Dahua NVR5216-4KS2 / NVR5216-16P-4KS2

[Wildcat_1]

Thanks for replying with further info.

I own both of the 5231’s you have plus a 5241-Z12 and many other cams. The Z12’s are both on LPR duty and have Samsung Pro Endurances in (just for backup purposes) and are connected to the NVR. Theses cams are rock solid when connected to the NVR, never miss a cap. In fact I even have both of these running triangulation spotter duties for my PTZ’s on overwatch as well.

Definitely check out configuration recommendations and pics of capture for the LPR setup that myself, @bigredfish and others have shared on that sub-forum. Personally I run much higher FPS on mine and also have tight FOVs setup but enough to allow the cam to detect a target and grab a plate. I also have multiple sub-streams feeding out too when using OpenALPR. Again, no issue with NVR keeping up at all.

Again to clarify the ‘heavy lifting’. You want to let the cam worry about monitoring triggers and capturing targets (processing against the trigger). In the newer AI cams there is even more processing it does like ANPR etc where it 1st has to determine that a vehicle is a target then has to process the plate. As I mentioned SOC’s and RAM/ROM improvements in these newer cams certainly help. The punchline though being, let the NVR (or another source as I mentioned) worry about the recording and therefore allow the cam to offload that way. SD cards are always good as a backup for sure but let the NVR do what its there to do

On the SD card front, I did an SD card rundown of my top 3 after testing across many cams up to 4K and ranked them as such (please remember this is my opinion based on my testing only). I tried many EVO Select cards as part of that and had nothing but issues (at 1 point had 6 of them for testing, always saw missed frames, skipped playbacks on those, locally or in cam). The EVO plus made the top 3 for me but I would stay well clear of the Selects personally.

1. Samsung Pro Endurance (longevity and useful for most applications albeit may be limited in 4K sustained use)
2. Toshiba Exceria M303 (speed no matter what you throw at it)
3. Samsung Evo Plus (not bad card but in comparison to the other 2, saw more issues with this)

Link to memory card post if interested

Thanks everyone for the responses!

Here are my 3 EmpireTech Andy cams:

• IPC-HDBW4231F-E2-M
• IPC-HDW5231R-ZE IP
• IPC-HFW5231E-Z12E

Each camera has the Samsung 128GB 100MB/s (U3) MicroSDXC EVO Select SD Card installed.

Each camera is powered by their own POE+ injector and are not connected to the internet until I connect the ethernet cable from the switch to the router to view them in IE, so I know they are not being taxed in any other way. The motion detection seems to be working fine - I am not missing any "events" that triggered the motion detection to record and is only catching the events I want to record, but I get several recordings per day where on play back it will skip anywhere from 6-8 seconds or more of the clip.

For example, the clip will show the recording event is from 12:23:35 to 12:23:50 and when it plays back it will start out at 12:23:35 and you watch it tick up a couple seconds then jumps from 12:23:38 to 12:23:45 (thus missing 12:23:38 to 12:12:23:44) before arriving at 12:23:45 and finish playing to 12:23:50, thus missing the entire vehicle within that clip. Even downloading the clip to the computer hard drive and it still skips.

The Z12E FOV is such that the vehicle is in the frame for at least 8 frames and it is set to 8 FPS. The ZE is set to 10 FPS and the vehicle is in the frame for 12 frames. The E2 is a fixed lens so its FOV is large and objects stay in its view for awhile.

The skipping isn't consistent. Sometimes the skipped frames will be after a vehicle hasn't passed for several hours (both day and night) and sometimes it is the back end of a long recording after 3-4 vehicles pass within the same event.

I was under the impression that one of the benefits of IPC was that the cam did the heavy lifting and not the NVR - it sounds like that is wrong information? So the NVR could record and capture without missing frames even if the SD Card does?

 

[wittaj]

@Wildcat_1 Thanks so much for taking the time to explain this to me - that all makes sense. I have read so much over the past month, things started to run together. I don't recall now where I read one of the advantages of IP versus analog was where the heaving lifting was done, but it sounds like nobody here is having trouble with this NVR in regards to missing any part of the recording.

It is frustrating when you do all this research, select something like what appears to be the right SD Card based on specs and ratings and personal testing (AJA program to test speeds) and then have that be the issue. I wonder if the rewriting over old has something to do with it? In any event I guess I will look at switching them out.

I love all of these cams - the ability to dial it in with so many settings is incredible. In fact, I got a couple of my neighbors into the 5231 family to set up more LPR around the neighborhood. Thanks to the many posts you and @bigredfish and many others, it didn't take long for me to dial in the settings to get incredible LPR in all conditions.

So my to do list is:

• Figure out if going to an NVR was the right approach (sounds like it is and will order this NVR ASAP).
• Figure out the whole VPN situation - currently looking at an ASUS router with VPN built in or the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X - what are you doing? Then figure out the send text and email part behind VPN,
• Figure out the OpenALPR situation by looking at yours and others setups - would love the ability to get a download of the plates that pass and if an incident happens first start at searching for plates that passed less than a certain number of times, etc.
• Figure out if an existing cheap PTZ I bought years ago should be brought onto this NVR or not. Would like to set up the triangulation thing at some point.
• Figure out how many more cams to buy from Andy.

 

[Wildcat_1]

Hahah now that’s a list !

On the VoN and networking front, after many years professionally and personally using Cisco, I switched to Unifi and haven’t looked back. Now my setup is multi layers deep and not something you would need but to Keep it simple, at one of the entry point for my LAN I use an ER4 but you could use a lighter weight (but incredibly functional) ERX as @guykuo has detailed in his latest threads or even a standard USG (although great GUI and needed for single pane approach, would not recommend if you have a gig internet feed as IPS/IDS will reduce it by large amounts of used). For POE switches I run US24’s and 48s but again depending on your needs even the 8-150 or 8-60 for either total or single branch area connectivity will work.

