Can I replace my lorex nvr with a dahua nvr? (and still use my lorex cameras)

eeps24

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I just found out dahua purchased lorex. I currently have a lorex system, to be honest, I am not crazy about the NVR software. Am I able to purchase a dahua nvr and replace my current lorex NVR (and still use my lorex camera's?)

I have the NR9082 NVR
I have two types of cam's...
1. LNB4421B
2. LNB9232S
 
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wittaj

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Yes you can. They have been making the Lorex units for years.

But keep in mind the software may look very similar...

Since you are not fond of the NVR software....Consider a Blue Iris/computer combo as an NVR. Keep in mind an NVR is a stripped down computer after all....and isn't true plug-n-play like people believe. You still have to dial the cameras into your setting. Once you do that, might as well go with something that has the best chance of working with many different camera brands. And I have found Blue Iris to be more robust and easier than an NVR. As always, YMMV...

When I was looking at replacing an existing NVR, once I realized that not all NVRs are created equal, and once I priced out a good one, it was cheaper to buy a refurbished computer than an NVR. You don't need to buy components and build one.

Many of these refurbished computers are business class computers that have come off lease. The one I bought I kid you not I could not tell that it was a refurbished unit - not a speck of dust or dents or scratches on it. It appeared to me like everything was replaced and I would assume just the motherboard with the intel processor is what was from the original unit. I went with the lowest end processor on the WIKI list as it was the cheapest and it runs my system fine. Could probably get going for $200 or so. A real NVR will cost more than that.

A member here just last month found a refurbished 4th generation for less than $150USD that came with Win10 PRO, 16GB RAM, and a 1TB drive. Blue Iris has a demo, so try it out on an existing computer and see if you like it. You can pull the cameras from the Lorex NVR right into Blue Iris by simply adding in the IP address of the NVR in the camera IP address of Blue Iris and then down about halfway is a camera # and you just select the camera number to bring in.

NVRs from the box units like a Amcrest and Lorex cap out incoming bandwidth (which impacts the resolution and FPS of the cameras). The Lorex and Amcrest NVR maxes out at 80Mbps and truly only one or a couple cameras that will display 4K. My neighbors was limited to that and he is all upset it isn't 4K for all eight channels and he was capped out at 4096 bitrate on each camera so it was a pixelated mess.

There is a big Blue Iris or NVR debate here LOL. Some people love Blue Iris and think NVRs are clunky and hard to use and others think Blue Iris is clunky and hard to use. I have done both and prefer Blue Iris. As with everything YMMV...

And you can disable Windows updates and set up the computer to automatically restart in a power failure.
 
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eeps24

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Thank you for your reply.

1. Interesting about the lorex maxing out at 80Mpbs comment, Is that combined total bandwidth from all camera's? I have 8 camera's. Is this related to the "bit streaming" option?
2. If I did a blue Iris setup, would I still need to use the NVR because all of my cameras connect to it? I mean, I wouldnt count all of my cameras to my pc right?
 

wittaj

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Thank you for your reply.

1. Interesting about the lorex maxing out at 80Mpbs comment, Is that combined total bandwidth from all camera's? I have 8 camera's. Is this related to the "bit streaming" option?
2. If I did a blue Iris setup, would I still need to use the NVR because all of my cameras connect to it? I mean, I wouldnt count all of my cameras to my pc right?
The 80 Mbps is the bandwidth for all the cameras. So depending on which NVR you have, regardless of what bitrate you set, the NVR probably maxes out at 4192. It did for my neighbor. He wanted to run 20,000 bitrate and 60FPS and the NVR would't let him. Now both of those are overkill, but he wanted that LOL. Some of the newer cameras need a minimum of 8192. So quickly the NVR is taxed out.

The cameras need POE power. That can come from either the NVR or a POE switch. Many will run the NVR as a redundant storage backup and then feed the camera feed into the computer running Blue Iris. But you could certainly get rid of the NVR, but then you would need to purchase POE switches to run the cameras.
 
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