SmartPSS and Macs

tmxv4128

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First, I’ve got to say a big “thank you” to everyone who has posted here. Reading the WIKI, posts, comments, etc. has made me much more knowledgeable about installing, maintaining, and tweaking a system. I wanted to share something with those of you who are using a Macintosh computer.

Having not heard about this amazing site and contributors, I made a mistake in having a professional come out and install my system. It was nothing too fancy: Dahua NVR and several Dahua turret cameras. My issue is that I am a Macintosh user. I wanted to be able to access the recordings over the computer, but the company who did the work has mostly PC customers. I asked them the owner of the company if SmartPSS would seamlessly work with my Mac. “Oh yeah, no problem. It will work great.” However, no matter what I tried, I could not keep my computer (iMac 5K 4Ghz with 64 GB ram) from crashing, locking up, stuttering, etc., while trying to work with the application.

The installer kept telling me that I should get a PC, as they have had no problems with that platform. It kind of bugged, after having shelled out several thousand dollars for the system that it wouldn’t work with my still very functional iMac. Hmmm, ok then. I installed BootCamp on my Mac, purchased a copy of Windows10 off eBay and booted up the Windows version of SmartPSS. I found that it worked better than the Mac version, but it still wasn’t passing the test. It was lagging, if more than one camera was showing. Moving onward, I took the plunge and bought a miniPC just to run the SmartPSS software. Making progress now. Much snappier response. It was at this time that I found your site. Oh man, what a find! The answers to every question I had in my brain were there for me to discover. One other thing became apparent: I was over-charged on everything that was installed. I don’t mind the labor costs I paid because they did a very nice job, but the mark-up on the cameras and NVR was almost comical. I said to myself: “Why the heck didn’t I do this myself?”

The discovery of “Andy” on your site led to start swapping out my Dahua turret cameras with some IPC-T5442T-ZE’s and some others with SD49225XA-HNR PTZ's. Now we’re cooking! The miniPC was a great help in making the settings with the Dahua config tool. “Deep-IVS anybody?” No way I would have known that had I not discovered this site. So, after replacing the cameras and making sure they were working well, I decided to take the plunge and buy a new Mac with the M1 chip. As I found out with the experience of running SmartPSS on the iMac with an Intel processor, Dahua has not updated the app (that works with Intel chip Macs) in more than two years. All of their effort has gone into the M1 version. I’ll tell ya, this M1 based version is fabulous. Now I can open every camera window, and the computer works flawlessly. The fan NEVER clicks on. If you are a Mac user, don’t fight trying to get SmartPSS to work on your Intel-based Mac. Either switch over to a PC or think about upgrading to a newer Mac with the M1 processor. It makes a huge difference. Once again, thanks for letting me join your forum and providing me the info that I so desperately needed.
 

Smilingreen

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Since you are running a MAC with a M1, check out Security Spy NVR, written by Ben Bird. Pretty decent piece of software. I have a MAC Mini with a M1 Processor, but I also have an old ASUS desktop running Win 7 Pro and have all my cameras plugged into a isolated switch going into a second NIC on the Win 7 machine and running BI. I have a second external NIC for my MAC that I have plugged into the Main NIC on the ASUS machine and can access the cameras from both machines. I run ViewCam on the Mac to watch whatever camera I want to look at, without having to access the BI machine or bringing up UI3.
 

wittaj

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Thanks for sharing your story! Unfortunately you are not the first nor the last that will be burned by "professional installers"

Care to share what camera model and price they charged you for the inferior cameras?
 

tmxv4128

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Thanks for sharing your story! Unfortunately you are not the first nor the last that will be burned by "professional installers"

Care to share what camera model and price they charged you for the inferior cameras?
They installed several Dahua N55DU82 cameras and charged $289.99 + tax/each. After the install, I wanted to add an additional camera but thought that it was something I could do myself (to save the $400 labor charge), so I did a search on the internet and found the same exact camera at B&H Photo for $183.95. Once I received it, I ordered some CAT-6 cable, bought a hammer drill and bit, and went at it. It must have taken me less than an hour to install the camera, run the wire in the attic to the NVR and test the system. So incredibly easy. That's about the time I decided to do some further research, and after visiting these forums, I proceeded to replace all of the cameras with IPC-T5442T-ZE from Andy. Oh my gosh, what could be simpler? They use the same mounting base, so all I had to do was loosen the allen set screws, disconnect the wires and plug the new cameras in. My next upgrade was to add some PTZs. I purchased two SD49225XA-HNR, again from Andy. My system is humming along and doing nicely. Again, without the expert tips from this site, I would literally be in the dark.
 

wittaj

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Yeah that N55DU82 seems to be a popular choice for installers LOL. Usually we hear people getting screwed at $400 per cam and tack install on to that.

For those interested, the N55DU82 is a 5MP on a 1/2.7" sensor (so way less than ideal MP/sensor ratio). People have come here after being burned with those cams not working properly, plus the image quality is just poor. I tried every trick I know to try to make the IVS reliable and nothing worked reliably with those cams. Tripwires, zigzags, intrusion boxes, changing settings and tweaking to the field of view and it would work like half the time. Frustrated, that member put a 5442 in its place and it triggered every time! Sounds like you are following in others footsteps!

I think it is another one of the cameras with too much going on and maxing out the CPU and it misses.
 
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They installed several Dahua N55DU82 cameras and charged $289.99 + tax/each. After the install, I wanted to add an additional camera but thought that it was something I could do myself (to save the $400 labor charge), so I did a search on the internet and found the same exact camera at B&H Photo for $183.95. Once I received it, I ordered some CAT-6 cable, bought a hammer drill and bit, and went at it. It must have taken me less than an hour to install the camera, run the wire in the attic to the NVR and test the system. So incredibly easy. That's about the time I decided to do some further research, and after visiting these forums, I proceeded to replace all of the cameras with IPC-T5442T-ZE from Andy. Oh my gosh, what could be simpler? They use the same mounting base, so all I had to do was loosen the allen set screws, disconnect the wires and plug the new cameras in. My next upgrade was to add some PTZs. I purchased two SD49225XA-HNR, again from Andy. My system is humming along and doing nicely. Again, without the expert tips from this site, I would literally be in the dark. basket random
The N55DU82 has a resolution of 5 megapixels but only a 1/2.7-inch sensor, which is significantly lower than the optimal MP/sensor ratio. Make the IVS trustworthy was a goal, but nothing could be made to work reliably with those cams. In spite of the use of tripwires, zigzags, incursion boxes, altering the settings, and making adjustments to the field of view, it only worked about half of the time.
 
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