Surveillance Station considerations

[kolt_]

I have been asked to put together and recommend a security system for someone that will be deployed in a different state. My setup is all Andy cams with blue iris which I am sure most people have here and recommend. However this person isn't at technical as most so I am thinking about avoiding BI at the very least while still using Dahua cams. Instead, I am looking at Surveillance Station because I would assume it's easier to setup and require much less managing/tinkering around with, all while still being very functional and easy to use (maybe easier than BI?). Considering that I haven't use Surveillance Station, I have a couple questions and just asking for general advice as well.

1. What is the best way for remote viewing? I know (and use) Wireguard, and there is OpenVPN, but I would like to make the setup as simple as possible with few additional hardware. From my understanding, Synology has some type of software to remote in easily if I understand correctly, QuickConnect.
2. How usable is the app? I assume it would have to better than BI's app.
3. In general, how easy is it to get setup and running? Any issue's with PTZ controls?

Thanks

 

[cyberwolf_uk]

1) Yes, QuickConnect can be used for remote connectivity (it basically creates an Internet Tunnel from you NAS to the Synology without any port forwarding, for you to access via a Synology web address i.e mycamera.synology.me) But like everything there are pro's and con's just Google the them. Or you could simply setup a VPN server on the NAS... QuickConnect is quick and simple! A VPN server has a slight learning cure to setup, but there are many videos out there to assist you.

2) Personally I think BlueIris's mobile app is the poorest part of BI. Don't get me wrong, its quicker than most, but every (major) solutions seem to have made theirs more user friendly and a get more friendly GUI. But Ken (BI owner) is a one man band so I guess the main focus is making sure BI Server works and gets updated with new features (which he does) rather than put a lot of effort into the mobile app, which does what it needs to do.
Synology's mobile app feels more modern and looks nicer, but is slightly slower on load up and notifications.

3) Synology Station is a lot easier to setup and config than BlueIris and has 1000's of supported cameras so once you add your camera from the list the PTZ should work fine, failing that, set it as ONVIF and some fine tuning you should be good to go.
But BI is better overall, if the system is being installed and no noob isn't messing with it, it will just work, if the noob is messing with it, maybe the ease of SS may be the option. But like with everything after training, everything is easier

 

[TooManyBeers]

If it's all Andy cams I would recommend the Andy nvr also. 5 series. I have blue iris, Synology, and Dahua nvr and honestly all the features work perfect with using the nvr. Synology works better than blue iris but cannot use smart codec with Synology or blue iris. The nvr is the best set it and forget it solution.