Baileyb 0 Posted June 18, 2014 Hi everyone, I'm looking into a IP system around 4 cameras atm (would like to upgrade in future). The Hikvision seem a good make to go for at the moment and the price is fairly decent for what i require it for. (Residential low crime area) But the issues i'm having in this minefield is where to store the footage. I could go down the NVR road. But i do have a storage system here (HP Smart server with round 13TB of storage. Which is accessed via my network. (Run XBMC etc through it) My home is networked with cat5e cable in all rooms. But none outside. So a few questions if anyone has any imput that would be most welcome. 1) Is NVR is the best thing to buy with it's own 1TB/2TB storage. 2) Could i buy a mini nvr and then add the storage to this? 3) Where does the software come into play with all this? 4) Would a switch be required to connect this to my network so a quick doodle would be Camera 1 > Camera 2 > All connected to a switch > connected to my home network > My storage Camera 3 > ^ Camera 4 > Mini Nvr Hopefully this makes sence. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moe3615 0 Posted June 18, 2014 1) NVR is from the easiest methods as it provides less setup. However; if you already have a server with 13TB of storage, why not just use that? You can install software such as ACTi NVR 3.0 which even has an app which you can view live and playback. 2) You can do that as well, try Synology. 3) The software comes into play when you want to turn an existing PC into an NVR. If you buy an embedded NVR you don't have to worry about software. 4) Every camera needs to connect to the network and needs power. You can find wireless cameras in which case you won't need a switch but you'll need wifi that's on the same network. Keep in mind you still need power to Wireless cameras. You say you already have Cat5 wired to every room... why not use PoE? HP Server > PoE Switch on non Poe Port Camera 1-4 > on PoE with Power Uplink on PoE to Router. configure router to forward ports to Server and you're good. I have never used Hikvision and am very familiar with ACTi you can try them and let me know if you have any questions. They give you the NVR software for free. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KENSTV 0 Posted June 18, 2014 This question is close to what I just posted, so one just needs to configure router to forward ports to Server ? does this still apply to a router attached drive--not sure if a nas storage is the same Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moe3615 0 Posted June 18, 2014 I might be wrong, but unless your router has some sort of firmware that will act as an NVR I can't imagine how this would work unless its a real NAS. Just having the footage won't give you remote access, you need software to enable you to index and find the footage accordingly. The external hard drive into the router is simply storage, nothing more. I'm sure there is a way to access it remotely, just I don't imagine it can serve as a NVR. Note: I've never tried this, I'm a techy and don't see how it would work. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KENSTV 0 Posted June 18, 2014 The way I was hoping it to work is the IP camera OS (Linux) has the ability to send alarm video to a onboard SD card if equipped, so why can't it be sent to the attached drive on the router and viewed later with any of the various viewers, maybe some cameras already have this ability ? the smart router I have is able to make the attached drive a FTP server or a DLNA media server, I've never seen a NAS drive so I don't know what would be different between the two Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LittleScoobyMaster 0 Posted June 19, 2014 Hi everyone, I'm looking into a IP system around 4 cameras atm (would like to upgrade in future). The Hikvision seem a good make to go for at the moment and the price is fairly decent for what i require it for. (Residential low crime area) But the issues i'm having in this minefield is where to store the footage. I could go down the NVR road. But i do have a storage system here (HP Smart server with round 13TB of storage. Which is accessed via my network. (Run XBMC etc through it) My home is networked with cat5e cable in all rooms. But none outside. So a few questions if anyone has any imput that would be most welcome. 1) Is NVR is the best thing to buy with it's own 1TB/2TB storage. 2) Could i buy a mini nvr and then add the storage to this? 3) Where does the software come into play with all this? 4) Would a switch be required to connect this to my network so a quick doodle would be Camera 1 > Camera 2 > All connected to a switch > connected to my home network > My storage Camera 3 > ^ Camera 4 > Mini Nvr Hopefully this makes sence. Haven't read the whole thing yet, but Tom's did a review of surveillance hard drive performance recently, maybe of some interest to you: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/surveillance-hard-drive-performance,3831.html Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Baileyb 0 Posted June 19, 2014 Thanks everyone for their imput/comments. Think will go down the Camera (x4) into > POE > Connected to network > hopefully get the software to recognise my storage (Hp smart media server) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
