Pros and Cons of NVR with integrated PoE switch?

[obqo]

Hi all,

I am trying to understand the differences between using the NVR's PoE switch or a separate switch. I understand that if I use the NVR's switch that I cannot access the cameras directly. Some say that NVRs generally use very low quality PoE switches. What other considerations are there?

Thanks in advance.

 

[rgbii]

I'm using both in my setup. 4 Cameras on a seperate PoE injector and switch, and one plugged into the NVR PoE. I would think the main Pro of using the NVR PoE is less hardware to buy and setup, and less traffic on your network, depending on where your switch is. The main con is as you mentioned, you can not access the camera directly, which for me is only an issue for firmware upgrades, unless your NVR handles that for you.
I'm not sure about the quality of the built in PoE, but you'll probably want to make sure it has enough wattage for all your cameras, especially at night with IR on.
Hope this helps,
Richard.

 

[alastairstevenson]

The main con is as you mentioned, you can not access the camera directly, which for me is only an issue for firmware upgrades, unless your NVR handles that for you.

Are you discussing Hikvision or Dahua or ANOther?
Hikvision have the 'Virtual Host' facility that allows direct access to the web GUI of PoE-connected cameras.
I think a key consideration is the physical cabling differences between a remote PoE switch located near a set of cameras, and running cables back to the NVR PoE ports.

 

[randytsuch]

So in real life, I don't know if this is an issue or not because I don't have a NVR, but one drawback to using the NVR for POE is it uses more power in the NVR, and more power means more heat. This could lead to a shorter life for your NVR because heat, over extended periods is not good for electronics.

I picked up a used managed POE switch cheap from ebay, which gives me options like making vlans to add security. I have yet to try this, not sure if I can get it working or not. BTW, my switch is noisy because of this little fan it has, so its going to live in the garage, while my PC based NVR will be in a back room.

 

[nayr]

external poe allows you to use poe for things other than IPCameras; such as Wifi, VoIP, and PoE Adapters to run things like IR Illuminators, Sensor/Automation Appliances, etc.. want to get 12vdc somewhere pretty far away and keep it on your battery backup... do it over PoE

anyone wanting to do anything slightly more advanced than plug-n-play should be using external PoE imho.

 

[looney2ns]

So in real life, I don't know if this is an issue or not because I don't have a NVR, but one drawback to using the NVR for POE is it uses more power in the NVR, and more power means more heat. This could lead to a shorter life for your NVR because heat, over extended periods is not good for electronics.

I picked up a used managed POE switch cheap from ebay, which gives me options like making vlans to add security. I have yet to try this, not sure if I can get it working or not. BTW, my switch is noisy because of this little fan it has, so its going to live in the garage, while my PC based NVR will be in a back room.

I don't have extensive experience with NVR's, but the few re-branded Hiks I've helped install all had built in POE. One was a 16 channel unit, that had 14 of the POE ports used by cams. Only had one fan in it and that was a small one in the power supply. Even after dark, after several hours of all the IR's on, the top of the NVR was room temperature. No heat problem at all.

As with any electronics, use a little common sense and don't bury it in "stuff" and block the heat dissipation and you'll usually be just fine.

 

[obqo]

Thanks to all who replied - the information was very helpful.