FIL had lightning strike that fried his dvr. this is the offered replacement

dahua 4 ch dvr



thoughts and comments?

...seems kinda antiquated and pricey with no cell or internet viewing available

Agreed.
Who's offering the replacement, and what did he have before?

not sure what he had before but it was similar to the replacement. security company is installing the replacement but FIL has to pay for dvr + install,

i thought the system they put in was outdated to start with. his install was done during house construction 2 years ago yet they used analog lines and cameras

i have very little knowledge of current security specs but im assuming it should be at least have remote access via phone and internet

I was going to suggest Synology, but then you said it's an analog system. Why would anyone buy an analog system?

Yeah I see no reason to install analog cameras and wiring in new construction in 2016.  Sounds like the installer is stuck back in the analog era or that’s their cheapest option and your relative chose the cheapest thing they offered.  Depends on the cameras used but you could probably just buy a cheaper one on amazon and just plug everything into the new one.  It’s plug and play and setting the settings is usually very easy.