Hikvision AcuSeek: Search Your CCTV Footage by Typing What You Are Looking For

Hikvision AcuSeek lets you search CCTV footage by simply typing what you're looking for, such as "white van" or "person wearing a red top", and find it in seconds. Hikvision launched the AcuSeek NVR in July 2025, then added the same AI search to Hik-Connect 6 and HikCentral Professional in September 2025. Here's how it works, what you can search for, and how it saves hours of scrolling through recordings.

The problem AcuSeek solves

When something happens, the hard part is rarely having the footage. It's finding the right 20 seconds in days of recordings from several cameras. Traditionally that means scrubbing through the timeline frame by frame, or relying on basic motion and person/vehicle filters. AcuSeek replaces that with plain-English search.

How AcuSeek works

AcuSeek is built on Hikvision's Guanlan large-scale AI models. These are multimodal models, meaning they understand both text and images and how the two relate. When you type a description, the NVR matches the meaning of your words against what it has seen in the video, not just against fixed tags.

Hikvision describes four strengths:

• Search broadly: people, cars, bikes and scooters, plus open descriptions such as wheeled suitcases, small carts or someone not wearing a helmet.
• Search accurately: it understands combined descriptions such as "person wearing a hat and black clothing" or "child carrying a backpack".
• Search instantly: results in seconds rather than hours.
• Search flexibly: shortcuts such as Find People, Find Vehicles and Find Pets, plus your own saved phrases. No special training is needed.

Hikvision also mentions custom text-based alarms, for example an alert for "a person riding a motorcycle", so you can be told when something specific happens rather than about every movement.

AcuSeek in Hik-Connect 6 and HikCentral Professional

• Hik-Connect 6 (portal and mobile app) adds "Voice or Text, Seek Fast": type or speak your search in over 30 languages, for example "red vehicles that left the East Gate in the last five days". The system uses camera names to understand places. You can also search with a photo.
• HikCentral Professional, Hikvision's video management software for larger sites, adds semantic search, feature and picture search, and joins up person and vehicle data from cameras, access control and vehicle systems on one timeline.

What it can do in the real world

• Shops: find who picked up a lost handbag, or trace a shoplifter by their clothing.
• Car parks and yards: search for a vehicle by type, colour or brand.
• Construction sites: find people working without helmets or hi-vis.
• Communities and residential sites: help residents find a lost pet or missing item.
• Offices: check who came through a door at a given time without watching hours of footage.

AcuSeek NVRs we stock

Hikvision's AcuSeek recorders carry "VPro" in the model number:

• 8 channel: DS-7608NXI-K1/8P/VPro (8 PoE), DS-7608NXI-I2/VPro and DS-7608NXI-I2/8P/VPro (8 PoE).
• 16 channel: DS-7616NXI-I2/VPro, DS-7616NXI-I2/16P/VPro (16 PoE), and the 4-bay DS-7716NXI-I4/VPro and DS-7716NXI-I4/16P/VPro.
• 32 channel: DS-7732NXI-I4/VPro and DS-7732NXI-I4/16P/VPro.
• 64 channel: DS-9664NXI-I8R/VPro, 8 bays with redundant power supply.

Pair them with surveillance-rated hard drives, and browse the full Hikvision NVR range.

Our take

AcuSeek is one of the most practical uses of AI in CCTV so far, because it targets the job everyone hates: finding the clip. For businesses that review footage often, such as retail, logistics, schools and property management, the time saved adds up quickly. If you're choosing a new recorder, it's worth comparing a VPro model with a standard one.

Want to know which AcuSeek NVR suits your system? Call 01902 902251. We ship nationally to England, Scotland and Wales.

Quick questions

What is AcuSeek?
Hikvision's AI video search, built on its Guanlan large-scale AI models, which lets you find footage by typing or speaking a description.

Which Hikvision NVRs have AcuSeek?
The AcuSeek models, marked VPro in the model number, such as the DS-7608NXI-I2/VPro.

Can I use AcuSeek on my phone?
Yes. Hikvision has added AcuSeek search to Hik-Connect 6, in both the portal and mobile app, including voice input.

Do I need new cameras?
The search runs on the AcuSeek NVR. Check compatibility with your existing cameras before you buy; we can help.

Sources: Hikvision UK newsroom, 24 July 2025 and 17 September 2025.