Synology 16 Channel NVR Deep Learning Video Analytics DVA1622 with HDMI Video Output

I purchased this DVA1622 because it had built-in HDMI feature and the marketing literature said it could handle 16 channels. However, the fine print gets you every time! Had I looked over the spec sheet with a critical eye, I would have seen the glaring disconnect that was staring me right in the face!! The FPS was key to the units’ performance capability! With 10 cameras added, the CPU and Memory utilization was maxed!! I could barely get the mouse to move on screen. A little troubleshooting revealed that the Monitor Center (MC) via HDMI was causing me issues. Once I turned MC off, things went back to respectable norms. MC via PC/Laptop did not seemingly have the same issue? I contacted Synology support and worked with them for a few. They told me that my system was operating out-of-spec? At first, I didn’t understand what they were saying until I went back to the spec sheet and found this handy entry: H.264 480 FPS @ 720p (1280x720), 16 Channels 285 FPS @ 1080p (1920x1080), 16 Channels 160 FPS @ 3M (2048x1536), 16 Channels 120 FPS @ 5M (2591x1944), 12 Channels 80 FPS @ 4K (3840x2160), 8 Channels H.265 480 FPS @ 720p (1280x720), 16 Channels 350 FPS @ 1080p (1920x1080), 16 Channels 190 FPS @ 3M (2048x1536), 16 Channels 120 FPS @ 5M (2591x1944), 12 Channels 80 FPS @ 4K (3840x2160), 8 Channels The cameras where compatible but the FPS was not for the number of cameras connected! The unit will run fine if you have 8 or less 4k cameras, but any more than that and well, you will be disappointed!! To fix my issue, rather than spend more money for another DVA/NVR, I am forced to adjust the FPS per camera to come up with an acceptable video resolution that would not exceed the limits above. It would have been helpful, if this unit had the ability to add more memory, but not so! All this to say, be careful before you spend the money on the DVA1622, you might be disappointed!

I am a tech savvy person with significant NAS experience. I have other Synology NAS units that I have in production with no problems. This product however, has been a disaster. My use case is for connecting POE cameras for surveillance station. I am using Western Digital Purple hard drives in the unit. The first unit had a hard drive failure in the first month. I opened a support ticket with Synology and the crash diagnostics showed my NAS unit had a bad disk controller for bay 1. I used the advanced RMA to replace it. The second unit failed with the same error within days. I opened another support ticket and they discovered the unit was showing the same failure in drive bay 1. The support team suggested I had a bad disk, and I should replace it. I ordered a new exact replacement, installed it, and again, the replacement drive failed in bay 1. The support team asked me to swap bays 1 and 2 to see if it was truly a disk problem or unit problem (does the failure follow the drive). Sadly, after swapping the disks, bay 1 again failed. (the previously bad disk worked fine in bay 2) RMA number 3 arrived, and I installed my disks, upgraded DSM, and set everything up again. This unit did not even make it through the storage volume recovery process before both drive bays crashed. I'm about to open yet another RMA for this unit, but really I just want my money back and I'll try a different product. I was really looking forward to using some of the AI features of this unit in surveillance station, but alas, maybe it's time to got back to a non-AI powered version that is proven and works. For what it's worth, I'm using the following drives: 2 x Western Digital 18TB WD Purple Pro Surveillance Internal Hard Drive HDD model WD181PURP This specific model is not on the Synology support list, however the 14TB model is listed. I would suggest staying away from this combination if you do wish to try it out.

I don't normally write reviews, but this product is so bad, I feel I must warn others from this terrible device. When I first purchased this NVR I was excited that I could replace (what I thought) my lorex NVR. I have 7 cameras, and hate their app. What I didn't know is that I would REALLY hate this DVA1622. Here's why: It's not uncommon to buy 4K security cameras. Well, what if I told you that this device can only record 80 fps in 4k? That's total across all cameras, not per camera! If you have (3) three camera's at 4K and are recording at 25fps each, that means it's at 75fps total. You read that correctly. Why would you record 4K in anything less than 25fps? I contacted support because I wanted to hook up a local display. That is another story because thats buggy as well (running the Monitor Center app). Thats when they disclosed their limitations. Now they display it on their website, but I wish I knew how bad it was sooner! My lorex NVR could record much more than this. I'm not sure why synology would even make a device that can only record low resolution cameras. If you want to record in high resolution DO NOT BUY THIS!!! I wish I could get me money back, because I wasted $550 on this limited piece of junk.

I used to own an Amcrest NVR that I paired up with my Amcrest cameras. Synology's Surveillance station that runs on the DVA1622 is SOOO much better than my previous set up. Love the fact that it has an actual webinterface that I can access from anywhere. Set up and configuration are intuitive and seamless. Mobile App is not perfect but much more responsive and modern looking than the Amcrest Viewer. This has been an update well worth the money for our home set up!!

I own 5 Synology NAS and Router products so you can say I'm a big fan of their technology and quality, but the DVA1622 is not as good as it could be. The reason I purchased this was for the HDMI output. The CPU supports FULL 4K video, so why degraded HDMI output? When I did my research on this the DVA1622 this spec was wasn't fully disclosed, but now I suspect a lot of folks like me complained so they now made it more clear in their specifications. I was told by Synology's tech support the fix is coming, but I'd wait until things "look" better. For now I use the Windows App, which shows full 4K so it's not a show stopper, but I expected better from Synology.