DS416j Exterior

The external design of the DS416j is interesting since it doesn't look like other Synology boxes. On its front are a series of LED indicators and the power button. There is unfortunately no USB port on this side even though such a port is useful.


The perforated Synology logo on the sides also acts as an exhaust grille.


At the bottom are four plastic feet and a label for the unit's model number and its power input specifications.


Around the back are two fan grilles. The whole frame onto which the fans are installed can easily be removed since it is kept in place with four thumbscrews. At the bottom are the two provided USB ports, an Ethernet port, and the DC input.

DS416j Interior

You have to remove the rear cover to install the HDDs. In our case, a couple Seagate HDDs were pre-installed. As you can see in the photos above, the two fans are very close to the HDD trays, which will allow them to better exhaust any heat due to installed HDDs to keep HDD operating temperatures low.


We didn't take this NAS apart completely since we simply had to push this review out as quickly as possible and had very little time with the unit at hand to do so. A quick look shows that Chemi-Con polymer caps of very high quality, a passive heatsink for the Marvell CPU, and a Marvell Alaska 88E1514 Ethernet controller are used. There is also a BOTHHAND magnetic module (24HSS1041A-2) right after the Ethernet port for high voltage isolation, impedance matching, and low common mode noise.

Amcrest IP2M-841B Exterior

The IP2M-841B supports a resolution of up to 1080p (1920 x 1080) and can take a micro SD card should you want to locally save any captured images and videos. There are applications with which you can monitor and control the camera, available for all popular mobile operation systems (Android, iOS and Windows Phone), and up to twenty users can access the camera at the same time.

The viewing angle is 90° and the maximum frame rate with all supported resolutions is 30 fps. These cameras can communicate with your network through a wired Ethernet connection and a wireless interface, with 802.11b/g being supported. There is unfortunately no support for 802.11ac which is notably faster. The IP2M-841B also utilizes a speaker and a microphone for two-way communication and 12 IR LEDs for night-vision capability.

With a current price tag of close to 100 bucks, you cannot call the IP2M-841B a budget IP camera, that's for sure, and its enhanced resolution of 1080p is something you won't readily find on more affordable cameras. Image quality is also very good and the pan/tilt and digital zoom features are useful.