Unifi NVR - install, setup, adoption, migration

I upgrade my network with a Unifi NVR to store all my security camera footage on.

EDIT: As Charles mentions in the comments, I could probably have backed up Protect on the UDM SE and restored it on the NVR. Because I couldn't get my head around the NVR being a separate instance of Protect, I never went down that path 🤷‍♂️

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Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:38 Current state of resources
4:19 What is in the box?
6:58 Installation (incl. screw-ups)
10:22 Setup (llamas)
12:49 Migration of cameras
19:08 The mobile app
20:02 Accessing the NVR remotely
21:08 NVR features
25:40 Summary of architecture

[TimothyLeBlanc-hn]

The recovery key is found by going to Protect selecting a device click settings and under general click on "configure device groups" and scroll down to 'Other Configuration" Recovery code. You will need to click on reveal to allow you to copy the code. Finally as you showed us select the device and click adopt it will prompt you for the recovery code pasted your code there and on my device it was adopted right away. Thanks for the great video

[steveg]

Nice guide mate, love the little problems along the way too, it was like I was looking into a future mirror

[TimothyLeBlanc-hn]

Spot on, The steps are simple and correct this is the most straight forward guide I have found. Thank you.

[murrayjamieson]

Thanks Lars, just doing a bit of time travelling with you. I am now tinkering with a UNVR for work and your videos are as always a good resource. Out of interest what size rack was this installed into? I know you have the Titan rack platinum 3000 Pro + XL now but I was wondering the size of this rack? I have a 450mm deep rack and am looking to also upgrade my home setup but am worried about space.

[erazorCTF]

You can set a recovery password in the system settings on the donor Unifi Protect app, in your case that is the app on the UDM SE. This is the password that will be the camera password for pulling over all the cameras to the UNVR. The password is not a per-camera setting.

[jameyhaz]

thanks for this!! answered a lot of questions other videos missed. Did it free up resources on your UDM SE? Also, was scrubbing through video any smoother? Any improvements it made? I'll be getting one soon to help relieve the stress on my Cloud Gateway Max.

[mrq]

nice job for normal people who start with protect !

[DCJones]

OFF TOPIC ... Hey Lars, watching you battle with the door on your rack cabinet, I can feel your frustration. Not sure if yours is the same but on my cabinet where the door hinges with the main cabinet there is a spring loaded latch you can very easily use to take the door off. For the 10sec to take it off and the 10sec to put it back on I find that whenever I'm working inside the cabinet it's worth taking off (then it won't keep banging into you). Hopefully you have the same spring loaded latch, I couldn't get a good look during your last two videos.

[Kjaywest]

I just picked one up yesterday, but I did not know it was going to be its own device. I was thinking it’s was going to work as an extension of storage for the UDM. Now that I know it I don’t know if I should keep it 😂😂😂

[nasaspacemanwho]

Same boat. Just bought an NVR. Currently using my se for about 4 instant cameras. And about to do a house move with a whole house renovation and extention. My plan is to set up the NVR now from. Scratch and add the bullets and flexs to that..

[oxylus]

Thanks, Lars. That was very useful and hit all the points I was wondering about. I've been holding off adding any more 4k devices since they really cut down the retention time on the UDM Pro.

Only downside I guess is that you need to manually re-create all the detection zones and notifications per camera. Wonder if they migrate across if you know what the device password is (I don't know what it is on mine either). May be easier to set a password per device via the CLI and then migrate over?

Only other concern would be heat - wonder how hot it will get with 3 or 4 drives in our summer in an environment without active cooling.

[cmsamford]

You need to backup your Protect on SE and restore the setting for Protect on the UNVR most likely

[ecur]

I like yourself had to figure out that part of un manage the cameras from the UDMP so the NVR can start managing them. I did run into an issue though, not sure if you noticed that too. I wanted to get the full usage of the 10G SFP port, it seemed to work fine till I noticed that all the cameras kept getting disconnected for a few seconds every 2 minutes. I ended up changing to the 1G port on the UNVR. Did you notice this also or are you also using just the 1 GB port? Another thing I noticed is that the access through the portal is much faster and loads the feeds much better.

[ultramegabicara]

Can i use the UNVR standalone? Like without a dream machine or cloudkey. Just the a uswitch to connect all the cameras and to connect the UNVR. And connecting the uswitch to my normal service provider ruter?

[capnjackswallows]

Just one thing that I would really want to know, what is the CPU and RAM usage on the UDM SE when you migrated to the UNVR?

[LuftdroneDk]

I just went through the same upgrade from UDM Pro to NVR, but I just started by releasing all the cameras from my UDM Pro and then adopting them on my NVR. It didnt take long (got around 12 cameras) and just had to adjust the settings for detection etc. It has operated much more smoothly in Live View but the Protect still has a "lag" upon logging on where I can review anything right after login. I have to wait 10-30 secs before I can review any of the small detection clips or even view the Live View with a grid of 9 cameras. They take about the same 10-30 secs before they all start to show full live feed from each camera (3 small dots showing until ready).

[MatsAkerberg]

I'm running the exact same setup. One thing I was wondering about, is there a need to run the protect app on the UDM SE? Seems like I could just uninstall that one.

[samuelharris]

"Recovery Code is required if you want Protect devices to be adopted by another Unifi Console"... can be found in: Protect > Setting(Gear) > scroll down to "Other Configurations" > Recovery Code... Reveal or Edit options.

[JustinJob-uizf]

i have a client that has someone else managing their network but i am adding the unvr. Do I need to contact them to unmanage the cameras or can I factory reset the cameras and add them to the unvr?

[mohamedirushan]

You can type in the camera ip on browser and setup the password for it there, the default is ubnt both pass n user. 😊