Testing $39 ONVIF NVR

The cloud part is what most impresses me (well, that and working ONVIF motion detection). Cloud access is quite valuable, rare among even big brands (why can't Exacq, Milestone, etc. offer this?) and goes against the stereotype of Chinese being behind on software.

For those Internet sleuths, you might find tracking down the source of their cloud offering to be interesting. The domain is xmeye.net. A whois record lookup returns an address that maps to surveillance manufacturer Feng Technologies, though I do not know who this company is.

With all the digital attack and industrial espionnage claims against the Chinese I'd be weary of having my corporate video surveillance data hosted by a cloud service provider from that I don't know anything about.

Then again, I wouldn't expect any business with military secrets or other highly confidential business information to be a prospect for a this product. That said, I would also be concerned with the potential for identity theft related issues if deployed in a retail space.

wow! nice review,overall it looks to be a good NVR who knows for how long but I guess they must be offering a 1 year warranty at least?

Anyway, as you said better to keep testing it before trying to install it for a client

"overall it looks to be a good NVR who knows for how long"

Really...?

"We experienced one crash of the NVR, as well as multiple crashes of their CMS software during the few days testing took place. The NVR was only being used to view video, no configuration was taking place, and rebooted immediately."

It doesn't sound like an atractive package where "price is critical" so much as it working is optional.

"Cloud access is quite valuable, rare among even big brands (why can't Exacq, Milestone, etc. offer this?)"

That, I do agree with.

These Hisilicon H264 decoder chip based DVRs have the same user interface and CMS software. This unit is one version of them without analog inputs, with a firmware modified for recording IP camera.

Good for home usage, not to protect but to give a feeling of protection. I bought one for myself and setup an FTP server to my mobile phone, so recorded video footage goes to my SD card directly. Only problem that I cannot play the raw H264 file on my mobile, so I have to use a PC to playback. Already setup an FTP server where the uploaded footage is converted to FLV or MP4 file which can be played in browser, so if you buy any of these low cost chinese DVRs, IP or analog, you are welcome to my cloud based CCTV service :)

I too find the cloud access to be fascinating. Can anyone elaborate on how that is actually happening?

I assume the NVR is doing some sort of automated registration to the cloud server and then when you want to establish a link remotely, you connect to the cloud server and the cloud server connects you to the NVR?

Questions:

1. Is all the storage only happening locally on the NVR?
2. In a DHCP network does this cloud relationship automatically recover from routine address changes in the LAN?
3. Is there any “keep alive” traffic considerations? B/W usage et ceteras?

Thanks, great review of a very interesting trend.

The easy way to think of their cloud connection is similar to having Logmein or TeamViewer installed on your DVR / NVR. The recorder keeps an active connection with the cloud server and serves as a proxy to the client.

A cloud service to connect to a remote camera or NVR elminates two steps: DDNS and port forwarding. As Jon Dillabaugh mentioned, it's very similar to Logmein and other remote desktop services in that it uses ports that are generally not blocked by your router (like port 80) to connect to the cloud and open a tunnel back into your desktop (or camera or NVR).

If you're technical and don't mind setting up DDNS and port forwarding, you'll usually end up with less latency since you don't require the extra layer of cloud communication. Of course if the camera or NVR doesn't have a direct connect mobile app, you may be forced to use the cloud service. But there are plenty of 3rd party apps for directly connecting to cameras from most manufacturers.