Need a little advice

[Kpanic09]

Well with the huge help of quite a few members on here, this newb is getting closer to buying a system....but I still need a little more input...

So I am thinking of going with 4
Dahua 2MP H265 WDR IR Eyeball cameras from aliexpress
As well as a 8ch dahua 4216 4k NVR from aliexpress

Besides the wiring is there anything else i would need? I dont know if the nvr comes with a hard drive? Also I see aliexpress ships from China would these products be able to update ?

 

[nayr]

NVR's do not come with disks; I suggest the WD Purple lineup.. the largest you can possibly afford; I wouldn't install anything less than 4TB.. Ive got a 4TB and a 6TB and I get >3 weeks of continuous recording w/my 8 cameras..

If you dont get a NVR w/built in PoE (I suggest you dont), then you need an external PoE switch, and you should also consider putting it all on a battery backup.

You'll also want a router capable of running a VPN Server for secure remote access.

 

[Kpanic09]

Ok sweet ill get a 4tb purple hd so your saying i should get a nvr with poe built in? Any recomendations for a router?

 

[nayr]

if you are only going to ever plug in Dahua cameras into it and want a simple plug-n-play setup; then get the internal PoE.. if you intend to use basic ONVIF cameras, or if you want to do any advanced configuration setups; you'll want them on an external PoE switch

 

[Kpanic09]

Oh okay is aliexpress trustworthy? Are there cameras and nvrs updatable?

 

[nayr]

Ive never had any problems with AliExpress, knock on wood.. but shit happens and its harder to deal with it overseas if it does.

yes they should be updatable; but that dont mean that you should update them.. or that there will even be updates made avilable.

 

[Kpanic09]

Oh okay i didnt kno i saw alot of the hik cameras brick if you update them so i was just worried these might...

 

[nayr]

Unlike Hikvision, Dahua is smart enough to do sanity checks on the firmware before attempting to write to flash.. rest assured it wont let you apply the wrong firmware to your device and end up with a brick.

however, recovery options are minimal and require very extremely advanced technical capabilities.. if anything goes sideways durring the update, like say something as simple as a small power outage, or bad flash.. then it'll be a brick.

 

[Kpanic09]

Oh wow yeah im not crazy computer savy maybe i should stick to some cams from nellys ...

 

[nayr]

all have these issues; firmware updates are inherently risky.. you cant really make it risk free; you can update the BIOS on that computer you have right now and turn it into a brick for the exact same reasons..

If the device works out of the box.. then you will unlikely ever have any valid reason for performing a firmware update.. if its not broken, there is no reason to fix it.

 

[Kpanic09]

Oh okay i see i figured they were like windows or phones updates come out and you must update to keep working properly

 

[nayr]

Oh okay i see i figured they were like windows or phones updates come out and you must update to keep working properly

not even remotely, if your windows update or smartphone update blows up in your face.. just wipe em, do a clean install and restore your data from backups..

The chips are soldered to the circuit boards, trying to write to them when they wont startup is a huge PITA.. not like its a removable memory inside you can take out, put in your PC and then flash the right firmware back onto.

the vast majority of my devices have never been updated and are still running just as strong as they day I installed them; and they will continue to the day I remove them.

 

[Kpanic09]

Ok sweet i guess i will stick with ordering from aliexpress and just never update them with the mentioned above cameras and nvr, the only reason i was asking if anything else i needed was because i have a buddy who installs security cameras on and off in his spare time so didnt want to be caught of guard

 

[nayr]

Look at some of the modern high speed asus routers; they come with a pretty fool proof VPN Server setup out of the box.. a few clicks in the right plates, then download a config file to your devices and open it with an OpenVPN app.

Also read my VPN Primer for Noobs

 

[Kpanic09]

Ok sweet i can do all of the stuff without a desktop computer? All i have is a microsoft surface

 

[nayr]

I have no experience with that device; last Windows system I was familiar with was released in the 90's..

if you can run normal x86 windows apps on it, then I dont see why not..

 

[Kpanic09]

Oh ok haha well hrmm i dont know... i didnt realize there was so much to getting a good camera system haha i was almost going to just get a costco system a month back

 

[nayr]

the video recorder will allow you to do most of the management via a monitor hooked up directly via HDMI or something; so it can be done w/out a PC.. but tablets generally wont load up the Web video because they require plugins that are not avilable on tablet specific platforms.. Smart Phones and tablets usually have specific apps for em, dahua offers Android and IOS apps but I dont recall seeing a Win tablet/phone app.

if you can install and run SmartPSS on your fancy surface, you'll probably be just fine with what you have.. here is download info: Template:SmartPSS - Dahua Wiki

 

[Kpanic09]

ok sounds good " my fancy surface" haha! Well sounds good looks like i just need that setup above a 4tb hd and a monitor and hopefully go from there

 

[nayr]

just make sure your monitor is 1080p, I just have mine hooked up to my TV and got a wireless mouse for it (it wont use a keyboard, mouse control only).. but I do have dedicated displays showing the cams all the time and they work out very well, if not on the TV then get something with wide viewing angles so you can look at it walking by, like an IPS monitor.