Looking for a Non Chinese made NVR

Connectome

Connectome

Young grasshopper
Sep 4, 2021
40
10
Australia
Sadly I invested in 8x POE Hikvision cameras several years back and to mitigate any security concerns the Hikvision NVR is on a separate VLAN with no access to the internet - courtesy of my solid network security system.

It's now time to replace this NVR and I was keen to see what you guys think of the best alternative, it must support 2x hard drives and 8x 4K cameras!
 
Dedicated computer and Blue Iris and you control the software.

I'm personally not fazed by my Dahua NVR, the router blocks it off from accessing the internet ('phoning home to China').
 
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Connectome said:
I would need a pc with 8+ Poe ports though and I don’t think that’s possible. My network is strictly UniFi as well.
Click to expand...
Plug the cameras into spare POE ports on your UniFi stuff, setup a VLAN and allow the computer running BlueIris to access that VLAN.

Simple and your Ubiquiti gear is already a great start to secure everything.
Heck, already you have the capability to block the NVR from phoning home and you can setup a VPN for remote access.
That solves every issue about it sending data to China and anything trying to access it.
 
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Mark_M said:
Plug the cameras into spare POE ports on your UniFi stuff, setup a VLAN and allow the computer running BlueIris to access that VLAN.

Simple and your Ubiquiti gear is already a great start to secure everything.
Heck, already you have the capability to block the NVR from phoning home and you can setup a VPN for remote access.
That solves every issue about it sending data to China and anything trying to access it.
Click to expand...

I don't have 8x spare POE ports on my USW-16-PoE.

I already have the required firewalls and vlan configured for the NVR - I just need to replace it due to a hardware problem and so I took the opportunity to see what else was around, hence this post.

I dont want to buy another POE switch - cheapest is $500 AUD from Unifi and then build a computer for the cameras and then pay for the software... I'm just after 1x NVR :)

EDIT: Just noticed that this Blueiris Cloud needs a monthly subscription depending on data usage! lol My cameras are set to 24/7 recording... imagine that cost and its limited to 40GB a month.
 
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Connectome said:
I just need to replace it due to a hardware problem and so I took the opportunity to see what else was around, hence this post.
Click to expand...
Options is that you are limited in dedicated NVR boxes.
You won't get the same functionality using a different brand to the cameras (so that puts out the 'non-Chinese NVR' aspect).

That's why I jumped to BlueIris VMS. It's cheap and runs on hardware you can scale.
BlueIris can then manage interacting with the cameras AI rules or do the AI on it's own.

There is other VMS solutions already on a computer with POE ports. Like the Axis or Avigilon range of video appliances.
But these are crazy expensive.

Cheapest is buying a new POE switch and a computer to Run BlueIris on.
 
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Connectome said:
I found a Swedish Security company that is at least compliant with NDAA.

They do this NVR with 8x POE ports, 2x HDD bays - apparently they work with ONIF protocol so long as the Hikvision cameras are enabled for this before setup.

LTS LTN8708K-P8 8 Channel 4K Network Video Recorder - HDD Options available (a1securitycameras.com)
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That NVR there is LTS (A rebranded Hikvision NVR). So it might work natively!
But it's still made in China...


Yes, ONVIF is a thing for cameras/NVR's. However, I have never been able to get ONVIF to work properly for Artificial intelligence.
Example, if the cameras/NVR supports IVS rules, likely the cameras are doing the processing for the IVS and the NVR just links everything together.
There is a big rabbit hole to go down for ONVIF 'profiles' and the Chinese cameras don't implement actual specification that well.

If you buy a dedicated NVR, buy one that's in the $1,500+ range so it has onboard AI to do the IVS processing for the cameras.
Example, my Dahua NVR5216-16p-I supports doing AI on the NVR. I can use any camera I want over ONVIF. But it comes with a price tag of just over $2,000AUD.
and at that price, just buy a POE switch and VMS.
 
Mark_M said:
Yes, ONVIF is a thing for cameras/NVR's. However, I have never been able to get ONVIF to work properly for Artificial intelligence.
Example, if the cameras/NVR supports IVS rules, likely the cameras are doing the processing for the IVS and the NVR just links everything together.
There is a big rabbit hole to go down for ONVIF 'profiles' and the Chinese cameras don't implement actual specification that well.
Click to expand...
I suppose I should ask the question:
Do you care about IVS functions or do you just want the cameras to record?

Any NVR doing ONVIF will just record the cameras. Downside is you likely cannot use IVS for alerts.
 
Mark_M said:
I suppose I should ask the question:
Do you care about IVS functions or do you just want the cameras to record?

Any NVR doing ONVIF will just record the cameras. Downside is you likely cannot use IVS for alerts.
Click to expand...

I would just like the cameras to record 24/7, I do like to tinker with the image settings to get the right visual look from each camera.
 
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Connectome said:
EDIT: Just noticed that this Blueiris Cloud needs a monthly subscription depending on data usage! lol My cameras are set to 24/7 recording... imagine that cost and its limited to 40GB a month.
Click to expand...

That has nothing to do with Blue Iris. It is a third-party FTP service with a web frontend. No need for that if you don't want it.
 
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Just buy a cheap non-managed POE+ switch for Blue Iris.

You say all you want to to do is record without anything else, but it will be your luck that there is some compatibility issue with your cameras and NVR not being the same brand. You say you like to tinker - well maybe you find the H265+ results in the best quality and yet the NVR won't accept that from a different brand camera.

And yes, you do not need the BI cloud - totally separate. Most here do not use it.
 
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Connectome said:
Excellent it also adjusts the fan speed.. the hikvision is 56db which is very loud. It doesn’t mention hv support so I will investigate
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Dahua is made by China.
Go to Amazon find a cheap 9 port POE switch and a used business class pc like Lenovo Thinkcentre, Dell Optiplex, or HP Elitedesk and use BlueIris is my recommendation.

I also had a Hikvision NVR, and I switched to BlueIris and what a HUGE difference it makes. Download BlueIris for free and test it out, you'll be a believer too.
 
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wittaj said:
You say all you want to to do is record without anything else, but it will be your luck that there is some compatibility issue with your cameras and NVR not being the same brand. You say you like to tinker - well maybe you find the H265+ results in the best quality and yet the NVR won't accept that from a different brand camera.
Click to expand...
This is why I went to Blue Iris (VMS) vs a cheap NVR.

I previously had a cheap NVR did didn't support IVS from the cameras.
It makes a world of a difference when the system has accurate human/vehicle detection! Now I actually use notifications because a trees shadow won't false trigger!
 
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iwanttosee said:
Dahua is made by China.
Go to Amazon find a cheap 9 port POE switch and a used business class pc like Lenovo Thinkcentre, Dell Optiplex, or HP Elitedesk and use BlueIris is my recommendation.

I also had a Hikvision NVR, and I switched to BlueIris and what a HUGE difference it makes. Download BlueIris for free and test it out, you'll be a believer too.
Click to expand...

Ok, I will look into this. Once I buy this blueiris do I need to pay for camera licenses like Synology Surveillance? I use to use that before I went with an NVR and have since sold my Synology camera licenses. Also, what spec computer would I need - this is something I might need some help with.

I just found this in my computer storage box which I totally forgot I had, I assume this will work?
 

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Connectome said:
Once I buy this blueiris do I need to pay for camera licenses like Synology Surveillance?
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On-off purchase.
That includes updates for a year. After the update period, you can choose to pay for updates/support into the future or keep running that version for as long as you like. So one-off payment most likely.
Blue Iris is up to 64 cameras for one fee, (not a licence per camera).
^my understanding from a dedicated NVR user pov.
 
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