Repurposing NVR as POE Switch for Blue IRIS

[skk85]

I currently have N881B LOREX NVR with few lorex cameras and i am in the process of setting up a BlueIRIS machine. Just ordered the Acer Aspire XC - Desktop Intel Core i5-11400 2.60GHz 8GB RAM 512GB SSD W10H Machine. Need to order POE Switch. I was wondering if anyone is aware of any hacks to repurpose an existing NVR as POE switch and save some bucks

 

[wittaj]

You can pull the video feeds right from your NVR into it.

In BI, you select add camera and put the IP address of the NVR into the IP address location. Put in username and password and hit find/inspect and let BI do its thing.

Then about halfway down is a pull down for Camera number and pick camera 1 and then hit ok. The camera should show up. Then add camera and the select copy and copy this camera and then change the number 1 to a 2 and repeat for your cameras.

 

[skk85]

You can pull the video feeds right from your NVR into it.

In BI, you select add camera and put the IP address of the NVR into the IP address location. Put in username and password and hit find/inspect and let BI do its thing.

Then about halfway down is a pull down for Camera number and pick camera 1 and then hit ok. The camera should show up. Then add camera and the select copy and copy this camera and then change the number 1 to a 2 and repeat for your cameras.

Is there any downside of doing it this way vs a dedicated POE switch?

 

[wittaj]

Only downside is if the NVR cannot pass the total bitrate of the cameras you have.

But since nothing else of the NVR is being used, it usually isn't a problem. Many here do this and simply let the NVR record 24/7 as redundant backup.