Included in the package is an 8 channel DVR (digital video recorder), 8 color bullet cameras with IR night vision, 60ft BNC wires for each camera, a USB mouse, a remote control, power adapters, various cables (audio, video, ethernet), a driver CD, security stickers, mounting hardware, a manual and a quick set up guide.

The Night Owl 8 Channel DVR features a pre-installed 1 TB (~1,000 MB) hard drive, H.264 video compression, IE 8 and Android / iPhone / Blackberry smartphone remote internet viewing capability and also audio inputs / outputs

The included weatherproof CCTV cameras have 1/4" color CMOS sensors, 400 TV lines of resolution, 24 IR LEDs, and 6.0mm lenses with a 42 degree field of view. Two of the cameras feature microphones to deliver audio to the DVR.

I ran a long Ethernet cable from our AT&T Uverse 2Wire fiber optic modem / router to the DVR, plugged in the mouse, and connected a few of the cameras including one equipped with an audio microphone.

All I had to do was visit the administration page for our At&t 2Wire modem / router to open up a few ports.

Since this was just a temporary setup I placed the Night Owl DVR's IP address in to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) of the router which opens up all inbound and outbound ports.

I signed up for a subdomain at NightOwlDVR.com and entered it into the DVR's internet setup DDNS menu.

At the shopping plaza, they had a static IP address from Comcast internet for the DVR, which was just as simple to enter into the DVR and then begin viewing the cameras on our computers or smartphones.

Choose "Tools" from the top menu. (If you don't see the top menu "File" "Edit" View" etc - then hit the "Alt" key.) Select "Internet Options". Choose the "Security" tab at the top. Choose "Trusted Sites".

Slide the security level slider down to "Low". Then click on the "Sites" button, uncheck "Require server verification", type the DVR IP address or subdomain into the top window and hit "Add". Close that window.

Click on the "Custom Level" button, scroll down to the ActiveX controls options. Change "Download unsigned ActiveX controls" to the "Prompt" option.

These steps may also work for Internet Explorer 7 and the new IE 9.

Both mobile operating systems needed to have the "ASee" app installed.

Once you load up the ASee application, all you have to enter is the IP address or subdomain of the DVR, the mobile viewing port (E.G. 18004) and the username / password.

Unfortunately, I was not able to test the mobile viewing of this Night Owl DVR with a RIM Blackberry smartphone.

We chose to run just one long RCA extension cable in order to have a single CCTV camera in the front of the shopping plaza equipped with sound. As far as I know, the sound feature doesn't work on a smartphone.

The only downside to this CCTV security system package is the CCTV cameras themselves.

The "work" just fine but they are lower quality cameras than the ones I've used for other installations in the past.

Here are the specifications of a Night Owl "bullet" CCTV camera: 1/4" CMOS image sensor, 400 TV Lines of Resolution, and a 6.0mm lens with a 42 degree field of view.

I would have preferred vandal proof "dome" style cameras with larger 1/3" CCD sensors, at least 420 TV lines of resolution, and a wide angle 3.0mm lens with a larger field of view.

But I can't complain too much considering the entire package cost just $500 for a great DVR computer, eight CCTV cables and eight cameras.

You could easily spend $500 on what CCTV installation experts would refer to as a "good" DVR or $1,000s on a top of the line DVR. Then you'd still have to spend another $50 to $75 for each camera!

But now we realize we should have spent another $200 to $300 for a system with slightly better cameras.

We already have plans to eventually replace most of the Night Owl cameras with the weatherproof dome cameras commonly found on eBay for about $40 to $50 that have 1/3" Sony CCD sensors, 420 or 480 TV lines of resolution, and a wider field of view 3.0mm lens.

To see screen captures of the live cameras as viewed in Internet Explorer 8, scroll down to the last two images on this page.

(Please note, the CaptureWiz software compressed the video clip so the image quality while viewing the cameras live in IE8 is slightly better, but not by much.)

Night Owl 8BL-81TB CCTV DVR & Security Cameras Sample Video Clip