- Hey guys, Clay Archer,
CEO, DPC Technology. And today we're gonna do
a head to head comparison between the UniFi Protect System and the Hikvision ecosystem. Now really quick, before we get into it I wanna clarify a couple things so you guys don't get no
nerd fight in the comments. First off, I know that Hikvisions cameras are often used with third-party NVRs. For this comparison we're going to keep
everything at Hikvision but in the future, we're
gonna do a comparison with the Blue Iris and Synology options. So go ahead and subscribe if you don't wanna miss those videos. Second, after our first
couple of videos in the series some people reached out and said we were comparising
the UniFied G4 cameras to less capable, Hikvision cameras. And they recommended that we add a ColorVu camera to the mix. So we did, and we'll show that comparison later in this video. And by the way, we do have links to all of the products in this video,
down in the description. Lastly, I wanna point out
that we're looking at this from the perspective of an
IT managed service provider. Some of the things that we
would give more weight to may not matter to you. We literally got hundreds of questions from you guys in the
comments here on YouTube, as well as the Reddit and Facebook forums. And we condensed everything
into 15 categories. So for simplicity, So for simplicity sake,
we're gonna get one point to each category that
we're comparing today. Alright, all that said let's
get right into the comparison. I think you guys are
gonna be pretty surprised with the results. So let's start off with
costs and subscription price. Surprisingly, the cost of
each system is comparable and neither have a
subscription, which is great. `I'm gonna give them one
point to Hikvision here because they have more lower cost high quality cameras than UniFi. I'm talking about you G4-PRO and PTZ, and the NVR options come out way cheaper. But ultimately there's not a
lot of difference in price, and that brings us to a range of cameras. This is an interesting one for me and I kind of struggle with this when I put together this test. I tend to go for the
higher megapixel cameras, and I got a lot of feedback
to use different cameras than I ended up going with originally, like the ColorVu camera
which you'll see in a minute. The large range of cameras in
the obscure naming convention makes it very difficult
to shop in the ecosystem. In stark contrast, UniFi's
lineup is very concise. There's a G3 and a G4 Dome, a G3 a G4 Bullet and so on. So you really can compare each camera and make an informed decision based off on what you
need when you're buying. That being said, Hikvision does have a ton more options so I do have to give them
the point for this one. That brings us to ease of use and install. I said in my last video, "This is one of my most difficult "and frustrating comparison
videos I've ever done." I tried to install the
Hikvision system headless I immediately gave up. I plugged in a monitor and the fricking mouse
that came with the system so I could partition the hard drive to stop it from the annoying beeping. In contrast, you plug in the UniFi system you register it with the web interface, and it auto detects the cameras
and sets them up for you. This is an easy point for Ubiquiti. NVR quality. My first impression of the Hikvision NVR is that it looks like a
ten-year-old cable box. That's not a horribly bad thing, but the software is just as archaic. Ubiquiti's NVR on the other hand is a nice rack-mounted raid enclosure and even the smaller Cloud key offering is a well-built modern device. I think it's a clear point for UniFi both on bill quality and NVR software. Camera build quality. I think UniFi has come a long way in their last generation of cameras. I'm really happy with the build quality but UniFi also has some lower
end cameras that are plastic like the Instant and the FLEX. I don't think that should be held against them in this category, but if I'm being honest
I think the build quality of the Hikvision units are
better by a small margin. One note as well in this category both companies had IRR cast issues inside of their Dome cameras, so I just wanted to note that. That brings us to image quality. This is a tough one for me because I haven't seen
the entire Hikvision line. Like I said before, "Several people were recommended "to test out the ColorVu
cameras for Hikvision." So we'll go ahead and roll that video now. So I went ahead and
ordered a ColorVu camera and I just wanted to jump
in real quick and show you what a difference it makes. It really is an interesting
piece of hardware. You can see the same three
cameras that I originally did and I thought the eight megapixel camera was probably gonna be the kind of the Belle of the ball there and give the best image. And I really do think the eight
megapixel camera is awesome the image is great. But all of the cameras really
didn't impress me at night, I don't think any of these images at night or are all that great. They're not that bad, but the two at the top
obviously don't look good in comparison to the bottom two. But you notice the ColorVu one it's pretty impressive. I will say there's always a little bit of Phantom power in this
room you can see the Ubiquiti WAP up there, there is a light on in a room far away. I assure you, it's not
this bright everywhere, but this ColorVu camera just lights it up like it's Christmas. John has some LEDs underneath his desks but just for comparison
sake, I wanted to show you that full screen and then show you one of these other cameras. In these cameras you would... I could convince you that it's dark out. There is an emergency
exit sign out in the front and there's one cam that's always on in the
front of the building. And like I said, "There's a light on in a room... "Two rooms away from this meeting room." And you can see that
when your regular camera is not shining through at all, but on the ColorVu camera
man it is, it's shining. You can also see the telephone
on Tina's desk in here. That's all that that light is and it's really bright in there. If you were looking for something that really lit things up at night and really gave you kind of
an accurate colorized view you can see this wall is green and you wanted it to have
that kind of detail at night, I really am impressed by this camera. Like I said before, "I think there are probably more cameras "like this at Hikvision's lineup "that I just haven't been exposed to." What I will say is, "The
