"Best" Domestic Hikvision set up in 2025

[Ben@Elec-Inn]

Hi everyone.

I've had a Hikvision system installed at home for 7 years.

Time has come to upgrade the system and take advantage of some of the new features.

I'd like to know what is considered the "Best" current system available.

I'd be looking for

4 x external turrets. - (I'm thinking the 8MP Smart Hybrids with Strobe and Siren? )
1 Doorbell/access/intercom
1x internal screen or control centre
1x PTZ - this will be external
NVR - Would this be a 16 port M-Series for additional bandwidth?

Any other suggestions?


Thanks in advance.

 

[JB1970]

4 x external turrets. - (I'm thinking the 8MP Smart Hybrids with Strobe and Siren? )

If low light performance is important the 4MP models might be a better option. As both the 4 and 8 MP models use the same 1/1.8" sensor, the 4MP will outperform the 8MP. You'll have a choice of either the current DS-23x7G2H-LISU/SL or the new DS-23x7G3-LISU2Y/SL (ColorVu 3.0).

1 Doorbell/access/intercom
1x internal screen or control centre

Hikvisions units are intercoms rather than doorbells. There is no native indoor chime unless you wire something via the relay or just use the ringing of the indoor station for an internal alert. There are a few annoying quirks with them IMHO; the ringing on the outdoor station continues unless you answer/reject the call on the indoor station or Hik-Connect or press the call button a second time. Mine went faulty a few days ago with an image issue. It's been returned and I've decided not to replace it. I have other cameras covering the door so another video doorbell will do.

NVR - Would this be a 16 port M-Series for additional bandwidth?

The 8 channel M series (DS-7608NI-M2/8P) has the same 256Mbps incoming bandwidth as the 16 channel so that would do. The DS-7608NXI-I2/8P/S(E) would be roughly the same price wise; it only has 80Mbps incoming bandwidth (the 16 channel will have 160Mbps). AcuSearch is available on the NXI (not on the M series) and you could also utilise some of the other smart features (face recognition)

 

[murcod]

Any other suggestions?

Make sure you read through the various threads that discuss the firmware issues with some of Hikvision's latest NVR's and cameras.

I "upgraded" from a 7608NI-I2/8P to the 16 channel M series a couple of months ago, and they've removed some features. The old one came with an IR remote control and an inbuilt buzzer for audible alarms- both are missing from the M series. There are the annoying firmware issues too M Series Firmware - 5.04.050_250124 Released

 

[johnfitzy]

I "upgraded" from a 7608NI-I2/8P to the 16 channel M series a couple of months ago, and they've removed some features. The old one came with an IR remote control and an inbuilt buzzer for audible alarms- both are missing from the M series. There are the annoying firmware issues too

On the other hand, the M series seems to have unlimited processing power... settles in nice.

 

[uvs-300]

Make sure you read through the various threads that discuss the firmware issues with some of Hikvision's latest NVR's and cameras.

I "upgraded" from a 7608NI-I2/8P to the 16 channel M series a couple of months ago, and they've removed some features. The old one came with an IR remote control and an inbuilt buzzer for audible alarms- both are missing from the M series. There are the annoying firmware issues too M Series Firmware - 5.04.050_250124 Released

My DS-7616NI-M2/16 has the inbuilt buzzer but I'm on f/w v4.63.025 231201 with no plans of going to v5.

 

[JB1970]

The old one came with an IR remote control and an inbuilt buzzer for audible alarms- both are missing from the M series. There are the annoying firmware issues too M Series Firmware - 5.04.050_250124 Released

The M model has an identical front panel to the I model so I'd imagine the remote control will still work. Hikvision stopped providing an IR remote with their NVRs many years ago. I've lost count of how many I've binned as the buttons weren't well matched to the NVR functions (it's far easier to use a wireless mouse)

As for the buzzer - it's still there. I don't use it but have just this moment enabled 'buzzer' in the linkage method for one of my alarms and it works as expected - triggering with each event.

I'm on f/w v4.63.025 231201 with no plans of going to v5.

Probably a good strategy. There are as many functions that have been broken or spoiled as there are that have been improved in the move from V4 to V5.

 

[murcod]

The M model has an identical front panel to the I model so I'd imagine the remote control will still work.

The remote doesn't work - I have the 7608NI remote signals programmed into a Logitech remote. I tried it just after getting the M and there's no response.

As for the buzzer - it's still there. I don't use it but have just this moment enabled 'buzzer' in the linkage method for one of my alarms and it works as expected - triggering with each event.

I'll have to take another look at the alarm settings on mine. I normally have the loss of video signal (etc.) set to the audible alarm.

 

[murcod]

On the other hand, the M series seems to have unlimited processing power... settles in nice.

On another forum someone with one was saying they could only get theirs to work with a limited number of 4K cameras? Not all the channels. I asked what the problem was but didn't get a response.

I have noticed mine can have issues with the channel data rate set to the maximum 16Mbps for each channel with four 4k cameras. If a couple of them have the alarm triggered together the recording can stutter. I've reduced the data rate back to mid 15Mbps for them and it seems to stop that happening.

