I really like mine.  The video quality is excellent.

Yep

External illuminators are where it's at.

That doesn't suck.

It's funny to me that you couldn't touch performance like that for <$1000 just a few years ago.

You could simply add a microSD card to the camera, and record internally.  You can then access the recordings over the network.

Might save you the trouble of building a dedicated DVR computer.  I have a neighbor who did it that way.

You have to add them manually... but the DVR will do it.  Those DVRs will take camera streams from the "WAN" side of the network, in addition to streams taken from the internal LAN it has on its built-in switch.  It takes up a "channel" on the DVR, and you will need the IP address of the camera on the local LAN, and the password.

Just make sure the wifi cameras are on the same subnet as the DVR's "WAN" port.

i would only use Hikvision with Hikvision.

So here's how to set up external sensors and Hikvision cameras.  (taken from updated thread here)

By now, many posters are familiar with the Hikvision brand of cameras.  Hikvision came on the market a few years ago, and have really pushed a new standard in the quality-for-$$$ category.  The price-points of Hikvision (and their competitor Dahua) have become so affordable that many members have installed (or are considering installing) these systems.  

With that in mind, let's discuss how to make your Hikvision system smarter... with sensors.  

Alarm sensors have been used for decades in the construction of regular home burglar alarm systems, and most are electrically quite simple.  They are generally either NO or NC (Normally-Open, or Normally-Closed) switches, and the alarm panel/brain monitors the state of these switches by running a very low-voltage/amperage current through the sensor.  If a NC (Normally Closed) sensor (like a reed switch on a door or window) experiences a change-of-state (eg. the window/door opens, moving the magnet away from the reed switch, and the connection opens, breaking continuity) the current stops flowing, and the panel/brain detects it.  The same can happen when current suddenly flows through a NO (Normally-Open) sensor, when it was an open connection before.  

Here is a link that explains it

Simple mechanical sensors like reed switches are as dead-nuts reliable as a sensor can get (as long as the magnet retains its magnetism)... but their application is limited to a defined opening/door/window/gate.  Fortunately, there are other sensors that can cover a much wider area, with reliability that is nearly as good.  

This brings us to PIR and Microwave sensors.  These are the "motion detectors" that everybody has probably seen a thousand times in standard household burglar alarms.  They are usually mounted in a corner, and cover a room in the house.  Fortunately, that's not nearly the limit of their utility.  They can also be mounted outdoors, and cover perimeter areas on your property, or the yard around your house.   These are the sensor technology behind some "driveway" alarms, and many game-cameras.  

Here are several examples.  Going from Left-to-Right, we have an Optex LX-402, a Crow SRX-360, and a Crow Double-Dual (DD):

All are outdoor-rated, but the Optex only uses a single PIR sensor.  The SRX has dual-sensors (PIR and Microwave).  The DD has dual PIRs.  






Here are close-ups of the Optex, the SRX, and the DD, respectively:








Note what you see on all of the close-ups.  All three of these sensors have 12v DC input (note the +/- terminals; you can't read them on the Optex, but it's the left-most terminals), and NO/NC connections, usually next to a "C" or "COM" connection, which would be the ground (the alarm connections are marked "relay" on the SRX, and are a NC zone).  The NC/NO/Relay connections are the ones that go to the camera.  It's two wires; you can't get it wrong.  

So each sensor requires four wires: two for power, and two for signal to the camera or alarm panel.  Standard alarm wire has four conductors for this reason (circled in red):




We are going to use the Optex as our example sensor.  The Hikvision "Alarm" connector looks like another connector on the camera (the "Audio" connector), and you have to read the imprint on the plastic to determine which one you have.  Going from right-to-left in the below picture, the Alarm connector has four connections:  I, GND, O, and another GND.  For the input from your sensor, you need to connect wires to "I" (for input) and the immediately-adjacent "GND."  




