Terminology?

[fixit9660 0]

Hi All.

 

I've spent a few hours searching this forum and although I'm a complete CCTV newb, I'm fairly technically competant (30+ years Network/Comms Consultant), I don't think this has been asked so far.

I know what a DVR is; a specific device for managing Analogue CCTV, and I know what an NVR is; the DVR equivalent for Network/IP-based devices. The NVR is a device for storing and managing the IP-based CCTV, but is there a specific terminology/description for a device that displays/manages the IP data that has been written directly to a NAS by the CCTV cameras please? Something like NASVR for example?

OR: Is there a table/list of NVR's that will work from a NAS data source? (and I don't mean NVRs mirroring or iSCSIing to a NAS). I'm sure there are but I've missed them on this forum if so. Mind you my eyes are going after so much reading

 

Thanks in advance for any help, and apologies to if I've missed the posting explaining this elsewhere.

 

Regards

 

Andy.

[buellwinkle 0]

Maybe you are overthinking it.

 

1. There are NAS devices like from Synology and QNAP that have NVR software built into them, I recently reviewed the Synology solution called Surveillance Station.

 

2. There are cameras that can write to NAS as CIFS or NFS mounts, Mobotix is leader in this space, been doing it for many years, all the record and playback is done by the camera, it can write to a CIFS or NFS mount. Hikvision cameras now can do this but only to NFS. Axis is a little different in it's implementation they call Edge recording, where they have an app that runs in the camera to do this, but you need their Windows PC app to view the cameras and playback recordings. I've reviewed the 3 solutions over the past few years, most recently the Hikvision solution and not that long ago, the Axis solution called Axis Camera Companion.

 

3. There's NVR's you can buy that are manufacturer specific, like Dahua for Dahua cameras, ACTi for ACTi cameras. They may support other brands, but not ideal for mult-brand use. Then there's generic NVRs like from NUUO that support a wide variety of camera brands.

 

4. Then lastly, there's NVR software solution you run on a PC. The leader is Milestone, but there's a lot of them like Exacq, Luxriot, BlueIris, Axxon, Avigilon, Zoneminder and some come free from camera manufactures like Vivotek, Brickcom, ACTi.

[fixit9660 0]

Ah, so ignoring 1. 3. & 4.

 

"Mobotix is leader in this space, been doing it for many years, all the record and playback is done by the camera"; Playback is done by the camera? Not a PC application? I'll need to investigate that further as I'm confused by that statement.

 

"Hikvision cameras now can do this but only to NFS." How do you view their recorded data? Ditto.

 

"Axis is a little different in it's implementation....you need their Windows PC app to view the cameras and playback recordings."

 

OK so I misunderstood the technology completely on this then, I'll do some more investigation of the above, starting with your website reviews. I came across it whilst investigating earlier, just didn't look hard enough obviously. Nice website by the way, well laid out and easy on the eye. Thank you.

 

The solution I was aiming/hoping for was to just have all the cameras dump the raw footage onto a NAS and use a PC Application when I wanted to review the footage/perform management. Thus saving the power/wear from having to run a PC and a NAS.

 

Thanks for clarifying the issue and saving me some time, it means a lot to me.

 

Best regards

 

Andy.

[buellwinkle 0]

If you are not looking for an easy to use solution that's pre-baked for you, many cameras can FTP video events to an FTP server of your choice for example ACTi & Dahua can FTP video events, they have no way of managing it or playback in the camera, but you can take the files and install the ACTi or Dahua player, double click on the files in Windows and it will start playing them. Not saying it's bad, I've done that before for example when Dahua just started showing up in the U.S., not many NVR solutions would support it and the ones that did didn't work well so I had no other choice but to FTP videos, just to get them in my reviews.

[MR2 0]

Being that your a network/comms consultant I'm surprised you'd not keen on a VMS product? (Option 4) or did you never get into the PC/Server side of the network comm's?

[fixit9660 0]

OK I've been doing so more research

 

AND a pre-baked/easy-to-use solution is always preferred. I just (naively) thought that getting a camera to dump all it's data to a NAS and then using a separate PC/server application to manage it would have been the common-sense way to go.

 

So some solutions require you to login to the camera to use it to view its recorded images, and the data is stored on a NAS. How do you view the images if someone's stolen the camera? I have to admit this arrangement seems quite crude to me.

 

A "conventional" VMS/NVR is looking more attractive, even if it will be working quite hard. And saving the data to a NAS is just doubling the complexity and systems in use.

 

It seems to me that some serious thought needs to be done for a solution here?

 

Or have I misunderstood the solutions available again?

[buellwinkle 0]

You don't have to use the camera to view, you can sift through the files and use their player to play the videos. So why do you want to this, because it's free, because you don't need a PC, because you feel having a large collection of recorded events is the way to go?

[fixit9660 0]

...so I can actually have all the cameras dump to a NAS and use their player to play the videos. I'm still missing the point here I feel. What's the advantage of using a camera to view it's recorded videos compared the an application please?

[MR2 0]

the camera does not play the footage...

 

the Camera's record to the NAS...

 

 

 

you then have an application which you load onto your computer which goes and finds that footage on the NAS, and plays it back

[buellwinkle 0]

There are cameras that play recorded videos like Hikvision and Mobotix. But being able to view from the camera is a choice, you can certainly look at a list of files and play it from a NAS.

[fixit9660 0]

Thanks for clearing that up guys. much appreciated.

 

Is there a list of applications, their abilities, costs, etc on this website please, or should I start one?

 

Cheers,

 

Andy.

[MR2 0]

honestly, most packages can do most functions, telling them apart generally comes down to personal preference

 

on a General basis most camera's come with a software package, this software package will talk to most camera's from the same manufacturer but not others, if you buy a separate package that's ONVIF for example, it will then talk to most compliant camera's which gives you a broader range, seeing as we're in the IP Forum you'll find plenty of software packages.

 

if you have a look around you can find comparisons between DVR/NVR/PC based solutions...

[buellwinkle 0]

List of applications to do what? Each camera company typically has a player associated with it's file type. Just install the player app, use windows explorer, find the time period you want and double-click on the file to play. The directory layout, the file names vary by camera brands. I've never seen a program that manages this for you and with most cameras, you have to manage the files, most just stop recording when it's full, not like NVR software where you set how many days you want to keep recordings, how full you want the disk to get, etc.

[fixit9660 0]

Many thanks for helping me out with this gents, much appreciated. I guess I can close the post now.

 

Best regards

 

Andy