Questions about the NV4116E

[v3c7r0n]

Hi All,

I have some questions about the NV4116E before I purchase one.

Here's a bit about the current setup:

I have 9 cameras, mostly IP2M-841EW (one is an EB) and a couple IP2M-844E's, plus an odd ball D-Link camera (which will be getting replaced), connected to a managed POE switch, all working well.

Recording however, is a bit of a challenge. It works, mostly. If all of the cameras try to record at once, it chokes. Backing down the quality and framerate helped, but did not eliminate the problem. I will be adding 3 or 4 more cameras soon and I just don't see BlueIris keeping up without upgrading hardware.

The network has 3 VLAN's. The cameras are all on a 10.x.x.x VLAN which has no internet access, all devices are statically assigned, with one server multihomed to it for BlueIris, the wifi is on a 192.x.x.x and is isolated from everything except for a multi-homed server to provide DHCP, printer access, etc, and the rest of the network is on a 172.x.x.x for workstations, servers, etc.

Here are my questions about the NVR:

- Can it be configured to synchronize it's recordings to a windows network share, either automatically or on a schedule? If not, can I pull the video off of it via a script, FTP, or other method automatically?

- What format are the videos recorded in? Can this be changed?

- Can you mark a clip as protected so it will not be overwritten? How difficult is it to export it? What format does it export in?

- Does it by chance have LDAP integration? Definitely not required, but it'd be bonus nachos.

- Can it handle recording from 12+ cameras simultaneously running at 1080P 30FPS? Specifically, while I read it "supports" up to 16 1080P cameras, does it choke if ALL 16 are recording at once at 1080P 30FPS?

- Can you have the cameras on one vlan (the 10.x.x.x mentioned above) and the NVR on a different vlan (the 172.x.x.x mentioned above)?

- Can you capture or pull the stream of the NVR (all of the camera streams combined into a single stream) from something else (web page, VLC, etc.)? Definitely not a deal breaker, more curiosity than anything

Thanks in advance!

[v3c7r0n]

On the off chance someone stumbles across this old, unanswered, and now irrelevant post about this god forsaken POS:

- Can it be configured to synchronize it's recordings to a windows network share, either automatically or on a schedule? If not, can I pull the video off of it via a script, FTP, or other method automatically?

Nope. It does have an FTP feature, though it's spotty, documentation is laughably non-existent, as are the options. And the web interface is garbage

- What format are the videos recorded in? Can this be changed?

- It's proprietary and must be exported through the dumpster fire of a garbage web interface

- Can you mark a clip as protected so it will not be overwritten? How difficult is it to export it? What format does it export in?

- Not that I've seen, Also haven't figured out how to get the clips off the unit.

- Does it by chance have LDAP integration? Definitely not required, but it'd be bonus nachos.

- Pfft! Lol. No.

- Can it handle recording from 12+ cameras simultaneously running at 1080P 30FPS? Specifically, while I read it "supports" up to 16 1080P cameras, does it choke if ALL 16 are recording at once at 1080P 30FPS?

- Providing it doesn't develop a hard drive error that it NEVER notifies you about, either through the app or the dumpster fire web interface?

- Can you have the cameras on one vlan (the 10.x.x.x mentioned above) and the NVR on a different vlan (the 172.x.x.x mentioned above)?

- Can you? Sure. Providing you have layer 2 or 3 gear and the ability to handle routing. On top of that, for some inexplicable reason, you CANNOT have the unit's internal switch on the same VLAN as the main unit - In other words, you can't use say 10.1.1.X for your cameras, AND have the unit be 10.1.1.2 - it simply won't let you.

- Can you capture or pull the stream of the NVR (all of the camera streams combined into a single stream) from something else (web page, VLC, etc.)? Definitely not a deal breaker, more curiosity than anything:

- Only through their "app" which seems to work decent enough, and you can pull the individual camera streams, but not the multi-channel view.

Other things to be aware of:

I do not EVER look at the unit locally, I purchased it for recording and to replace blue iris for remote viewing. It has now failed miserably in both of these tasks. Hard drives fail and it just...NEVER tells you unless you happen to look at the local console or specifically go into the HDD Info of the terrible web interface. I mean, who really cares when it doesn't do one of the two main things it's supposed to, right?

The web interface is horrendous. I can't possibly stress enough how garbage it is. Why? Because Amcrest is too LAZY to update away from NPAPI plugin support, which ended in 2016, and EVERYONE knew it was coming. I bought this god forsaken POS in 2018. What's that tell you?

And I should never HAVE to use your "app" - I don't run android or ios on my pc at work where I want to remote monitor my cameras.

[jack7]

You've probably done it before and found another dumpster fire, but have you tried Amcrest Surveillance Pro? It should work for your NVR on a remote PC.

[v3c7r0n]

I haven't actually. I don't expect it to be any better, but I will look into it, thanks!