Best free CCTV DVR software? Windows or linux doesnt matter

[mxmaniac 0]

I've spent so much time searching, the options are just mind boggling. Looking for some suggestions as to what would be the best free CCTV software out there for my needs. It does not matter if it is windows or linux, I dual boot both. My needs are pretty simple...

 

Up to 4 IP cameras of various brands, motion detecting, remotely accessible for viewing events and administration tasks, and also I care a lot about security and stability.

 

Ideally I'd like it to be able to not only record the events to the PC hard drive, but also have the ability to automatically FTP or otherwise transfer them to a remote location or seperate drive in case the PC running the software is compromised (and not a paid cloud service, something free that does not rely on a 3rd party)

 

Any suggestions?

 

For reference I'm currently experimenting with Zoneminder for linux, which in my previous search people spoke very very highly of. Had a high reputation, but so far I'm honestly not all that impressed. Its ok, but I get hundereds of false alarms just from ambient light changes, have been unable to properly set up PTZ controls on my maygion camera, and general setup overall requires a ton of research. I can do it, but its definetly not that user friendly.

[Boogieman 1]

http://www.milestonesys.com/Software/XProtect-IP-Video-Surveillance/xprotectgo/

xprotect will limit recording to five days....otherwise you will have to pay for an upgraded version

 

For 40 buxs you can get blue iris, its not free but damn close to it for the feature set you get. You will needs a decent system (if you are going to use motion detection) and depending on the megapixels of your cameras, you will need an modern sandy/ivy/haswell i3- or i5 (for the 4 cams)......don't expect it to run on an old Pentium 4 or even dual core system if you are using megapixel cams.

[mxmaniac 0]

I might have to try out that blue iris. Really looking for something which is freeware though, without limits.

 

I thought I'd share what I found recently, after hours more searching I found a program called contacam which is supposedly totally free and unlimited and seems to have the best reputation. Followed second by yawcam which is free without limits but didn't seem as feature rich. (These are just based on what I've read, haven't tried any yet.

 

Others I limited out were...

Vitamin D - which has a good reputation but think it only allows 1 camera.

Ispy Connect - very popular, seems good, but restrictions on remote viewing are unacceptable to me

HomeCamera - might be good, didn't look into it too much. It at least allows up to 4 cameras. Personally even though I plan on using under 4, I'm looking for freeware with future expansion.

 

So it looks like I will just take Contacam for a spin, and possibly yawcam, and compare them to zoneminder. If I'm still unhappy I'll give the blue iris trial a try. I will try to report back my findings, as it seems difficult to find unbiased cross platform comparisons.

 

If anybody has any experience or recommendations to add. Anything I may have overlooked, please let me know.

[Shplad 0]

I didn't run it for any extended length of time, but I found Xeoma to be very intuitive and easy to set up and run on Linux. I was using Ubuntu 11.1 if I remember correctly. I never tried it in Windows.

 

It's definitely more graphical and intuitive than ZoneMinder (which I found way too technical for a novice). Xeoma's publisher always is pushing some kind of promotion to upgrade you to two more cameras, it seems. So I think the free version was 2 or 3 cams, but you could do an upgrade to 4 for $20.00 or some really low price. Yeah, I know, not technically free, but it was close, so I thought I'd put the idea out there.

 

shplad

 

 

 

 

 

I might have to try out that blue iris. Really looking for something which is freeware though, without limits.

 

I thought I'd share what I found recently, after hours more searching I found a program called contacam which is supposedly totally free and unlimited and seems to have the best reputation. Followed second by yawcam which is free without limits but didn't seem as feature rich. (These are just based on what I've read, haven't tried any yet.

 

Others I limited out were...

Vitamin D - which has a good reputation but think it only allows 1 camera.

Ispy Connect - very popular, seems good, but restrictions on remote viewing are unacceptable to me

HomeCamera - might be good, didn't look into it too much. It at least allows up to 4 cameras. Personally even though I plan on using under 4, I'm looking for freeware with future expansion.

