Review on 📹 Anpviz NVR4.0 Upgrade: 8CH 4K PoE NVR for IP Home Security Camera System by Jonathan Self

This is one of the best NVRs I have ever owned. I use it with several non-Hikvision ONVIF cameras and everything works fine. The setup was a bit tricky as I don't connect my cameras directly to the NVR's POE ports but use my own POE switch connected to my router. And my router connects to the NVR. To set it up, I connected an HDMI monitor and the included mouse to the NVR. The tricky part was adding the cameras as they weren't directly connected to the NVR. The setup page shows the 8 POE ports that need to bring the cameras together and below it shows my own IP cameras. When trying to add my cameras, I kept getting an error saying adding more cameras is not allowed because the NVR only supports a maximum of 8 via POE ports. So the trick was to assign each of my cameras to one of the POE ports via the same page. In other words, select a POE port, enter the camera's IP address, username and password, and that's it. I've done that with every camera. It should be noted that the NVR will continue to beep about every 30 seconds until the hard drive is formatted, which is also part of the setup. By default, after formatting, the hard drive is set to continuously (24/7) record video from all cameras on the hard drive. On the computer I use the official iVMS 4200 program, which can be downloaded from the Hikvision website. During the initial installation of the program, you provide an administrator username and password. After that, add the NVR by selecting "Device Management" > "Online Device" (below) > "Add to Client". It should be noted that initially I was not able to see my cameras live until I set the "Stream Key" by going to Device Management > Group (above) > Edit > and selecting "Stream Key" entered. You can get the stream key by opening a browser and selecting NVR IP address > Configuration (top) > Network (left) > Advanced settings > Platform access. If after entering the "Stream Key" for each camera in the iVMS 4200 app you still cannot see your cameras live, try disabling and re-enabling "Platform Access" by following the steps above. It seems to have helped me. If you have an Android phone, you can also download the Guarding Vision app and view your cameras assigned to the NVR. Overall a great NVR and software for computer and phone.