CCTV System

[StephenPink]

Hi all,

 

Currently having some issues with CCTV, so looking at replacements. Think now is a good time to "do the job properly" and look at all available options...

 

We have around 80 Merit-Lilin cameras, linked to 6 of their NVRs, 2 of which are failing (1 seems to fail every few years). All IP based.

 

I've been recommended the Milestone XProtect software - which I like the sound of. Not tied to 1 manufacturer, super flexible, but also not that cheap! Was wondering if anyone had any experience of Milestone, or any other recommendations for similar? Key requirements are:

- manufacturer agnostic (can't justify replacing all the cameras at this stage, but would like to look at alternatives when we do need to replace/add)

- high availability/failover; not just one recording unit that if it goes down, all cameras connected to it go down. XProtect will allow us to record to 2 places at once I believe?

- single interface to view all cameras

 

We do also have some Axis access control bits, that are currently connected to a different system but would be nice long term to have all the security type systems in one place.

 

Curious to know what else is out there or how you do it...

 

Thanks,

Stephen

[BlueNine]

We use a Synology system connected to 8 Reolink cameras. We find them great quality for the price and you can get them on Amazon too! Worth looking into, the most expensive part was the Synology licensing for the surveillance system.

[6Foot2]

In my last place we were using 100% HikVision (2 NVRs and about 50+ cameras can't recall the exact number)

 

I had them running for something like 10 years without a problem (that arose from the HikVision kit)

 

The CCTV solution is well overdue for updating now, but I don't know what they will do.

[mrbios]

We've got:

1 x 64 camera capable NVR (DS-9664NI-I8)

and 64 x Hikvision cameras of various models

 

It works really well. Consolidated 5 ancient DVRs and old coax based CCTV cameras to it. It has its negative points but i don't think any CCTV systems are perfect.

 

EDIT: Can highly recommend Millgate for the cameras if you go down the hikvision route. They consistently sourced them at good prices for me.

Edited April 20, 2021 by mrbios

[noelmm]

We've just purchased a new Hikvision 128 channel NVR (DS-96128NI-I16) with 128tb storage to allow us to consolidate our cameras onto a single NVR rather than running 2 NVR's. Currently we only have 32 cameras but we're looking at introducing another 30 cameras this year and possibly more next year so the 128 channel will allow us a few years of growth.

 

The cost of the new NVR was also a lot cheaper than I thought it was going to be from my normal supplier, even cheaper than specialist CCTV suppliers.

[Net-Ctrl]

Hello, we work with a couple of different CCTV suppliers, MOBOTIX and Illustra being the main two we work with. Both are very powerful and flexible solutions - they do come in at a higher price point than the likes of Hik, however we can normally consolidate camera count by using certain camera models that have flexible, or multiple lens options covering larger areas so there can be some savings - you also get access to a series of analytics like people counting, alarm for people in restricted areas etc. If it's of any interest I can ask one of the CCTV engineers to go through the two solutions in more detail and see if they fit in with your plans.

[Chris_Cook]

We use milestone, and I really like it from an end user perspective, but you're right on the cost.

 

We also occasionally have issues where old footage isn't deleted and the system runs out of space overwriting newer footage. This isn't too bad to resolve with a powershell script.

 

What you can do is use the free version with up to 8 DVRs/NVRs (up to 64 channels each). You would just need to find the RTSP URL for your NVRs. I think for Lilin, this is rtsp:///stream0, (/stream1, /stream2 for second camera etc). This gives you all the cameras in one place. The url can be tested with VLC.

 

This also then gives you redundancy for recording if you keep the NVRs going.

 

Hikvision NVRs also work if you need to replace some.

 

Bear in mind with Milestone, you will also need a fairly beefy server to run it on. If all your cameras are IP and your network would support it, then one of the larger Hikvision NVRs mentioned above would work well, and would probably be a similar cost. I do prefer the Milestone interface to hikvision, but Hik is still usable.

[Jcx500]

Old place used Dahua at my last place , Worked well although the pc client was a bit unstable sometimes

[Callum99]

We’re looking at using Blue Iris and purchasing Reolink IP Cameras 5MP.

 

Blue Iris can support up to 64 cameras, but of course depends on the hardware of the machine.

 

Reolink cameras are good quality, and fairly cheap on Amazon, they are also often in the lightening deals or have other deals on Amazon bringing the price to around £40.

[speakercon]

I would recommend HikVision, I've installed quite a few NVR's and cameras and had no issues at all, also I find it very reasonably priced. If your wanting to do the install DIY you'll have to find a reseller that is happy to sell you kit as you can't buy direct.

 

The NVR's support the onvif protocol so if your existing cameras do too you should be able to use them; we have some old qvis cameras which will be replaced at some point but currently working fine.

[risherwood]

Hi mrbios,

 

We are looking at a similar solution for our current CCTV system. we are currently using Milestone with 45cameras on site running through this.

 

we are looking to change to a HIK NVR roughly the same spec you have mentioned.

 

Please could i ask how this is going? in terms of putting extra load on the network with more cameras etc and also is the NVR easy to use? software etc.

 

thanks

Richard