Security Camera Software ?

[namz]

Hi guys ,

New to Security Cams , Installing a Hikvision POE outdoor camera in a day or 2 does not have a NVR , Would appreciate a software that can run on Windows Laptop to record and view camera feed.

Also , I have a spare Windows 7 Laptop from Hp which is around 3-4 years old , Would that be OK for this ??

 

[Carcus]

Blue Iris is good. Cheap. Make sure you use direct to disk and don't re-encode and it will save you heaps of CPU.

Otherwise you can try the iVMS-4200 from Hikvision that's free. Haven't used it myself for recording just configuration purposes.

 

[namz]

Blue Iris is good. Cheap. Make sure you use direct to disk and don't re-encode and it will save you heaps of CPU.

Otherwise you can try the iVMS-4200 from Hikvision that's free. Haven't used it myself for recording just configuration purposes.

Thanks will try both and test them out .
Hardware specs wise, Whats configuration is recommended for PC for 1 Cam with Blue Iris or iVMS-4200. ??

BTW is there a way to ensure Laptop running Blue Iris or iVMS consumes as less as possible power/electricity ?

 

[Carcus]

I am not sure of that one but with one cam I can't see it being too resource hungry especially with direct to disk.

Run the pc in power saver mode. I'd say that's really up to the make and model of the laptop. Reducing CPU usage will certainly help.

 

[fenderman]

Laptop is a bad idea for a permanent VMS.. most cannot auto restart...And no room for a 3.5 drive...What are your specs?

 

[rnatalli]

Laptop is a bad idea for a permanent VMS.. most cannot auto restart...And no room for a 3.5 drive...What are your specs?

Agreed. As for software, Blue Iris gets my vote, but you can also check out Netcam Studio and Milestone Xprotect Essential.

 

[Dodutils]

Laptop is a bad idea for a permanent VMS.. most cannot auto restart...And no room for a 3.5 drive...What are your specs?

True but sometime Laptop are useful, they have battery inside in case of power failure (if it do not last for too long of course) in one of my installation I do use a Laptop and also external UPS for all the camera and ADSL stuff and if any power failure I receive an email so I may have time to move there and see what's happening if it last for too long.

Not all laptop power on automatically your are right, but sometime if you are lucky there is an option to activate in the BIOS or you can also try to send a wakeup ethernet packet.

For the lack of 3.5 room I used a little trick, I replaced the CDROM bay with a HDD Bay adapter for a few bucks, works like a charm, with 2TB 2.5" HDD

 

[Dodutils]

Agreed. As for software, Blue Iris gets my vote, but you can also check out Netcam Studio and Milestone Xprotect Essential.

I tested Netcam Studio, interface is elegant (I do not like old Windows style interfaces, but it's not because interface look and feel is old that the product itself is bad, and do not like over theme'd interfaces too, its often a waste of time for developer that usualy use external libraries that overload the interface, waste of time and resources)

The NetcamStudio server is stable but client GUI have many bugs and not fully compliant with Windows keyboard's shortcuts in the gallery for reviewing/managing/deleting videos you loose time (keyboard is so much faster to use than mouse in many cases) I hope they will improve it.

Still have to try XProtect but man, 1.2GB installer really ??? (for professionnal usage no problem but for home usage I'll have to check what is really installed and if it really use such huge amount of disk space).

Still have also to test BlueIris, direct-to-disk feature is interesting if you want 24/24 recording (not motion alert based) as you do not loose any video quality when recording, also I saw that timeline can possibly show external "alert" event it received, usefull for fast activity reviewing, do it have some "jump to next event" button ?

 

[rnatalli]

Still have to try XProtect but man, 1.2GB installer really ??? (for professionnal usage no problem but for home usage I'll have to check what is really installed and if it really use such huge amount of disk space).

Yeah it takes up a lot of space as a program, but is stable and works well even if a bit difficult to setup.

 

[Dodutils]

Yeah it takes up a lot of space as a program, but is stable and works well even if a bit difficult to setup.

OK I just installed Milestone, easy to setup (when you are experienced with VMS), this one is a pro software (like Axis Camera Station I used) many interesting features, timeline record review interface is good, many custom event task options available, multi-site management, for personal usage free version supports up to eight cameras, one user and retains video for five days, standard pricing it's $30 per-camera plus a fee for the software itself depeding its version plus many $$$ support options as usual for such pro software.

 

[fenderman]

OK I just installed Milestone, easy to setup (when you are experienced with VMS), this one is a pro software (like Axis Camera Station I used) many interesting features, timline record review interface is good, many custome event task options available, multi-site management, for personal usage free version supports up to eight cameras, one user and retains video for five days, standard pricing it's $30 per-camera plus a fee for the software itself depeding its version plus many $$$ support options as usual for such pro software.

Free milestone essentials now supports unlimited storage. There is an 8 camera 5 user limitation...and missing some basic features like archive to nas and two way audio..

 

[Dodutils]

Free milestone essentials now supports unlimited storage. There is an 8 camera 5 user limitation...and missing some basic features like archive to nas and two way audio..

Good to know the "supports up to eight cameras, one user and retains video for five days" was a copy/paste from their own web site (may be they forgot to update it) this explain why I could set 30 days without any alert dialog instead of the "5 days" default setup.

 

[fenderman]

Good to know the "supports up to eight cameras, one user and retains video for five days" was a copy/paste from their own web site (may be they forgot to update it) this explain why I could set 30 days without any alert dialog instead of the "5 days" default setup.

This change was made in October...they had a press release...the discontinued xprotect go which had that limitation...
See link here Milestone Essential will be free for up to 8 cams..no recording limit...