HiroPro

At this point I've come to a somewhat uninformed conclusion that the best stuff is like this... Genetec Security Center for software VideoIQ for analytics Avigilon for cameras Edgecore or HP for PoE switches etc. Sound about right? How does Genetec Omnicast compare to ExacqVision on a server seat and channel basis? Also how about Avigilon? It seems to me the large number of "certified" Avigilon integrators hints that it's profitable software to sell and speaks nothing for the quality/reliability of it and if software history is any indication it's prob inferior to other offerings. Personally I don't care about the money I make reselling the software but I care about the QUALITY, RELIABILITY and SERVICE contract. I expect little to no margin on the software seats etc. I make my money deploying stuff PROPERLY and on the service etc. I'd be willing to even eat profit if it meant my customers had better software and I don't like the channel partner games played with business software and the "certification" thing where I have to pay the vendor via training to sell the bloody software. Sure I can understand this as a lot of integrators are non IT dolts... This stuff seems just like POS in terms of the integrator BS IMHO. At least we can see the software with most of the vendors in action on youtube etc. POS stuff like Logivision... good luck finding straight tech answers as it's all marketing BS like the Avigilon videos meant for non technical decision makers. That stuff really annoys the **** outta me! PS if you have to watch a marketing PR video with actors to decide on the software then you're not qualified to make the decision large organizations !!! DUH!!! PSS what software is rebranded? Avigilon looks like a hardware maker of cameras I bet they didn't even dev the software right or if they have it's a whitebox trip thus the channel partner proliferation.

The second video showing the production line in Richmond sure is a great video! The others are just marketing BS videos for luddite non IT decision makers in companies... Useless for a guy like me... The other video showing the player viewer app at the airport is also somewhat useless as it's not the main UI nor does is really share any feature of the NVR/VMS or setup. All it shows is the benefit of multi megapixel cams. Genetec is straight to the point without those BS PR videos etc. My kinda people... same goes for ExacqVision. Straight to the point with end user setup examples etc. and no BS PR firm videos with fancy music and happy shinny people with stereotype bad guys... Great to convince some non IT decision maker to purchase the software/cams but again USELESS to explain to an integrator!

Ok I've been looking at the Avigilon Control Center and it also looks good but not as good as Genetec's or Exacq less the HD network video protocol/optimization. Also the Genetec Omnicast UI with alpha channel UI over video is a brilliant UI decision and I haven't seen anyone else with that less the Bikal Eyesoft dude with CUDA in .eu The best cameras I've seen are Avigilon though bar none! God they must be very expensive cameras ehh !?!

heheh yeah I'm just trying to figure out who's who in this field in terms of NVR/VMS. Not bad conclusions for a guy that hasn't even tested the software ehh I talked to the western Canada Exacq rep and he sure was a great guy from my first experience. Also pricing is really good through ADI or Anixter. Genetec have two products right... the all in one Security Center with RFID doors etc and then there is the NVR/VMS only software called Omnicast. My customer is currently a Blackberry user and they seem to have the only Blackberry app. If Genetec pricing is around the same for this setup (about SENSORED for integrator) as Exacq then I'd go Genetec. I have yet to see videos or examples of the Avigilon package.

Yeah I am

I personally would not put Exacq and Milestone before Avigilon and by the way Avigilon also Canadian like you and me I am in Edmonton you ? I'm on the coast. WOW all this has really got me thinking of the business opportunities in my area. I looked at security stuff a number of years ago and actually installed a couple VISTA 20P private systems. How long does the certification track take to be able to install alarms etc? 6 month Justice Institute course no? What are the big names in Alarm CO management software? The order was random but at this point I figure it goes like this, Genetec SC, Avigilon, Exacq and Milestone in LAST PLACE When I last researched this stuff is was the dawn of IP cameras and I deployed a cheap Dlink system. At that point Milestone looked like #1. Amazing how stuff changes in ten years. I remember arguing with an oldschool CCTV dude about digital video, single board computers and IP CCTV. He didn't get it back then... or see the possibilities because he wasn't IT...

