Subscriber Discussion

Use NVR With Integrated PoE Switch Or Not?

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Oct 19, 2017

Hello All,

About to embark on a new project with 35 cameras at a care home and was wondering, what difference if any, having NVR without PoE. 

Plan is to have 20 IP cameras on the ground floor connected to the switch.

Then the rest go to 3rd floor where comms rack is and NVRs.

So question is - with PoE ? or without ?

next question get one 64 channel ? or 2 NVRs - 32 channel and 8 channel ?

thanks

 

Ricardo

JH
Jay Hobdy
Oct 19, 2017
IPVMU Certified

We never use the POE in an NVR. There were/are limitations such as not being able to access cameras directly. I think with Dahua this was fixed in newer firmware.

 

If using a switch downstairs, and NVR's are upstairs, that kind of answers the question of whether or not to use the NVR POE. I would use a Luxul or Ubiquiti switch at both locations.

 

 

 

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #3
Oct 20, 2017

My problem with that Dahua "fix" now means that the cameras are accessible directly through the browser of the NVR, defeating the purpose of keeping the cameras isolated. Makes no sense to me.

MM
Michael Miller
Oct 19, 2017

If you have all the cabling going to one location built in POE is nice but if you have multiple IDFs I would uses switches with a server running a VMS.

(2)
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Ahmed Elsayed
Oct 20, 2017

Based on what you explained above, I would use 2 switches with gigabit uplinks on the ground and 3rd floor tied back to the gigabit port on the NVRs.

Most NVRs with built in PoE switches have 100 Mb ports for the cameras and one gigabit port for viewing network connectivity. You don’t want to chance saturating a 100 Mb port with the uplink from the 20 cameras on the ground floor. 

Lastly, check the throughput on the 64 channel NVRs, if it’s the same as the 32 channel, you’re better off stacking (2) 32 channel NVRs. The 64 will limit future growth and not perform as well as 2 of the 32s. 

(1)
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #2
Oct 20, 2017

One issue we found with using the PoE from the NVR (Hik) is that if, for some strange reason, all four pairs on the CAT5E or CAT6 cable are not in tact, the camera will not work.

This was really annoying to find out when someone broke one of the pairs on a tight corner moving our wire out of their way.

We use PoE switches where we can now. As for what NVRs to get, a quick look gives me the following: 32CH NVR with no HDD - $800, 8CH NVR with no HDD - maybe $300 (can't find pricing now, vendor site just went down), 64CH NVR with no HDD - $1,750 (not US funds, mind you).

If your using iVMS-4500 or similar and want to save $650, do it. If the margins are already good and you foresee need for expansion, get the 64CH.

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Christopher Freeman
Oct 20, 2017

separate switch , my vote 

integrated poe best under 8 cameras 

I have done both , did not like results

Love the integration ability when using rack mounted poe switch's

 

(1)
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Mike Dotson
Oct 20, 2017
Formerly of Seneca • IPVMU Certified

Be sure to pay attention to the POE power budget.   The less expensive ones have less power.   Less power means possible issues on the longer runs due to the voltage drop over the distance.

(2)
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Scott Bradford
Oct 20, 2017
IPVMU Certified

We have used the Axis companion NVR with integrated switch for small projects.  It seems to be ok for that.  However, we have had issues monitoring SMTP traps and alerts from the camera, through the internal switch, and into the greater network.

 

We had a similar issue with a FLIR NVR that has an integrated switch.

 

In both cases, we added an external switch

 

So, if you're doing any sort of monitoring, you should have an external switch

 

(1)
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