HikVision DS-7608NI-E2/8P - some pics and first impressions

[chrstodav]

The unit was purchased from E&M Security Center through AilExpress. It arrived safely and in the full retail box with English instructions etc. I am very impressed with the casing of the unit. To me it seems very sturdy and even with the lid off, the bottom part of the chassis was free from flex. The HDD was a breeze to install and took little time to set up.
After a few days, I am now starting to become familiar with the way it works. Right now I am running 2 x 2032 cams. I have set-up email alerts, port forwarding and motion detection. I did find it frustrating that there seems to be very little information on the internet regarding the current operating system. I also don't really like the fact that the interface on the unit itself is quite different from the internet browser. I accept that there would be a difference, however there seem to be a lot of function difference and I have found myself jumping between the browser interface, the unit interface, (which is in another room) and my netbook hooked up to the NVR ot fine tune the cameras.

I have managed to work most of it out myself, but there are still a few functions that I have no idea about. One question I have in particular is what the difference is and what is the reason for a main stream and a sub stream?

Anyway, it's a great little piece of kit, especially for the price. I am still glad I have opted for this path rather than the whole PC thing that many people seem to go down. I feel much better leaving this box on 24/7 than a PC. That's just my opinion and it works for me.

Cheers,

Chris

 

[alastairstevenson]

Thanks for sharing, Chris.
Main stream and Sub stream for cameras is intended for those situations where the primary HD stream may be unsuitable for the device viewing - for example a phone or tablet, or even for streaming over a low bandwidth connection. Having 2 means there doesn't need to be an either / or choice where for example you might want to be continuously recording the HD stream.
It sounds like if you can configure the cameras when they are on the PoE ports you have found and enabled the 'Virtual Host' feature.

Out of interest - what version of firmware was shipped with the device?
If you are curious about the internals, and are comfortable at the Linux telnet command line, here are some commands that give some information. Log in as 'root' with your admin password:
getHardInfo
cat /proc/cpuinfo
free
top (q to exit)

Depending on how many cameras and the type of recording you configure - you may be surprised at how quickly you consume a 2TB disc.

 

[chrstodav]

Thanks for the info Alastair!

I was not that worried about purchasing a 2Tb drive. I only need a maximum of 2 weeks worth of video and I can always add a second drive later on. 2tb seemed to be the best value for money at the time. Right now, I only have the 2 cams and I am planning on adding another 2-3 only which is plenty for my application. Motion detection seems fine for what I want but I am already having problems with spiders triggering the cameras at night. LOL. I have set the cameras at 1080p for now at least.
You are correct about the 'virtual host'. I followed instructions from another thread and plugged my netbook into the NVR to access the cameras. t works quite easily. Since I am running Poe and don't have a seperate poe switch, I really had no choice obviously.
I am still yet to optimize the video settings on the cameras and I have kept the parameters at the factory settings. I might start to try to tweak those settings next. I have adjusted the text, including the time and the text location/identity of the cams etc
The unit came with the current firmware I believe - 3.0.10. My cameras are 'brown box' 2032's, (Chinese versions upgraded to the English verison from the vendor in China through Ebay) but the NVR is an 'International' product I believe given the instructions and the official model number.

Chris

 

[phillip da]

Thanks for the review, I have the same unit due next tuesday. Theres a brand new 4TB Western Digital purple drive sitting on my bench ready to go.

 

[jamesf]

I have the same unit and just set it up. I too am becoming familiar with it. I have a 1 TB drive.
Can I ask where you found the info to set the ports up?

 

[chrstodav]

James, I will be the first to admit that the the port forwarding is quite easy when you know what you are doing. You have to actually sit down and think about it logically. Ports (doors) have to be open to let traffic in. The IP addresses are the location or the ID's of the devices you want to use. You just have to makes sure that you identify or name each device so that you can open the correct pathway. The thing that threw me was the fact that whenever I went to test to see that it was working, I kept just hitting the login page of my router. It took awhile to realize that you have to test it from a pc or device from outside the network. LOL!!!!

I kept ports 80, 8000 and 554 on the NVR, but made the incoming ports on my router 8585, 8008 and 554. My router uses port 8000 as a USB storage device port. Port 80 is usually blocked by your ISP coz it is the main internal network port and if you open that up, it leaves the door wide open. I chose 8585 because that's what people suggested on the internet. You'll see from the screenshots below that as long as you make the pathway in the router it will all work out.









