thewireguys

All motion detection is done in the encoders and works perfectly. Yes there are companies that have hybrid units but A) you are going to pay a lot more B) they are less flexible when you upgrade to HD. You will have to decide if you are going to pay for more storage so when you upgrade to HD you will have enough storage. Also what happens when you fill the unit up are you going to by another unit to put in that building for one extra camera? Kind of reminds me of the analog DVR limitations.

Well the first thing you need to do is figure out if the audio input on the camera is line-level or a mic level input. The audio will be encoded in the camera and sent down cat5 cable over the network but like others have said you will need at least power for the amp at the speaker.

I have been running https://www.virtualbox.org/ for testing and I find it to work very well.

None of those VMS manufactures listed have turn key hybrid units. You will have to run a servers with encoders.

OK so your options are placing a NVR in each location or at the headend. If you place every NVR at the headend and the fiber gets cut you will lose video. If you put a NVR in each building it will cost more. What does your customer want?

What platforms are you looking at?

I do I have customers in healthcare, ISP, goverment, K-12, hospitality/resorts Considering most of my customers already had a distributed system in place (Analog DVRs) they didn't like having systems located all over the place. They had issues with gard drives consistently failing because the DVRs where not installed temp controlled rooms, having to service systems all over the place, system was less secure because more people had access to these locations. They all chose to install servers in the main server room. Yes if the fiber gets cut they lose recording but they have a lot other more important problems to deal with like the phone system and computer network. If you have fiber connecting different IDFs in the same building or fiber connecting different buildings across the campus you are using the same hardware. It's no like you are introducing more hardware to fail. You do have a greater risk of someone cutting the fiber but like I said when that happens normally the customer has more important things to worry about then the video. Just some feedback they I have received from my customers in the same boat as you. If you have server rooms in each building then I would think about installing the servers around the campus but that is up to you.

I think it works like this but I would have to call support to confirm WAN = UDP LAN = TCP

If you have a fiber ring I don't see what the big deal is. I have many customers setup this way and have not had any issues.

I am working on quote right now for a project just like this and I have many customers with setups like this. We will be using Avigilon 4 Channel encoders and streaming everything back to the server in the IT room. Most of the rooms that house the current DVRS are not designed for it and the systems over heat. They have been replacing a lot of hard drives because of this and they wanted all of the storage in one central location. If you have a fiber backbone between buildings this what I would recommend. Also Avigilon's 4 channel encoders are the most cost effective units on the market. I also like using the 4 channel units over 16 channel units because of the flexibly they give us. If you have a 16 channel unit and you eliminate 4 analog cameras your stuck with 4 open ports. If you use 4 channel encoders you can take that extra 4 channel encoder out and move it to a new location or keep it as a back up unit.

FYI Exacq will run on Ubuntu.

Not sure this is available with ONVIF cameras. Normally the pre/post is configured on the motion setup page

XProtect GO (the free version) lets me create any number of views and I can see any or all of them over the internet with an ordinary web browser or the mobile app. Like I said, retarded. EDIT: I just created a second view, closed the client and then re-opened it, and the two views were still there. The comparison chart http://avigilon.com/products/avigilon-control-center/editions/ says that saved views are not supported in the Core Client, but apparently they are. I'll have to play with this some more. In the meantime, I take back the retarded statement. My apologies to the faithful. Saved view means you can save the current view, name it and it will show it in your camera tree. This feature is only available in Standard or Enterprise

XProtect GO (the free version) lets me create any number of views and I can see any or all of them over the internet with an ordinary web browser or the mobile app. Like I said, retarded. I agree I wish CORE had the ability to save views but keep in mind you only have 24 cameras and you can drag all of them out with one click.

Um...that's the Enterprise Client. That interface bears no resemblance to the minimal interface you get with the Core version. I can't get mine to look like that no matter how hard I try. Do you have something that shows the Core version? And I think I read that pixel search doesn't work with HikVision (ONVIF), but again,with a small residential camera system, I don't see pixel search being a must-have. EDIT: TOUGH crowd, tough crowd! You Avigilon guys are a dedicated bunch, aren't ya! EDIT2: Ok, the pixel search looks like it works after all...and there's that list of clips that ak357 showed me. Too cool! That clip is from version 4.0 of the software. 5.0 has the same features just in a different layout. And like I said NONE of the search features are crippled in CORE or STANDARD

I think maybe the search features that you are talking about are crippled in the Core version, but again, in a residential setting how important is the search feature? For my use I use the time line to scrub the recorded video and they both do that well. And I didn't have "issues" with the in-camera motion detection...I set the one camera that faces the street at the highest sensitivity available and in one instance where someone was walking in the street in front of my neighbor's house didn't appear until they were halfway across the street. With XProtect I am able to trigger the recording when the person is on the opposite curb. I imagine I could set the pre-record high enough on Avigilon as a work-around if I could figure out where that setting is, but is that ability in itself worth twice the money? FYI none of the search features are crippled in CORE or STANDARD.

I have been testing and using Hik cameras with Avigilon for months and I have not had issues with the motion detection. If your trying to be to precise you will have issues missing events. Remember this is PIXEL based motion detection not analytic based. If you record extra movement in the FOV it is not that big of a deal since you can search video way faster then Milestone IMHO.

From what I was told Apple uses Linux for there VMS solution. I always found that interesting.

Have a look at IPconfigure. There solution is all browser based and might be what your looking for. http://www.ipconfigure.com/

Forget digital zoom. If a camera manufacture has digital zoom specs about the camera find another manufacture. Digital zoom can and should be done in the VMS or NVR.

RelaxIN I am not far away from you and do a lot of work in your area... Many be we can work together.

For license activation, my number is (999) 555-1212. Call me any time. But if you ask me in an email what my phone number is, I will ask you why you need it. Simple so they can have a dealer call you to give you information and get you pricing nothing less and nothing more. Still blows my mind that your OK with Milestone requiring your information to active the licenses but not Ok with Avigilon asking for your number to so dealer can call you for pricing.

I think you are the one painting that picture. What's the big deal about openly saying how much it costs? Sheesh. The price list is confidential just like many other high end security manufactures.

That's what I'm thinking, too. Correct me if I am wrong but Milestone requires your information to activate there licenses. But your OK with that? Hell Milestone used to require the MAC addresses for all of your devices FYI Avigilon asks if you want to give them your info so you can be contacted for updates but you don't have to.

Norco, CA True enough. I contacted Avigilon directly and got a response within 12 hours. We stopped short of pricing when I questioned why they required my telephone number, but I'll bet I could restart the dialog in a heartbeat if I wanted to, but They wanted your number so they can have a local dealer contact you I love how everyone tries to make Avigilon into this monster when in fact I have never worked with another manufactures that is well organised and supported there customers as they do. Granted I am sure the ball gets dropped every now and then for me my experience is been speculator.