Very solid DVR, great out of box function if you're just plugging it into a monitor and recording. Network setup and advanced features were a bit trickier, as the software and web client are not very intuitive. Written instructions are not the best but that's VERY typical of units around this price point. Better than the "club store" brand it replaced by a mile.

The product works great. Replaced another security DVR that never recorded. This one was so simple, it came preprogramed, I just plugged it in, attached my cameras and it went to work. Thank you.

PROS: Works great, no fuss, no muss.

CONS: Wish the DVR came with an explanation that there's no programing needed, would have saved me an hour trying to figure out why it was already working.

Finally,after changing five or six times,i have what I need.working an two monitors and PC.Thank You Monoprice,good DVR

sold DVR, came with the 1T purple series from WD. did have a hicup with viewing on a phone/tablet though DDNS (clients internet provider was a pain about their device and opening ports). However you can get Guarding Expert. from google play or itunes and you're good to go

PROS: vga & hdmi outputs, PTZ ability, ability to add IP cams (2) if needed

CONS: as far as cons, trying to figure out how to get this to work on mobile devices was a pain, but now the issue is solved. The application for smart phone is Guarding Expert.

I'm not a surveillance expert but I have worked with a half dozen or so brands. We are a school that uses Macs ... and it's always a challenge to find a surveillance system that allows full functionality and operation without using a Windows computer. We have tried 4-5 different brands over the past 3 years ...

With these DVR's I have tons of functionality and configuration options using just the web interface, which is unheard of in economical systems. I don't have to purchase a dedicated Windows computer that isn't used for anything other than the surveillance software, and otherwise just takes up valuable desk space.

I am using two of these now, but have ordered another 10. I am swapping out all of our existing DVR's to make them consistent across all of our buildings. I am then swapping out the hard drives for bigger ones ... also an easy process.

I have to say that these are flexible ... we have mostly CCTV cameras, with a few high-end IP cameras in the mix as well.

Our CCTV cameras are a mix of models and resolutions. About half of them are fairly new 960H resolution cameras, while there are still quite a few that are older with varying models and resolutions, and a few are new 2MP CCTV cameras from a couple of different manufacturers.

These DVR's have handled all of them beautifully so far (even the IP cameras), which is more than I can say for the last two brands of DVR's we tried which cost us well over $1,000 each. These also are not 'laggy' like others we have used ... they respond quite nicely.

One note, these apparently can't handle more than 2 IP cameras on each one (mixed in with the analog cameras). So if you have all IP cameras look at an NVR. Oh, and if you need tons of front-panel functionality these are a little limited (we do everything remotely via the online interface).

Finally, I will say that there isn't a DVR on the market today that even comes to providing the functionality of these ... unless you spend 8X the money.

PROS: Easy to configure, but with tons of options if you want to dig deeper into the settings. Flexible. Responsive.

CONS: none.