I know that it's possible to use a DVR as an encoder, but I was unaware that an NVR could be used for IP cameras.
What are the downsides of using this? Can you still control each camera from the management tool? At 100 licenses for Professional plus, we could save quite a bit going from 100 licenses to 6 NVR's and 6 licenses.
Express+ has a limitation of 48 cameras, I assume we would still need Professional+ to overcome this?
We tested this in August (Milestone NVR Support Test), and confirmed that each NVR uses a single license connection (tested with Milestone Corporate).
The biggest support limitation we noted was the number of IP cameras detected when the NVR is first added to Milestone cannot be increased. For example, you add an NVR with 6 cameras in Building A, you add 2 more cameras to that building, you can not add them to the NVR and increase the number of IP cameras on that NVR in Milestone. We tried deleting, disabling/enabling the NVR and found no way to enroll additional cameras on the NVR.
Additionally, despite edge recording being listed as supported in Milestone documentation, we were not able to view video recorded on the NVR, only the video recorded directly to Milestone Recording Servers.
There was little to no latency introduced by connecting the cameras through the NVR versus connecting direct, however, you are creating a single point of failure for many cameras by forwarding the video through 1 device. Also, PTZ control is supported, and worked in testing, but was not very responsive (in either the NVR interface or through Milestone).
You should also be sure to test the exact model of NVR and version of Milestone because we did note some issues with firmware versions and device drivers when adding the hardware into Milestone.
I just add few downsides:
You cannot use cameras I/O directly from Milestone system;
You cannot use camera MD and and analytics as events;
You cannot use camera SD card as edge storage (if you are going to use Professional+);
You cannot use more than 2 different streams from camera (if camera supports this and you are going to use Expert or Corporate);
And yes, it creates single point of failure in your system, I would not recommend this.
About Milestone versions - if you need to have about 100 camera system and going to use 16 ch NVRs, you can go even with Essential+, it supports 8 devices, so max camera count can be 128. With Express+ you can go up to 768 cameras (48 x 16). Version selection depends on features you need, please check product comparison chart on Milestone site.
While it is doable I think the complications over the lifetime outweighs license fees. I'm a fair of streamlined projects and if you're complicating it with choke points while removing features then I'd advise against it. Milestone licenses aren't more expensive than additional man hours.
I remember reading the report now. I'm like a sponge, can only absorb so much and IPVM can be info overload.
But yeah, I agree, seems like it is not worth the hassle.
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