Lastly, yes surveillance rated SD cards (like HDDs) are specifically built to handle continuous overwrites, random accessing and harsh environments whereas other cards just focus on speed and price.

HTH and reach out if you need any assistance. We’re all here to help.

@Wildcat_1 Thanks so much for taking the time to explain this to me - that all makes sense. I have read so much over the past month, things started to run together. I don't recall now where I read one of the advantages of IP versus analog was where the heaving lifting was done, but it sounds like nobody here is having trouble with this NVR in regards to missing any part of the recording.

It is frustrating when you do all this research, select something like what appears to be the right SD Card based on specs and ratings and personal testing (AJA program to test speeds) and then have that be the issue. I wonder if the rewriting over old has something to do with it? In any event I guess I will look at switching them out.

I love all of these cams - the ability to dial it in with so many settings is incredible. In fact, I got a couple of my neighbors into the 5231 family to set up more LPR around the neighborhood. Thanks to the many posts you and @bigredfish and many others, it didn't take long for me to dial in the settings to get incredible LPR in all conditions.

So my to do list is:

• Figure out if going to an NVR was the right approach (sounds like it is and will order this NVR ASAP).
• Figure out the whole VPN situation - currently looking at an ASUS router with VPN built in or the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X - what are you doing? Then figure out the send text and email part behind VPN,
• Figure out the OpenALPR situation by looking at yours and others setups - would love the ability to get a download of the plates that pass and if an incident happens first start at searching for plates that passed less than a certain number of times, etc.
• Figure out if an existing cheap PTZ I bought years ago should be brought onto this NVR or not. Would like to set up the triangulation thing at some point.
• Figure out how many more cams to buy from Andy.

 

[wittaj]

@Wildcat_1 - wow that is some gear you have! I guess I may get to that point some day!

 

[wittaj]

So I bit the bullet and ordered this NVR this morning, so I guess the wait is on LOL...and then more questions as I try to set it up!

But first I totally screwed things up last night - I thought "Hey let's try SmartPSS" before I buy this NVR and see if it will do what I want. Basically, I learned I like logging directly into the Cams better. So I set up the PC-NVR/SmartPSS to do continuous recording onto the C drive. But it really lagged the old computer I was on, so I tried to shut down PSS/PC-NVR and it wouldn't. I tried to uninstall it and it said it was running despite trying everything possible to kill the program, even closing it in Task Manager, it wouldn't, so I did a system restore last night to a time prior to installing PSS/PC-NVR.

This morning I go into the cams and see that they recorded continuously until 8:28am and then quit recording and not recording motion now. I log into each cam and all the settings are what they were prior to installing PSS/PC-NVR? I have no idea what is going on and I guess I will factory reset them in hopes that fixes it.

So with the 5216 NVR - can you record motion on the camera SD Card but continuous on the NVR or do they end up matching which ever way you set them up (NVR or camera)?

For the NVR everyone says go with the WD Purple even though the specs have a much lower RPM and cache than other brands?

 

[bigredfish]

So with the 5216 NVR - can you record motion on the camera SD Card but continuous on the NVR or do they end up matching which ever way you set them up (NVR or camera)?

For the NVR everyone says go with the WD Purple even though the specs have a much lower RPM and cache than other brands?

Yes you can record both full time and motion/IVS on the NVR and still record motion on the camera SD. Are.

WD purple is all I use

 

[wittaj]

Yes you can record both full time and motion/IVS on the NVR and still record motion on the camera SD. Are.

WD purple is all I use

Sounds good I like the flexibility of having just motion on the SD Card.

Are you running two drives in your NVR - it appears you can set which camera records to which drive?

I'm excited about this NVR arriving, but also a little overwhelmed with how much customization I may need to set up.

 

[Wildcat_1]

@wittaj And I’ll add my fave, Seagate Skyhawks Either these or WD Purples (as @bigredfish mentioned) are good, whatever you do do NOT cheap out on a non surveillance rated HDD !

 

[Wildcat_1]

2 drives gives you a lot more flexibility in how you configure so yes would recommend if in your budget.

Take your time with the NVR when you get it and feel free to reach out for any assistance. These are very capable units and give you a host of options with 4.0 to assist you both with current cams and should / as you expand your system even up to AI cams.

Sounds good I like the flexibility of having just motion on the SD Card.

Are you running two drives in your NVR - it appears you can set which camera records to which drive?

I'm excited about this NVR arriving, but also a little overwhelmed with how much customization I may need to set up.

 

[hd88]

Hi,

I forgot the login password for the NVR. I try to reset by answering the security questions but that didn't work. Anyone know how to reset the password back to the factory default?

Thanks!

 

[catcamstar]

Hi,

I forgot the login password for the NVR. I try to reset by answering the security questions but that didn't work. Anyone know how to reset the password back to the factory default?

Thanks!

You can try to recover password through configtool, it generates a security code to forward to your Dahua (re)seller.

 

[photogeek54]

Anti-dither for IVS rule on 5208 NVR?

I have my IVS rules setup to send me email when tripped. If I'm outside working it might cause dozens of rapid fire emails. I see an anti-dither parameter for motion detection which I think I could use to only allow the emails every few minutes or so but I don't see any such thing for IVS rules. Any ideas?

 

[catcamstar]

I would let this handle by your mailbox rules.... I prefer 1 mail too much than an important snapshot lost....

 

[ipcflow]

i have installed a SSD to the NVR5208-8P-4KS2E, is this ok or will it junk the sectors?

i am not sure if the NVR use TRIM to clear old files while deleting?