Hikvision NVR with PIR Enabled Recording

I was having issues getting the PIR sensor of my DS-2CD2432F-IW to trigger recording on my DS-7608NI-I2/8P NVR.

Enabling the PIR alarm on the camera and listening for the alarm on the NVR wasn’t working correctly. I could see the PIR alarm being captured in the log of the NVR, but it wasn’t recording video when the alarm was triggered. After a few hours of troubleshooting I found the following solution.

First, on the camera, disable Motion Detection and Enable Dynamic Analysis for Motion. Since we are going to use the PIR sensor to trigger recording, we don’t need these enabled.

Next, on the Alarm Output tab of the camera, set the Arming Schedule to be active 24/7 (or whenever you want the PIR alarm to be armed).

On the PIR Alarm tab, enable the PIR, and set the Arming Schedule for the same timeframe you set on the Alarm Output tab.

On the NVR, navigate to the Alarm Input tab, and select the appropriate Alarm Input choice. If your camera is set as “Camera 5”, the IP will be 192.168.254.6, “Camera 6” would be 192.168.254.7, etc. The Alarm Type is set to “NO” (Normally Open). Select Enable Alarm Input Handling.

On the Alarm Input tab click on the Linkage Method. Set the Trigger Channel to the camera we want to record when the alarm is triggered.

On the NVR, navigate to the Schedule Settings and select the camera we are enabling the PIR alarm for. Here’s the tricky part. Don’t select “Alarm | Motion” or “Alarm”. For whatever reason these do not get triggered for an alarm output. I selected “Event” and set the appropriate times I wanted it for fire.

The PIR sensor on the camera doesn’t trigger “Alarm” or “Motion” on the NVR. It does seem to trigger “Event”. My hypothesis is the “Alarm” choices only fire when the direct alarm connections on the back of the NVR are triggered. If the trigger is coming over the ethernet line from the camera it works differently. I have not tested this hypothesis yet, however. If you are not sure the PIR is working on the camera, enable Audible Warning on the linkage method on the camera.

5 thoughts on “Hikvision NVR with PIR Enabled Recording”

  1. Thank you very much for this guide! I was facing the same issue – how to get the PIR equipped cams in my house to trigger recording onto the NVR on PIR Alarm.
    Initially it did not work for me until I figured, that the cams on “linkage method” also need the box “notify surveillance center” ticked. Then they recorded fine onto the NVR on PIR alarm.
    Unfortunately, this makes the EZVIZ app diffcult to use as it pushes a notification with each alarm, which is a nuisance, if one is home. As the push notification itself cannot be disabled on the app (only alarm on / off all together), this means either activate the alarm everytime one leaves the house and deactivate on return, or stop using the EZVIZ app – I will do the latter and use HIK Connect.
    Hikvision should work on the app and allow to leave the alarm on while enabling / disabling push notification to one’s mobile. Especially since I like the EZVIZ app better than HIK Connect and certainly better than IMVS-4500.
    How do you solve this problem or are your PIR cameras not in a room where you move about on a regular basis?
    Again – thanks for your instructions!

    1. Hey Robert,

      My cameras are strictly a reactive measure. The IR-sensing cameras area always armed and record when they see motion 24/7

  2. I found an easier way, if you go from the NVR directly (using the mouse and monitor) and click Camera > VCA on the right side of the screen “PIR ALARM” is there

    Click that and set it up, I could not get this work and I found this and it works perfect now!!!

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