Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Local AI and storage—no subscription required
- Dual-lens 4K pan/tilt cameras provide vast and zoom protection
- Power-over-Ethernet simplifies digital camera placement
- Can be expanded with as much as 16 cameras and 16TB storage
Cons
- Installation requires drilling and pulling ethernet cable
- Works solely with Eufy’s personal PoE cameras
- No HouseKit or third-party digital camera assist
Our Verdict
The Eufy S4 Max NVR is a severe system for customers who need good options with out giving up privateness or flexibility.
Price When Reviewed
This worth will present the geolocated pricing textual content for product undefined
Best Pricing Today
Price When Reviewed
$1,299.99
Best Prices Today: Eufy PoE NVR Security System S4 Max
$1,299.99
Most residence safety techniques pressure you to decide on between good options and native management. the Eufy PoE NVR Security System S4 Max offers you each. As its title signifies, this can be a PoE (Power over Ethernet), NVR (Network Video Recorder) system with a built-in AI agent that runs by itself native {hardware}—there’s no cloud storage and no subscription charges required to unlock key options.
Specifications
Eufy markets this technique as an all-in-one answer for strong but easy-to-set-up residence safety. The bundle options native AI, native storage, and assist for high-powered 4K cameras.. The bundle contains 4 of Eufy’s PoE Cam S4 triple-lens cameras. Each of those has a fixed-position digital camera with a single wide-angle lens (122-degree subject of view) that’s fused to the dual-lens, pan/tilt/zoom digital camera beneath it.
The Eufy PoE NVR Security System S4 Max consists of 4 tri-lens safety cameras and an NVR with a 2TB exhausting drive for native storage and AI processing.
Eufy
The higher digital camera has a 16MP picture sensor that captures video in 4K decision (3840 x 2160 pixels), whereas the decrease PTZ digital camera has twin 2K lenses (every with decision of 2560 x 1440 pixels). The decrease digital camera can rotate a full 360 levels and tilt as much as 70 levels, with computerized monitoring to comply with and zoom in on an individual transferring inside its subject of view. Together, they kind what Eufy calls a “Tri-Cam” system, engineered to remove blind spots.
The cameras are constructed for out of doors use, with an IP65 climate ranking that protects in opposition to mud, rain, and water jets (we’ll inform you everything you need to know about IP codes). For nighttime protection, the PoE Cam S4 makes use of starlight coloration evening imaginative and prescient and HDR processing to seize detailed, color-rich footage, even in low gentle. Black-and-white Infrared evening imaginative and prescient can also be out there. When movement is detected, the built-in highlight can activate to boost visibility—helpful for figuring out individuals or license plates—whereas flashing purple and blue warning lights present a visual deterrent.
The S4 Max’s NVR contains 2TB of native storage (expandable to 16TB) and built-in AI that handles detection and monitoring with out counting on the cloud.
Michael Ansaldo/Foundry
Eufy’s NVR hub hosts a 3.5-inch 2TB exhausting drive for native storage. That must be loads for many customers, however you may substitute that drive with one which has as much as 16TB of capability. And because the NVR can assist as much as eight digital camera channels out of the field (it may be expanded to deal with as much as 16 channels), you may end up needing to do exactly that down the highway. Note that the 4 bundled cameras will eat two channels every, as a result of each is sending two video unbiased streams. Since the system makes use of PoE, the cameras shall be hardwired to the NVR, with that one cable dealing with each knowledge and energy. This makes deployment a lot easier since you don’t want to fret about having an influence outlet close to the place you wish to mount every digital camera.
The system’s intelligence comes from Eufy’s on-device AI, which runs fully on the NVR. There’s no round-trip to the cloud and no delay ready for AI to kick in. The system can acknowledge individuals, autos, pets, and even unfamiliar faces (when you’ve helped it establish mates, households, neighbors, and anybody else who may make frequent appearances). You can set customized detection zones and select which sorts of exercise set off alerts.
