Koukaam IPcorder aka KNR NVR - stress test

And hello again!

In my previous post, I said that I will "stress test" those new, small NVRs from Koukaam. It took me some time, but I wanted to be sure about my data... well this isn't true, it took that long because I didn't believe my eyes, it was just too good to be true...

KNR the Small and Powerful?

First, I set KNR-1004 in that configuration:

• KNR firmware 2.1.4
• 500GB WD5000AAKS HDD
• 4x ACTi D32 IP cams working in FullHD res, 15fps, H.264 (connected as D11 cuz this is the only D series cam on KNR list - tsk tsk Koukaam) 
• Cisco SRW208P - 8x 10/100 PoE ports + 2x 10/100/1000 ports - Gigabit port connected to KNR
• Two remote clients watching live video

And just look at that:

4x FullHD 15fps cams? No problem.

Less than 50% CPU usage, not even sweat! I have to admit it, I was impressed that this small, cheap NVR was able to handle such bandwidth. It worked like that for 162h, permanent recording - still no problems occurred. 

Koukaam KNR-1004 deserves a:

Seal of Approval for KNR-1004

 

Make it bleed....

Ok, ok, 4x FullHD cams is not too impressive. So I decided to check, how much this small KNR can handle, or how to make it squeak like piggie on rodeo. I prepared this combination for KNR-1008:

• 4x FullHD 30fps
• 2x FullHD 15fps
• 1x 3.1 Mpixel 15fps
• 1x 5.0 Mpixel 15 fps

Looks nice right? You can make quite interesting system with those resolutions, and 8 camera systems are quite popular.
I know that frame rates are too high, we don't need that much, but hey, it supposed to be a "stress test", right?

To be honest, I thought that 32 Mbps bandwidth will just kill that poor NVR, because how in the Nine Hells of Baator, Koukaam would managed to squeeze capable hardware in that tiny piece of equipment.

That small black thing - will it manage to record all this data? 

I thought that KNR-1008, when connected to all those cams, will look like this:

Too... much... bandwidth.... blarglglgrlgrglrlhrh 

Imagine how I was surprised, when after connecting 2 clients, I saw this:

32 Mbps and only 81% CPU load - not bad for a $399 NVR!

And it stayed like that whole time. Actually 81% CPU load was max that i recorded, usually it was near 70-75%, and remember that I used quite high frame rates.

Connected cams and actual frame rate

There is something fishy about this....

Hmmmmm, ~80% CPU load for a 32Mbps, and 40% 16Mbps? For me it looks like KNR-1004 is just the same hardware as KNR-1008 but with software limitation. 

I set constant minimum 6M bitrate for those 4x ACTi D32 cams. With disabled DNR, lowlight, slow shutter and high gain I get like 28 Mbps on KNR-1004 and CPU load jumped to 67%, so I'm almost sure that 4 cam limitation on that NVR is just software thing... but hey! It's cheap anyway.

Summary

As you can see those new KNR NVRs are worth considering. There is no local display port, but lots of installations don't need that anyway. 

This is best choice for schools, small shops, homes, warehouse, places where you don't need to look at live video 24/7, but you need recordings in good quality. 

It's also a good choice when you have PC dedicated for CCTV and you just want a NVR in server room. 

And what you think about those tests? Or maybe you know other NVRs in same price range that have similar throughput? 

 Also if you need tutorials on how to configure those NVRs, just leave a comment below.