Should I Avoid EOL NVRs?

[crosis]

Was considering purchasing the Dahua NVR5208-8P-4KS2E but Dauha's states it's End of Life. I'm looking for an NVR to accommodate at least: 1 HDD, 5x IP cams (Dahua 5442T-ZE, 5442E-Z4E-S3), 4MP w/ POE ports. I dont care for Alarm In/Out stuff.

I'm planning on having each IP Cam handle their own SMD or IVS detection and not the NVR, unless there's some advantage to just having the NVR handle it all. With that said is there anything more a newer model NVR offers beyond the end of life NVR5208-8P-4KS2 which could accommodate my particular cameras better and/or improve my overall experience?

Thank you.

 

[Flintstone61]

Good question.
@alastairstevenson
@bigredfish
mine are EOL....4108's and 4116....but my needs are simple....Im also recording the streams to a Blue Iris PC...

 

[tigerwillow1]

I'm running a version 1 5216-4ks2 and it's doing everything I need, which is 24x7 recording, marking IVS events, and 100% so-far reliability. I run 16 cameras and use 2 of the alarm inputs. If I don't find a new need, a newer NVR won't serve me any better. What I regret most is not being able to add a camera #17.

 

[mat200]

Was considering purchasing the Dahua NVR5208-8P-4KS2E but Dauha's states it's End of Life. I'm looking for an NVR to accommodate at least: 1 HDD, 5x IP cams (Dahua 5442T-ZE, 5442E-Z4E-S3), 4MP w/ POE ports. I dont care for Alarm In/Out stuff.

I'm planning on having each IP Cam handle their own SMD or IVS detection and not the NVR, unless there's some advantage to just having the NVR handle it all. With that said is there anything more a newer model NVR offers beyond the end of life NVR5208-8P-4KS2 which could accommodate my particular cameras better and/or improve my overall experience?

Thank you.

Depends on what you need, for the basics .. the original eol nvrs are still good .. if you get a sweet deal, that would be nice.

 

[bigredfish]

I am using a 2 year old 5216-16P-4KS2E and have an identical one on the closet as backup that I acquired cheap.

I would stick with the workhorse Pro 5000 series for now. I just dont see a huge benefit of the new EI series for the average homeowner as I prefer to do AI at the camera, and as we've seen, turning on AI at the NVR cuts bandwidth capacity almost in half.

 

[MC1987]

Nothing wrong with that recorder if you have intelligent cameras added

 

[The Automation Guy]

I would say that if you use EOL equipment, you really need to make sure it is not exposed to or able to access the internet at all. Obviously this is a recommendation we suggest for ALL CCTV equipment, but it is doubly important for equipment that is no longer receiving security updates. (But let's be honest, very few IOT devices ever receive a security update - which is why we say to keep all of this type of equipment off the internet).

EDIT - I guess I should clarify and say that I would have no problem using EOL gear as long as it met my needs.

 

[bigredfish]

Agree, but Dahua EOLs a lot of gear about every 2 years. My budget can’t keep up!

 

[crosis]

I would say that if you use EOL equipment, you really need to make sure it is not exposed to or able to access the internet at all. Obviously this is a recommendation we suggest for ALL CCTV equipment, but it is doubly important for equipment that is no longer receiving security updates. (But let's be honest, very few IOT devices ever receive a security update - which is why we say to keep all of this type of equipment off the internet).

EDIT - I guess I should clarify and say that I would have no problem using EOL gear as long as it met my needs.

Curious. Do you ever access your Cams / NVR remotely? I own rental properties and so would like to peak in when i receive notifications at 4am. My setup doesnt have any 3G/4G connections only Internet.

 

[Starglow]

Just keep in mind there probably won't be any new software / firmware updates released and no end user tech support for EOL products.

 

[mat200]

Curious. Do you ever access your Cams / NVR remotely? I own rental properties and so would like to peak in when i receive notifications at 4am. My setup doesnt have any 3G/4G connections only Internet.

Checkout the VPN wiki notes, and search VPN server here in the threads ..

basically, run a VPN server on the router or behind the router to access your internal LAN ..

 

[bigredfish]

Probably no new firmware updates, but those are rarely if EVER issued for security, and they wont update them to have more on board AI or that would mess with the new model sales.

As the camera AI is most important IMHO and with Dahua coming out with new AI features on new cams every 12-18 months, the problem isnt keeping up with NVR firmware, its keeping up with new camera features.

 

[The Automation Guy]

Curious. Do you ever access your Cams / NVR remotely? I own rental properties and so would like to peak in when i receive notifications at 4am. My setup doesnt have any 3G/4G connections only Internet.

As mat200 suggested, we recommend running a self hosted VPN service (usually on your firewall/router - most models will support some sort of self hosted VPN). This is a free set up that will allow you to access your local network while remote. It only requires a single forwarded port to be open on your firewall and that port gets forwarded to the VPN service. That service requires both a matching set of login credentials and an encryption key before traffic is passed on to the rest of the network. The encryption key is what makes this method so much more secure than any other method.

Also, by using the VPN connection, your remote device will "appear" on the local network like a normal device. So you will have access to all of your CCTV cameras, etc even if those devices themselves don't have access to the internet. You will even use the same local IP address to view your NVR/cameras as you do when you are physically on the local network.

That being said, the fact that you are trying to connect to a rental property does muddy the waters a little bit on an ethical level (but not a technical level). You can easily segment a VPN connection so that you only have access to certain subnet/device. This way you could set up a full time VPN that would only access the CCTV system on the rental house. I don't think you would want to have access to the rest of the network for privacy reasons, but you could set it up where you would always have access to the cameras and could receive notifications as well.

 

[crosis]

As mat200 suggested, we recommend running a self hosted VPN service (usually on your firewall/router - most models will support some sort of self hosted VPN). This is a free set up that will allow you to access your local network while remote. It only requires a single forwarded port to be open on your firewall and that port gets forwarded to the VPN service. That service requires both a matching set of login credentials and an encryption key before traffic is passed on to the rest of the network. The encryption key is what makes this method so much more secure than any other method.

Also, by using the VPN connection, your remote device will "appear" on the local network like a normal device. So you will have access to all of your CCTV cameras, etc even if those devices themselves don't have access to the internet. You will even use the same local IP address to view your NVR/cameras as you do when you are physically on the local network.

That being said, the fact that you are trying to connect to a rental property does muddy the waters a little bit on an ethical level (but not a technical level). You can easily segment a VPN connection so that you only have access to certain subnet/device. This way you could set up a full time VPN that would only access the CCTV system on the rental house. I don't think you would want to have access to the rest of the network for privacy reasons, but you could set it up where you would always have access to the cameras and could receive notifications as well.

Very informative. Thank you!

 

[Flintstone61]

Can he Use Tailscale with an NVR?
Remember folks, It's tired out and I'm typing at 1 am.....
Just spit ballin....