Day 4 of BI: Time to convert my dad! lol Does hikvision connect to BI?

[Yellow-Snow]

Day 4 of BI: Time to convert my dad! lol Does hikvision connect to BI?

So my dad has some cheap chinese dvr he hates. Wants to upgrade. I keep seeing hikvision over and over.

Does it connect to BI?

Should he just get a capture card and a pc instead?

 

[Tuckerdude]

Yellow-Snow...

You are bit all over the place with your question, but I will try to help! Hikvision IP cameras are generally compatible with Blue Iris, and it does a good job of discovering them on your network and utilizing the specific features of each.

Capture cards are generally utilized for "Analog" cameras which have inherent limitations and low resolution. The best advice I can give is to find a decent computer with a core i7 processor that supports "Quick-Sync" from Intel. These systems can be had for a reasonable cost and are good at handling a modest setup of Hi-Def cameras, while providing all the features that Blue Iris has to offer.

Hope this helps!

 

[Silas]

BI 'IS' the NVR (Only Better) So are you asking if the CCDVR can be connected to BI?

You may find that BI will see the cameras on the CCDVR

 

[Otis]

I currently have BI running and 9 Hikvision cameras connected. They are all bullet type and most models are DS-2CDxxx. When you set up the camera you select the model in the drop down, some of my cameras have required me to select "other RTSP". So, an answer to your question of BI connecting to Hikvision; yes from my experience.

 

[SantiagoDraco]

Day 4 of BI: Time to convert my dad! lol Does hikvision connect to BI?

So my dad has some cheap chinese dvr he hates. Wants to upgrade. I keep seeing hikvision over and over.

Does it connect to BI?

Should he just get a capture card and a pc instead?

One thing to remember... the cameras don't "connect to BI" rather BI connects to the cameras. The cameras sit out there on your network waiting for some authorized user/request to connect to it so it can send it's video stream. Each camera will have 1,2 or 3 (maybe more) "streams" available to send. As the camera is doing it's job it's making it's video available to be sent out to the requestor (BI in this case) via one of it's available streams. Each stream will likely have different parameters, ie higher resolution, a certain frame per second rate, or other settings applied to the chosen stream.

It can get complicated so the first best step is to 1) get your camera(s) working so you can connect to them with their factory app or webpage (some cameras allow you to connect to them using a browser as if they were a website and will provide various functions/features via their built in website). 2) Once you have the cameras working then you can go to BI and "add" the camera by pointing BI to the cameras IP address on your network and letting it do it's discovery magic (where it will talk to the camera and ask it what type it is, what features it supports and other things.) If all goes well it will get a proper match and the camera is now linked.

Now as you learn about using security cameras and how to use the wide range of features in BI you can customize it to work the way you want it to with each camera. There's a ton to do and lot's of information here on the forums to do so.

Good luck!