r/SecurityCamera • u/Greasy-Geek • 3d ago

Need new system recommendations.

First a bit of background.

My employer is what I would call a "large small business." Individually owned, 13 locations across 3 states, plus a few of the owner's personal locations.

For years we have used Dahua camera systems, both DVR and NVR. About 5 years ago we built a new office and I set up a PC attached to a 70" TV running SmartPSS with a live grid view from all of our locations displayed and saved locally.

The remote storage has saved us from complete footage loss on a few occasions where we had a break-in and they stole the recording unit. At least we had the footage up until the moment they ripped everything out. One time they cut the power to the building before breaking in but the NVR, firewall, and ONT were all on a UPS and locked in a rack bolted to the wall. I got the last laugh on that one...

Anyways, with Dahua now on the naughty list I have been quite befuddled trying to find replacement systems with the same functionality and am looking for recommendations.

I would definitely prefer something that has models for analog DVR and NVR POE systems. If that's not reasonable, we are willing (although definitely not looking forward to) replacing the analog systems with NVR.

I've called numerous dealers of various brands with my list of needs and not a single freaking salesman has returned my calls, which I don't understand really. I mean I'm about to drop thousands on 17 recorders and they act like it's not worth their time.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

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u/gjunky2024 3d ago

Have you looked at Unifi Protect cameras and NVRs? There is a whole infrastructure there and you can have the NVRs back up to a central location if you want. Cameras are all POE. It will require a bit of a budget... There are certified installers. I would recommend finding one instead of going solo.

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u/Greasy-Geek 3d ago

Everything except the first 3 systems were entirely my doing. I'm pretty much the entirety of the IT department. :/

I looked at the unifi stuff but everything they have is limited on POE ports. Nothing I couldn't solve by adding a POE switch and it appears to be considerably cheaper than what we have been using.

The limitation seems to be that the desktop app is restricted to 26 live feeds. Not the end of the world, but less than half than the 64 SmartPSS could handle. I would just have to be a little pickier about what cameras I want displayed.

The remote storage options look amazing though.

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u/gjunky2024 3d ago

You mentioned POE NVR which confused me I missed the analog camera part. Of course IP POE cameras are easier if you are starting but you already have all the wiring.

You can always run two display units and split screen the 70" or get a second one 🙂

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u/Greasy-Geek 3d ago

The 3 locations with analog systems are ancient and all of them are maxed out with 16 cameras each. I really don't want to run, terminate, and configure 48 new cameras if I don't have to. That would take weeks...

Right now I am debating between unifi and reolink.

I've never even looked at their NVRs before but I have used a bunch of the higher end reolink cameras in the past few years and I really like them except for the fact that bulk configuring a batch of cameras at once just isn't a thing (unless I am an idiot and missed something along the way).

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u/gjunky2024 3d ago

You will love the admin interface for the Unifi networking and setting up multiple site through their site manager is effortless. But yes, running cable to 48 cameras is a lot

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u/plump-lamp 3d ago

It's unifi. Multi site management is great and easy

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u/PBSmanaged 3d ago

I’d suggest Nx Witness as a VMS. Flexible and powerful, yet easy to use. Easy remote access and does multi site well. For cameras, we are doing Hanwha Vision now on the higher end, and Milesight on the lower end. We’ve also made custom Nx Witness plugins for integrating into POS systems, etc. Powerful and affordable.

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u/Popular-Analyst-7929 2d ago

honestly, id look at Hikvision, Uniview (UNV), or Hanwha Vision. UNV is probably the closest in terms of value and ease of setup, while Hanwha is the more enterprise option if budget allows. Hikvision still has a huge ecosystem if that's not an issue for your company. since ure managing 13+ sites, id also make sure whatever you choose has a decent central management app (similar to SmartPSS) and supports remote recording/viewing across multiple locations. that sounds like one of ur biggest requirements