Even with the improved 16Mbps per channel/ camera Hikvision is behind some of Dahua's mid range NVR's which are 24Mbps per channel (with their AI function disabled.) Noting that's only one specification, they could be behind in other areas.

 

[JB1970]

I'll have to take another look at the alarm settings on mine. I normally have the loss of video signal (etc.) set to the audible alarm.

I get the beeps at start up and I tried adding the beeps as an alarm action. You used to be able to disable the buzzer in the maintenance page on V4 but I've not looked on V5. You could also enable it/disable it fro specific system events like HDD fail, IP address conflict, illegal login etc

On another forum someone with one was saying they could only get theirs to work with a limited number of 4K cameras? Not all the channels. I asked what the problem was but didn't get a response.

I have noticed mine can have issues with the channel data rate set to the maximum 16Mbps for each channel with four 4k cameras. If a couple of them have the alarm triggered together the recording can stutter. I've reduced the data rate back to mid 15Mbps for them and it seems to stop that happening.

I've got the 16 channel M and haven't had any problems running multiple 4K cameras though obviously decoding is limited to what is on the spec sheet so if someone is trying to playback more than x cameras simultaneously it's not going to display them all. I have 7 of 9 cameras that are 4K all running at 25 FPS, 16Mbps without issue. They were all on H265 but now everything is set to CBR H264 High Profile. With H265 VBR there were issues in low light; a person walking across screen would appear transparent with the road or background being visible through them (legs and head walking past without a body!)

If you think it's the consecutive alarm triggers it's worth setting your pre alarm for each camera to 0 (in storage > advanced) as it's not needed (when using 24/7 recording) and used to cause some stuttering or skipped frames in previous models.

 

[murcod]

I get the beeps at start up and I tried adding the beeps as an alarm action. You used to be able to disable the buzzer in the maintenance page on V4 but I've not looked on V5. You could also enable it/disable it fro specific system events like HDD fail, IP address conflict, illegal login etc I've got the 16 channel M and haven't had any problems running multiple 4K cameras though obviously decoding is limited to what is on the spec sheet so if someone is trying to playback more than x cameras simultaneously it's not going to display them all. I have 7 of 9 cameras that are 4K all running at 25 FPS, 16Mbps without issue. They were all on H265 but now everything is set to CBR H264 High Profile. With H265 VBR there were issues in low light; a person walking across screen would appear transparent with the road or background being visible through them (legs and head walking past without a body!) If you think it's the consecutive alarm triggers it's worth setting your pre alarm for each camera to 0 (in storage > advanced) as it's not needed (when using 24/7 recording) and used to cause some stuttering or skipped frames in previous models.

Ahh, yes the ghostly people on the screen- I have that too. I'll try your codec suggestion- thanks for the tip. I've got basically zero street lighting and what there is (two houses either side of me on the opposite side of the street have one) is very low intensity and mostly blocked by trees. So I've got white light LED flood lights on the house dimly lighting the street. They're only 12V and 1200Lumens output. (One neighbour complained about two weeks back about her bedroom "getting lit up"- but it would help if she had proper curtains on her bedroom window... not wood plantation shutters!? It's not like I've got high intensity spot lights out front. She must enjoy the sun rising in the mornings, lighting up that side of her house.)

The stuttering could be what you said- the pre recording setting. Changing that to zero, would that play up with the smart detection playback of people/ cars? Like you could miss them, and then have to (get really mad) changing in and out of the smart playback, to see what triggered the recording?

 

[JB1970]

Ahh, yes the ghostly people on the screen- I have that too. I'll try your codec suggestion- thanks for the tip.

I'm certainly no expert on compression, but read that there can be micro delays in VBR adjusting the bit rate as motion is picked up that can cause these 'see through' problems. As for H264 vs H265, the improvements in H265 are generally seen as storage saving, while it needs more resources to decode. I'd rather reduce storage time (or spend on more storage) than use more decoding resource or potentially sacrifice image quality.

The stuttering could be what you said- the pre recording setting. Changing that to zero, would that play up with the smart detection playback of people/ cars? Like you could miss them, and then have to (get really mad) changing in and out of the smart playback, to see what triggered the recording?

It shouldn't make a difference. There was a time when the pre alarm would directly affect where the timeline marker was, so that if you were skipping unrelated video you would see 5, 10 seconds prior to the trigger. Various firmware updates screwed that up long ago so it seems that no matter what the setting is, event playback will start at the moment of event trigger. That is really unhelpful when you have to go through multiple clicks to toggle 'skip unrelated video' to view the moments up to the event (on V4 you could just toggle the 'human' icon with a single click)

 

[JB1970]

The remote doesn't work - I have the 7608NI remote signals programmed into a Logitech remote. I tried it just after getting the M and there's no response.

Strange. I was just thinking about this and wondered (long shot) if you had changed the 'Device No' on either the previous one new NVR, as that would prevent your saved IR codes working on the new NVR if that address was different to previous. The default is 255 and I've only ever needed to change it once, when a DVR was picking up stray IR meant for another device and was misbehaving.