Hik-Connect NVR is a custom Home Assistant integration for Hikvision NVRs and cameras connected through Hik-Connect. It creates normal Home Assistant camera entities and read-only NVR-health sensors without requiring direct access to the NVR's local network.
This is useful when cameras sit on the NVR's PoE network and are reachable only through Hik-Connect.
Community software. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or supported by Hikvision.
- One
cameraentity for every camera available to the Hik-Connect API. - Main stream (HD) or sub stream (SD) selection during setup.
- NVR online state, camera count and available HDD health data.
- Direct cloud-to-Home-Assistant HLS streaming: no App, proxy, container or local NVR connection required.
- Read-only operation. It does not change NVR settings, expose the NVR publicly, archive recordings, run AI analysis or register webhooks.
- A current, supported Home Assistant installation.
- A Hikvision NVR and cameras that are available in Hik-Connect.
- A Hikvision Developer Account. Register as a Technology Partner in the Hikvision Technology Partner Portal (TPP).
- An AppKey and SecretKey issued to that account for the appropriate Hik-Connect or Hik-Partner Pro OpenAPI product.
Hikvision's formal developer-account process is called Technology Partner Portal (TPP) registration. It requires review and approval before OpenAPI credentials can be issued. A normal Hik-Connect username and password cannot be used here.
Keep the AppKey and SecretKey private. Home Assistant stores them in the local integration entry; they are not included in diagnostics.
After API Integration is enabled for your Hik-Connect team, open Hik-Connect Portal → Team Management → Team Configuration → API Integration to copy the Account (API Key) and Password (API Secret).
This integration is not in the default HACS store yet. Add it as a custom repository:
- Open HACS and go to Integrations.
- Open ⋮ → Custom repositories.
- Add
https://github.com/Frens98/hikconnect-nvrwith category Integration. - Download Hik-Connect NVR and restart Home Assistant.
- Go to Settings → Devices & services → Add integration and search for Hik-Connect NVR.
Enter the AppKey and SecretKey from your Hikvision Developer Account, then choose the stream you configured on the NVR:
| Integration choice | Configure in the NVR as |
|---|---|
| Main stream (HD) | Main stream, standard H.264 |
| Sub stream (SD) | Sub stream, standard H.264 |
The integration uses Hikvision's HLS OpenAPI route. Hikvision limits that route to standard H.264, so H.264+ and H.265/HEVC cannot be used for these streams. This is a Hikvision HLS limitation, not a Home Assistant decoder setting; the integration does not transcode video.
Start with 10-15 fps. Choose the bitrate in the NVR based on resolution, scene detail and available network capacity.
Use the normal Home Assistant camera cards. Set camera_view: live when you
want continuous HLS video. Home Assistant's auto mode is its periodically
refreshed thumbnail mode, rather than the live HLS player.
This integration deliberately returns Hikvision's original HLS URL directly to Home Assistant. It is the smallest deployment and has no additional process to maintain, but some Hik-Connect feeds deliver each one-second HLS segment as a short burst. Depending on the network and Home Assistant stream worker, that can look like periodic stutter even when the camera itself is producing a steady frame rate.
For installations where smooth live viewing matters more than the smallest possible latency, use a local relay such as go2rtc alongside Home Assistant:
Hik-Connect HLS -> continuous ingest -> internal RTSP -> paced RTSP -> Home Assistant
The paced output should use FFmpeg's real-time input mode (-re) while copying
the video stream. That releases frames at their original cadence without
re-encoding or reducing image quality. Keep the HLS ingest and the paced output
as two separate stages: applying -re directly to Hikvision's short HLS
playlist can cause missed segments when the playlist rolls over.
This adds a small independent buffer per camera (typically a few seconds), so the on-screen camera clocks need not match perfectly. It is an intentional smoothness/latency trade-off, not a synchronization error.
The integration cannot safely enable this automatically: Hikvision stream URLs are temporary and a relay needs its own authenticated URL-refresh mechanism. For that reason this remains an optional deployment concern rather than a hidden proxy or extra service inside Home Assistant.
Open an issue or pull request if you can help improve the integration. Please redact logs and never include an AppKey, SecretKey, access token, device serial number or temporary stream URL. Do not add proprietary Hikvision documentation or captured API traffic to this repository.