Best cameras with cross platform/browser support for a Linux user?

[jasauders]

Pictures tell the full story. While nearly every vendor I looked at so far doesn't have rear pictures, copying the model into an image search reveals more. I guess I misunderstood and thought channels were applicable to the number of ethernet ports on the NVR itself. I'm seeing clear as day that a lot of these NVRs (most of what I've seen, anyways) often have just one network port, which makes it seem like it's up to the user to network the cameras beyond that.

This has me wondering if I need to just avoid getting a POE NVR since they can be pretty expensive, and instead, invest in a non-POE NVR (with enough channels to cover what cameras I want) to save some green while investing that into a better switch. I currently have a 24 port gig switch, but nothing is POE. I could probably look into getting a 24 port switch with 12 of them being POE. It wouldn't be cheap but it would be a cleaner setup all said and done.

EDIT - Figured I'd check online for some injectors. I have two injectors already for my cameras. They seem to run just fine. I found there are some switch-like injectors online. For 40 bucks I can get a 6 port gigabit injector. That's an easy pill to swallow, and will keep my wire management OCD at bay instead of having 5 power bricks (aiming for 5 cameras on my future setup) at bay.

 

[Del Boy]

Avoid DS-7608NI-SE/P

Get DS-7608NI-E2/8P that will definitely have 8-port PoE switch built-in

 

[jasauders]

Avoid DS-7608NI-SE/P

Get DS-7608NI-E2/8P that will definitely have 8-port PoE switch built-in

Thanks. I just took notice of that difference last night. Appreciate it.

I sat on this discussion over the last few days to think about the pros and cons of each setup, the costs associated with each option, etc. Truth be told, I don't think I'll be getting rid of my current setup, and even when I get new cameras I'll likely just end up running with save-to-NAS features. The reasoning is simple. I'm after full time recording with some sort of way to identify when events took place. I have that right now and I have no NVR. My server runs very lean despite the other non-CCTV related tasks it does. It uses no additional power from the wall to have it handle/house these recordings, aside from the few watts the 2TB WD Purple uses that I installed specifically for the feeds. An NVR only offers me an alternative means with an additional price tag to record the feeds that will be a second device** running on my LAN using power. It may offer more features, but I don't know what more I'd want than full time recording and a way to identify when events took place.

**My server isn't going away. I'll always have one. I like having far too many things centrally stored. It's basically a NAS on steroids. For my dad's case, yeah the Hikvision 4 port NVR (4 port POE switch) makes complete sense. For me? Ehh a NAS is a no brainer since I'm not after a Blue Iris oriented set of features. I don't even utilize the full set of features presented to me as it is, such as email notification and whatnot. (outdoor cameras and email notifications where I have some bushes and trees in the field of view doesn't make much sense, as made evident to me about 3 minutes after I originally enabled it on a windy day).

This thread gave me a lot to think about, and it made me more aware of different brands and their capabilities. I liked what I saw from Hikvision a lot, and while I will recommend that brand to my dad, I'll probably pass on Hikvision's when I upgrade my cameras (unless they fix the 250GB volume save-to-NAS bug in their firmware -- unless they already have and I wasn't aware of it).

Anyway, thanks for the help everyone. Good stuff on this forum.