 

So it looks like I will just take Contacam for a spin, and possibly yawcam, and compare them to zoneminder. If I'm still unhappy I'll give the blue iris trial a try. I will try to report back my findings, as it seems difficult to find unbiased cross platform comparisons.

 

If anybody has any experience or recommendations to add. Anything I may have overlooked, please let me know.

[fars2 0]

I've spent so much time searching, the options are just mind boggling. Looking for some suggestions as to what would be the best free CCTV software out there for my needs. It does not matter if it is windows or linux, I dual boot both. My needs are pretty simple...

 

Up to 4 IP cameras of various brands, motion detecting, remotely accessible for viewing events and administration tasks, and also I care a lot about security and stability.

 

Ideally I'd like it to be able to not only record the events to the PC hard drive, but also have the ability to automatically FTP or otherwise transfer them to a remote location or seperate drive in case the PC running the software is compromised (and not a paid cloud service, something free that does not rely on a 3rd party)

 

Any suggestions?

 

For reference I'm currently experimenting with Zoneminder for linux, which in my previous search people spoke very very highly of. Had a high reputation, but so far I'm honestly not all that impressed. Its ok, but I get hundereds of false alarms just from ambient light changes, have been unable to properly set up PTZ controls on my maygion camera, and general setup overall requires a ton of research. I can do it, but its definetly not that user friendly.

[thewinelake 0]

I'm also interested in this. I share your pain with systems that attempt to do motion detection using a camera. They're just too simplistic.

I'm investigating setting up my own PIRs which would then somehow connect to a Linux box. I am wondering if zWave might be an option here - just need to find some Linux zWave client software.

 

Shouldn't be too hard, right?!

[satsecure 0]

Here is a package containing 3 different free cctv software and a couple of other useful applications for video surveillance.Includes H264 to avi converter and video player. They should fulfil your needs and full user manuals are included.

 

Free CCTV software for PC and Mac

 

Note: It has been designed for use with Maxx Digital DVRs but should be compatible with most other brands.

[waqas03 0]

so any updates with your plans. I am stuck with the exact quagmire which you have mentioned. My struggle continues so far.

[jaybo 0]

It seems the only 2 options that will fit your bill are;

 

 

Zoneminder (linux)

 

and

 

BluIris (windows)

 

 

Im testing both right now, in VM's running on a system with 2 - 3mp Swann Cameras.

 

Both work great, although Im using the demo of BlueIris and wont buy the app for testing.

 

 

Zoneminder works 100% the way it should, with a free remote viewing app.

 

BlueIris works the way it should, costs $60 + $15 app.

 

Unfortunately Im torn. I want it to run on my Ubuntu Linux Server, as it has decent power, and a ton of raid storage. But BlueIris works wonders, and is very user friendly. I may end up running it in a Windows VM on the linux server.

 

I really haven't decided yet, I think I will run ZoneMinder until I get fed up, which might be never

[Boogieman 1]

It seems the only 2 options that will fit your bill are;

 

 

Zoneminder (linux)

 

and

 

BluIris (windows)

 

 

Im testing both right now, in VM's running on a system with 2 - 3mp Swann Cameras.

 

Both work great, although Im using the demo of BlueIris and wont buy the app for testing.

 

 

Zoneminder works 100% the way it should, with a free remote viewing app.

 

BlueIris works the way it should, costs $60 + $15 app.

 

Unfortunately Im torn. I want it to run on my Ubuntu Linux Server, as it has decent power, and a ton of raid storage. But BlueIris works wonders, and is very user friendly. I may end up running it in a Windows VM on the linux server.

 

I really haven't decided yet, I think I will run ZoneMinder until I get fed up, which might be never

The blue iris mobile app is 10 dollars not 15. It is far superior to zoneminder...60 dollars is nothing for a vms...

The zoneminder app is 4 dollars if you want remote event viewing...

