Looking for new cameras but have K series NVR

[Alex Atkin UK]

I'm using a DS-7604NI-K1 / 4P(B) so what specifically is the problem with the K series on 8MP cameras?

I've not been able to get more than one camera to view a live image on the monitors plugged into the NVR anyway with only two cameras, even on the v3 firmware it was buggy. The Smart Event features never worked on the web access either, so I only saw an improvement moving to v4 firmware as I could at least use that directly on the NVR.

So would I see more problems on the newer cameras or just the same problems I've always had?

The most important thing for me is that it records and plays back when I need it to. I mean I'd LOVE to finally be able to view from Linux, but its not worth the cost to me right now as more important would be to finally get a camera with Mic and improved low light performance so the frame rate wont drop so much with night vision turned off (I have a porch light, colour kinda works but exposure time is too high).

Current cameras are DS-2CD2385FWD-I and DS-2CD2085FWD-I which record 24/7 using Smart Events only to see when people were at the door. Although the video does seem to freeze when it detects motion even with image capture turned off (Smart Detection is enabled on the camera not the NVR). That said, I've only just gotten around to updating the cameras firmware to the latest.

I'm looking at the DS-2CD2386G2-IU or waiting for the ColorVue models.

 

[chrizzo]

Capability 1-ch @ 8 MP / 4-ch @ 1080p

The K Series is the entry series from Hikvision! If you want to use full channel 8MP, you need a NI-I Series!

 

[Dan]

Hi @Alex Atkin UK

If you want to get the best out of the latest AcuSense and ColorVu cameras then you will need to upgrade to an I-series NVR like the DS-7608NI-I2/8P

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

@chrizzo The one channel at 8MP is playback/live, right? I guess what happened is it switched to the main stream whereas before it was using the sub streams, thus why I get only one channel. I believe it can however record fine on all four channels at 8MP as its not doing any processing, just dumping the streams to HDD.

@Dan Thanks, I understand that but its "good enough" for me right now as the most important thing is just that it records up to four channels at 8MP and displays a single channel 8MP stream. Its only for home use so having to use a few workarounds is not the end of the world, especially unless I can confirm the new Chrome/Firefox support works on Linux too.

I had so many problems with it on the 3.x firmware that I'm reluctant to switch devices now its FINALLY working well. I'd rather put the funds into new cameras and maybe double the HDD to 8TB which seems to be supported on the new firmware.

So really its just a case of, will there be MORE issues than I'm already dealing with? I don't see why they should be as the NVR is still just saving a video stream from the camera to the HDD. The only new functionality I need is audio recording (which is just part of that stream) and low light (same), and that Smart Events still are logged.

 

[Dan]

Hi @Alex Atkin UK

You will likely see more issues than you are already seeing if you try and use multiple 8MP AcuSense cameras on the 7604(B) NVR, the main reason being that the 7604(B) NVR only supports 40Mbps which is fine for the current generation of cameras you have and older models because they are unlikely to exceed 10Mbps per channel. The issue with the AcuSense cameras is that they use much more data/bandwidth, we have seen some 8MP AcuSense cameras using 18-20Mbps even with H.265/H.265+ enabled so it is unlikely you will be able to record 4 x 8MP AcuSense cameras at max. resolution to a 7604(B) NVR.

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

@Dan That's exactly what I needed to know, thanks. I ordered the DS-2CD2386G2-IU a few days ago anyway from yourselves even though I could have got it cheaper off eBay, its this sort of support that's worth paying a premium for.

I only have 2 8MP cameras at the moment so it sounds like I might get away with one new camera while keeping those. Its not like I have anything to lose, if I have problems with the new camera then it just means I HAVE to get a new DVR or move one or both of the old cameras onto the LAN rather than the DVR.

If I end up with only a single DS-2CD2386G2-IU on the DVR its not the end of the world as monitoring the front door is the most important and where I badly need audio, anything else is a bonus. The fact the new camera uses a higher bitrate presumably means better quality, that's very good to hear actually.

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

Looking good so far other than running into the same problem I had with the other cameras when using Plug and Play mode, I cant login to the camera as it doesn't set the password to the same as the NVR like its supposed to. I guess they never fixed that in the new firmware.

Its now gone dark and night vision hasn't needed to kick in, porch light and street lighting is enough to stay in colour which is exactly as I'd hoped. Frame rate still seems to be decent too, no insanely high exposure time, very pleased with the result.

I did find H265 kept stalling the video feed (not just the NVR live feed but even VLC too), so stuck with H264.

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

Just wanted to note, I did drop the bitrate back down to 10240 and switch to H265 again as the stream was freezing sometimes. So I don't think its the combined bandwidth that matters, its if a single camera spikes above a certain point. Strangely its stopped marking Events on the DVR despite still sending the e-mails on detection. I did notice on the old camera it tended to be event detection that stalled the feed, I think because I was doing it ON the cameras there, though I think a camera firmware update fixed that.

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

I was wrong, events ARE being logged, I had to click the human head icon to view human detection events.

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

Not noticed any issues since the switch to 10240 Kbit H265 which seems to do bitrates about the same as the DS-2CD2385FWD-I on 16384Kbit H624, so its still a much better picture than the old camera.