Looking For a New Basic 4CH NVR to Upgrade My Discontinued HikVision DS-7604NI-E1/4P

[ozhawk]

Hello IPCamTalk, my first thread - I hope this isn't a question that's asked too often, there's so much info here and after searching and seeing pages and pages of threads, some similar, some not so close, I decided to create this one. I hope it's ok.

I spent a long time considering at least getting my old NVR up to the latest firmware to see if that would improve some of the issues that I've had with it, but I've now decided to buy a new NVR.

My question is: I currently have an old discontinued HikVision DS-7604NI-E1/4P (with 3 HikVision cameras, all POE: DS-2CD2T45G0P-I, DS-2CD2165G0-I, DS-2CD2T42WD-I5).

I thought I had a NVR picked out, (HikVision DS-7604NI-K1/4P) and was ready to order it - then I found out that it too was discontinued. So I thought I'd ask here to get some opinions about the best way to go forward, considering my budget limitations (ideally, no more than $600-800 total including the HDD) and future updates preferred - I'd like to have security update/firmware support for at least a few years, the longer the better.

Is the Hikvision DS-7604NXI-K1/4P a good choice for me who would be happy with the NVR I currently have (DS-7604NI-E1/4P) if it wasn't discontinued? I've found this model online for around $260.
I don't need any special AI features which I noticed another similar model (DS-7604NI-I1/4P) has.

Is this the right model for an Australian? And should I strictly get firmware updates from the Hikvision/au-en/ website? Or, if not, which other websites would be fine to get firmware updates from?

Any input, or advice or other model suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

*Edited to add the correct model. HikVision could really do better with their naming conventions IMO.

 

[alastairstevenson]

Is the Hikvision DS-7604NXI-K1/4P a good choice for me who would be happy with the NVR I currently have (DS-7604NI-E1/4P) if it wasn't discontinued? I've found this model online for around $260.
I don't need any special AI features which I noticed another similar model (DS-7604NI-I1/4P) has.

Maybe worth a look to see if used versions of either of those models, or 8ch versions, are available on your eBay as is the case here in the UK, at quite low prices.

I spent a long time considering at least getting my old NVR up to the latest firmware to see if that would improve some of the issues that I've had with it,

What's the nature of the problems you are seeing?
The 4-ch E-series is very much a low-end model, maybe you are pushing it to it's limits with the choice of connected cameras.
I'd expect it to be quite sluggish, and to give pauses and jumps on playback and live view.
The I-series and K-series provide a lot more performance (though no AI features beyond what the cameras can do), and the 8-ch models even more so.

 

[ozhawk]

The issues I've been having are, like you said, really sluggish over the network, sometimes loading only 1 camera, occasionally 2 cameras, sometimes none at all. The network is a Gigabit wired connection, so it's not bandwidth related.

I cannot set up email alerts, even though the test email went through completely fine. I gave up after a few hours of messing around on that one particular issue.

I've had to use iVMS-4200 to change some settings, and vice versa - some settings won't save in iVMS-4200 and require me to use the NVR admin page.

Clicking "save" on the NVR's own admin page, plugged into a TV doesn't seem to save some options, or give me the option to change settings which are available to change via iVMS-4200. Settings for changing the resolution on the cameras, for example. IR ON doesn't seem to save via the NVR.

The firmware is very outdated, so it could be as simple as updating it. As I said, however, I'm a little apprehensive of trying to update the firmware, especially because I can't find all of the digicap files online, nor am I sure if they're from the right region. I've read (here, and elsewhere including ChatGPT) that it's not wise to jump straight to the latest firmware from an old one for fear of potentially bricking the NVR, even if it can be recovered, that's not my idea of fun.

Some of the other issues I've had: after a power outage, even though I have a solar panel backup with a battery, which should not cut power completely to anything on that circuit for more than a couple of seconds, the system reset the date to 1970, according to a tech mate of mine who had a look while I was out of town, which made me check the HDD to see if I'd lost all prior recordings due to a drive fault. After checking the HDD, it gave me an error on one of the blocks, so the (3TB) HDD needs to be replaced.

Thanks for your response. I think it would be a good idea to go for an 8 channel system. I might even be able to find some additional places for more cameras.

The two that stand out are the Hikvision DS-7608NXI-K1/8P (AcuSense Series) or the DS-7608NI-I2/8P - out of these two, is there any reason I should prefer one over the other? Is one an "I" series, the other a "K" series? I'm a bit lost with the naming conventions, as I mentioned above.

Appreciate your help.

 

[ozhawk]

Also, I should add to the above - that since the firmware and possibly also the NVR is so old, I cannot use a web browser to access the interface without a very buggy plugin due to ActiveX not being supported on modern browsers. The plugins I've used on Chromium based browsers are IE Tab (which I found didn't work at all and the trial period is now over so it doesn't work at all) and IEability, which works on occasion but is not ideal. This makes it a pain to login with a web browser, and the free trials of these plugins are about to expire