That layered design powers Eufy’s superior monitoring options. When the higher wide-angle lens detects a topic, the decrease PTZ lens routinely locks on and follows it, reframing as wanted to maintain the particular person centered in view, even from so far as 164 toes away. In group situations, the digital camera can modify zoom and framing to maintain a number of individuals in view, switching again to single-subject monitoring when others depart the body.
The 4 dual-lens cameras work in sync, delivering protection equal to an eight-camera setup. Thanks to Eufy’s Live Cross-Cam Tracking function, when one digital camera reaches its monitoring restrict, one other can routinely choose up the topic, permitting steady monitoring throughout zones. Recorded video is searchable by key phrase, making it simple to find particular occasions with out scrubbing by way of hours of footage.
The NVR helps as much as eight PoE cameras out of the field—expandable to sixteen—and makes use of a single ethernet cable per digital camera for each energy and knowledge.
Michael Ansaldo/Foundry
While the system is managed primarily by way of the Eufy app or internet interface, it additionally helps voice management by way of Alexa and Google Assistant. There is not any assist for Apple HouseKit Secure Video, nonetheless, so customers in that ecosystem will discover integration extra restricted.
Setup and efficiency
Installation isn’t troublesome, however it’s extra concerned than establishing battery-powered Wi-Fi cameras. The S4 Max is constructed to be put in outdoor and hardwired to your router, so that you’ll be drilling into partitions or soffits to mount the cameras with the supplied {hardware}, and drilling bigger holes and inserting weatherproof pass-through them that you simply’ll pull your ethernet cables by way of. The job requires extra planning, instruments, and time than the everyday battery-powered, Wi-Fi digital camera does.
First, you’ll want to attach the NVR to your router, plug within the included mouse for system management, after which hook up a monitor by way of the NVR’s HDMI port. From there, you’ll select your digital camera places, mount the digital camera brackets and mount the cameras to them, after which drill close by holes in your partitions, insert weatherproof grommets (something like this would work) into the holes on the inside and exterior sides of the wall, and feed the ethernet cables by way of them. You’ll join the opposite finish of the cables to the NVR).
Once you’re completed with the labor, configuring the system to work is as simple as you’d count on. The NVR routinely detects the linked cameras, and you may entry the system by way of a monitor, the Eufy app, or by way of Eufy’s internet portal.
The Eufy Security app helps you to customise detection by sort—human, automobile, pet, or basic movement—and select how and once you’re notified, with choices for thumbnails, alert tones, and recording intervals.
Michael Ansaldo/Foundry
Once all the things’s in place, the S4 Max will get to work quietly and capably. Live Cross Cam Tracking permits the cameras handy off transferring topics between zones with minimal delay. When the system spots one thing it flags as a risk, it reacts rapidly, sending alerts inside seconds.
Video high quality is persistently sharp, delivering clear, detailed footage even in low-light circumstances. The system handles faces, license plates, and motion properly, and the built-in search instruments make it simple to find occasions utilizing pure language like “man in a red hat.”
In my testing, the app was steady and responsive. Live view loaded rapidly, object recognition was correct, and playback was easy. You can tailor how every digital camera responds to exercise independently, together with defining exercise zones, selecting which sorts of occasions set off alerts, and customizing how lengthy the on-camera highlight stays energetic. You can even schedule when cameras are energetic or mute notifications by time of day. Each digital camera’s habits may be fine-tuned individually, which provides you extra management over how the system works in numerous areas of your property.
Should you purchase the Eufy PoE NVR Security System S4 Max?
At $1,299, Eufy’s high-end NVR system isn’t precisely an informal buy however it delivers strong worth for anybody severe about residence or small enterprise safety. You’re paying for native management, superior detection, and a system that doesn’t nickel-and-dime you with subscription charges. If you’re snug with the set up necessities and desire a system that stays native, customizable, and expandable, the S4 Max is a simple to advocate.
If you want Eufy’s native storage and AI options, however would favor wi-fi, battery-powered cameras, take into account the $550 EufyCam S3 Pro Kit. We not too long ago reviewed a two-camera system with a Eufy HomeBase 3 for native AI processing and storage prices. It additionally earned a TechHive Editors’ Choice award.
This overview is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of the best home security cameras.