4G/LTE connection and NVR for 4mp Hikvision?

[aporopos]

Hi,

I finally made up my mind after a lot of googling and reading - chose the following product from Hikvision, times three:

http://overseas.hikvision.com/en/Products_accessries_157_i5608.html

Next step is to find a suitable NVR. My thoughts are that it "should" be Hikvision also since they would work nicely together - but I have a feeling that I'm a little lost here with these NVRs.

The system is going to be hooked on to a 4G/LTE/HSPA+ connection and I would like to keep the amount of equipment to a minimum simply because the more equipment the more complicated the system will be.

At the moment I have a solid connection with a TP-Link 3G/4G Router and a 4G USB-modem. The question is how to build a consistent system that is reliable under these circumstances.

A separate NVR from any manufacturer and a basic RJ-45 connection with the TP-Link or something else?
Found this, but where to buy such equipment and are the prices just out of normal peoples' reach:

http://overseas.hikvision.com/europe/Products_accessries_212_i8845.html

How does that even work? Is there a sim-card slot and an internal modem or does it operate through USB-modem or wth?

Just a little scared of port forwarding and general installations if there are several different components from various manufacturers and multiple routers / switches - and everything depends on some USB-dongle 4G-modem. Not good.

And how about accessing the NVR with OSX and iOS? Would there be any preferences? Read about SecuritySpy but that would need a separate mac mini or something... too expensive and not enough HDD.

Thoughts, ideas, comments?

Cheers!

 

[fenderman]

First and foremost, port forwarding will likely not work on a 4G connection unless you pay extra.. Some carriers charge a one time 500 dollar fee.

 

[jcummins]

First and foremost, port forwarding will likely not work on a 4G connection unless you pay extra.. Some carriers charge a one time 500 dollar fee.

Yep, and it's why I recently discontinued my 4G LTE service.

 

[aporopos]

Well that's not the case here in Finland. It's possible even on regular 4G subscription and if you want a static IP 4G subscription it's going to be around 5 usd pet month.

That problem set aside, do you have any other input?

 

[aster1x]

Never put too many eggs in one basket.
If you drop the basket, you will break most if not all your eggs.
Specifically...
If the internal PoE switch in an NVR faults, then you must purchase again the NVR. The integration of the funtionalty of a separate PoE switch to a general configuration does not have any incompatibilities risks.
If the integrated modem in an NVR also faults, then you must purchase again the NVR. An indepedent modem/router simply provides an ethernet connection to the Internet. An independent third party modem/router is highl likely to have better and more reliale functionality than any integrated modem/router. It may also be more complicated to configure it, but the configuration ofa modem router has nohing to do with the NVR. All you need to know from the NVR is the IP and the ports it uses. Additionally the integrated modem/router may have limited functionality developed. Specifically HIKVision is not famous for the quality of their firmware development and deployment management.
Especially for modem routers, if in the future a faster communications standard comes out, then you can change to a faster modem/router more economically. The development pace of communication is faster than NVRs and cameras. Communication equipment become commoditised faster than NVR and cameras.

Conclusion: I prefer to select the best of the breed from each category. HIK is good on cameras and NVRs. I would risk to say for example, that TP-Link is better in networking and Cisco is better in networking products from all of them.

I will not comment on the number of boxes in a setup and the available space for obvious reasons. Having less cables and boxes should not have higher priority than operational reliability, functionality and future proof expansion and upgrade capabilities during the selection and design of a system.

 

[aporopos]

Thanks aster1x, those are valid points you made! I already forgot the golden era of mini-hifi systems and when the cassette player broke you had to buy a whole new system one more time... just to reflect this situation now. Just went ahead with simplest, latest and shiniest.

Well what would be the best choice for a 3-4 camera Hikvision bullet cams?

As said earlier I know that 4 cameras is the maximum that I will ever have. Also considering that I'm using OSX and iOS (ease of installation, updates, reliability and functionality).

 

[aster1x]

Add four cameras of your choise to any 7604NI-Ex NVR through any 100Mbps unmanaged switch and stirr (not shaken!!!) with any modem router of your taste. Enjoy a future proof system.
Budget
cameras = 4 x 300 Euros approx.
NVR = 1x 250 Euros
8 port unmanaged switch = 20-30Euros
1x modem router 1x 50-150 Euros
The problem now is power to the people, sorry power to the cameras. This again is the most expensive and unreliable component.
The cheapest solution is a plain 12V beefy amps power supply as used in alarm systems to feed the 12V pigtails of the cameras either through a passive injector throught the UTP camera network cable or through an extra cable run in parallel with the UTP. The problem with this solution is that the longer the distance of the camera from the NVR the more unreliable the 12V supply becomes at the camera end.