[jrmymllr 0]

It seems the only 2 options that will fit your bill are;

 

 

Zoneminder (linux)

 

and

 

BluIris (windows)

 

 

Im testing both right now, in VM's running on a system with 2 - 3mp Swann Cameras.

 

Both work great, although Im using the demo of BlueIris and wont buy the app for testing.

 

 

Zoneminder works 100% the way it should, with a free remote viewing app.

 

BlueIris works the way it should, costs $60 + $15 app.

 

Unfortunately Im torn. I want it to run on my Ubuntu Linux Server, as it has decent power, and a ton of raid storage. But BlueIris works wonders, and is very user friendly. I may end up running it in a Windows VM on the linux server.

 

I really haven't decided yet, I think I will run ZoneMinder until I get fed up, which might be never

The blue iris mobile app is 10 dollars not 15. It is far superior to zoneminder...60 dollars is nothing for a vms...

The zoneminder app is 4 dollars if you want remote event viewing...

 

I just installed 3 Hikvision IP cams and am building a rack server that will run Zoneminder. Although I'm open to running Windows on it and something like BlueIris, I feel much better if it runs Linux.

 

Although $60 is pretty cheap for VMS, I've developed an expectation over time that software should be free. The nice thing about a PC-based DVR is it can do anything and be anything, unlike a off-the-shelf NVR/DVR.

[Boogieman 1]

It seems the only 2 options that will fit your bill are;

 

 

Zoneminder (linux)

 

and

 

BluIris (windows)

 

 

Im testing both right now, in VM's running on a system with 2 - 3mp Swann Cameras.

 

Both work great, although Im using the demo of BlueIris and wont buy the app for testing.

 

 

Zoneminder works 100% the way it should, with a free remote viewing app.

 

BlueIris works the way it should, costs $60 + $15 app.

 

Unfortunately Im torn. I want it to run on my Ubuntu Linux Server, as it has decent power, and a ton of raid storage. But BlueIris works wonders, and is very user friendly. I may end up running it in a Windows VM on the linux server.

 

I really haven't decided yet, I think I will run ZoneMinder until I get fed up, which might be never

The blue iris mobile app is 10 dollars not 15. It is far superior to zoneminder...60 dollars is nothing for a vms...

The zoneminder app is 4 dollars if you want remote event viewing...

 

I just installed 3 Hikvision IP cams and am building a rack server that will run Zoneminder. Although I'm open to running Windows on it and something like BlueIris, I feel much better if it runs Linux.

 

Although $60 is pretty cheap for VMS, I've developed an expectation over time that software should be free. The nice thing about a PC-based DVR is it can do anything and be anything, unlike a off-the-shelf NVR/DVR.

If you are willing to live with the limitations of zoneminder then its fine...

[jrmymllr 0]

If you are willing to live with the limitations of zoneminder then its fine...

 

I'm listening. What are ZM's limitations, other than the mentioned difficulty in configuring?

 

EDIT: I've been looking more closely at Xeoma and I'm very interested, especially since I can get the Lite version for $20 and disk space requirements for archive seem to be much lower than ZM.

[dalepres 0]

I'd like to find an open source or free solution as well. I have tried so many apps it makes my head spin. The very best apps seem to be those that come with the camera - no matter which camera brand I have bought. There are hugely better and only slightly better apps that came with my cameras but all of them handle many more cameras on the same hardware than does Blue Iris.

 

The very best app that I've used is an app called UC or UC2. It comes indirectly from tpsee.com and only works with TI 365/368-based cameras. With this app and the cameras that work with it, I've recorded up to 8 cameras full time at 3MP and 15 FPS, viewing those same cameras in the second stream, and only used 10 to 15 per cent of CPU. Though it uses RSTP to connect, I have not been able to get it to connect to any non-TI-based cameras.

