akelley

I thought buellwinkle was going to post a review of the Avigilon software on his blog? I'm also looking for a good NVR solution for small residential installs. Could one of the Avigilon reps PM me with pricing info and a way for me to try out the software? Much thanks!

As any photographer will tell you, "it's all in the glass". The same holds true for IP MP cameras. You can have a $2K MP camera, but throw a crappy lens on it, and you now have a crappy $2K camera. Of course, that doesn't mean you can throw a $500 lens on a $200 camera and get great results...

Depends on what and where you're installing. It also depends on what your purpose for installing cameras is in the first place. For example, sometimes putting in cameras in clearly visible areas works as a deterrent. This is good for example, if you have high school aged kids who come on your property who know they're being recorded, may cut down on mischievous activity. Would be burglars who see a camera pointed at them on the approach to your front door, etc. may think twice about trying to break in. Putting a bullet camera on a wall can be easily knocked down with a stick or bat, so if you have people who are inclined to do such a thing, then install a vandal proof dome as high as possible (i.e., under the eave of two story house). If you want a more discreet profile, domes tend be less noticeable than bullets or box cameras. Regarding the neighbor comment, do you have a home association policy about installing things on the exterior of your house that you're concerned about? Or just that your neighbors will think you're weird or paranoid for installing cameras? I have several domes installed on the exterior of my house and honestly, not one neighbor has said a word to me, so they either don't care, or they don't even notice. But my wife was concerned about the "reputation" we might get... screw that. I would rather be known as the paranoid guy, than not be able to have the necessary evidence if we were robbed, home invaded, or had an accident on our property where someone might try to wrongfully sue us (with a pool and high school aged kids, I'm always concerned about accidents and getting sued by irrational parents).

Anyone have experience with Samsung IP cameras? I'm particularly interested in the 1.3MP and 3MP fixed domes (SND-5080/7080) and bullets (SNO-5080r/7080r). The specs look good, but I'm curious how well they really perform and if they play nice with other camera brands and NVRs. http://www.samsung-security.com/products/security-cameras/network-cameras.aspx

Excellent points voip-ninja and Peter_. I personally use several Synology products and am very happy with them. They are more expensive than other NAS units, but as they say, you get what you pay for. And in the case of Synology, excellent build quality and excellent expansion options in both hardware and and software. What I would like to see is if you could get ExacqVision to run on one of these. Technically, you should be able to. Whether it would void your warranty with Synology I don't know.

All valid points, but the reality is that per camera license for Milestone can be had for $50 each, and free if you go with their Go product line. I haven't gotten exact price quotes for ExacqVision but I understand they are similar ($50 - $100 depending on version; same as Milestone). I'm sure if you were to buy 4 or more at once, you could probably get a discount on the listed price. I don't disagree that Synology isn't good quality, but I still believe that for a little more in license costs, you can have a near professional level VMS solution. And keep in mind, when it comes to cost, the Synology hardware is going to be more than you can put together a small (Atom based) unit. The DS1512+ (5 bays) is $800 on Amazon, and that's without any storage. A four bay (DS412+) without storage is $649. So at the end of the day, you may end up paying more for the Synology, and getting less in the VMS feature set.

Look at ExacqVision - they have VMS software, and prebuilt hardware like the Synology. ExacqVision is going to offer a lot more quality and reliability than the Synology will in terms of VMS functionality and camera support. Since you are fully capable of building your own box, that's another option as well, and then just installing your choice of VMS on that. ExacqVision will run on Windows and Linux, so you can build a very capable Linux box without breaking the bank. The EL series from Exacq run on Atom processors, and can support up to 24 IP cameras. This should give you an idea of how efficient their software is, yet way more scaleable than your Synology - Synology only offers basic NVR functionality compared to a dedicated VMS solution. The EL Toaster has a very similar footprint/form factor as the Synology (but less storage capacity). Here: ExacqVision: http://www.exacqvision EL Series NVR: https://exacq.com/products/EL_series_IP_servers.html

If you want the best quality image, Synology is not the way to go. As others have mentioned (as has been my personal experience as well), the Synology software is not anywhere in the same league as a true NVR such as Milestone or ExacqVision. If you really want the best quality and the best performance/reliability, stick with Axis, Avigilon, or even Mobotix. For the NVR, look at the two I mentioned above, as well as Avigilon's own NVR (especially if you decide to go with Avigilon cameras). Not to sound snide or disrespectful, but why buy Synology for surveillance NVR? It's definitely not their core product or strength. They make an excellent NAS (I highly recommend them to my consumer and SMB clients), but I would never recommend using their NVR software. Use them for network storage, but I wouldn't rely on them as your NVR if you're looking for reliability and quality when it comes to capturing evidence from your cameras.

