Dahua nvr was a bad decision

B

bluecam

Young grasshopper
Dec 1, 2017
34
1
Venting, but wish I had gone the blue iris/pc/switch route. It is like comparing OpenOffice to excel.
Hitting all kinds of limitations on the NVR, that I took for granted with blue iris.

Among them
1) nvr very limited remote troubleshooting. With bi I can even look in the router and individual ipcs. I know exactly where all files are written and can access easily. With nvr good luck.
2) nvr software-- terrible documentation, and guess as you go.
3) nvr I spent hours troubleshooting simple smtp email attachments, and ended up with poor workarounds. Get maybe 2 low res files out of 100 to come through with image. Blue iris = 100% success with attached email alerts.
4) depending on which software you use for mobile. Again, severly limited. I try to search for clips to scroll through events, I get 'suggest limiting search to less than 1 min or 1 day' say what? No image catalogs to quickly assess, but instead you get envelopes to open 1 at a time. With blue and even swann nvr, I felt much more flexibility.
5) blue has a catalog of all images and alerts, to very easily scroll through.
Sure there's more, but really regretting the nvr route.
 
bluecam said:
Venting, but wish I had gone the blue iris/pc/switch route. It is like comparing OpenOffice to excel.
Hitting all kinds of limitations on the NVR, that I took for granted with blue iris.

Among them
1) nvr very limited remote troubleshooting. With bi I can even look in the router and individual ipcs. I know exactly where all files are written and can access easily. With nvr good luck.
2) nvr software-- terrible documentation, and guess as you go.
3) nvr I spent hours troubleshooting simple smtp email attachments, and ended up with poor workarounds. Get maybe 2 low res files out of 100 to come through with image. Blue iris = 100% success with attached email alerts.
4) depending on which software you use for mobile. Again, severly limited. I try to search for clips to scroll through events, I get 'suggest limiting search to less than 1 min or 1 day' say what? No image catalogs to quickly assess, but instead you get envelopes to open 1 at a time. With blue and even swann nvr, I felt much more flexibility.
5) blue has a catalog of all images and alerts, to very easily scroll through.
Sure there's more, but really regretting the nvr route.
Click to expand...

Hi Bluecam,

Are you already skilled and knowledgeable with Blue Iris?

1) Not anything like comparing OpenOffice with MS excel - those actually are significantly closer to each other than this comparison.

2) You're comparing a smaller low power embedded system to a more powerful fully featured windows PC running Blue Iris which can be further customized and extended.

I actually like the choice I made with regards to the Dahua NVR, and I would happily do it again.
 
Last edited:
Too late now Philip! Just placed my order with Andy. But mat200 still liking his NVR gives me some relief!
I know both BI and NVR will take some time to learn,...and granted I don't know one end from the other,...but BI just intimidated me!. Plus I was in no mood to research PC's and take the time to order one,etc
But after I get comfortable with my new system and get a general understanding of all this IP, PoE and network stuff I will start to invest some time researching BI. But for now I just need to stick to the basics of getting my cameras working properly.
 
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CJ555 said:
Too late now Philip! Just placed my order with Andy. But mat200 still liking his NVR gives me some relief!
I know both BI and NVR will take some time to learn,...and granted I don't know one end from the other,...but BI just intimidated me!. Plus I was in no mood to research PC's and take the time to order one,etc
But after I get comfortable with my new system and get a general understanding of all this IP, PoE and network stuff I will start to invest some time researching BI. But for now I just need to stick to the basics of getting my cameras working properly.
Click to expand...
BI is no more complex than an NVR and in many ways much easier...it simply offers more options IF you choose to use them.
 
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I do remember you saying that fenderman,..and trust me I believe you 100%. But I just bought the NVR to plug some cable in and concentrate more on learning the basics.
I doubt I'll even use every feature on the NVR by the time I decide to go BI (Probably this time next year!)
 
@mat200

I've used Blue Iris for years at home, and very used to using it. But at an offsite location, for space and power limitations, I had someone talk me into the NVR.
I really regret it, as it is just not as user friendly, flexible, or useful, IMO at all. And I chose Dahua, because I love the cams, but honestly, a SWANN NVR i used in the past, was way easier and more flexible and functional to use (still not anywhere as useful as BI though, IMO).
 
bluecam said:
@mat200

I've used Blue Iris for years at home, and very used to using it. But at an offsite location, for space and power limitations, I had someone talk me into the NVR.
I really regret it, as it is just not as user friendly, flexible, or useful, IMO at all. And I chose Dahua, because I love the cams, but honestly, a SWANN NVR i used in the past, was way easier and more flexible and functional to use (still not anywhere as useful as BI though, IMO).
Click to expand...

Hi Bluecam,

The entire embedded devices space is not as functional nor as controllable as we would like. There are only a few companies who are doing a very good job in that space, and they are charging super premium $ for their products.
 
bluecam said:
@mat200

I've used Blue Iris for years at home, and very used to using it. But at an offsite location, for space and power limitations, I had someone talk me into the NVR.
I really regret it, as it is just not as user friendly, flexible, or useful, IMO at all. And I chose Dahua, because I love the cams, but honestly, a SWANN NVR i used in the past, was way easier and more flexible and functional to use (still not anywhere as useful as BI though, IMO).
Click to expand...
the swan nvr was likely a hikvision...still crap
 
It's never too late for disposal via eBay sales and move back to Blue Iris.
 
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