I recently installed 6 gray market Hikvision cameras I ordered from AliExpress (DS-2CD3145F-I $70 each shipped; 3 running 5.3.9, 3 running 5.3.8). The few Hikvision parameters I have tried on Surveillance Station Pro on my QNAP TVS-682 do not work (I assume the QNAP software is actually querying the camera for its model number). The cameras do work with some ONVIF settings, however I have not trial and error'd any setting to get the alarm functionality on the cameras to work (which is ideal). With all that in mind, does anyone have experience or knowledge with gray market Hikvision cameras and the QNAP SS Pro software? If I am not able to get the alarm software working, I might bite the bullet and just purchase a gray market Hikvision NVR from the same outfit on AliExpress (DS-7604N-E1/4P) and use it instead. I looked briefly for various Hikvision NVR setups and could not find a clear answer, but my current setup has the cameras PoE connected at two locations in the house, so I ideally want to retain this setup and simply register each camera on the LAN within the NVR software - I am assuming that is possible but the Hikvision documentation is unclear whether their 4 port PoE NVR supports up to 16 channels over LAN or is limited to 4 channels (since that is the number of PoE ports it has - all of which I do not plan on using initially). Anyway, apologies if these answers are clear on the forum, but I am new to this realm and opinions are welcome!
Grey Market NVR Options (QNAP vs Grey Market NVR)
- Thread starter sphawk88
- Start date
alastairstevenson
Staff member
There is nothing in QNAP Surveillance Station that cares about the region of the Hikvision cameras - that's just something that Hikvision build into their 'back-end' products such as the NVRs.
The problem you will have with SS though is the time lag in QNAP coming out with updated model support.
However, for the basic things that Surveillance Station does, ie pull a video stream, listen for motion events from the camera (it doesn't as yet support 'smart events' such as line crossing detection, intrusion detection etc) the cameras across Hikvision's range have a pretty consistent command and control interface.
This means that you probably won't need to resort to using ONVIF to connect an as-yet unsupported Hikvision camera, just pick a model that's fairly close - though ONVIF ProfileS with SS does support motion detection.
Be aware though that h.265 is not supported.
*edit*
You'd have to buy a 16 channel NVR to use up to 16 cameras.
The number of PoE ports is always a subset of the number of channels, just think of it as an internal switch running off an additional internal interface. Cos that's what it is.
The problem you will have with SS though is the time lag in QNAP coming out with updated model support.
However, for the basic things that Surveillance Station does, ie pull a video stream, listen for motion events from the camera (it doesn't as yet support 'smart events' such as line crossing detection, intrusion detection etc) the cameras across Hikvision's range have a pretty consistent command and control interface.
This means that you probably won't need to resort to using ONVIF to connect an as-yet unsupported Hikvision camera, just pick a model that's fairly close - though ONVIF ProfileS with SS does support motion detection.
Yes, it does, and the message about 'model mismatch' isn't fatal, it's informational, and can usually just be ignored.
Be aware though that h.265 is not supported.
*edit*
If it's the "Hikvision NVR from the same outfit on AliExpress (DS-7604N-E1/4P)" you're referring to - that's a 4-channel NVR with 4 PoE ports.
You'd have to buy a 16 channel NVR to use up to 16 cameras.
The number of PoE ports is always a subset of the number of channels, just think of it as an internal switch running off an additional internal interface. Cos that's what it is.
Awesome, thanks for the info. H.265 is great, however I am wondering whether QNAP will support it anytime soon judging from what I read last night regarding prospective licensing of the compression (vs. MPG4 which did not). I would assume everyone would take a learning lesson from Apple (see the failure of Thunderbolt/miniDP and rise of USB3.1-C), but that does not seem to be the case here. In terms of the NVR, that is what I was afraid of - in my mind the number of ports on the NVR should not restrict the total number of channels if they were connected via the same LAN, however from a business perspective I am not surprised. It is a shame however I will have to buy a 16 port NVR which none of the ports will likely be used (since I will have the cameras connected over the LAN).
alastairstevenson
Staff member
I think you've misunderstood, apologies if I wasn't clear.
Examples:
7616N-E2 One LAN interface, can handle up to 16 cameras on the LAN
7616N-E2/8P One LAN interface, 8 PoE ports, can handle up to 16 cameras on the LAN with no PoE ports used, 8 cameras on the LAN with 8 PoE ports used, and every combination in between.
The internal hardware - the CPU/DSP SoC combo - varies with the number of channels the NVR is rated at.
ah, ok awesome. that is what i had hoped for. in that case i believe i might just go for the 7700 series NVR with 4 PoE ports. are you aware of what upgrades the newest model brings? it isn't much more on AE, however i supposed a gray market brand new model running the latest firmware where that firmware is not upgradable might run into issues if there are existing problems?
alastairstevenson
Staff member
I'm sorry, but I'm not familiar with that model.
Hopefully some of our installer members may comment.
no worries, hopefully i can find some decent documentation on it later tonight - if nothing else the 7604 appears to be more than sufficient for my needs. my main liking to the NVR is that i can control all motion zones communicating from one source. i could of course just set each one independently, however i am willing to spend the money to save some time after using my security time running cables through the ceilings and walls. once i have the NVR setup, it'll be time to setup some diy arduino power/light controls and at least one computer interface (win10/touch screen interface on wall/eventually android (maybe iOS) app). this is what happens when an electrical engineer gets bored working for the railroad, money is spent and things are automated beyond belief.
on another note, do you (or anyone else reading) know of any open source or ongoing products/projects involving facial or body tracking using IP/security cameras? my buddy and i have been contemplating attempting that type of application/coding but hadn't done any research into any current industry/DIY efforts.