NVR recommendation with built-in SMS support?

[Shayy]

Hi there, I'm looking to install a 16+ ch PoE NVR that ideally can take a SIM card and use it to send texts to a list of predefined numbers when alerts are triggered. I have found that Hikvision sells systems that do exactly this, but I have contacted sales and they told me that it's "not a US market item", so I'm concerned that even if I bought it secondhand, it might not work with U.S. wireless bands.

I have some experience with an AVYCON system, but as far as I could tell, they unfortunately don't sell an NVR that offers this feature. The closest solution I could come up with is to send an email to the carrier's email-to-text service, but I had issues since it seems that the automated message gets caught by a spam filter - also, this requires a constant internet connection.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Hank Weng]

Pretty rare to see an NVR here with a SIM slot for texting. Easiest way is let the NVR send email and then push that through something like Twilio or a carrier API, or just stick an LTE router/gateway in the mix that can handle SMS on its own. Keeps you out of the “non-US model” headache.

 

[TonyR]

Have you looked into connecting a a cellular modem to the NVR and sending the alert data to a company that provides a SMS Gateway API service?

Many of them can receive the alert info via e-mail but not introduce the spam blockage problems that the ISP's do.

 

[Mark_M]

Dahua do offer NVRs with cellular connectivity.
However, it is advised to use a cellular router connected to a normal NVR instead.

Home Assistant could be a bridging device. An NVR which has an integration with Home Assistant, as well as a compatible USB cellular dongle. Then an automation linking triggers to sending an SMS.
That also gives high customisability for sending texts, different numbers, a combination of triggers before a text, etc.

 

[Shayy]

Thanks for all your responses! I was hoping to avoid relying on services like Twilio (and paying for, despite their low cost) since, if I already have a cell plan for my network, why not also send messages using my own infrastructure? However since it seems that it would be foolish to keep searching for an all-in-one NVR, I think I'll buy a regular one and pair it with something like this, which seems to be able to send SMS messages using an inserted SIM card. I just need to bridge the two. Thanks Mark for turning me onto Home Assistant, there's a Mikrotik integration already. It looks like Frigate integrates with HA nicely, and perhaps Blue Iris could be made to work too.

 

[TonyR]

Thanks for all your responses! I was hoping to avoid relying on services like Twilio (and paying for, despite their low cost) since, if I already have a cell plan for my network, why not also send messages using my own infrastructure? However since it seems that it would be foolish to keep searching for an all-in-one NVR, I think I'll buy a regular one and pair it with something like this, which seems to be able to send SMS messages using an inserted SIM card. I just need to bridge the two. Thanks Mark for turning me onto Home Assistant, there's a Mikrotik integration already. It looks like Frigate integrates with HA nicely, and perhaps Blue Iris could be made to work too.

Be sure to give us feedback once this system is implemented and hopefully working well for you!