 

The next best app, the one I use for viewing cameras now, is CMS from JuFeng. I got this software with a Sunba speed dome. This software is pretty decent in that it handles all my cameras using ONVIF but you can't config the cameras other than those that the software shipped with; you still need the OEM software for configuration - which is not a big deal. With 8 cameras, this uses about 15 to 20 per cent CPU utilization, viewing in second stream and recording in 3MP, 15 FPS - just a little more CPU intensive than UC2. The downside is that the live-view cannot display higher than 1080p and disconnects from the cameras from time to time. Since viewing is not my primary use of cameras and if it's not running when viewing I can always just reconnect, I've stuck with this for viewing so far, still hoping to find a way to fix the issues.

 

Third choice for me, if you have all Hikvision cameras is the Hikvision software. It's the most professional I have tried. I rank it third in my experience because it uses more CPU resources than the other OEM but it is still within acceptable range. 3 cameras use about 24 per cent total of CPU cycles. iVMS-4200 has two processes. It has the primary iVMS-4200 process that runs at about 4 to 6 per cent with 3 cameras and it has a decoder process that runs about 15 to 20 per cent with three cameras.

 

Fourth on my list is the Synology Surveillance Station. It works very well on the Synology devices in that the very low-powered CPUs that my DS-214+ devices use manage to record 8 cameras of motion detection fairly reliably. On the downside, though, the price at 50 dollars + per camera is simply ridiculous for such amateurish software. Second, the ActiveX used for viewing on IE and whatever it is on FireFox, uses 100 per cent of CPU on even my very newest quad-core i7 CPUs when displaying 8 cameras on the substream and this doesn't even have to record because the recording is done on the Synology. The only thing that makes Synology Display Station not the very last on my list is that the recording on the box works good; the only problem is that the live view is terrible for CPU utilization.

 

Last on my list is Blue Iris. Besides the fact that, in my own opinion - yours may be different, the UI for Blue Iris is atrocious, the program is simply, again in my own opinion, poorly written. The CPU utilization is about 40 per cent with only two cameras and up to about 80 per cent with 8 cameras on my latest quad-core i7s. The fact that all of the OEM packages I use are many, many, times more efficient on CPU resources proves what the possibilities are for cameras on one PC. Based on my UC2 experience, I could easily put 24 to 30 cameras at 3MP, 15FPS on a single box. With JuFeng, maybe 20 to 24 cameras, with Hikvision, maybe 20 cameras (all at 3MP) but with Blue Iris, 8 is going to max out a quad-core i7.

 

This has been my experience; your experience may very.

 

In summary, I have found that OEM software is the best performing for the cameras for which it is designed. I haven't really found any really good free or low cost software that works across camera manufacturers. If anyone has one that's not on my list already, I'd love to try it out.

[Boogieman 1]

I'd like to find an open source or free solution as well. I have tried so many apps it makes my head spin. The very best apps seem to be those that come with the camera - no matter which camera brand I have bought. There are hugely better and only slightly better apps that came with my cameras but all of them handle many more cameras on the same hardware than does Blue Iris.

 

The very best app that I've used is an app called UC or UC2. It comes indirectly from tpsee.com and only works with TI 365/368-based cameras. With this app and the cameras that work with it, I've recorded up to 8 cameras full time at 3MP and 15 FPS, viewing those same cameras in the second stream, and only used 10 to 15 per cent of CPU. Though it uses RSTP to connect, I have not been able to get it to connect to any non-TI-based cameras.

 

The next best app, the one I use for viewing cameras now, is CMS from JuFeng. I got this software with a Sunba speed dome. This software is pretty decent in that it handles all my cameras using ONVIF but you can't config the cameras other than those that the software shipped with; you still need the OEM software for configuration - which is not a big deal. With 8 cameras, this uses about 15 to 20 per cent CPU utilization, viewing in second stream and recording in 3MP, 15 FPS - just a little more CPU intensive than UC2. The downside is that the live-view cannot display higher than 1080p and disconnects from the cameras from time to time. Since viewing is not my primary use of cameras and if it's not running when viewing I can always just reconnect, I've stuck with this for viewing so far, still hoping to find a way to fix the issues.

