I am so tired of my HIK Vision NVR. Hanwha? Lorex? Problems with keeping the HIK cameras?

[moocowman]

I know brands like Lorex are amateur, maybe frowned upon here. But I just need a system that's reliable and easy to access. The HIK Vision NVR was horrible to set up, never worked 100%, a channel that won't record and settings that keep getting lost when it reboots. The last straw is I can't see video using HIK Connect on browsers except old school IE. IVMS takes too long to load and it's glitchy. It's frustrating that IVMS, HIK Connect web interface, direct camera interface and IVMS all seem foreign to each other as if they were all developed by different developers who don't talk to each other. The only thing that's been solid is the phone app.

Anyway, I'm thinking of keeping the HIK vision cameras to save my wallet, but replacing the NVR. What brands are more stable and better developed? Will I have any trouble using HIK cameras on another brand NVR?

 

[steve1225]

If you want NVR with MODERN WORKING web panel working under all browsers and MODERN WORKING mobile app - there is only one way to go: Unifi Protect

UniFi Physical Security - Ubiquiti

UniFi Protect and Access offer smart, scalable surveillance and access control—fully local, license-free, and seamlessly integrated.

ui.com

Cameras have mediocre night performance (comparing to latest HIK ColorVU or Dahua WizColor).

But easy to use, web panel / mobile app & features (like AI detections and classification) are top notch.

ps. there is no desktop app - everything is available / works over web

 

[wittaj]

For the best experience, it is best to match brands of NVR and cameras.

All ONVIF means is that the video feed will come thru. No guarantee on any AI or other features.

Sadly, the use of IE will be the same with any of these brands except for maybe high-end Axis and Unifi, and of course the consumer cloud-based cameras that will not be as good at night.

You can read more about the reason for IE in this post since we can't post images at the moment LOL.

 

[moocowman]

So, the whole industry is just as crappy? I checked out a couple of videos on setting a Hanwha system and it does look pretty similar to HIK. It brought back nightmares. I thought Hanwha would be better. After all, they were Samsung. I guess the real killer here is ONIF probably wouldn't let me use the cameras' advanced functions. I'm not about to spend another $1500 on a system. It's the year 2025. Why are camera systems still 2005? I think I'm going to factory reset everything and start all over. Maybe it'll fix a few annoyances.

 

[wittaj]

Read the post I linked on why it is like it is. Doesn't make it right, but we are not their target market.

Also keep in mind that Hikvision and Dahua make many of the other systems out there with a different label slapped on it so that is why many of the systems have a similar look/feel.

 

[steve1225]

So, the whole industry is just as crappy? I checked out a couple of videos on setting a Hanwha system and it does look pretty similar to HIK. It brought back nightmares. I thought Hanwha would be better. After all, they were Samsung. I guess the real killer here is ONIF probably wouldn't let me use the cameras' advanced functions. I'm not about to spend another $1500 on a system. It's the year 2025. Why are camera systems still 2005? I think I'm going to factory reset everything and start all over. Maybe it'll fix a few annoyances.

All Chinese / Asian manufacturers are very similar. 20 years of history of adding features around and patching up bad decisions from the past.

Sometimes I feel like everyone uses the same developers/external companies. And that's why everyone has the same crappy architecture and problems.

Unifi have very modern platform written from scratch a few years ago - in modern web & mobile era...

 

[steve1225]

Read the post I linked on why it is like it is. Doesn't make it right, but we are not their target market.

That we are NOT their market is big bullshit story copied for many years on this forum.

Everyone is not happy for platforms offered by both HIK & Dahua. Everyone hates them.
Small users, small businesses, bigger institutions and large enterprises.

Both HIK & Dahua offer good hardware products at good price.
Camera firmware is OK'eish.. platforms (NVR, mobile, web, desktop, cloud) are bad or very bad..

everything runs on 20 years code / platforms / architecture / API..
they try to patch things here or there - but in reality this need totally rewrite from scratch.
At all levels...

if someone use HIK & Dahua in big scale, usually they use external VMS from other companies - which hides problems..

 

[steve1225]

One more thing: there are vendors which offers nice end-to-end solutions...

in the US there is Avigilon - which offers both camera & VMS with servers.. very integrated, very nice interface, lots of features.. but costs 3-5k $ per camera (including VMS/server channel costs & support)..
In Europe we have Bosch - which offers similar very well integrated solutions for similar prices...
There is Axis - nice cameras, usually even cheaper than avigilon/bosch.. they offer both NVR & VMS - but no one want to use it - only cameras with external VMS...

And there is Verkada - which offers very nice CLOUD solution with CLOUD web interface and no need for any NVR/VMS/server.. But you must pay subscription every year

at normal price levels - for end-users & SMBs - only company which I know, with nice UI/UX for both web & mobile interface is Ubiquiti with Unifi Protect...

 

[johnfitz]

The HIK Vision NVR was horrible to set up, never worked 100%, a channel that won't record and settings that keep getting lost when it reboots.

I have a Hikvision NVR with 9 Hikvision cameras and everything works reasonably well... What model is your NVR?