Hikvision IVMS vs Blue Iris

[acmaster 0]

I've been playing with BI demo version for a few days and while I'm impressed with its feature/price point, I'm disappointed with its resource usage. I have set it to D2D and its much better. How does Hik's SW compare with BI. I like the fact you can configure in IVMs Hik cameras (my setup is 90% Hik Cams). Does the IVMS support ACTi cams as well?

 

Which would you use?

[buellwinkle 0]

iVMS4200 only works with Hikvision cameras. BlueIris works with many brands.

[acmaster 0]

My system is a I7-4770K NVR

[acmaster 0]

That being said if it were all Hik vision cameras would you still go BI?

[buellwinkle 0]

Depends. iVMS4200 to me is not the easiest to setup and get working properly but it is free and it uses minimal CPU but may not be so much an issue with the i7. BlueIris has it's following, can do some unique things others can't. For example, someone has a weather plugin to insert weather info in the video. I use it on a project to display cameras on a website because it's easy and works with all browsers.

 

I personally would use neither as my home NVR solution and I'm happy with Milestone XProtect. They have a free 8 camera version but is limited to 5 days recording, otherwise it's about $49/camera but worth it to me.

[acmaster 0]

Depends. iVMS4200 to me is not the easiest to setup and get working properly but it is free and it uses minimal CPU but may not be so much an issue with the i7. BlueIris has it's following, can do some unique things others can't. For example, someone has a weather plugin to insert weather info in the video. I use it on a project to display cameras on a website because it's easy and works with all browsers.

 

I personally would use neither as my home NVR solution and I'm happy with Milestone XProtect. They have a free 8 camera version but is limited to 5 days recording, otherwise it's about $49/camera but worth it to me.

 

 

Thanks for the feedback as always. I may try the free license however 8 and 5 days are a bit light for me which means a significantly more of an investment than BI. But as you point out may be worth it. What are the 2 or 3 key features you like over both?

 

a

[buellwinkle 0]

To me, Milestone is very efficient allowing me to run more cameras on slower hardware, has very good synchronized playback of multiple cameras, easy to use timeline scrubbing. Very good smartphone apps that comes in handy in bed if there's noise, I just pickup a tablet and can quickly see what's going on in and out of the house. Had it running for a while, never crashed, always ready. Also, client and server are separate, so I can run the server on a slower PC, but access the client portion on my desktop or laptop without impacting recording performance.

 

For what it's worth, I was running BlueIris, ACTi NVR 3.0 (their free software) and Milestone all on the same PC while I figured out what I wanted. That's why they give you free trials.

[acmaster 0]

That's it? That's the only reason?

 

I will give Milestone a spin. Thanks again.

[MaxIcon 0]

Thanks for the feedback as always. I may try the free license however 8 and 5 days are a bit light for me which means a significantly more of an investment than BI. But as you point out may be worth it. What are the 2 or 3 key features you like over both?

For people who don't have the PC yet, it's less of a difference for a small number of cams, as you spend less on the PC for Milestone, but more on the licenses. With BI, you spend more on the PC, and the software's a fixed price for as many cams as the hardware will handle.

 

I believe Milestone uses the camera's motion detect, though it's been a while since I used it. BI has one of the most flexible MD setups you can get in home software, at the cost of higher CPU usage for it, and it won't use the camera's MD.

[acmaster 0]

Thanks Max,

 

Interesting you should mention MD. I am finding with Milestone, it is very inconsistent. Even when sensitivity is set down I'm seeing it log motion when none is there. Not sure if its the shadows triggering it. Also when there was legs and feet in the upper part of the screen it didn't detect it as motion. I'm sure I've just got to get the settings down since I'm new to it.

 

If I can fix my BI issues I will give it another go but unfortunately my time is running out with it. Currently it does not connect to any of my Hik cameras. I keep getting address errors.

 

a

[MaxIcon 0]

It's easy to reset the 15 day trial period by deleting the Registration section in the BI part of the registry. I frequently do this while testing cams on my secondary systems.

 

I shut down BI, delete the Registration set of keys, and restart, and the 15 days starts over. You still have the demo overlay, of course.

 

These are the registry locations:

32 bit location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Perspective Software\Blue Iris

64 bit location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Perspective Software\Blue Iris

[mobileman 0]

bit of a bump people but hope you can help, i have 2 x hikvision cameras and although i can get them setup and view in ivms im struggling with setup to get them to use my server and storage etc ( only home user here so be gentle) and way i decided t download blue iris and setup and motion detect seemed very easy and much more user friendly.

 

guess my questions are

 

any idiots guides for setting up ivms ?

is blue iris lacking in anything over ivms apart from heavy resources?

anything else i should check out and try?

 

im using a hp n54l with ws2012essentials 8gb ram and 4tb WD PURPLE for my setup running on tplink gigabit switch with poe for cameras

 

tia mobileman

[mobileman 0]

anyone got any ideas or suggestions on above ^^ thanks

[MaxIcon 0]

I've never run ivms, so no help there.

 

BI is great software for the money, but the Turion N54L is a pretty light weight CPU, and may struggle with your two cams, depending on the resolution and frame rate. Assuming you don't want to run your server at high CPU all the time, you may want to look at something less CPU intensive, like Milestone Xprotect.

 

The N54L benches at 1399. I ran a dedicated BI box on an i3-540 that benches at 2691, roughly twice as fast, and it handled 6 cams, 9MP, 10 FPS at 60% CPU or so, bumping up to 80-90% when there was a lot of action. Running 2 3MP cams at 10fps on your N54L might leave you enough headroom for your server duties, but you'd need to test it to be sure.

 

BI has some improvements since I ran that box, like direct to disk, so you may be OK.

[mobileman 0]

I've never run ivms, so no help there.

 

BI is great software for the money, but the Turion N54L is a pretty light weight CPU, and may struggle with your two cams, depending on the resolution and frame rate. Assuming you don't want to run your server at high CPU all the time, you may want to look at something less CPU intensive, like Milestone Xprotect.

 

The N54L benches at 1399. I ran a dedicated BI box on an i3-540 that benches at 2691, roughly twice as fast, and it handled 6 cams, 9MP, 10 FPS at 60% CPU or so, bumping up to 80-90% when there was a lot of action. Running 2 3MP cams at 10fps on your N54L might leave you enough headroom for your server duties, but you'd need to test it to be sure.

 

BI has some improvements since I ran that box, like direct to disk, so you may be OK.

 

 

Thanks very much MaxIcon, i do have a i3 pc i culd run it on also so might try both, any idea which version i need on milestone seems to be a fair few versions

 

thanks

mm

[MaxIcon 0]

Milestone Xprotect Go is the free version, limited to 8 cameras and 5 days recording. If that works out and you want more days, you can upgrade to the next version, which is on a per-cam license, I believe.

 

The server and client are separate with Milestone and most low-CPU products; running the client on the same PC as the server will give a fairly big increase in CPU utilization.

 

I haven't used it for a while, but lots of people like it. It's more expensive to license than BI, but if it lets you avoid buying a new PC, it may be the better deal.

 

Here are the Milestone version comparisons:

http://www.milestonesys.com/SharePoint/XProtectOverview/2014/Milestone%20XProtect%20Comparison%20Chart%20-%20August%205%202014.pdf

[Douglaster 0]

I´ve been using BI for two straight years.

 

I´ve tried numerous vms and nothing to date beat BI in features and price tag.