How-to: My Hikvision NVR has both HDMI & VGA connections, can I connect two monitors to my NVR?

[Dan]

This question gets asked a lot and we have always assumed that as the larger Pro NVRs (9600 Series) have 2 x VGA & 2 x HDMI that they were the only models that would support any kind of multi-screen setup.

Today we did some tests with a selection of demo NVRs we have in our office to see if it was possible to connect two monitors to an NVR that only had 1 x VGA & 1 x HDMI, below are our findings from testing K-series & I-series NVRs


K-series (DS-7604NI-K1-4P(B) / DS-7608NI-K2-8P / DS-7616NI-K2-16P / DS-7716NI-K4-16P / DS-7732NI-K4-16P)

When we connected a monitor to both the VGA & HDMI of a 7604 4-channel NVR we were able to see the usual K-series GUI on both screens at the same time, but with the older K-series GUI when viewing on two monitors your actions will be synchronised (e.g. when you move the mouse on one screen the mouse will do the same movement on the 2nd screen, and this is the same for any action whether it's opening menus and selecting individual live streams). So the main disadvantage of this is that you can't have different live views streaming on each monitor, both monitors will show exactly the same thing and the only difference will be that one will be a VGA quality. The advantage of these synchronised displays is if you have a setup with say a large wall-mounted monitor and a smaller desktop monitor, you can have the HDMI output to the big screen while you operate from a smaller VGA screen, this kind of setup would be useful for any situation where you need to demonstrate a feature of the NVR or play back footage in real-time to a large group of people.


I-series (DS-7608NI-I2-8P / DS-7616NI-I2-16P / DS-7716NI-I4-16P /DS-7632NI-I4-16P / DS-7732NI-I4-16P)

We have a 7716-I NVR as part of our demo system in the office and when we connected two monitors to the VGA & HDMI connections on the back we got the live streams displayed on both monitors just like we did with the K-series NVR. The difference with the I-series NVRs is that they use the latest 4.0 GUI, and on the live view page of this new interface you will find an icon in the bottom right of the screen labelled 'AUX Monitor' (see image below), clicking this icon allows for you to switch control between the HDMI & VGA screens and allows you to move through the NVR menus on one screen whilst keeping the cameras streaming on the 2nd screen.

​

Now that you have the ability to switch between and control multiple screens you would obviously want to be able to set each screen up with their own camera stream layouts, to do this simply go to the System page (cog icon at the top of the 4.0 GUI) and then click the Live View tab and select the view page from the dropdown options. On this page you can switch between the HDMI & VGA screen and set the camera stream layout for each monitor (see image below). There are limitations to how you can set the layouts, you can set the same camera to appear on both screens in the same place or in different positions and you can also spread all 16/32 cameras out across the 2 screens, the main thing you can't do is have a camera appear in different positions when using different live view layouts on the same screen (e.g. if you put camera 1 in the top left position for the 2*2 layout it will also appear in this top left position when you switch to the 3*3 layout).

9600 Series, Deep in mind, and Other NVR models

We don't tend to get hands-on with these larger, top of the range NVRs but as you will see from the product pages and datasheets for these models a lot of them have 2 x VGA & 2 x HDMI connections. We assume that the 2 x connections on these models takes the multi-screen setup one step further by allowing you to seamlessly move your mouse between screens (like you can with a 2 screen setup on a PC), thus allowing you to adjust each screens layout with ease and see all your camera streams in full quality via HDMI connection on both screens. (be aware that you will only see the full resolution stream of each camera when you select to view main-stream)

If anyone out there on the forum has had experience using two monitors with a 9600 Series NVR (or any other top of the range NVR with dual VGA/HDMI ports) then please share any information you have in this thread.

 

[askbizit]

Good afternoon Dan, Can you recommend a store to purchase Hikvision NVRs ?
I am looking for an NVR that allows me to control multiple screens. I have found the NVRs mentioned in this article on Amazon, but the sellers don't seem to be authorized by HV; therefore, the products do not have any warranty.
Great article! Thanks!

 

[Dan]

Hi @askbizit

use-IP Ltd who manage this forum also run a webshop for IP surveillance products, your system Installer can go to our use-IP Webshop to purchase the Hikvision NVR(s) and any other equipment you need.

 

[Ahac85]

This question gets asked a lot and we have always assumed that as the larger Pro NVRs (9600 Series) have 2 x VGA & 2 x HDMI that they were the only models that would support any kind of multi-screen setup.

