Dahua NVR compatible with Dahua cams?

[DruTheFu]

I'm looking to purchase

• quantity 3 - Dahua IPC-HDW5231R-Z cameras
• quantity 1 - Dahua IPC-HDBW4231F-AS camera

I'm getting a little overwhelmed with confusion on which NVR to purchase to compliment the camera purchase. I'm thinking of a Dahua brand NVR to minimize compatibility issues.

NVR features I would like to have:

• Connectivity up to 8 cameras
• IVS to support tripwire, motion detection, etc
• PoE would be nice, but not necessary, as I have a PoE switch.
• NTSC video standard
• Record 24/7
• Ability to view cameras from Apple/iOS mobile device

Can some of you more informed forum users recommend a proper NVR based on the above, and whether there are more questions I should be asking myself in terms of feature requests?

Doing some quick reading on this forum, I remember seeing Andy suggest an NVR in the NVR52xx series vs the NVR42xx series, but I can't recall the advantages/disadvantages.

Please lead the way.

Drew

 

[aristobrat]

If you have a separate POE switch, get the non-POE version of the NVR. To me, the biggest inconvenience about the POE NVR is that it puts your cameras on separate subnet, which makes it tricker to use your computer to get to the cameras' web interfaces.

Love the Dahua Starlight cameras (a lot), but not a fan of their 52XX NVR line (which I've been running for two months now). I wanted continuous recordings (24/7), and I wanted it to flag when a camera had an IVS event. You need a Dahua NVR to record IVS events. BUT ... (big but, IMO) .. there is a problem with how Dahua records IVS events when the NVR is also recording continuously.

When the camera senses an IVS event, the NVR recording starts immediately. The issue is that H.264/H.265 cameras don't send full images in every frame. The frames between the full images are just partial images (of just motion). So you shouldn't start a recording immediately, you should start a recording when the camera sends the next full image. Dahua doesn't do that.

If you don't wait until the next full frame, then the recording starts with frames that don't have full images. When you go to play the video back, the first second or two may not be viewable because they consist of frames of partial image. Most video players will display a black screen during this time. As soon as the player comes across a frame with a full image in it, then the video starts playing back normally.

This can make for some "not seamless" playback. Here are two examples. Every time you see the screen go black is when the NVR is done playing one recording, and has opened another recording that started with frames that have impartial images. It displays black until it's read far enough into that recording to have come across a frame with a full image. Then it starts displaying video.



Because of this, I've switched from using my Dahua NVR over to having resurrected an older PC and am now running Blue Iris on it. Blue Iris's motion detection is almost as good as Dahua's IVS, IMO. Overall, there is a ton more functionality with BI vs the Dahua NVR.

Some forum members here have come up with some creative work-arounds like this, but they're all kind of a PITA for me.

Also, if you DON'T record continuously, there is an option for IVS/Motion Detection events that lets you specify a pre-record period. You can set that for something like 5 seconds, which means you'll get 5 extra seconds per recoding before the event happens, so even if the player skips the first second or two during playback, you didn't miss any important video. But when you're recording continuously for a camera, the NVR doesn't use that feature when it creates a separate recording for IVS/Motion Detection events.

Anyhow, as much as I love love love the Dahua cameras, this NVR has really pissed me off.

 

[Crazykiller]

The NVR42xx should also fit two disks. Maybe this thread from me could point you into the right direction if you want a Dahua NVR.

Maybe oversized for three cams, but well prepared for future constellations
There are also the NVR4xxx models. They are also available with PoE. Depends on your needs. If you guess one HDD is enough you could go with a NVR41xx-4KS2. But of course you'll have to look for yourself which one fits best for you. I would always recommend the -4KS2 models because of their capability for H.265 and 4K support if needed.
1HDD Models with PoE
NVR4104-P-4KS2: 4 channel, 4 PoE
NVR4108-P-4KS2: 8 channel, 4 PoE
NVR4108-8P-4KS2: 8 channel, 8 PoE
NVR4116-8P-4KS2: 16 channel, 8 PoE

2HDD models with PoE
NVR42xx
NVR52xx etc.
I don't want to list every model. As you can see you, the naming of the model gives your every info needed for initial choice, then you can look after the details.
NVR4xxx number is type of class, 6,7 are Ultra, 5 Pro, 4,2 are Lite
NVRx1xx number is amount of HDD
NVRxx16 number is amount of channels
-P is four port of PoE, -8P is eight ports of PoE and -16P is sixteen ports of PoE

 

[aristobrat]

The NVR42xx should also fit two disks.

Thanks, fixed my post.

 

[TVT73]

I recommend you to choose the nvr42xx because of to many problems with nvr52xx with 4k Video Out on HDMI and several other firmware related things like no support for smart plan Cam's ( a new firmware is released after months, I didn't tested it yet). The picture quality is really poor. And the nvr42xx is able to use h265+ with IVS, which is the first I seen who is able to do this! (Normally like nvr52xx you lose IVS with smart codec)
I can't see a big issue with I frames and black screens. If you use Dahua apps or player I never had this problem.
But I always use 5s pre record.
A good recording solution is also to use both, IVS and motion detection. Ivs is used for sending push events, but to be sure to have recorded all between 2 Ivs events it's necessary to use MD.
The cam webif is reachable trough recorder menu due to security reasons and because of a isolated subnet. I see it as a plus not minus. And you have every cam without problems directly configure able, they leave the default IP address.