless cameras that are affordable.
Pros
1 TB local video storage
Many customizable settings
Adjustable privacy-mask setting
Works with or without internet
Includes 4 weatherproof cameras
Like shooting fish in a barrel software setup
Cons
Long installation with wires galore
Limited mobile app controls
No Wi-Fi connexion
Loud cooling fan on DVR
Scarce product documentation
Requires external brandish
Night Owl at a glance
What's in the box
- 8 Aqueduct DVR with i TB HDD
- DVR power adapter
- 6-foot HDMI cablevision
- 6-pes Ethernet cable
- USB mouse
- HD Analog 1080p PIR White Bullet Cameras (4)
- 60-foot video/power cables (four)
- Camera ability adapter with four-manner power splitter
- Mounting hardware for each camera
- Condom stickers (iii)
- Quick Setup Guide
Video quality and cameras
Video quality
Video quality is a catchy subject when dealing with DVRs like the one Night Owl uses. The DVR supports recording resolutions upward to 1080p. Still, we doubtable it supports a variety of wired add together-on cameras with lower resolutions every bit well. (Nosotros didn't test this, simply it'south true for near wired surveillance systems.) In our case, the included cameras topped out at 1080p, which is standard for security cameras these days.
Nevertheless, not all 1080p cameras are equal. With Nighttime Owl in item, we institute the color wasn't smashing in dim rooms and just decent in bright spaces. Compared to wireless cameras like the Ring Stick Upwards Cam and Wyze Cam Outdoor, the quality doesn't hold upward considering those are easier to install.
If you view the video on a monitor connected to the DVR, it looks crisp without whatever noticeable motion mistiness at a altitude. Still, renters in apartments (like the modest apartment where we tested) might see a footling motion blurring close to the camera with people walking direct in front of it.
When yous watch a livestream on the mobile app, you can expect a short lag depending on your internet speed. Still, the lag was less apparent compared to a wireless camera similar the Arlo Pro iv, probably because there's no Wi-Fi involved on the sending end.
Compare Dark Owl in unlike lighting environments
Night Owl's daytime video quality with the lights on.
Night Owl's daytime video quality with the lights off.
Night Owl's nighttime video quality using infrared nighttime vision.
Frame rate
A big advantage of Nighttime Owl'south DVR is an adaptable frame charge per unit, which you can ready to as low as ane frame per 2nd (fps) and as high as 30 fps. At 30 fps, the movement is as smooth as you lot would expect from a Telly testify but uses more than storage. In contrast, lower frame rates don't require a ton of space, just move volition appear stilted or choppy. The all-time balance for most folks is something in between at 12–20 fps.
Picture settings
The system has preset picture settings for different environments: standard, outdoor, indoor, and indoor dim. Nosotros found the indoor dim setting worked best for the stairwell location of our camera, which isn't very brilliant during the solar day without flipping on the lights. A well-lit indoor space calls for the normal indoor setting.
The outdoor setting has the reverse effect, since it turns downwards the brightness to compensate for sunlight. Standard is a general setting that works in most environments, but nosotros recommend choosing something more specific if possible.
You lot can customize lighting settings to fit your needs using the Nighttime Owl DVR.
Beyond the presets, yous tin tweak individual settings like brightness, contrast, hue, and saturation. This is by and large useful for people who desire to attain something as close to natural color as possible. For the rest of us, the presets are more than plenty on a security photographic camera feed—nosotros're not making a moving picture.
Cameras
The iv cameras in our Night Owl system are weatherproof, then you can utilize them indoors or outdoors. Each camera comes equipped with powerful infrared LEDs that requite it up to 100 anxiety of night vision range. This type of night vision is more than effective than almost Wi-Fi security cameras, which illuminate about 25 feet on average.
We're not big fans of the cameras' narrow field of view (100º), which limits how much they can see. Although this is wider than you lot might see on other wired security cameras, it'southward narrower than the 130º boilerplate on well-nigh wireless cameras. But having multiple cameras does make upward the shortfall a fiddling.
Each camera comes with a 60-pes video/power cable, which is long enough to reach most areas of an average-sized home—provided the DVR is in a fundamental location. It'southward a skillful thought to secure the cables along the summit of a wall, and you tin purchase a cable run or cord comprehend to conceal them if you don't want to stress nearly hiding them (though it will exist pricey if you do lx feet for each photographic camera). This protects the video/ability cable and so it's harder to tamper with.
You can also find an infrared movement sensor on each camera, which triggers move recording and notifications.
Recording options
Nosotros're fans of the recording options in the Night Owl DVR because they can assist you capture everything or maximize your recording time. Here are our favorite recording features in no detail gild.
