Two NVRs or NVR and computer?

[Kingsley]

My head is swimming with information. This is quite the journey.

I started with an old cell phone with the ip webcam app and my current phone with tinyCAM Monitor PRO, first using port forwarding to access the phone/camera, and now using VPN.

I'm headed toward several outdoor IP cameras wired up to a Dell computer reserved for video and an NAS (will serve music files also).

My inclination is to have two machines making recorded files simultaneously.

Can anyone explain simply how one uses two NVRs or an NVR and computer to make simultaneous recordings or point me to a thread where this has been laid out?

Thanks.

 

[alastairstevenson]

Can anyone explain simply how one uses two NVRs or an NVR and computer to make simultaneous recordings or point me to a thread where this has been laid out?

The better cameras will support multiple video main streams, for continuous recording, so more than one device can connect directly, assuming the camera is on a LAN connection and not on the isolated network of an NVR PoE interface.
Depending on the NVR, and probably the firmware it's currently running, the NVR can also offer encoded video streams from PoE-connected cameras, example below from a Hikvision 7816N-E2/8P.
And depending on the NVR and its firmware, cameras on the NVR PoE ports can be accessed directly from another NVR.
So my Hikvision cameras, connected to the PoE ports of a Hikvision 7816N-E2/8P, supply their own NVR, are connected to a QNAP NAS running Surveillance Station, and the NVR also supplies video stream to another 7816N-E2 for continuous recording.

 

[j4co]

Do 2 Hikvision NVR units than receive the same channel from a camera ? Or has one the main and the other the secundairy ?
Seems interesting to have one recording and use one for viewing and ptz control (also) in the bedroom or pc room for example.
If it only uses 10 watts when on i would be interested in 2 NVR's

 

[alastairstevenson]

Do 2 Hikvision NVR units than receive the same channel from a camera ?

This can be done - provided of course the camera is accessible via the LAN. If the camera is on a PoE port then some trickery is needed.
In the second NVR, you pick the needed stream for recording as normal, see below pic.
But if you pull the stream from the first NVR itself, it's a fixed resolution RTSP video stream, not a camera interface.
Example:


This arrangement, though, does provide a point of failure in that the second NVR depends on the first, and also on the original camera.

 

[j4co]

I have read part of the rfc2326 and it is a bit more clear.
So the 2nd NVR can also get an RTSP form a camera without a issue.

I have no POE ports on the nvr, so both nvr's will connect to the same vlan where the camera's are.