[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by deep_blue

Wasn't stored in my case unfortunately

Was not recorded in NVR or in Camera ? Video should still be stored in SD card even if NVR has not pulled it off the camera.

[NPV]

Planning to get a CCTV camera setup (external) installed at home and here are some basic/noob questions that I need help with (also spoke to a contact who mentioned a few things that I want to clarify):

1. NVR Vs DVR - this actually depends on the choice of Analog Vs IP Cameras ? If Analog, it will be DVR and if IP it will be NVR, correct?

2. Looking at the option of going with 2 cameras (for street view of the area around our gates) having inbuilt microphones. This means I have to go with 5MP IP Cameras with microphone but audio quality may not be great ? I was told the 2MP analog cameras are better and cheaper but won't have microphones, correct?

3. Do DVRs & NVRs support SSD ? I was told they only support HDD.

[Amrik Singh]

Originally Posted by NPV

This means I have to go with 5MP IP Cameras with microphone but audio quality may not be great ? I was told the 2MP analog cameras are better and cheaper but won't have microphones, correct?
.

Microphone for external cameras would be nothing more than a nuisance as they will be recording mostly the honking and engine roar.
2 MP Cameras are good enough for day time, but night time vision is useless. It is difficult to read the Number Plate of vehicles or recognize faces at night. I hope, 5 MP cameras to be better in this field.
The indoor cameras may be set to event based recording to save on disc space.

[deep_bang]

Originally Posted by NPV

3. Do DVRs & NVRs support SSD ? I was told they only support HDD.

As far as I know they do support both. Basically, the DVR or NVR only support a sata interface and this interface is common across hdds and ssds. So SSD should work.

However, why do you want to do this? Ssds are more expensive per TB and your requirement of CCTV generally does not require fast data transfer (I am assuming). So generally people just use a larger capacity hdd instead of a smaller capacity ssd.

[Amrik Singh]

Originally Posted by deep_bang

However, why do you want to do this? Ssds are more expensive per TB and your requirement of CCTV generally does not require fast data transfer (I am assuming). So generally people just use a larger capacity hdd instead of a smaller capacity ssd.

I have 2MB × 4 Cameras. Two Nos. Outdoor set to Continuous Recording and Two Nos. in Stilt Parking that are set to Event Based Recording.
1 TB HDD stores data for about 14 Days. This should give you an estimate of Capacity of HDD you may need

[Fillmore]

Originally Posted by NPV

Planning to get a CCTV camera setup (external) installed at home and here are some basic/noob questions that I need help with (also spoke to a contact who mentioned a few things that I want to clarify)....

On the HDD question , as stated by Deep Bang you do not need an SSD, that would be an overkill. But when buying the HDD get only ones which are made for CCTV application i.e. continuous 24x7 operation with write mode and less reads.
Among the popular vendors these are the series you need to look at
WD Purple series
Seagate SkyHawk series

For the main CCTV go for NVR it is the newer technology.

Also w.r.t. to the NVR / Camera's depending on your requirements retrieving data can be time consuming and challenging. If you need efficient means of detecting Person intrusion etc then you can go for the intelligent Accusense series in HikVision.

[sagarpadaki]

SSD have a max data volume that can be cumulatively written. For example, Crucial BX500 SSD(Entry level model) allows max 40TB of writes beyond which the SSD may lose the ability to store the data. If we consider 1TB BX500 model, then after 40TB of cumulative store, the SSD does not guarantee data storage. This makes SSD unsuitable for CCTV recording application where the data is written until the disk is full and then the oldest file is deleted to make space for new data. 40TB will get over in a month or so.

[deep_bang]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

SSD have a max data volume that can be cumulatively written. For example, Crucial BX500 SSD(Entry level model) allows max 40TB of writes beyond which the SSD may lose the ability to store the data. If we consider 1TB BX500 model, then after 40TB of cumulative store, the SSD does not guarantee data storage. This makes SSD unsuitable for CCTV recording application where the data is written until the disk is full and then the oldest file is deleted to make space for new data. 40TB will get over in a month or so.

That's a very good point.SSDs are just not meant for a cctv. There are some drives like WD purple which has a higher resiliency, but the issue is always there - the only question is whether it will be reliable for 1 year or 2 yrs or 5 years. A HDD can pretty much do a fill it/shut it/forget it - they have become that reliable.

[Dr Alpha]

Originally Posted by NPV

2. Looking at the option of going with 2 cameras (for street view of the area around our gates) having inbuilt microphones. This means I have to go with 5MP IP Cameras with microphone but audio quality may not be great ? I was told the 2MP analog cameras are better and cheaper but won't have microphones, correct?

Hikvision has 2mp analog cameras with night colour vision and microphone.I think the model name is color vu. Actually Audio quality is very good

[sdp1975]

Our house in Kolkata got burgled recently when it was locked for a few days. We want to install a cctv camera and I'm a complete newbie. We'll be starting with 1 outdoor camera on the terrace - this will be exposed to rain and sun. I'd like to have backups for a few days preferably on the cloud. Any recomendations on the setup ? Should I go for a wired or wireless setup ? Is the TP link camera a good one ?

https://www.amazon.in/TP-Link-Weathe...73&sr=8-3&th=1

This will be used by my parents who aren't very tech savvy. So after the initial installation it should be relatively maintenance free.

[NPV]

I recently got a CCTV system installed at home with Hikvision NVR and cameras, one question now:
When I go to playback menu and choose a camera and time segment for a clip and save it to a pen drive, a .MP4 file is saved. However, none of the windows and Mac video player software seems to like the file, they complain that it may be corrupt.

Do these files have some proprietary Hikvision stuff that needs their own player to decode and view them ? Appreciate any leads on this!

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by NPV

I recently got a CCTV system installed at home with Hikvision NVR and cameras, one question now:
When I go to playback menu and choose a camera and ime segment for a clip and save it to a pen drive, a .MP4 file is saved. However, none of the windows and Mac video player software likes the files, they complain that the file may be corrupt. Do these files have some proprietary Hikvision stuff that needs their own player to view them ? Appreciate any leads on this!

You probably are missing some MP4 codecs in your system. Please install MP4 codecs on your system, after that the default Windows player will be able to read the files. You can go for any open source Mp4 player too which should be able to open the files.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by NPV

camera and time segment for a clip and save it to a pen drive, a .MP4 file is saved. However, none of the windows and Mac video player software seems to like the file,!

Have you tried VLC ? https://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Even if it is not able to play the file, it should show the tech info about the file (Audio and Video codec). Next step will depend on that info.

[deep_bang]

Originally Posted by NPV

Do these files have some proprietary Hikvision stuff that needs their own player to decode and view them ? Appreciate any leads on this!

I had the same issue. Install the VSPlayer from hikvision website. That will play their videos properly.

[manim]

Originally Posted by NPV

When I go to playback menu and choose a camera and time segment for a clip and save it to a pen drive, a .MP4 file is saved.

under Ubuntu-Linux:
I too had this problem playing the clips, but it plays properly after I installed the 'mpv' video player.

And for sharing these clips on WhatsApp, I convert them into 'playable' videos through 'ffmpeg'.

The exact command to I use is:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -qscale 0 output.mp4