Continuous recording
A massive hard bulldoze in the DVR stores up to 1TB of video, plenty for viii cameras to each record continuously at 1080p resolution for over a day. With eight cameras, you can cover a variety of places around the house similar the playroom, kitchen, or fifty-fifty the backyard. If you get with a lower resolution or fewer cameras, you tin can expect the organization to final much longer.
Motion recording and motion zones
Move zones on the Night Owl DVR.
Unless you lot desire comprehensive footage, we recommend staying away from continuous recording in favor of motion recording. Motion recordings too help y'all avert sifting through hours of empty footage, which is more tedious with every boosted camera.
We dearest that you tin choose how much time the photographic camera saves video before and after a motility recording activates. This ways that the camera keeps upwards of thirty seconds or more so you don't become a clip with only partial motion. This surpasses the Pre-Curlicue feature on the Band Video Doorbell 3 Plus, which saves only four seconds of video before the motion alert—all without a cloud storage subscription.
The cameras besides have the option to set upward motion zones where recording and notifications trigger only when motility happens in the designated zone. This is ideal for ignoring areas with picayune security value similar your pet'due south favorite bed.
Privacy mask
Set privacy zones using Night Owl'south privacy mask feature.
The cameras that come up with the system aren't always piece of cake to position the way you want them, which might exist a problem if you don't want to record views of your neighbors' yards. Only you can fix up a privacy mask in the DVR carte to literally black out whole sections of the video feed so cameras can't see it.
This is also not bad for placing cameras inside the home where you lot might want a petty more privacy like blocking out doors to bedrooms and bathrooms in hallways.
Schedules
Yous tin can set up recording schedules using the Night Owl DVR.
You can schedule when each camera records downwards to the hr and day of the week. While this is generally for concern owners looking to record during sure times, it tin can exist slap-up for homeowners with a predictable schedule. Yous choose between motion recording and continuous recording then the DVR can fit about needs.
Mobile app
The DVR does all of the heavy lifting for managing settings and storing video. This leaves the Dark Owl Ten mobile app as less of a command center and more of a companion feature than a typical wireless security camera's app is.
It has nearly of the hallmarks you'd expect, like remote viewing alive video, video playback, and basic notifications on your smart device, just it doesn't give yous whatsoever control over the photographic camera's settings or AI like facial recognition.
Alive video feed
Screenshot of the Night Owl Ten app'south livestream characteristic.
The Alive View tab of the app allows you to view one or multiple cameras in a variety of layouts. This is especially useful for checking up on multiple cameras at in one case, something that isn't very mutual amongst cameras from Arlo and Ring, which require you to preview video feeds individually.
Nighttime Owl tin bear witness you multiple cameras at once because the DVR packages the video streams before sending them across the cyberspace to your phone.
When you select a specific camera in the app, you can access a simple bill of fare for recording, audio, playback, video quality, and brightness/contrast settings. Here are a few things that stood out:
- No video-transfer fuss: We like that the recording characteristic doesn't salvage video to your DVR, but directly to your phone, which cuts some of the problem of transferring the recording later.
- Internet bandwidth conservation: The video quality setting for the live view defaults to SD, which helps salvage internet bandwidth. You tin can easily toggle to the HD setting for a more detailed look at the photographic camera feed.
- The playback button is platonic for focusing on a unmarried camera'due south history instead of all cameras and devices in the app'southward main playback menu.
The wired cameras we tested didn't support audio, then we weren't able to test the Night Owl app's two-manner audio or sound quality.
Playback
The principal playback menu in the Dark Owl X app has a search function that shows which days have clips for you to view. Since this night Owl production doesn't utilize cloud storage, y'all stream these clips directly from the DVR. In that location are simple sorting options by device, motion clips, and all clips.
If you find a clip you lot like, you tin can download it to your phone. It and so shows up on the Saved tab, where you tin can share it with family and friends. This carte doesn't permit y'all to delete clips from the DVR, but it'due south still user-friendly for saving fun videos for the memories.
Notifications
The notifications on this app are very rudimentary; you only get them when a photographic camera detects move. You lot tin can customize which cameras trigger a notification, but there'southward not a sensitivity choice in the app (just the DVR) to say how much motion activates them.
Installation and setup
Installation
When y'all consider them separately, none of Night Owl's components is difficult to install. Only the number of installations ultimately makes this system a bit of a hassle for the majority of people. In all, it took the states about 45 minutes to set up upward the DVR and a single photographic camera. We didn't try to hide or secure the video cable, so you tin await to spend some other fifteen minutes or longer getting it in place.
You need a spare calculator monitor or TV to employ this system—nosotros recommend finding a used model if y'all don't already have one lying around since information technology's easier to have a dedicated screen. As long as it has an HDMI or VGA port, you won't accept issues setting it up.
The wiring setup on our exam DVR.
