Home > Consumer Reviews > SVAT VISS7500 Hands Free Video Door Phone Intercom System w/5-Inch LCD & Outdoor Night Vision Security Camera (Color)

I was very disappointed with this product. Everything feels cheap, and it also functions that way.

Maybe it's just my specific product, but the picture quality is really, really bad. You can hardly say it's a color monitor. Even dark blue colors look white. It makes me wonder how they created the product images...

The angle of the camera is ridiculous. The camera must be placed in front of the person to see him right. I thought I could place it aside the door, but then you will not see your guest. They say it has tiltable camera lens, but actually, you can tilt it only vertically. Changing the position horizontally ends up with a picture of your guest profile.

There is no option to change the volume of the doorbell or to disable it.

To make it worse, when you turn on the camera, it makes a sound on the outside unit, making sure the person know that you are looking at him...

It is so bad that I've decided to put it aside until some other use arise.

This was easy to install using our existing doorbell wires (2 wires).

The video image is color and good quality. The doorbell is loud and sounds good, but not "beautiful" or "elegant." Importantly, the audio quality and level between the outside and inside is good.

I've only had it connected for a few days and can't say it's durable or long-lasting.

The "alarm" feature makes a pseudo siren sound to scare away the "Bad guys" but is really just silly.

We had doubts about the performance and ordered one camera / one monitor, but then ordered a second monitor (you can connect up to three monitors to a single camera) so that we can see who is at the front door from both the basement and the second floor.

Camera angle could be wider for our set up, but it's sufficient. Also, the camera lens can be adjusted up and down (but not right or left).

UPDATE AFTER ONE YEAR

One of the two video units began to malfunction after about one year. Warranty on the product is one year. I did not expect a replacement after the warranty period, nor did SVAT customer service offer one. They indicated this product is being phased out in favor of another. They estimated 6 months from August/September 2009 for the new unit.

The malfunction is false or phantom alarms. The doorbell randomly rings, but no one touched it. At first we thought it was kids or something. It happened at any / all hours of the day, including 2:00am and 4:00am as a couple notable ones before we realized it was a system error, not pranksters. Since, we've been standing right next to the front door with the door open in the middle of the day and heard it ring but knew 100% that no one was on the stoop or at the bell.

SVAT customer service asked if we were using the provided wires for our wiring. We are and it was run through conduit during a remodeling when first installed. SVAT asked if the connections were all tight or if any corrosion was evident (especially outside). I had checked the connections. They were tight and clean. Eventually, SVAT wrote "Seems like a good install! It's difficult to know for sure, but I would image [sic] that there is an issue with the monitor itself, especially if the issue resolves itself when the monitor is disconnected."

Not sure if we'll replace it or not. I will run one more test to confirm the wiring hasn't been damaged. Since one of the units still works, I'll switch them to see if the same UNIT keeps malfunctioning or if the same installation location keeps functioning. If you are reading this after September 2009 and I haven't updated, then it is safe to assume the unit is malfunctioning. Otherwise, I'll update this post to blame wiring damage. (It's in conduit, the system worked fine for a year, so the most likely problem is the unit.)

The two-wire installation remains a real strong point of this system and might lead me to replace the faulty unit. However, I should be able to pull more wires for a better system via the conduit.

Not sure what I'll do:
Some of the low points of this system and some additional features not offered will make me look at other options. Low points for our installation are: limited camera angle adjustment, not wide enough camera image, can't adjust volume of ringer inside the home, the LCD does not have a wide viewing angle. I have to bend at the knees to lower my eyes beneath one of the unit to see a clear picture. (This is actually a difference between the two units, aka quality control, because they are mounted at the same height.)

Features I wish it had: (1) Sending a snapshot of the moment the person presses the button to the LCD. We mount from the side of the door, so it's harder to see the profile (live) by the time we walk to the monitor after hearing the bell. If it just snapped a still and put it to the screen until we arrived, it would be better. Then we could "go live" by hitting the talk button. (2) Ability to use the camera as an IP Camera for viewing anywhere on our home network's computers or on a DVR. This would be great especially since these cameras already have infrared lights. (3) Insteon / smarthome compatibility.

The product works well over the standard doorbell wires. No new wiring necessary. The DC power adapter needs to be plugged in next to the unit which makes for an unattractive setup and for some logistics problems. The camera is situated to the side of the door. We have problems with the camera facing straight ahead and not towards the person pressing the button.

For $200 this video intercom has given us decent value for our money.

PROS: Easy setup and operation. I can't say enough how easy this was to setup. We had an existing door bell that rang in the secretary's office, about 150 feet down the hall from the door. We removed the push button and put the cameara in its place (NOTE: see Con's below for details on what we had to do for mounting), and removed the bell, extended the wiring a little, and hooked up the video/audio display unit in the secretary's office on the wall near her desk. It was just that simple. We also used the 'buzz in' feature, connecting the camera to an electric door strike. The secretary can now 'buzz' people in from her office.

The biggest reason we got this system is because it allows the secretary to see who's at the door without having to be close to them. In many instances, the person at the door someone she doesn't want in the building.

CONS: As other reviewers have mentioned, there are two design flaws that force me to give it less than a perfect score. 1. The camera only tilts up and down. I had to build a wooden wedge to horizontally tilt the camera in the direction of the visitor. I screwed the wedge to the door frame and then mounted the camera on the wedge. This wasn't too bad, but a simple design change would have made it alot easier. 2. You can't initiate a conversation from inside. To get video AND audio, the visitor must initiate the conversation by pressing the button on the camera. Basically, if someone doesn't understand that they need to push the button you won't be able to talk to them, only see them.

CONCLUSION: Overall, it's a pretty good product with easy setup and operation. Just be aware of the 'gotchas' and you'll have your expectations set correctly.

This is a decent video intercom (for the price) if you are only looking for a way to tell who is at the door. There are a couple elements of the design that you should be made aware of. First, you can only use the intercom feature (i.e. talk to people using the speaker) if the person at the door presses the 'doorbell' button on the camera mount. If they knock on the door or use a different doorbell, you must press the "talk/view" button to activate the camera, but pressing it again will turn the camera off, not activate the microphone. This single design element makes this system substantially less worthwhile. There is even a button with a speaker icon next to it that would have been perfect to activate the microphone independently from the camera, but that is used for a 'warning signal' that emits a ridiculous chirp to scare away unwanted guests (I'd rather be able to talk through the microphone). Secondly, although the product description ends by saying this system can't be used with additional monitors, it does support up to three monitors, they just need to be ordered separately (and at the moment Amazon does not sell them). As one of the other reviews mentioned, it would have been nice if the monitor supported hard-wired power supply, because AC power adapters are ungainly. For the price, it is a decent (read: average) system, but the inability to use the microphone if the button on the outside has not been pushed makes it suboptimal. If you just need a camera to see who is at the door (as is my case), it is a decent solution, but any security camera/monitor setup will work just as well.