Synology NAS NVR vs. a Standalone NVR

[mannymendez25]

I have been using a Synology NAS NVR for a few years now and am considering moving to standalone NVR.

1) When connecting to the cameras from a remote device such as my smartphone, it takes a good 2-3 minutes for the cameras to show video. I have opened several cases with Synology and they state to lower the resolution of the cameras but then that defeats the purpose of buying HD cameras
2) Every time I add a new camera, I have to pay $50 for a Synology camera license
3) When navigating to the NAS for data purposes, its very slow to open or transfer files.

I have been considering just using the NAS for data purposes and installing a separate IP - POE - NVR. Any thoughts or recommendations?

 

[sebastiantombs]

Read the material in the Wiki, in the blue bar at the top of the page, especially the Cliff Notes, on a real computer and not a phone or tablet. Then use the search tool, also in the blue bar on the far right, to research further.

 

[alastairstevenson]

I have been considering just using the NAS for data purposes and installing a separate IP - POE - NVR.

Go for it. Strictly, that's what a NAS is for. Or even BI on a used PC.
$50 per camera licence - no way is that a good deal.

 

[area651]

Go for it. Strictly, that's what a NAS is for. Or even BI on a used PC.
$50 per camera licence - no way is that a good deal.

I initially wanted to use my NAS as I do like the Synology Surveillance software but the cost I found to just be too much. Now you can still use it for 2 cameras for free so you don't have to totally abandon it. To me, the nas makes a great filing cabinet. Somewhere to store the files. As for running programs, imho, there are no personal nas systems that have enough compute power. I run my BI on a computer and store all my files on the NAS. It does work ok but the pipe can only handle a few continuous recording systems at a time. It is possible that I just don't have it properly configured though. Right or wrong, that's my experience.

 

[alastairstevenson]

As for running programs, imho, there are no personal nas systems that have enough compute power.

That's not really so. Many NAS models are 'Enterprise Class' in terms of computing power, even for the home user.
My QNAP NAS is running QVR Pro (8 free camera licences) and a bunch of apps and OSes under Virtualisation Station such as the very good pfSense as well as doing all the file serving that is its prime function.

 

[Sixto]

Synology Surveillance Station also just added support for Dahua IVS last week. Works great.

I‘ve been running Dahua NVR5216-4KS2 the last 3 years with four Dahua 5231’s but so far this week Surveillance Station has been perfect. Also just swapped out one of the cameras for the new Dahua 5442 varifocal turret.

I just need 24x7 recording and Tripwire IVS, works great. And quick. Everything loads immediately.

I have a Mac and I’ve always struggled with SmartPSS for the Mac, plugin problems sometimes depending on firmware level. Been running the NVR and Synology in parallel all week with no issues as I test. I also have OpenVPN, DDNS, and NTP server running on the Synology. Remote secure access works great, and I like the Synology app.

 

[area651]

That's not really so. Many NAS models are 'Enterprise Class' in terms of computing power, even for the home user.
My QNAP NAS is running QVR Pro (8 free camera licences) and a bunch of apps and OSes under Virtualisation Station such as the very good pfSense as well as doing all the file serving that is its prime function.

Keep in mind that's why I said "imho". It's just my opinion. It might not be the same as someone else's. Of course it all depends on what your expectations are vs want to spend on a NAS I suppose. IMHO (...there it is again), another computer can be bought cheaper to handle the extra load instead of spending money on the NAS. For the price I've seen of bumping your processor up to a quad core ARM, you can often find a decent i7 at least for the same price. It might just be the availability of full computers around here. I'm not sure what it's like where others are. I guess it comes down to several factors. How much you want to spend is one. Another can be what your needs are.

Regardless, I enjoy my NAS and it does what I need it to do. I could have spent more but then I guess that can always be said in retrospect. In the words of an American icon.....S'all Good Man....

 

[mannymendez25]

Lets say I do want to move my cameras to a stand-alone NVR, what are some recommended brands? My cameras are all Amcrest POE cameras.

 

[Sixto]

Lets say I do want to move my cameras to a stand-alone NVR, what are some recommended brands? My cameras are all Amcrest POE cameras.

What model number Synology are you running? Wondering why it's slow to load.

Mine is instantaneous for everything, both from the Mac Client and the iOS DSCam app, but I did just buy one of the new DSx20 models. Wondering.

 

[aristobrat]

Lets say I do want to move my cameras to a stand-alone NVR, what are some recommended brands? My cameras are all Amcrest POE cameras.

The usual advice is to match the NVR brand with the brand of your best cameras because sometimes the NVR can’t use certain camera features if the brands are mismatched.

When it comes to Dahua/Hik cameras, advanced motion detection (IVS/Smart Events) is an example. If you have one of these cameras, you’re almost guaranteed to want to use IVS/Smart Events instead of the regular motion detection ... It’s more configurable which can significantly reduce false alerts. NVR brand has to match the camera brand for that to work.

Some PC/NAS software can make use of IVS/Smart Events, which is cool because you can then mix and match camera brands and still get the most out of them.

I started with Synology Surveillance Station a few years back. I already had the NAS for something else, so using the free camera licenses made sense. It was OK to start with but when I saw posts here showing how IVS/Smart Events made things so much better, I switched to a Dahua NVR and then ultimately an old PC running Blue Iris.

Good to see that Surveillance Station now supports IVS. That it took three years to include that feature is a little frustrating though.

 

[MacFun]

The usual advice is to match the NVR brand with the brand of your best cameras because sometimes the NVR can’t use certain camera features if the brands are mismatched.