Here are some links to videos that helped me.



You NEED to download SADP from Hikvision , (but you probably already know that?)
You'll have to obtain the username and password to access your router. (Change the default password.)
use canyouseeme.org to check settings

Make sure that if you have been playing around with the cameras on your network prior to obtaining the NVR, that you change their IP address back to the factory settings before you plug them into the NVR. It can become a real pain to fix this afterwards as the NVR won't recognize them. I have kept the factory IP addresses within the NVR network.

One big step too before all this happen of course!

You will need to connect a network cable from the NVR to your network switch or router and change the IP address in your NVR so that it can be accessed within your network.
eg my router's address it 10.1.1.1, so I made the address of my NVR 10.1.1.10.

Then you have access to the NVR from your PC within the network by typing in the NVR's address into your browser.

The setup is seen here.




The only other thing to setup is a laptop or netbook to access the camera directly through the NVR. The instructions are here.
http://www.ipcamtalk.com/nvr-s-dvr-s-and-computers/115-hitting-cameras-web-pages-laptop-nvr-poe.html

I am not a networking wizard. This took me all a few hours a night all this week to get this far including setting up the email setting which is not that difficult once you know the setting from your ISP. I watched heaps of Youtube videos and read lots threads in here to get to this point. I hope this info cuts hours off your set-up!

GOOD LUCK!

Chris

Oh and one EXTREMELY IMPORTANT thing to do......CHANGE THE PASSWORDS. Make sure that your passwords are not 12345 or 0000. Make every device within the network secure using strong passwords.

 

[scn101]

chrstodav, thanks for the pics. Would you mind posting a clearer pic of the power supply or simply the make/model#/etc. of the PS?

How loud is the fan? I know that is subjective but I can here mine 30 feet away so I keep it in a closet with the door CLOSED!

Below is a pic of the PS that is in my NVR.

 

[phillip da]

Mine arrived last tuesday and I've been trying to get it to work since day one with little success. It's working, but not as it should. Motion detection is being recorded outside of the zone. The fan sounds like a jet, it's so loud. The POE was a nightmare to get working on the NVR. I'm almost packing this thing away in it's box and placed in the cupboard to sort out another day and revert back to Blue Iris on my PC.

Sellers convinced me to give it another try today.

In regards to the fan I've seen a post on another forum where they guy removed the top of the Power-supply and removed the noisy fan, He than drilled a hole in the top enclosure and mounted a 80mm fan on the outside of the housing, on top of the power supply. He told me it's virtually silent, He can just barely hear the hum of the hard drive.

Of course will most likely void your warranty, but some of us, may have no choice in the matter.

 

[jamesf]

I'd have no problem doing this. mine is loud also.m I moved it out of the small cabinet where all my other tv and stereo stuff is and put it on the rug underneath it.. It's not nearly as loud. My wife may let me keep it... But if it's a problem I'll try this myself..

 

[phillip da]

scn101 You have a different power supply to what we have here, Ours are 190 W , I noticed on the image yours is 180 W.

 

[scn101]

Thanks philip da. I think I can just make out the Delta P/N as DPS-200PB-185 A. Those 1U fans (40mm x 40mm x 15mm) are loud. I have mine in a closed door closet so it doesn't really bother me now, except when I go in that closet which is rare. I DO LIKE the NVR, it does what it is supposed to do. The only things I don't like are the fan noise and that the remote login is missing some menu items like shutdown. I really shouldn't need a monitor next to the NVR ever, but you do. The built in POE switch is nice as it keeps your IPC traffic off your LAN so as not to interfere with other traffic like Netflix, VoIP, etc. Of course an external POE switch with one port to your main LAN would do the same.

The external fan "hack" is interesting. I think I'd use two fans, replace the PSU fan with a lower CFM 12V fan which will be much quieter and still use a secondary fan as shown. That way if one fails there will still be air flow. The PSU has no way to signal the NVR of fan failure (unlike PCs).

 

[fenderman]

Thanks philip da. I think I can just make out the Delta P/N as DPS-200PB-185 A. Those 1U fans (40mm x 40mm x 15mm) are loud. I have mine in a closed door closet so it doesn't really bother me now, except when I go in that closet which is rare. I DO LIKE the NVR, it does what it is supposed to do. The only things I don't like are the fan noise and that the remote login is missing some menu items like shutdown. I really shouldn't need a monitor next to the NVR ever, but you do. The built in POE switch is nice as it keeps your IPC traffic off your LAN so as not to interfere with other traffic like Netflix, VoIP, etc. Of course an external POE switch with one port to your main LAN would do the same.

