Hikvision Dual NVR Support

[Josh Dinsdale]

Hi Guys

First post so go easy!

I have a bit of experience with Hikvision NVRs and Cameras, but primarily on smaller systems, sub 16 cams.

I have a customer who is looking to install a slightly larger system, around 20 cams. I am looking at quoting for a DS-7732NI-I4/16P, and using an additional POE switch to power the rest of the cams.

The customer has previously suffered a break in during which the criminals stole the NVR, which meant no evidence for the police. He initially asked me for a remote NVR or backup solution, however i explained that due to the bandwidth requirements, this would probably be unfeasible.
I have since talked him into having a second NVR on site in a separate location, however I am unsure of the best way to achieve this.

The first option would be to use a NAS in the second location, mount it as an NFS share and record the cameras to both the internal drive and NFS mount. The downside to this is that if the NVR did get stolen again (however unlikely) I dont know how easy it would be to manually grab the streams from the NAS?

The second option would be to use another NVR and configure the cameras to record to this as well as the primary. However I dont know if the cameras support streaming to a second device simultaneously, or if i would have to use their substream which may not be as good quality?

To be honest, the whole thing is a bit bananas, I have told the client that I will be securing the the new primary NVR in such a way that it would be extremely difficult to remove, however he is adamant he needs some sort of backup.

Any thoughts?

 

[alastairstevenson]

The second option would be to use another NVR and configure the cameras to record to this as well as the primary. However I dont know if the cameras support streaming to a second device simultaneously, or if i would have to use their substream which may not be as good quality?

This depends entirely on the camera streaming capabilities.
I have a couple of Hikvision NVRs (DS-7816N-E2 and DS-7616NI-K2) with all cameras configured on both NVRs, one for continuous and one for events.
And a subset of the cameras also feed a couple of NAS surveillance solution apps.
Going back a while - I also used to pull the RTSP streams off one NVR for another NVR.
All this is on a Gigabit LAN, so bandwidth is not an issue.

To be honest, the whole thing is a bit bananas,

I disagree.
I have split the equipment into 'normal' locations and 'obscured' locations - because it's very easy to do so, despite the low chance that doing so might be really useful sometime.

The customer has previously suffered a break in during which the criminals stole the NVR, which meant no evidence for the police.

In which case you should be able to fully understand your customer's concerns, and support them.
It's not hard to do.

 

[Josh Dinsdale]

Hi Alistair

Thanks for your reply.

Don't worry I do understand his concerns, it's just that my first instinct is to try and keep costs down if I can. However in this instance, and with the clients prior CCTV experience in mind, you are quite correct that a bit of sensitivity is likely required here. If he is happy to pay for a second NVR I am quite happy to help with his piece of mind.

 

[alastairstevenson]

I've seen no problems pulling 3 or 4 streams from Hikvision cameras.
I've seen some low-cost Chinese brands that specify that just 2 mainstreams are available - and that was confirmed.
And, even though it adds a bit of interdependence, pulling RTSP stream off an NVR for another NVR decouples any camera limitations.