Just my personal opinion, but for a little more than the price of the camera licenses for Synology, you can get a much better dedicated, professional level NVR such as ExacqVision or Milestone (even the free version of Milestone will have way more features). The last time I used my Synology with my Axis p3367, it could not handle anywhere near the full resolution, and it didn't have full support of the substreams and other features on the p3367. I could go on and about all the features the Synology lacks compared to a dedicated NVR, but that would be pointless, because it's like comparing the towing capacity of Prius to an F150 - completely different vehicles for different purposes. Of course, if having to run a separate dedicated PC/Server is not a reality for you (in addition to your NAS), then I suppose Synology is a good choice.

You want all 4 cameras to record to the same AVI file? Like you would see on a quad display? Or 4 separate AVI files? Must NVR software can do the rest of what you want, some better than others. For example, you could just have all four cameras on a schedule to record for one hour at the same time of day. Or some software can take a trigger from one camera to start the other three cameras to record. Some NVR software have basic scripting allowing you to start recording all four cameras by clicking a single on screen button. Some will be able to do some or all of what you need... just need to experiment a bit. You probably don't need to get involved in a camera's SDK unless you're looking to interact with specific camera features, but basic stopping and starting recording should all be handled by the NVR. So in summary, if you don't need to mux all 4 cameras into a single AVI file, start trying out some of the NVRs that are mentioned on these boards as most have free trial versions you can experiment with. Milestone, ExacqVision, Blue Iris, etc.

If QSee gives better service than your local Dahua dealer (i.e., eBay) then it's definitely worth it - I'm talking about access to firmware and technical support. Another benefit is that you can always return to them for a full refund to Costco if they're defective, without any hassle.

If you can get it to do more than 10 fps. Maybe I had a defective unit, but even with Mobotix training/support, this camera just would not perform as needed in the lighting condition and minimum fps required.

Well, there you go!

Assuming the camera is on the same subnet and all, and auto detect still doesn't work, have you tried manually adding it to XProtect?

Sounds like buellwinkle could use that demo license so that he can review it on his blog. Buellwinkle, you have time to review it for your blog? I'm sure many others would get a lot of value out of an actual hands on review.

Agreed, buellwinkle, but IP cameras are a whole different beast than analog. Unlike analog, IP cameras require a lot more technical support from the manufacturer and alot more can go wrong with the camera's electronics.

In my opinion Dahua cameras haven't been used long enough to determine their reliability. I would be interested to know if anyone has one in operation 24/7 for more than 6 months at this point.

You're right, my mistake - it's the MFD-110, not the MFD-130. I would wait to see what Geovision says. Since I do not use Luxriot, I cannot recommend any camera. Sorry (I suppose my response has been completely useless to you now )

GV-MFD130 - Yes! GV-BL130D - No! Take a look for yourself: http://www.luxriot.com/eng/support/cameras/#geovision * Disclosure - I do not use Luxriot or have used either of those camera models

You're connecting through RTSP?

I used to have an office next to theirs when they were at 40 Fulton Street. Small office - no more than 20 people there. Haven't been to their new digs yet, but I suspect they have more people, bigger office, and higher rent. Nice guys as I recall - showed me some interesting stuff. This was like 6 years ago.

Where is your application running? If it's running on a device on your internal network (i.e., 192.168.1.xx) and it can't see the camera, then that's a problem unrelated to port forwarding. If your application is running on a device that is outside of your internal network (i.e., 98.168.5.xx) and it can't see the camera, then you need to make sure on your router you have the camera's port redirected (or forwarded) to the internal IP address of the camera.

When I tested Xprotect Essential it automagically detected the HFW2100 using RTSP and some strange port number (not the standard 554). However, the stream does not work - it connects and disconnects about every 1 or 2 seconds, so basically incompatible and unusable. In another post I mention trying to get firmware upgrades and empiresecurity (where I purchased mine from) basically said they (Dahua) don't like end users upgrading firmware because supposedly it's too difficult and/or they've had too many people "brick" them. They prefer doing the firmware upgrade themselves (you have to provide them access to your camera). Personally, I find this a little suspicious. People should be able to upgrade their own firmware. But that's another issue and I've already veered off the original topic of this thread. Sorry. But long story short, I have not been able to get Milestone to reliably work with the HFW2100. If anyone has been successful, I would love to know as well.

Not a big fan of Axis Camera Companion (ACC). Definitely not commercial level - may be okay for small installations with 4 or fewer cams. But whenever I use it to search a M5014 recorded video on SD, it crashes the camera to the point only a hard reset works. It also installs camera applications on the cameras which, in the case of my p3367s, can slow down the performance of the camera (fps). ExacqVision Edge is Exaqc's version of their VMS designed specifically for Axis cameras that record to SD. You should definitely check them out (I believe you can download a free 30 day unlimited trial) and report back here what you find.

I agree that ExacqVision can have better performance on fewer computing resources, but their supported camera list is so limited compared to Milestone. The ideal solution would be to build an installation around ExacqVision with only 100% supported cameras (some of the cameras that are on the compatible list only support limited functions/features of the camera). But maybe that's how they keep their software streamlined by not supporting thousands of cameras.