 

Third choice for me, if you have all Hikvision cameras is the Hikvision software. It's the most professional I have tried. I rank it third in my experience because it uses more CPU resources than the other OEM but it is still within acceptable range. 3 cameras use about 24 per cent total of CPU cycles. iVMS-4200 has two processes. It has the primary iVMS-4200 process that runs at about 4 to 6 per cent with 3 cameras and it has a decoder process that runs about 15 to 20 per cent with three cameras.

 

Fourth on my list is the Synology Surveillance Station. It works very well on the Synology devices in that the very low-powered CPUs that my DS-214+ devices use manage to record 8 cameras of motion detection fairly reliably. On the downside, though, the price at 50 dollars + per camera is simply ridiculous for such amateurish software. Second, the ActiveX used for viewing on IE and whatever it is on FireFox, uses 100 per cent of CPU on even my very newest quad-core i7 CPUs when displaying 8 cameras on the substream and this doesn't even have to record because the recording is done on the Synology. The only thing that makes Synology Display Station not the very last on my list is that the recording on the box works good; the only problem is that the live view is terrible for CPU utilization.

 

Last on my list is Blue Iris. Besides the fact that, in my own opinion - yours may be different, the UI for Blue Iris is atrocious, the program is simply, again in my own opinion, poorly written. The CPU utilization is about 40 per cent with only two cameras and up to about 80 per cent with 8 cameras on my latest quad-core i7s. The fact that all of the OEM packages I use are many, many, times more efficient on CPU resources proves what the possibilities are for cameras on one PC. Based on my UC2 experience, I could easily put 24 to 30 cameras at 3MP, 15FPS on a single box. With JuFeng, maybe 20 to 24 cameras, with Hikvision, maybe 20 cameras (all at 3MP) but with Blue Iris, 8 is going to max out a quad-core i7.

 

This has been my experience; your experience may very.

 

In summary, I have found that OEM software is the best performing for the cameras for which it is designed. I haven't really found any really good free or low cost software that works across camera manufacturers. If anyone has one that's not on my list already, I'd love to try it out.

Your opinion of blue iris is flawed. First, you tested it on an old xeon system then complained yes i remember your posts. You are likely running a laptop i7 and complaining that its maxing out (laptops tend to throttle the cpu a lot even on the more powerful i7's) not a modern desktop haswell system if your cpu use is 80 percent. You need to know how to properly set it up. You need to record direct to disc - this is EXTREMELY important. I can easily run 10x 3mp cameras at 30 percent cpu at 15-20fps on a modern haswell i7. Your statements about 8 cams maxing out a quad core i7 is simply false.

Also note that the developer is adding hardware acceleration at the end of the month which will improve performance significantly. Onvif based motion detection (in camera motion) has also been added in the last few months. Its is the most feature rich VMS software that does not cost 100-150 PER camera but rather a flat fee of 60 dollars. Your experience is simply user error. There are tons of folks running 30mp plus systems on modern i7's using blue iris. Basic 2mp x8 camera setups will run just fine on a 300 dollar i5 haswell system (at less than 50 percent). I have MANY of them setup. If you think the crap cms software that comes with your cameras has anywhere near the function of blue iris then you have not properly explored the software.

Blue iris has always been know to use more cpu, but not at the levels you claim. With the new hardware acceleration and in camera motion the numbers should be much better. You simply need to invest in decent hardware, not 7 year old xeon processors or laptops. Either that or you are not properly configuring the recording using direct to disk.

Nothing is going to be free...so you can simply forget about that. Either pony up the money on decent hardware or buy 100 per camera licenses.

