Tiandy cameras with another brand's NVR: ONVIF video and events

Over ONVIF, another manufacturer's recorder usually picks up the camera's picture. Whether motion events and smart events come through as well depends on support in the camera, the recorder, the firmware and the specific function. This cannot be said in general, so it has to be checked pairing by pairing before a mixed system.

This article describes what to check on the data sheet, what to test on site, and what to write on the handover document.

The typical situation

The customer has a recorder from one manufacturer and wants to expand. Or they have the cameras and the recorder fails. The installer then logically looks for the best price on the one device that has to be replaced now. A mixed system, however, is decided at the level of functions, not devices.

The basic test

Live view is the basic test. Check recording, playback, export and audio separately on the specific camera and recorder pair. Resolution, frame rate and encoding settings can usually be adjusted. For a "let me look back at what happened" need this may be enough, if the test confirmed it.

What has to be checked function by function

The motion event and the smart events: line crossing, intrusion, object removal, human and vehicle filtering, face and number plate recognition. The camera computes these. Whether the recorder receives and handles them is decided by the support in both devices and the firmware running on them, function by function. It can happen that the motion event comes through but a smart event does not.

If an event does not come through, the alarm chain breaks at that point: there is no notification on the customer's phone, no event-based search in the recordings, and if recording is event-triggered it does not start recording, so the storage calculation changes too. If the recorder detects motion from the picture itself, that is a different method; test it on site before you rely on it.

How to check

1. On the data sheet. Check on the camera's and the recorder's data sheet what ONVIF support they state, and which firmware version it applies to.

2. The firmware. Write down which firmware is running on the camera and the recorder. If the manufacturer releases a newer one, support may change.

3. On site, function by function. Add the camera to the recorder and test one by one what the customer needs: live view, recording, playback, motion-triggered recording, phone notification, event-based search.

4. The promise. Do not promise the customer anything the test has not confirmed.

PoE plug and play with another manufacturer's camera

A recorder usually picks up its own manufacturer's camera on the PoE port automatically. For another manufacturer's camera, check in the recorder's manual whether it picks up an ONVIF camera connected to the PoE port automatically. If not, the camera has to be set to the recorder's internal range manually, the channel added manually, and the stream address entered. This is not difficult, but it has to be documented, otherwise it has to be worked out again at the next maintenance visit.

What the customer loses if nobody tells them in advance

If an event does not come through and nobody has tested it, the customer thinks they got the same as the neighbour, and weeks later it turns out that their phone does not alert them. Then they call the installer, who cannot solve it with a setting, because it depends on the support in the two devices.

That is why the test result is worth recording in writing. One line on the handover document is enough: mixed-brand system; tested at handover: live view, recording, playback, and the following events: … Events not on this list were not tested and are not covered. That way the list of tested functions can be looked up later.

When video alone is enough

It is enough if the customer needs to search recordings afterwards, not alarms. It is enough for replacing one camera at the end of a system's life. And it is enough where the alarm comes from a separate intrusion system, not the camera, because then all you need from the camera is the picture.

If the customer expects mobile notifications, if recording is motion-triggered, or if number plate or face recognition is part of the job, a mixed system is only an option if the on-site test has confirmed these events. If it has not, build the system with one manufacturer's devices.

Summary