The next best solution is to have an unmanaged PoE switch to provide power to the cameras through the UTP camera cable. This will cost you around 100-150Euros for 4-8 ports PoE switch.

The ultimate solution is to have a managed PoE switch. The benefit is that you can remotely switch on-off each camera for rebooting when they get stuck (and they do stuck). This is more expensive around 300Euros at least. Mind you that the cost difference between a PoE NVR and a non PoE NVR from HIK is around 200Euros for 8 ports. So you (we) pay a lot for the PoE switch in HIK without having the benefit to change cheaply the PoE component when it goes wrong and without having the option for management. Search in eBay for a second hand quality PoE switch from a reputable manufacturer.

Finally do not forget a decent UPS fo all the components. Any UPS greater than 500W (100Euro) would be sufficient.

Anything else just ask the forum.

 

[aporopos]

Ok, thank you again aster1x!

I think I'll be building this system on SecuritySpy software and Mac Mini. I was also recommended to get the D-Link PoE switch:

http://www.dlink.com/uk/en/business-solutions/switching/unmanaged-switches/desktop/dgs-1008p-8-port-gigabit-poe-unmanaged-switch

And why on Mac Mini? Because meanwhile it can serve as an NVR with SecuritySpy software it can also do a lot more. A separate NVR does nothing more than what NVRs do. And the price is still the same for the whole system.

Let's see how everything goes after I start receiving bits and pieces of this puzzle.

Cheers!

 

[aster1x]

Your switch selection is fine. Mind you the two pitfalls. It has only 4 PoE ports and it is not managed. Therefore in future, if you add cameras you need additional PoE switch and if any camera is not accessible remotely because it has seriously crashed, then you can not power cycle remotely the camera in order to reboot it.

 

[aporopos]

Thanks (4th time I guess ... but I will accept that pitfall at this point since it's cheap and simple.
If the system proves to be unstable due to the switch - I'll switch the switch later.

4 PoEs is enough for now and most probably will be enough for my ip-cam use, which is more or less for fun - no serious need for actual surveillance.

Cheers!

 

[mcx]

Thanks (4th time I guess ... but I will accept that pitfall at this point since it's cheap and simple.
If the system proves to be unstable due to the switch - I'll switch the switch later.

4 PoEs is enough for now and most probably will be enough for my ip-cam use, which is more or less for fun - no serious need for actual surveillance.

Cheers!

In that case, I suggest that you buy a Huisun mini PTZ - a lot more fun.

 

[aporopos]

I agree that the Mini PTZ would be the best thing compared to a static view but as I understood there might be problems with connecting / using in Mac OS X environment. Correct me if I'm wrong. SecuritySpy NVR software does not mention even one supported Huisun camera so I guess I'm out of luck on that one.

I'm waiting answers from Bensoftware (SecuritySpy) and Monica Wen (Huisun supplier on AliExpress) if they could test these Huisun cams on Mac OS X. The Mini PTZ is just too much of a temptation over a static 4mp Hikvision or Dahua (Bonjour support, thus reason to believe they are easily connected to OS X).

It would be really nice to have a separate Mac OS X section here so it would be possible to skip the less useful advice since everyone just ignores the OS X part on every post.

Cheers!

 

[mcx]

Mini PTZ works with SecuritySpy except the PTZ-presets. Apparently they trying to fix it:

"The functionality is completely given and PTZ working properly.
The only sticking point are the presets, this can not be programmed."

http://www.bensoftware.com/forum/discussion/1400/onvif-and-ptz-presets-on-hs-scb405ip-v10

But seems that Huisun has problems with production or quality??:

 

[aporopos]

Ok, thank you! It seems that it's an ongoing issue with someone else as well (latest post on this PTZ-preset issue was today). The best part of this (from my point of view) is that the software developer is active on problem solving.
I received also an email from (answered less than 12hrs) Bensoftware and they were suggesting to make sure that the Huisun ONVIF version is at least 2.2 or higher.
Haven't received any email from Monica though. Perhaps I should dig into this issue more on the Huisun section as these posts are also quite far away from the original topic.

I think I'll start slowly with this hobby and just buy one cam first to test it out.

P.S. Nice pics on "Huisun's handling cold..." From Finland I presume? If so, kiitti neuvoista.