You can see they are standard screw-down terminals (end-on view:)




When the PIR is hooked up to both power, and the camera, it looks like this.  12v DC hooked up to the PIR, and the two wires going from PIR to camera.  After that, it's all software config in the camera.    

Referring to the pic below, on the camera side, the Green wire is attached to GND terminal, and the Yellow wire is connected to "I" (or input) terminal.   On the PIR side, the GND terminal on the PIR is directly between the NO, and the NC terminals.   So the connectors on the PIR side, going from left-to-right are (+) (-)... skip to next connector block... NC, GND, NO.    




So here's the software configuration within the Hikvision cameras (latest Firmware version, as of this post).  

Start at the "Network" configuration section, and make sure you click "Advanced Settings" in the left-most column.  

The "Basic" section doesn't allow email configuration, but the "Advanced Settings" section will give you the option of configuring an email server.  Click the Email tab at the top of the page (red arrow):




Once you're in "Advanced Settings" and "Email," you need to enter the settings for whatever email server or email relay service you're using.  If you have a company email server, you can enter the IP address, sender, etc.

Sender:  just a name
Sender's address:  This is an email address... [email protected], or whatever.
SMTP server:  This is the IP address of your mailserver.  It can be local, or remote.
SMTP port:  Usually 25, but can be on other ports, depending on your mail service.  You can use anything you like... but as an example, the instructions for relaying through Google's G-suite are here.  There are others... googling for "SMTP relay service" will give you plenty of options (usually 5-10 bucks a month or so), or you can set up your own mailserver if you have the geek chops to make it work.  

Click "attached image" to get an image in your email, and I usually pick 5s as the time interval.  That gives me about three images per-email.

Authentication:  enter whatever your service requires.  I use IP authentication, so I don't have to worry about this section.  As long as the email comes from a certain IP, the service will forward it.  

Don't forget to click the "Test" button (red arrow) to make sure it all works before moving on.  





That's the hard part... the rest is easy.

Here's the "Basic Event" section.  Note the red-dotted fields/buttons.

There is only one alarm input, so the A<--1 is checked by default.
 
The alarm type is NO (Normally-Open), so we have that selected.  You could just as easily use a NC sensor, and simply change this field to NC

The "Arming Schedule" tab in the middle of the page is highlighted, enabling you to determine exactly when the camera will pay attention to the sensor (the sensor is always active... but unless it's during one of the blue time-periods, the camera will ignore the input).  Clicking on a day will allow you enter time intervals, and then repeat them on various days, or set each day with a custom time schedule.  This person has kids, so this camera alarm is set to be active during the day when owner is at work and kids are at school, and at night... it's largely inactive during the weekend, when kids are home and running around.



Clicking the "Linkage Method" tab will bring up the options of what you want the camera to do with the alarm.

Ensure the "Alarm Type" is still "NO"

Enable Alarm input handling

Under "Normal Linkage" click "Send Email," and an email will be sent every time the alarm is triggered.




That should do it.

Now as you look at those pages, you can see that other options exist.  You can also enable alarm OUTPUT from that camera.  This output can be fed to an alarm system, a buzzer, a relay, a chime, a light... the options are endless.   It can also trigger internal recording inside the camera (to a microSD card), so you have backup images in case the bad guys steal your DVR/NVR.

Look at the cable connnectors... those are BNC.  That's a system you'd use to retrofit an older analog system, and upgrade the cameras/DVR without replacing the cables.

If you're starting from scratch, go with straight IP (using network cable) rather than TVI

Any of them could work, depending on how many cameras you need... but they don't come with cable, generally speaking.

Don't buy "CVI" or "TVI" systems, as those are for retrofitting a previously-installed analog system.

There are a bunch of them at Nelly's, right under the TVI systems.  

I'm confused at what you're looking for?

Yeah... that camera does rock.

I haven't played with the auto-tracking yet, myself.

Every one I've ever bought had standard hikvision firmware.

I have that same camera.  It's not the Chinese version.

And I paid a lot more than that for mine... that's a crazy good price.