Today we did some tests with a selection of demo NVRs we have in our office to see if it was possible to connect two monitors to an NVR that only had 1 x VGA & 1 x HDMI, below are our findings from testing K-series & I-series NVRs


K-series (DS-7604NI-K1-4P(B) / DS-7608NI-K2-8P / DS-7616NI-K2-16P / DS-7716NI-K4-16P / DS-7732NI-K4-16P)

When we connected a monitor to both the VGA & HDMI of a 7604 4-channel NVR we were able to see the usual K-series GUI on both screens at the same time, but with the older K-series GUI when viewing on two monitors your actions will be synchronised (e.g. when you move the mouse on one screen the mouse will do the same movement on the 2nd screen, and this is the same for any action whether it's opening menus and selecting individual live streams). So the main disadvantage of this is that you can't have different live views streaming on each monitor, both monitors will show exactly the same thing and the only difference will be that one will be a VGA quality. The advantage of these synchronised displays is if you have a setup with say a large wall-mounted monitor and a smaller desktop monitor, you can have the HDMI output to the big screen while you operate from a smaller VGA screen, this kind of setup would be useful for any situation where you need to demonstrate a feature of the NVR or play back footage in real-time to a large group of people.


I-series (DS-7608NI-I2-8P / DS-7616NI-I2-16P / DS-7716NI-I4-16P /DS-7632NI-I4-16P / DS-7732NI-I4-16P)

We have a 7716-I NVR as part of our demo system in the office and when we connected two monitors to the VGA & HDMI connections on the back we got the live streams displayed on both monitors just like we did with the K-series NVR. The difference with the I-series NVRs is that they use the latest 4.0 GUI, and on the live view page of this new interface you will find an icon in the bottom right of the screen labelled 'AUX Monitor' (see image below), clicking this icon allows for you to switch control between the HDMI & VGA screens and allows you to move through the NVR menus on one screen whilst keeping the cameras streaming on the 2nd screen.

View attachment 1746

​

Now that you have the ability to switch between and control multiple screens you would obviously want to be able to set each screen up with their own camera stream layouts, to do this simply go to the System page (cog icon at the top of the 4.0 GUI) and then click the Live View tab and select the view page from the dropdown options. On this page you can switch between the HDMI & VGA screen and set the camera stream layout for each monitor (see image below). There are limitations to how you can set the layouts, you can set the same camera to appear on both screens in the same place or in different positions and you can also spread all 16/32 cameras out across the 2 screens, the main thing you can't do is have a camera appear in different positions when using different live view layouts on the same screen (e.g. if you put camera 1 in the top left position for the 2*2 layout it will also appear in this top left position when you switch to the 3*3 layout).

View attachment 1747

9600 Series, Deep in mind, and Other NVR models

We don't tend to get hands-on with these larger, top of the range NVRs but as you will see from the product pages and datasheets for these models a lot of them have 2 x VGA & 2 x HDMI connections. We assume that the 2 x connections on these models takes the multi-screen setup one step further by allowing you to seamlessly move your mouse between screens (like you can with a 2 screen setup on a PC), thus allowing you to adjust each screens layout with ease and see all your camera streams in full quality via HDMI connection on both screens. (be aware that you will only see the full resolution stream of each camera when you select to view main-stream)

If anyone out there on the forum has had experience using two monitors with a 9600 Series NVR (or any other top of the range NVR with dual VGA/HDMI ports) then please share any information you have in this thread.

Hi, is there a way to have the old setup on gui 4.0 onwards, I want to keep the Main Stream on VGA and HDMI as i could prior to gui 4.0 as i dont mind the synchronised actions. i dont want main stream on monitor 1 and sub stream on monitor 2.

Now when i select Main stream on both monitors i see No Resource on the screen on one monitor

 

[GMan]

Afternoon Dan, I would like to come at the VGA & HDMI display question too. I'm trying to help my in-laws with a setup that uses four cameras attached to a 'DS 7604NI-E1-4P (681758316). The setup as I found it had the VGA port on the NVR attached directly to the VGA on a PC monitor. The HDMI port on the NVR was attached to a dongle with two ethernet ports that in turn run a pair of ethernet cables to another ethernet/HDMI dongle attached to an HDMI port on the TV.
Only the VGA connection displays an image. When selecting the av source on the TV that has the dongle attached, there is no output.
Having read the details earlier in the thread, you suggest that (not on this model) I should be able to have an image on the VGA device and the HDMI device at the same time. Is this true for the model mentioned here?
To try and diagnose this issue I have attached an HDMI enabled PC monitor to the NVRs' HDMI port using a 'normal' HDMI cable. No image is displayed on the local HDMI PC monitor either. I have tried this with the VGA disconnected. No restart on the NVR has been done.
My father n law says the configuration, local VGA and HDMI over Ethernet to the TV used to work.
Can you offer any advice please? I can't access the NVR from where I am at the time of writing this.
Cheers.