The external fan "hack" is interesting. I think I'd use two fans, replace the PSU fan with a lower CFM 12V fan which will be much quieter and still use a secondary fan as shown. That way if one fails there will still be air flow. The PSU has no way to signal the NVR of fan failure (unlike PCs).

Side note, the built in poe switch will not help reduce network traffic...if you used an external switch the router would properly route the traffic from the switch to the NVR, not interfering with anything else. Also with a gigabit network even if it would be routed together it would not be an issue.

 

[scn101]

Without the NVR you would use your PC which means all traffic goes to your main router then to the PC running Blue Iris or whatever. This will use bandwidth to your PC and compete with traffic to your PC such as VoIP or watching Netflix on your PC. I guess I should have been more specific.

 

[phillip da]

Thanks philip da. I think I can just make out the Delta P/N as DPS-200PB-185 A. Those 1U fans (40mm x 40mm x 15mm) are loud. I have mine in a closed door closet so it doesn't really bother me now, except when I go in that closet which is rare. I DO LIKE the NVR, it does what it is supposed to do. The only things I don't like are the fan noise and that the remote login is missing some menu items like shutdown. I really shouldn't need a monitor next to the NVR ever, but you do. The built in POE switch is nice as it keeps your IPC traffic off your LAN so as not to interfere with other traffic like Netflix, VoIP, etc. Of course an external POE switch with one port to your main LAN would do the same.

The external fan "hack" is interesting. I think I'd use two fans, replace the PSU fan with a lower CFM 12V fan which will be much quieter and still use a secondary fan as shown. That way if one fails there will still be air flow. The PSU has no way to signal the NVR of fan failure (unlike PCs).

Yes, that's the correct P/N.

I had the same idea with installing two fans, one on the other side of NVR drawing air in and one above PSU drawing air out.

 

[fenderman]

Without the NVR you would use your PC which means all traffic goes to your main router then to the PC running Blue Iris or whatever. This will use bandwidth to your PC and compete with traffic to your PC such as VoIP or watching Netflix on your PC. I guess I should have been more specific.

I see, it appeared that you mean using built in poe on the NVR vs an nvr with an external poe switch....
If you put the PC on the same switch as the cameras it would have the same effect...
Regardless, it a non issue on a gigabit network...

 

[phillip da]

I will be leaving on holidays within the week, I will wait on my return and do the mod to the fan on the NVR, as there will be no one here to complain about the noise.

In regards to this NVR, mine arrived with firmware 3.2.1 and I'm having great difficulty in setting this up to work as it should, I've started another thread on the same section here under NVR in regards to how to set this up.

I'm usually pretty good with electronics, but this NVR software has me confused.

 

[chrstodav]

This is the one I have guys.

Mine is on the loud side yes, but it is no louder than any PC fan I have owned. I actually have my NVR in the closet in my bedroom and I just shut the door and it's fine. I have mine set on motion detection and I can say that I have never really noticed the HDD running. Changing the fan to a quieter one shouldn't be too difficult though.

Chris

 

[chrstodav]

I will be leaving on holidays within the week, I will wait on my return and do the mod to the fan on the NVR, as there will be no one here to complain about the noise.

In regards to this NVR, mine arrived with firmware 3.2.1 and I'm having great difficulty in setting this up to work as it should, I've started another thread on the same section here under NVR in regards to how to set this up.

I'm usually pretty good with electronics, but this NVR software has me confused.

REALLY??? 3.2.1? I didn't think that this unit was able to use that firmware?

Chris

 

[phillip da]

Yes, for real. I own one with Firmware 3.2.1 installed.

The same day my seller was due to post out the NVR to me, he sent me a message saying that a new NVR just arrived, a matter of hours before he was to post mine out and asked if I wanted one of the new stock that's just arrived with Firmware 3.2.1 installed. I replied back yes.

The NVR was only made about a month ago.

 

[phillip da]

Here is a screen shot of the web interface for my NVR.
Showing 3.2.1 firmware.

I was wondering why it was taken someone this long to have noticed this. I mentioned it somewhere here on the forum a week ago, but no one quoted on it or even queried.

The only problem for me, is I don't know how to set this up, I am getting motion detection recordings outside of the selected areas I have setup for each of my camera and I can't get the email to work on it.