POE + Computer or NVR? Which should you choose?
There are so many different security camera options out there these days. Choosing one to use for your home or business can be paralyzing. Being an expert in the field, I’ve been exposed to many of them, but even I haven’t seen them all. Yet.
Good news, though. You don’t have to know every product in order to know which configuration is right for you.
The two most common ways to configure an IP camera is either:
- POE Cameras plugged directly into a NVR, or
- The cameras are connected to a POE switch, along with an NVR or NVR software.
The most commonly accepted best practice is to use a POE switch, or plug each camera’s POE injector into a switch. Then also plug the NVR (Network Video Recorder) into the same switch.
In this post we’re going to discuss in more detail these configurations, and in what situations you should pick each one.
The difference between POE + Computer and NVR
Security camera manufacturers have been trying to make installation and configuration easier for years now. It’s taken different companies down different pathes.
In the professional security camera market, there are two schools.
- Hardware NVR – A hardware NVR has everything built in that’s required for the cameras to plug directly into the back of the unit. This is considered ‘old school’ and for smaller applications such as gas stations, houses, apartment buildings, etc.
- Software NVR – Cameras will need to be connected to the same network as the computer that the software NVR is installed on. This configuration will give users a much greater experience, and makes managing your cameras and recording significantly easier. Most mid size and larger businesses use this method, but it is not prohibitively expensive compared to the hardware alternative.
While many companies still use and install the Hardware NVR option, especially on low budget installations and homes, most larger implementations have switched to Software NVRs running on servers.
Advantages of using a Hardware NVR
Hardware NVRs aren’t all bad, though. They’re quick to setup and get recording, and are generally less expensive options. They do serve the function, and offer recording and playback on motion or continuous.
Pretty much the basics that you need. Many of them integrate with camera side analytics, too, which can be neat.
What these units make up for in ease of setup and cost, they get blown away by VMS’s like Genetec and Milestone for usability and ability to scale.
Why do they make POE Hardware NVRs then?
There’s several good use case applications for the hardware NVRs. I mentioned the most common one earlier. Home security companies.
Guardian, Vector, SSA, Xfinity–These companies that offer security cameras as a service–They want to minimize the cost of their equipment. They care about the user experience, sure, but most consumers can’t tell the difference between a $20 camera and a $300 camera.
Should I use a hardware NVR box or a Software NVR?
This really comes down to preference. I would recommend, if you are able to and are somewhat tech savvy, go with the Software NVR. They’re just better when you have them up and running. Some good options:
There’s a ton of them out there. We’ll be doing some reviews of the most common ones coming soon.
That said, not everyone is tech savvy enough or has a spare computer to leave turned on 24/7 to record. This is where the hardware NVR comes in. You buy a hardware NVR and that essentially is the computer, with dedicated software running on it all the time.
It’s kind of like an old school VCR, but records all the time from the cameras and can also be watched at the same time.
How many cameras can I record on an NVR?
Most hardware NVRs will have a license count associated which will tell you how many cameras they will restrict you to on that unit. The most common are 4/8/16/24/32 channels for hardware NVRs.
Software NVRs get a little more tricky. You could choose to have one really beefy server that’s able to handle hundreds of cameras by itself, or you can distribute the load across multiple software NVR servers so they can fail over if a server dies.
That’s where the bigger systems really comes into play. Users see the whole system as just a single server from the client side, but the back end can be much bigger than the small hardware NVRs can offer.
Conclusion
For most home appliations or even small businesses such as gas stations, a hardware NVR would be a great option. There are also consumer grade products that operate on the cloud which requires no NVR at all.
For any business using more than 16 cameras I would recommend switching over to a software VMS, and having everything plug into a switch.
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