 

[Dan]

Hi @GMan

The E-series NVR you have is now an EOL model and we have minimal hands-on experience with it.

I would expect the VGA & HDMI outputs on this E-series NVR to operate in the same way as I describe the K-series above, you may be able to get images on both screens but it will just be a pure duplication on both screens. (e.g. whatever you do on one screen will be copied exactly the same on the other)

If you have directly connected an HDMI monitor to the HDMI output and removed the VGA connection while doing this and still get no picture I can only think that your NVRs HDMI output has failed.

 

[GMan]

Hi @GMan

The E-series NVR you have is now an EOL model and we have minimal hands-on experience with it.

I would expect the VGA & HDMI outputs on this E-series NVR to operate in the same way as I describe the K-series above, you may be able to get images on both screens but it will just be a pure duplication on both screens. (e.g. whatever you do on one screen will be copied exactly the same on the other)

If you have directly connected an HDMI monitor to the HDMI output and removed the VGA connection while doing this and still get no picture I can only think that your NVRs HDMI output has failed.

Thanks Dan, I'm assuming there is no configuration change that has to be done? It's effectively Plug n Play for the HDMI? I have looked through the IVMS-4200 software settings and the E series manual. No obvious config option about the display ports jumps out at me.

 

[Dan]

There is configuration in regards to the layout that you see on the monitor but you should still get a basic live view when you first plug an HDMI monitor into the NVR.

 

[GMan]

There is configuration in regards to the layout that you see on the monitor but you should still get a basic live view when you first plug an HDMI monitor into the NVR.

Yup. That's kinda what I expected. Thanks Dan - I'll take another look tomorrow.

 

[GMan]

Hi there, The fault finding continues. Although I still can't get an image from the on board HDMI to a PC monitor using a HDMI cable, I still want to diagnose the connection from the NVR to the TV. The TV is connected to the NVR using a HDMI -> Twin Ethernet, Twin Ethernet -> HDMI sender and receiver set up.
Taking the NVR out of the task and replacing it with a laptop I cannot put the laptop image on the TV over this cabling configuration. Replacing the TV with a PC monitor connected to this HDMI / Ethernet setup seems to put a signal out to the PC such that it doesn't display a 'no signal' message on screen but merely 'shows' a blank, black display. If I swap one pair of the ethernet round on the HDMI converter I do get a 'no signal' message. This implies that a signal is reaching the PC monitor (simulating the TV end) but has been degraded in some way.
The cable routing only allows the narrow gauge ethernet cables to be used between the NVR and the TV so my next step is to ask if you might recommend a replacement HDMI / Ethernet send and receive kit to try or indeed a different technique to connect the NVR to the TV. The constraining factor on the cable routing is the hole in one wall that transits the two ethernet cables between the NVR and the TV and the portion of the routing that goes under the carpet in the TV room. Cable run is less than 15m and self powered would be preferred.
Whadya reckon?

 

[GMan]

Any news out there?

 

[Dan]

Hi @GMan

We have never set up an HDMI connection using HDMI to network to HDMI devices before so couldn't recommend any specific devices.

I would recommend starting a new thread explaining exactly what you are trying to do and see if any other users can recommend devices they have used.

 

[earth3005]

Hi @GMan

We have never set up an HDMI connection using HDMI to network to HDMI devices before so couldn't recommend any specific devices.

I would recommend starting a new thread explaining exactly what you are trying to do and see if any other users can recommend devices they have used.

Hi Dan,

I want to use HDMI & VGA output together. How can I set duplicate screen ? (I mean both of HDMI and VGA are display same stream)
Hope to get your reply soon.

Thanks.

 

[Dan]

Hi @earth3005

Which NVR model do you have?

 

[earth3005]

I have DS7716NI-I4 model. Thanks

 

[Dan]

Ok, see the I-series instructions in the first post of this thread.

You can set the same layout for both the HDMI and VGA outputs via the Live View settings.

 

[mkerton]

This question gets asked a lot and we have always assumed that as the larger Pro NVRs (9600 Series) have 2 x VGA & 2 x HDMI that they were the only models that would support any kind of multi-screen setup.

