ANNKE 8CH 3K Lite Security DVR

Bryan

October 18, 2026

Replaced my dead DVR for about the cost of a hard drive — easy switch

My old DVR hard drive died. I was ready to just buy a new drive, then noticed this ANNKE 8-channel unit was about the same price. I bought the whole recorder instead.

It plugged right in and was an easy switch. My existing cameras worked with no problems. The ANNKE app is free with no subscription, which is better than the Ezviz system I was using before.

Setting the app up was a little confusing at first. Once you understand it, it is easy. Google, AI help, or their customer service can walk you through it if you get stuck.

For the money, it was a better move than replacing just the hard drive.

Lão Già

August 10, 2026

Good enough could of been better.

Two cameras kept changing the color but I'm still happy because I thought I have to replace the whole systems. Saving me some money by just getting this instead of the whole thing + labor of removing old cameras for the new ones.

Buy hard drive

Hard-drive not included. You have to buy it separately to record anything.

Won’t not recommend

My honest review buying this…I installed cameras and getting ready to power my system. Everything came on and was working the next morning getting ready for work I realize the screen blank I rebooted the dvr and nothing came up. No beep sound to indicate it’s on or anything whatsoever…even the mouse not powering on either. I test the power wire and got 12v but still nothing from the dvr…I tried an Owl Dvr and it worked…smh wasted my money

0:30

Love my new 2-way audio camera setup with the new ANNKE DVR

I bought this 8 channel Hybrid 5-in-1 DVR to replace my earlier model of Annke DVR. This new model supports 2-way communication when paired with ANNKE 2MP Two-Way Audio Wired Security Camera. The installation was very easy as I was a computer specialist and had already setup the camera network a few years ago. The new DVR used the same Annke Vision 3.7.0.50 Client on my PC and phone that my previous DVR utilized. Connection was a snap as I just had to enter the new IP Address of the new DVR. Installation of the 2-way camera was a breeze as I just replaced an existing camera with the new one. Took me a little while figuring out how to do the 2-way communication between the camera and my phone but it works great now. I thought I'd have to call ANNKE support but I figured it out in about an hour. I now have 8 cameras up and running just as before but one of them is the 2-way communication camera at my front door. The new camera has a great view feed on my phone and computer and, at night, when you walk in front of the camera, two lights come on and brightens up the picture and is in full color as it is during the day. I couldn't be happier with my do-it-yourself home security camera system. I totally recommend ANNKE for ease of use and meeting all requirements. My original DVR has worked flawlessly for 2 years and I'm sure this new one will work without issues for a long time to come. For $64 dollars for the DVR, it was very cost effective.

Most Features Not Supported on Model Listed

Here's my original unedited review:

The description clearly states what types of cameras they consider "compatible" with this system. All the marketing material make it clear all features are always available to every user. NOT SO! Most features only work with certain Annke equipment. The main selling features like Human/Vehicle detection, Line Crossing, Stay/Leave Zones are blanked out for most users that buy the DVR to use with existing cameras. Motion Detection works but it ignores zones, meaning everything your camera sees, from a leaf in the yard, to a plane way up in the sky, gets recorded as motion detected.

I can't not access anything

This has an admin password I need it I can't not assess this DVR

Easy setup

Very easy to connect to existing cameras. The video quality is much higher than my previous unit. The remote app works very well with just a little learning curve.

Cheap

Easy to use and set up. Poor quality capacitors that fail after a year. On our 3rd device.

Tim S

May 18, 2025

A very good 8 Channel system

Easy to hookup. A Lot more clearer pictures then my old 4 channel Vidio recording system. Easier to remote view with the Annke Vision remote viewing system

The Quality of these cameras are amazing

This new Annke DVR works great. Now I can tilt, zoom, pan and rotate those ball cameras that I now have. And they work better than my new wireless cameras.

Great record

Great recorder. Awesome playback options. East to use.

Don't waste your time

We received it on serial number on the box a different serial number on the unit. Contacted support and it's been a week we still have not heard back from them. When plugged up I was already locked out and I never even got to set it up. I received it that way so if you're reading this don't waste your time the support for Annke is only by email even when you call in they say you have to communicate by email the support is non-existent. So don't waste your time on this product. And if I could rate this I would rate it as negative 100...

Works great, UI is fast, plentiful features

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.

MawmawNita

May 17, 2024

Easy to install!

It was so simple. Just hooked the cameras to it added a monitor connected to internet. Didn't have to read any directions.

Advanced AI Motion Detection not working

I bought this DVR for the advertised AI line crossing and intrusion zone detection. After a lot of work to get this system online and email alerts working, I was very disappointed to find that the AI detection for line crossing and intrusion zone detection are just not working. I have attached to this review a video with 2 segments. The green rectangle is the detected object. The blue line is the line crossing barrier and the blue rectangle is the intrusion zone I defined. The one in the driveway at night shows object detections with the flashing green rectangles where there is clearly nothing going on. The 2nd video in my backyard shows my gardeners moving around and the green rectangles are clearly not tracking them.

I worked with their tech support for many days. They are super responsive, except that they typically respond at 2am PST. So I have to wait a day for response. Guess they are in Asia and only check messages at the end of the day. They finally arranged a Teamviewer remote session where they got the chief engineer with me to look at my videos and agreed that the detection is not working.

I did not spent much time playing with the standard motion detection as that is prone to shadows of trees waving and insects flying at night. Also, what is not stated, and even their tech support did not know, is that only 4 cameras are supported for advanced line crossing/intrusion zone detection, and that requires all other cameras to disable motion detection. Also, the AI detection is not supported for IP cameras. I have an Armcrest IP camera and it has its own matrix motion detection zones and that was supported. But again, that is prone to waving shadows and flying insects.

