Newbie user with questions on NAS storage/recording

[fastsvo 0]

Hi Guys,

 

I am new to CCTV and IP cameras and would like to setup a NAS storage as well.

 

Please tell me if this sounds possible...I am trying to avoid buying a dedicated DVR or even a PC and just have all my content recorded on a NAS (including other personal data,etc..), so I will effectively have one device that does it all for me.

 

Now, how about if I want to run Blue Iris software? Do I have to have a machine manage that while everything is recording? Can these NAS devices load software as well since most of them are running some sort of OS (linux/VMware)?

 

Thanks in advance for pointing me in the right direction!

[MaxIcon 0]

Many cameras will record directly to NAS, though it can be a bit of a minefield to get it working right. Search on NAS to see some of the threads about this.

 

Blue Iris needs a PC running any time you want to record. It's Windows only, and can require a fairly powerful PC if you want to run a number of MP cams, depending on the frame rate and resolution.

[fastsvo 0]

Thanks for your response.

 

The only reason I am interested in using Blue Iris is due to all the strong reviews but I guess I can use the built in HikVision software via the MP cam?

 

A friend of mine said that some NAS units use a priority OS and when the HD crashes, it's almost impossible to recover the data due to this limitation. Is this true?

[egypro77 0]

i tried with nas but i could never make it work and when i asked my supplier tech , he said its not reliable ,hard to work ,and forget it, but i had a situation to install one camera only , i had no intention to buy nvr for one camera , so

i bought a camera(hikvision) that support sd card and loaded 64 gigabyte , it records for couple days , but i wanted to keep the record for more , so i started to look for a back up software after search i found that software Hikvision iVMS-4200 PCNVR

http://www.hikvision.com/en/download_more.asp?id=1190

what it does it downloads the record from the sd card to a computer , u set it up , and the good thing , computer doesn't have to be up all time , and also it playback , and live view i use web interface , it works good everyday they turn on their office computer , the programe starts to download all the record , i couldn't get to use all the feature on it cos it's not friendly interface i wish if some one explain more about it

hope that could be useful for u

[MaxIcon 0]

The vendor supplied software will generally work if you're only using their cams. I don't run it, and can't speak to how well it works, but other people here do, like the previous poster.

 

What you gain with Blue Iris is support for a huge number of camera models, a great user interface, tons of control, and many more features than you get with the Hik software, so it depends on how much those matter to you.

 

Customer support is quite good, and updates are released multiple times a month, which is good if you need a bug fixed but not so great if you want a stable system, as bugs creep in to the new releases. I only update mine every 3 months or so, when there's a known stable version. Lots of feedback on this at their community forum at cam-it.org.

 

It's not free but is inexpensive; the cost comes in the PC you need if you're going to run more than 6 or 8 multi-MP cams.

 

It's quite a good value for the money, but doesn't have some of the features that higher end corporate packages have, like multi-cam playback, coverage maps, POS integration, etc. It also doesn't use cam-based motion detect, which is part of the reason the CPU utilization is high.

 

It's got a 15 day trial period that's resettable, so best bet is to try it out and compare it to the Hik software to see which one gets the job done for you.

[StanLee2066 0]

Hi Guys,

 

I am new to CCTV and IP cameras and would like to setup a NAS storage as well.

 

Please tell me if this sounds possible...I am trying to avoid buying a dedicated DVR or even a PC and just have all my content recorded on a NAS (including other personal data,etc..), so I will effectively have one device that does it all for me.

 

I'm doing exactly this. All my cameras record directly to NAS on a particular folder, and all my other personal files are on separate folders (using NAS to backup PC files). Has been working perfectly with no glitches for over two years now! I'm using Axis cameras and a Dlink NAS.

[StanLee2066 0]

Thanks for your response.

A friend of mine said that some NAS units use a priority OS and when the HD crashes, it's almost impossible to recover the data due to this limitation. Is this true?

 

No. There are many free Windows tools available to do this. A friend of mine successfully did this a year ago without a problem.

[Digiscan 0]

Many cameras will record directly to NAS, though it can be a bit of a minefield to get it working right.

I think a truer thing never said.

 

I have three hikvisions now running, one to SD and the other two to SMB/CIFS shares on a windows machine. This isn't quite what the OP is asking for, but it's a similar concept; the only hardware/software outside of the scope of the cameras is storage, in my case windows shares, but others do it directly to NAS devices.

 

It took a lot of messing around because the firmware on these cameras was not competently written in certain areas.

 

The SD card works a treat, I will say. Setting it up took no effort and it's the quickest access of all the others; playback is super-snappy from the camera itself. Playback from my other two cams with the network storage is pretty good but not quite as responsive.

 

I partly went without a PC-based NVR because I didn't want to pay for it, have it using up my CPU cycles (i sometimes game on this box), and felt I could simplify by not using it, though that last point is probably not true in reality given how much time I fiddled with shaky firmware.