When it comes to Dahua/Hik cameras, advanced motion detection (IVS/Smart Events) is an example. If you have one of these cameras, you’re almost guaranteed to want to use IVS/Smart Events instead of the regular motion detection ... It’s more configurable which can significantly reduce false alerts. NVR brand has to match the camera brand for that to work.

Some PC/NAS software can make use of IVS/Smart Events, which is cool because you can then mix and match camera brands and still get the most out of them.

I started with Synology Surveillance Station a few years back. I already had the NAS for something else, so using the free camera licenses made sense. It was OK to start with but when I saw posts here showing how IVS/Smart Events made things so much better, I switched to a Dahua NVR and then ultimately an old PC running Blue Iris.

Good to see that Surveillance Station now supports IVS. That it took three years to include that feature is a little frustrating though.

With new Dahua cams with LPRs and other smarts... the new AI? With these new sophisticated cams the only way to fully utilize them is with a certain Dahua NVR, yes?

 

[rautostop]

Synology Surveillance Station also just added support for Dahua IVS last week. Works great.

I‘ve been running Dahua NVR5216-4KS2 the last 3 years with four Dahua 5231’s but so far this week Surveillance Station has been perfect. Also just swapped out one of the cameras for the new Dahua 5442 varifocal turret.

I just need 24x7 recording and Tripwire IVS, works great. And quick. Everything loads immediately.

I have a Mac and I’ve always struggled with SmartPSS for the Mac, plugin problems sometimes depending on firmware level. Been running the NVR and Synology in parallel all week with no issues as I test. I also have OpenVPN, DDNS, and NTP server running on the Synology. Remote secure access works great, and I like the Synology app.

where do you see the setting for ivs on the synology side? Have it all setup for intrusion ivs on the admin interface for ipc-t5442tm-as but all my 218+ gets are events for regular motion

 

[spile]

I am also very pleased with the performance of my Amcrest cameras running on my Qnap TS 251+ NAS using QVRPro.

 

[Sixto]

where do you see the setting for ivs on the synology side? Have it all setup for intrusion ivs on the admin interface for ipc-t5442tm-as but all my 218+ gets are events for regular motion

Go into edit settings for the camera ... click on Event Detection on the left ... click on Advanced Event (IVS) across the top ... I then clicked on Tripware, because that's all I use.

Since the Dahua 5442 is not yet in the Synology database, I used the HDBW5431E-Z profile for my 5442T-ZE camera. For the 5231's I used their regular profile. You can't use the generic profile to get IVS working.

 

[rautostop]

Go into edit settings for the camera ... click on Event Detection on the left ... click on Advanced Event (IVS) across the top ... I then clicked on Tripware, because that's all I use.

Since the Dahua 5442 is not yet in the Synology database, I used the HDBW5431E-Z profile for my 5442T-ZE camera. For the 5231's I used their regular profile. You can't use the generic profile to get IVS working.

thanks that worked! shame that loitering isn't available, does anyone know of a profile that would support that?

 

[BORIStheBLADE]

Synology Surveillance Station also just added support for Dahua IVS last week. Works great.

I‘ve been running Dahua NVR5216-4KS2 the last 3 years with four Dahua 5231’s but so far this week Surveillance Station has been perfect. Also just swapped out one of the cameras for the new Dahua 5442 varifocal turret.

I just need 24x7 recording and Tripwire IVS, works great. And quick. Everything loads immediately.

I have a Mac and I’ve always struggled with SmartPSS for the Mac, plugin problems sometimes depending on firmware level. Been running the NVR and Synology in parallel all week with no issues as I test. I also have OpenVPN, DDNS, and NTP server running on the Synology. Remote secure access works great, and I like the Synology app.

Wow this is awesome!

 

[MacFun]

Synology Surveillance Station also just added support for Dahua IVS last week. Works great.

What Synology are you using? Keep us upto date this sounds great. So, do you like the way the NVR and phone app on the Synology works better than the Dahua NVR?

 

[MacFun]

I started with Synology Surveillance Station a few years back. I already had the NAS for something else, so using the free camera licenses made sense. It was OK to start with but when I saw posts here showing how IVS/Smart Events made things so much better, I switched to a Dahua NVR and then ultimately an old PC running Blue Iris.

Does BI allow you to use all of the IVS/Smart events (and AI?) from new Dahua cameras, or do Dahua NVRs allow some cool functionality when paired with a proper Dahua cam?

 

[aristobrat]

Does BI allow you to use all of the IVS/Smart events (and AI?) from new Dahua cameras, or do Dahua NVRs allow some cool functionality when paired with a proper Dahua cam?

When it comes to literally just the IVS feature, everything there (including the "human" and "vehicle" AI Object Filters) work for me with Blue Iris. Some Dahua cameras have additional Event capabilities (like Face Detection, People Counting, Heat Map, etc), but I don't have much experience with them because they typically can't be enabled simultaneously when IVS is enabled. I played around with Face Detection for a day or two ... when the camera detected a face, it would trigger a BI recording, but the part where it could save images of detected faces to easily be referenced later (i.e. let's flip through all of the faces that were on my front porch today) didn't work directly with Blue Iris like it would with a Dahua NVR.

 

[Sixto]

What Synology are you using? Keep us upto date this sounds great. So, do you like the way the NVR and phone app on the Synology works better than the Dahua NVR?

I'm using the new DS720+, but the DS220+ would be fine, or maybe something less as well. I'm running 4 cameras and CPU % is in the low single digits.

So far all is great. The Surveillance Station Mac client is perfect. Snapshot, Timeline, Recording, Live View all good. And I like the DScam iPhone app. I turned off the 5216 NVR for now.

This setup is so much cleaner, now dealing with a fully supported Mac client. Fairly simple setup with 4 cameras on the four corners of the house, and IVS Tripwire setup for anyone that crosses the line. All good.