sharpie 0 Posted July 15, 2013 I'm new to this and still learning from some mistakes. I'm trying to avoid a big one here. I did look around a bit I can find mostly older information on this subject. Recently we made the decision to install cameras went analog and stopped that project in the middle, it didn't give me what I wanted at all. I got one IP cam to check it out. Love it. Now my next issue is storage, playback all the good stuff an NVR should have. Should I go NVR or NAS? From what I'm getting from this NVR looks simple plug and play. NAS seems to have some configuration behind it as well as some software license issues to factor into the price, if you go that route I'm looking to save some money and not commit to a declared amount of channels to future proof this. As well as have a functional NAS added to our network, which would be nice considering I already have 4 2TB HDs laying around with no home. So I'm thinking a very decent NAS with a Junk PC or even a VMware running blueiris for view and playback while having the cameras dump to the NAS. Any thoughts and opinions on this. Is there a better way to do this? Any advice and thoughts are always much appreciated. Thanks. FYI The one camera I did get was a Dahua IPC-HFW2100 Plan to add 10 right away and reserve room for expansion Somewhat of a budget as well. Nothing ridiculously high end. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dontheo 0 Posted July 19, 2013 Foe recording, viewing and functions it is really a preference on you applications if you use an NVR or other software running on a pc. A lot of NVR's Re Linux based but it all comes down to hard disk storage. NVR'S and servers can be linked together so it will come down to the software. Some require licensing per camera too. A NAS is just networked attached storage for increased storage and recovering data. A SAN or storage area network provides the same as a NAS except they are networked and can store 100 of TB 's and has greater flexibility for access. Mainly though, they provide redundancy. NVR'S are easy becase you only need to specify the storage. They will come properly configured for optimization. Half the pc's I see running software for IP cameras were optimized for the seller starting with a poor graphics card and too little storage. The camera has its own processor. One could write a book just on this. lol Share this post Link to post Share on other sites