The Nighttime Owl DVR didn't accept a built-in Wi-Fi connexion, and so it was necessary to identify it nigh our router to connect to an Ethernet port and so we could utilize the mobile app. This isn't an absolute requirement, but you desire to avoid long cable runs if possible—they easily increase installation time.
Later hooking upwards a suitable monitor and router connection, you can add upwards to eight cameras (our system came with iv, but I installed just one since I'k in a small apartment). If you purchase a kit, each of the cameras comes with a cable that provides both ability and video connections.
Connect the video cables to the dorsum of the DVR and the power cables to the four-fashion camera ability supply—so connect everything to the cameras.
We used a paperclip to temporarily mount our test Night Owl camera but you should utilize the included mounting screws.
You can mount cameras in their concluding locations if you like, just make sure your cables reach first. The manual recommends installing the cameras at least seven feet to a higher place the ground for the best view. Since these cameras don't accept a wide field of view and are but adjustable on a vertical plane, it can exist difficult to indicate them at the intended target.
In one case y'all take everything connected, turn on the DVR to bound into setup.
Setup
Compared to the lengthy installation process, Night Owl'southward setup is simple and quick, taking about five–20 minutes to complete (depending on how much you conform each camera). Upon powering up the DVR, a Startup Wizard walks yous through the post-obit steps:
- Create an Admin Account, countersign, and recovery email.
- Linking the DVR to the Nighttime Owl X mobile app—y'all'll demand to create another business relationship with a different countersign and also input the DVR's Admin password to grant access.
- Adjusting camera settings and positions using the mobile app—you don't need the mobile app for this, but it saves you running to and from the DVR's monitor afterwards each adjustment.
Customer service
At that place was very little documentation in the box with our Nighttime Owl equipment. The quick setup guide is helpful, but it doesn't get into the specific details about what each of the DVR'south features does. The Night Owl support website provides more data, merely yous demand to know exactly what to search for unless yous want to endlessly browse articles and videos.
To ready up more advanced settings on the DVR, information technology's helpful to practise a Google search since the mechanics behind this security organisation are similar to other wired surveillance systems from other brands.
You tin can directly contact Dark Owl via the email accost and telephone number on the dorsum of the manual. Only the company suggests trying the self-serve resources and alive conversation on the support page first.
Here are some Nighttime Owl support articles we found helpful during our tests:
- Initial Setup: Wired DVR
- Camera Troubleshooting
- Photographic camera Compatibility Chart
- DVR / NVR Troubleshooting
How Night Owl compares to the competition
*Amazon.com list price as of 03/26/2021 at ix:32 a.m. (MT). Read total disclaimer.
Final discussion
Dark Owl cameras aren't the best on the market, just they're good enough for nigh folks that desire a multi-camera surveillance system. The installation process isn't easy, but it'south par for the grade with wired photographic camera systems. Based on customer reviews, nosotros don't think you'll get much out of Night Owl's tech support, only the system functions well plenty with a little patience.
If you want to learn about cameras that we recommend for the majority of people, pop on over to our wireless cameras review.
How we reviewed
We installed the Dark Owl camera organisation and a single photographic camera to test this system's effectiveness over the course of a few days. Nosotros stuck to one photographic camera because the apartment where we tested isn't big enough for others without putting cameras in bedrooms and other individual spaces.
Our testing focused on iv areas:
- Video quality
- Recording options
- Mobile app
- Installation and setup
The Night Owl DVR during testing.
The Night Owl DVR we tested was part of the THD Series, which isn't for sale on the Dark Owl website anymore. Only the software and setup process are similar across wired Night Owl products, and so there shouldn't be much difference if y'all choose a newer product.
Still, the company offers multiple mobile apps depending on the model (Night Owl Pro, Nighttime Owl Connect, Night Owl Hard disk), so you should always use the one recommended in the user transmission.
Check out our testing methodology to learn more almost how we rank and review products.
FAQ
Some Night Owl security cameras crave a Wi-Fi connection, especially if you cull ane that works with Night Owl's cloud storage programme. But virtually piece of work without Wi-Fi thanks to local storage via a DVR, NVR, or microSD card.
Whatever internet-connected device is vulnerable to hacking. You tin can protect yourself by setting a potent admin password on your Night Owl organization and an equally strong (but dissimilar) password on your Dark Owl online account—effort using a countersign manager to generate one. Night Owl doesn't offer two-gene hallmark similar many other brands.
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*Amazon.com list price as of 03/26/2021 at 9:32 a.m. (MT). Product prices and availability are accurate as of the engagement/time indicated and are subject area to change. Whatever price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will utilise to the purchase of this production. Safewise.com utilizes paid Amazon links.
Sure content that appears on this site comes from Amazon. This content is provided "as is" and is bailiwick to change or removal at whatever time.
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