Today we did some tests with a selection of demo NVRs we have in our office to see if it was possible to connect two monitors to an NVR that only had 1 x VGA & 1 x HDMI, below are our findings from testing K-series & I-series NVRs


K-series (DS-7604NI-K1-4P(B) / DS-7608NI-K2-8P / DS-7616NI-K2-16P / DS-7716NI-K4-16P / DS-7732NI-K4-16P)

When we connected a monitor to both the VGA & HDMI of a 7604 4-channel NVR we were able to see the usual K-series GUI on both screens at the same time, but with the older K-series GUI when viewing on two monitors your actions will be synchronised (e.g. when you move the mouse on one screen the mouse will do the same movement on the 2nd screen, and this is the same for any action whether it's opening menus and selecting individual live streams). So the main disadvantage of this is that you can't have different live views streaming on each monitor, both monitors will show exactly the same thing and the only difference will be that one will be a VGA quality. The advantage of these synchronised displays is if you have a setup with say a large wall-mounted monitor and a smaller desktop monitor, you can have the HDMI output to the big screen while you operate from a smaller VGA screen, this kind of setup would be useful for any situation where you need to demonstrate a feature of the NVR or play back footage in real-time to a large group of people.


I-series (DS-7608NI-I2-8P / DS-7616NI-I2-16P / DS-7716NI-I4-16P /DS-7632NI-I4-16P / DS-7732NI-I4-16P)

We have a 7716-I NVR as part of our demo system in the office and when we connected two monitors to the VGA & HDMI connections on the back we got the live streams displayed on both monitors just like we did with the K-series NVR. The difference with the I-series NVRs is that they use the latest 4.0 GUI, and on the live view page of this new interface you will find an icon in the bottom right of the screen labelled 'AUX Monitor' (see image below), clicking this icon allows for you to switch control between the HDMI & VGA screens and allows you to move through the NVR menus on one screen whilst keeping the cameras streaming on the 2nd screen.

View attachment 1746

​

Now that you have the ability to switch between and control multiple screens you would obviously want to be able to set each screen up with their own camera stream layouts, to do this simply go to the System page (cog icon at the top of the 4.0 GUI) and then click the Live View tab and select the view page from the dropdown options. On this page you can switch between the HDMI & VGA screen and set the camera stream layout for each monitor (see image below). There are limitations to how you can set the layouts, you can set the same camera to appear on both screens in the same place or in different positions and you can also spread all 16/32 cameras out across the 2 screens, the main thing you can't do is have a camera appear in different positions when using different live view layouts on the same screen (e.g. if you put camera 1 in the top left position for the 2*2 layout it will also appear in this top left position when you switch to the 3*3 layout).

View attachment 1747

9600 Series, Deep in mind, and Other NVR models

We don't tend to get hands-on with these larger, top of the range NVRs but as you will see from the product pages and datasheets for these models a lot of them have 2 x VGA & 2 x HDMI connections. We assume that the 2 x connections on these models takes the multi-screen setup one step further by allowing you to seamlessly move your mouse between screens (like you can with a 2 screen setup on a PC), thus allowing you to adjust each screens layout with ease and see all your camera streams in full quality via HDMI connection on both screens. (be aware that you will only see the full resolution stream of each camera when you select to view main-stream)

If anyone out there on the forum has had experience using two monitors with a 9600 Series NVR (or any other top of the range NVR with dual VGA/HDMI ports) then please share any information you have in this thread.

That's interesting Dan. Using an aux monitor is something I'm looking at. My problem is that if the aux monitor is deffective, or not set up properly so you can't see it. How do you switch back to the orignial monitor?

On a similar situation. Do you know of a way to use a Macbook Pro and an aux monitor? Say HDMI - thunderbolt?

My NVR is I series

 

[KamirZG]

Hi all, i have DS-96128NI-I16. Two monitors are on site and both are working ( HDMI/VGA and HDMI2).
Does anybody know how can I use mouse on second output? For now i only have live view on HDMI2 but without possibility to use mouse ( or I don't know how).

Thank you

 

[Dan]

Hi @KamirZG

Do you have an "Aux Monitor" button on the live view of your main monitor as is shown in the I-series section of the original post for this thread? If you do that should switch your mouse control between HDMI1 and HDMI2.

 

[KamirZG]

Interesting thing about that. It's not supported before v4.40.500 on that model.

First thing i went for was Aux, but there was none.