cameras that I have reviewed, "I have to give a slight
edge to ubiquiti's G4 one. The biggest difference for me
is contrast and dynamic range. I always notice it in the blight fixtures are bright windows. - The fixtures. - I can instantly pick
out G4 cameras in a lineup because of it. Obviously, the G4 PRO is in a
different category of expense. So I do slightly discount for that because you're paying such a premium. But the G4 Dome and the G4 Bullets are really punchy card
in their price range. It's an era call and I'm sure I'm gonna hear
about it in the comments, but I'm gonna give this point to Ubiquiti. That brings us to 'Smart detections'. I was really happy last year when Ubiquiti added smart
detections to the G4 lineup I think their person in vehicle
detection worked really well and don't need much configuration. I think for most people, they work great. That being said, Hikvision
detection features are much more robust
and more customizable. With hiring features like
license plate detection, people counting heat maps and more, Hikvision easily gets
the point for this one which brings us to alerts. This was closer than I thought. UniFi has done a really good job with push notifications
based on smart detections that you can set based off
a time of day and zones. However, Hikvision's more robust AI and their audible alerts, give them a slight edge in this category. That brings us to scalability. I feel like this is one of
Hikvision's strong suits. The way the software is written, it's easy to group and team systems. And I feel like if you
were gonna build a system with more than 50 cameras, Hikvision is going to
be the better system. We've seen many people complain that once you start
adding a lot of cameras to UniFi software, it
can start to bog down. This is typically not our use case, so we're gonna go with the
prevailing opinion here and give this one to Hikvision. Browser compatibility. This is gonna be a short one. I couldn't get Hikvision to
work with edge or Chrome, game over point to Ubiquiti PS Ubiquiti's web UI just works. "When the website's not down, LOL." That brings us to the mobile app. Ubiquiti's mobile app is really nice, it has all the features of the Web App plus two way communications on
the cameras that support it. The biggest drawback to the Hikvision app is that we have to open router ports and configure the app
to work with the NVR. Also, without saying too much here because we're gonna touch on it later. Do you really wanna give
Hikvision access to your phone? I'm gonna give the point to Ubiquiti here. Automatic updates. You may question whether
you should turn on automatic updates or not, obviously there's pros and cons. But whether you're gonna do
the manually or automatically, I think that UniFi Protect Interface is far easier to use, easy point to UniFi. Customer Support. We have a rule here at DPC Technology that we don't give an opinion on something that we never tried, but we're gonna break that rule here. Thankfully we haven't had to call support on either of these companies, but it's the general consensus that Ubiquiti's customer support
is subpar to say the least. So we're gonna give
the point to Hikvision. The next one's a big one
for me, 'brand trust'. This was the number one
question and comment when we asked for feedback
on this comparison. To say that people distrust Hikvision would be an understatement. Because hiked vision has been banned from selling to US government agencies and has been identified
as a security risk, it's difficult for a security
company to recommend them. For this comparison video each category is worth one point, but for me this is
probably worth five points. Over the years though Ubiquiti has burnt his loyal supporters by discontinuing products
like the UniFi-Video line, and people have been
forced to replace hardware before it's obsolescence. Many people stay away from
Ubiquiti for that alone. All things considered though, I have to give this point to the Ubiquiti. That leads us right into security. Obviously the distrust
of Hikvision is one thing the other issue we have
with the Hikvision products is having to open router ports
or configure VPN clients. I know you're saying, "You can safely set up a
VPN and blah, blah, blah, and that's true. But if I had a dollar for every
time we onboarded the client and our monitors started screaming about port 37 seven seven seven, 554 or 8,200 being open, I'd be rich. For us if there's a choice between a product that makes us open ports and one that doesn't, that's
a crystal clear choice for us. Point to Ubiquiti. Alright, so if you've been
following along and keeping score that gives us seven points for Hikvision and eight points for
UniFi, giving them the win. What really stood out to me though is how close this came out in the end. It really could go either way depending on which categories
you value the most. Again, we're a managed service provider and I saw a lot of comments that said "Why did the IT guys always go for UniFi? And the answer is quite simple. We preach our clients all
day every day about security, and it doesn't make sense
for us to then turn around and ask them to open up
ports on their firewall, or set up a VPN to
install a Chinese system that it's on abandoned vice list. Quite honestly, it's a non-starter. I know that the risk may be low, but the optics are really bad. That being said, the Hikvision
system scales really well, it has a ton of advanced features. And if you're willing to put in the time to
learn the complex system, I think it would work better
and a really large install. If you're somebody that's looking for a nice system for your home, I'd still give UniFi the nod for simplicity sake and
the user experience. Most of the things in the
software just makes sense. That being said, I'm really excited to try these less expensive Hikvision cameras on the Synology Surveillance
Station and Blue Iris Software. If either of those have a
more intuitive user experience they may just give UniFi
a run for their money. Go ahead and subscribe and ring the bell so you don't miss those videos. And make sure to smash the like button while you're down there. We also have links to
everything in this video down in the description if you get hungry. Thanks so much for watching and we'll see you in the next video. (bright upbeat music)