The email alerts worked very well once I got it working. It was not obvious how to make it work. Required a lot of digging on their help pages. The phone app is decent, but it missed some of the alerts that was received by email. I also liked the feature where you can prerecord up to 30 seconds before the trigger event and a selectable period after the event. In other systems, I had to turn on continuous record to view the period before the event.

One annoying feature is playback. To see the trigger rectangle and detection zones, you have to download the video and then play it with their VSPlayer program. I screen captured the output of VSPlayer to post the videos here. Also the UI is not that friendly. For instance, changing any selection will reset the camera selection to the first camera. Also, when you select live view, it is always all blank. You have to select which camera goes to which slot on the screen each time you go to live view.

I do like their customer support. They are responsive and nice.

2:24

flipszoneinc

June 13, 2023

This machine works

This is a good working easy to use easy to setup d v r

I purchased a z o s h d v r and it didn’t work at all it was a big waste of time and money I’m very pleased with this one..

T.H.

May 31, 2023

Only last about a year with 24/7 usage.

Bought this 8 months ago and found it was dead as a door nail this morning. Tried a reboot and everything, but it's dead. If you like replacing every 8 months or so, this is the DVR for you. If not, find a better one. Going on my 3rd one in 3 years.

Brick

I got this a week and a half ago, and it worked when I got it, meaning lighted up and then now that I have the hard drive and all other equipment needed for this thing to finally work… it croaks! Piece of crap item NOT WORTH THE MONEY OR TIME!

Upgrading a system lost to electrical issues

While we did not intend to upgrade, this could have gone much worse. The new features for motion and interface a very nice. This was for mom’s cameras, so it was nice to have something easy to setup on her devices.

Records clips of alarm movement

Like the little clips it records of any movement in your designated alarm area. Non of my older dvr s did that. Nice little feature. Really happy with the recorder. Also can connect my iP camera to the recorder as long as it's on the same router, havent tried the feature but will make a ethernet cable to connect and see if it records the ip cameras views. The app works really well, making access to the recording on my phone super easy.

Great customer service . I’ll recommend any one that’s interesting in home security purchases

Excellent for nighttime security & safety

Works great. 👍👍

Great features. Motion, intrusion , line crossing detection and great user interface my other dvr didn't have. Compare my other dvr, navigation was akward not user friendly. I have multiple brands of cameras on this dvr from 2mp, 1080p to 960h and they all work great. Setup was easy but did take some sometime getting use to, given the fact I was used to my old one Zosi. I upgraded my dvr due to fact my dvr had to reset every week, and remote viewing sucked...then again it was 720p 264 and software was horrible.

Bottom line this thing works great compared to other one. Image quality is great on local and remote access, user interface is easy to use, setup is easy enough for any one so did not use tech support. I would recommend it if you need an upgrade or just startingout with a home surveillance system.

Small and simple but worth it!!

I honestly purchase this DVR hesitant because of the price point. I was actually pleasently surprised. I integrated two different camera brands to it withour any issues, the remote view connectivity is a little tricky, but after re installing the mobil app and reenrolling the system, all the cameras loaded on the app without any issues.

Amazing product! Replaced a Zosi unit but still using Zosi cameras!

No matter what I tried, I could not get the Zosi unit to work on my PC NOR my Android or IOS devices. I plugged up this Annke unit in its place, configured it with an IP, installed the Annke app and later the iVMS-4200 Windows software and viola - it works like a chance! Its been running for months now. I took the 2TB HD out of the Zosi unit and put it into this one. The Annke reformatted it and away I went! I have 8 cameras plugged into it, the same Zosi cameras that originally came with the Zosi kit. They work great, and honestly I think they look better in the Zosi! I have this plugged into a TV via HDMI for monitoring, and I use the Android Annke app, and the iVMS-4200 PC software. You can actually do all the configuration of the unit, motion detection, email alerts, etc, and review historical footage, and save footage, all from the iVMS-4200 software provided instead of working through the interface of the DVR on the TV with a mouse.

NO COMPLAINTS! If you are on the fence, buy this, its the cheapest, yet most effective network-enabled DVR out there that works like a champ!

Dead after two month. Overheating.

The product start to overheat since installation time. I was replacing a 6 years old equipment. After two month, it shutdown after an hour. Later then, died. :(

No warranty response yet.

*****

--- After customer support the DVR started to work. I recommend to put it in a true vented area.

Easy setup

Much more simple to setup than the Zomodo product it replaces. It has some nice features including intrusion marking. Setting up motion detection was simple. Hooking their app to the DVR was also very simple, register on the app, scan the bar code on the dvr screen (general settings,network second screen) and its done. Haven’t used the phone app away from home yet but works flawlessly on my internet speeds. Easily worth 50 some dollars. Used a Hard drive I purchased a few years back. So far so good

Large storage capacity

Large storage capacity!! The video is very clear!! Internet connection speed is fast!!

Gary

March 9, 2019

Remote control not included

It does NOT come with a remote control however it does work with some TV and DVR remotes. I have it working with a Laview NVR remote and also a Westinghouse smart TV remote. Excellent video quality. Great programming options.

Not sure if the actual Annke branded products/apps/websites work better, but this did not meet my expectations or ...

Ordered a NEW Annke 1080P DVR and was instead shipped a USED Sannce 960H system. Not sure if it's the same system with different packaging, but I couldn't get the remote login through their website to work. Kept giving me error messages (user does not exist) even though the DVR was hard wired into my network. The android app (XMeye) did work, but I want to be able to control the entire system remotely through a full web browser so I don't have to have a monitor hooked up to the DVR 24/7. Not sure if the actual Annke branded products/apps/websites work better, but this did not meet my expectations or requirements.

UPDATE 7/13/18: I did eventually get the website login to die, but now the system has completely died. I would look for something else.