Edited December 22, 2015 by Guest

[m00se 0]

dalepres said:

I'd like to find an open source or free solution as well. I have tried so many apps it makes my head spin. The very best apps seem to be those that come with the camera - no matter which camera brand I have bought. There are hugely better and only slightly better apps that came with my cameras but all of them handle many more cameras on the same hardware than does Blue Iris.

 

The very best app that I've used is an app called UC or UC2. It comes indirectly from tpsee.com and only works with TI 365/368-based cameras. With this app and the cameras that work with it, I've recorded up to 8 cameras full time at 3MP and 15 FPS, viewing those same cameras in the second stream, and only used 10 to 15 per cent of CPU. Though it uses RSTP to connect, I have not been able to get it to connect to any non-TI-based cameras.

 

The next best app, the one I use for viewing cameras now, is CMS from JuFeng. I got this software with a Sunba speed dome. This software is pretty decent in that it handles all my cameras using ONVIF but you can't config the cameras other than those that the software shipped with; you still need the OEM software for configuration - which is not a big deal. With 8 cameras, this uses about 15 to 20 per cent CPU utilization, viewing in second stream and recording in 3MP, 15 FPS - just a little more CPU intensive than UC2. The downside is that the live-view cannot display higher than 1080p and disconnects from the cameras from time to time. Since viewing is not my primary use of cameras and if it's not running when viewing I can always just reconnect, I've stuck with this for viewing so far, still hoping to find a way to fix the issues.

 

Third choice for me, if you have all Hikvision cameras is the Hikvision software. It's the most professional I have tried. I rank it third in my experience because it uses more CPU resources than the other OEM but it is still within acceptable range. 3 cameras use about 24 per cent total of CPU cycles. iVMS-4200 has two processes. It has the primary iVMS-4200 process that runs at about 4 to 6 per cent with 3 cameras and it has a decoder process that runs about 15 to 20 per cent with three cameras.

 

Fourth on my list is the Synology Surveillance Station. It works very well on the Synology devices in that the very low-powered CPUs that my DS-214+ devices use manage to record 8 cameras of motion detection fairly reliably. On the downside, though, the price at 50 dollars + per camera is simply ridiculous for such amateurish software. Second, the ActiveX used for viewing on IE and whatever it is on FireFox, uses 100 per cent of CPU on even my very newest quad-core i7 CPUs when displaying 8 cameras on the substream and this doesn't even have to record because the recording is done on the Synology. The only thing that makes Synology Display Station not the very last on my list is that the recording on the box works good; the only problem is that the live view is terrible for CPU utilization.

 

Last on my list is Blue Iris. Besides the fact that, in my own opinion - yours may be different, the UI for Blue Iris is atrocious, the program is simply, again in my own opinion, poorly written. The CPU utilization is about 40 per cent with only two cameras and up to about 80 per cent with 8 cameras on my latest quad-core i7s. The fact that all of the OEM packages I use are many, many, times more efficient on CPU resources proves what the possibilities are for cameras on one PC. Based on my UC2 experience, I could easily put 24 to 30 cameras at 3MP, 15FPS on a single box. With JuFeng, maybe 20 to 24 cameras, with Hikvision, maybe 20 cameras (all at 3MP) but with Blue Iris, 8 is going to max out a quad-core i7.

 

This has been my experience; your experience may very.

 

In summary, I have found that OEM software is the best performing for the cameras for which it is designed. I haven't really found any really good free or low cost software that works across camera manufacturers. If anyone has one that's not on my list already, I'd love to try it out.

 

I agree to a large extent with OEM software performing better (in my experience). I'm running about 25 Dahua cameras over 3 floors of a commercial building. I had the best results using Dahua's PSS and later SmartPSS software. I tried a few other applications including BlueIris (pre-HW acceleration - looking forward to trying it out though)_ and was unable to LiveView and record a dozen cameras @ 1080p @ 25fps (using a desktop i7@2.8Ghz & 12gig ram)....

 

Only issue with OEM software is that support can be a little sketchy and there are bugs that go unresolved for many months (e.g.: https://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=49384).