Cameras I have:
I have 3 generations of cameras. The oldest are 4 megapixel chinese region cameras, then 2 megapixel international region starlights, and 4 megapixel international region starlights. They have all been good cameras, with the newer generations bringing significant improvements in low light sensitivity. It is no longer feasible to buy a chinese region dahua cameras to use with a dahua NVR, so don't spend much time being tempted. My favorite camera now is the 5442 series 4 megapixel starlight, with zoom if you need that. If it were somebody else's money that's all I'd have. I have not dabbled with PTZ or higher megapixels.
The Dahua NVR is a bit difficult until you learn it, then not so difficult. I find it easier to view using the smartPss program running on a PC on the network. Hard to give a general answer about the setup. Most of the work is with setting up each camera. You can run default settings, or spend a lot of time tweaking things.
Using an NVR with the built in switch makes for easier setup. If nothing goes wrong it's pretty much plug-and-play with no networking knowledge required. With a separate switch at least a bit of networking knowledge is required. The separate switch allows for more flexibility at the cost of more complexity. For me, the separate switch is the better choice. The main reason was to be able to replace a failed NVR or switch without having to throw the other one away also. The 5216 with built in switch is a lot noisier than the switchless model, but a lot of the switches have pretty darn loud fans. You don't have to use any of the advanced capabilities of the cisco switch, but they are there if you want them down the road.