Well at this point Genetec Security Center looks very very impressive. How does it compare to Exacq or Avigilon thewireguys? So at this point I figure the top tier 1 VNR/VMS software is Milestone Exacq Avigilon Gentec Does this sound just about right? Gentec looks like it has the most powerful and well thought out GUI... and it's Canadian like me! Anybody know the pricing matrix for Genetec Security Center and Omnicast?

UPDATE I've been looking at other cameras and thinking I could get away with two quality cameras with auto PTZ and in camera tracking. Do these exist in the $300-400 dollar price points? (dreaming I guess) I've been checking out the exacqVision iOS and Android apps and they seem a lot more polished than other venders. Digifort also looks great as does Bikal Eyesoft. When I see modern multithreading and APIs like CUDA being used for analytics I think... huh these dudes are decent devs. Modern database engines also suggestions decent dev. Avigilon and Arecont sure make nice cameras from the looks of it. Genetec also looks like good software and the iOS and Android apps as well look polished.

Well I'm $600 bucks in for three domes and three outdoor units at this point. Do you guys think two Axis cameras on PTZ with IR is the better choice? What would camera like that cost. My only experience with decent units is Axis and some non IP Panasonics some years ago. I did get a chance to checkout the Axis M11 series and was very impressed. When they say a camera has pixel counter I take it that means that info/data can be used for in camera motion detection/analystics right?

Thanks for the honest answer thewireguys. Dam the pricing was so good on the cameras. The airCam NVR is also win32 based as well. It's opensource so I'm not surprised it's a branch of Zoneminder. I just got off the phone with Exacq and they really sound like a decent vendor. My next call will be the Avigilon guys in Vancouver. A lot of integrators seem to be inbed with those guys. Must be a reason for this... Also I'm looking at Bikal Eyesoft and am wondering if it's just another rebranded package. It looks really good for the Win32/64 platform and it support CUDA. Securicorp's web presence is rather pathetic with a bunch of different sites some of which look abandoned. The win64 code base and CUDA support has me really thinking though ehh Has anyone ever done a roundup review on all of these software packages? Also if the camera has motion detection what is the software layer that communicates this to the server? Is there some kinda industry standard sorta like OPOS etc? for Metadata info from camera etc? Sorry guys I'm new to this industry BUT I'll learn very quickly due to IT and electronics background. Blue Iris seems to good to be true...

You'd think the software should support RTSP. The lack of motion detection in the camera's PCB/CPU/firmware kinda sucks but hey I have an Intel 3770K quadcore hyperthreading CPU. The fastest in the world BTW for socket 1155. Surely there is software that can do analytics on 6 cams np. Also I'm curious how this is done with cameras that have local analytics. Is there an industry protocol for this? Some kinda meta standard or something? Also it sure would be nice to hear opinions about various NVR software packages. Prob not possible considering most of you are in bed with one NVR vendor or another... This stuff is just like POS bull**** when it comes to getting a straight answer about the software... Typical POS reseller BULL****... I guess I have a chance in hell to get a straight answer... Sorry if I'm wrong here but this is the first impression I'm getting. I don't need constant video either as that's useless for unattended monitoring isn't it... I need analytic trigger to email customer with notification and those segments recorded that's it really. An iOS app as well. Like ExacqVision for example, I can't even get pricing on the website... God I hate the POS and NVR software industries and how it's partner channeled etc... Why can't they just list bloody pricing etc and quite playing these channel partner GAMES!

Well it should be reliable if the software is well developed and the person setting it up is competent. Considering deployment of IP CCTV systems including very high security facilities is systemic and heavily relied upon I'd assume it's 98% reliable when deployed by a skilled integrator/IT person. Redundancy is key on the backend in those types of deployments I guess... Anyway this is for someones country home that wants unattended monitoring via motion triggers then events emailed with href etc to login to server for viewing. Also off site storage would be great. I'm new to this type of software and need advice not philosophy about security systems as a whole. By reliable I mean software that doesn't crash often meaning it can run for a week and restart on a watchdog. I did look at this stuff about five plus years ago and about a good 70% of the software I tried back then was CRAP. Milestone seemed to be the only one that worked worth a dam with the Dlink and Axis cameras I tried back then... I just seriously don't need to waste countless hours screwing around with friggin software testing it... You guys that do this stuff know what software is decent and what is crap... also I'm sure what's whitebox/rebranded/stencil...