if your recording 24/7 you dont really need any recording software IMHO; I just use ftp to send the files to an appleshare.. if I need to review its easy to browse through and find files your looking for; eventully I'll get a dahua nvr so I can have it push videos to mobiles and use the alarm IO's for security sensors but thats about all I need and I should be able to access recordings and such through SmartPSS then.... I guess if I was reviewing footage constantly I could use something a little more streamlined but maby once a week I go back and look for something...
Even if your not recording its great having a native app for viewing; I have all 4 cams up on a dedicated monitor and I can control my PTZ's using less resources than trying to live view 1 camera through a web browser... I was having all kinds of latency issues and bad lag using the browser but none of those with SmartPSS.. its using 45% of one of my 6 cores and is unimpacted when I am doing other things that chew up resources.
I have a strict no-microsoft rule; which forces me to make some sacrifices in this arena.