Need advice on medium scale home NVR system

[hamada76 0]

Hello CCTV Experts,

 

I would like to get your opinion and advice on a medium home surveillance solution I am currently putting together...

 

So far, I have the following setup

 

NVR: Lenovo ThinkCentre M93P Tiny - INTEL I5-4570T/2.9GHz - 8GB RAM - 320GB HD

OS: Windows Web Server 2008 R2 (64-BIT) - SP1

VIDEO STORAGE: Seagate 4TB External HD

POE: D-Link DES-1018MP 18-Port Unmanaged POE (IEEE 802.3 AF) Switch

OUTDOOR CAMERAS: 8x AutoIP GV-NC-201VA (Were there by previous owners. Not happy with them at all and will probably replace in the future).

INDOOR CAMERAS: TBD (May be 4 Hikvision DS-2CD2432F-I(W)

VMS: TBD (may be Luxriot Pro)

 

Here are my questions:

 

1- I have been researching VMS solutions out there and the good ones from Milestone, Exacq, Avigilon etc...) are very expensive and have complicated licenses. I also looked at lower end solutions such as Blue Iris, Ispy, Geo Vision etc. and was not very impressed. So far, I am leaning towards Luxriot Pro which is around $500 for 16 cameras.

 

Are there any other VMS solutions that are comparable to Luxriot at the same price level or less expensive?

 

2- What is the best outdoor day / night camera to buy that will survive brutal south Florida heat and torrential rain. 2 of the GVI models I have outdoors are collecting water although they are IP66 rated and despite all my attempts to seal them properly! The 8 outdoor cameras are mounted vertically on concrete out in the open. Picture attached.

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

[AlexJ 0]

FYI: Luxriot VMS Professional is for 9 cameras, so you will require Advanced Edition for 16 ch.

[hamada76 0]

FYI: Luxriot VMS Professional is for 9 cameras, so you will require Advanced Edition for 16 ch.

 

You are correct Alex. I am torn between Luxriot and Nx Witness. What I found that TrendNet now gives away a similar version of Luxriot Pro with their cameras but it will not work as a Windows service. I am not sure how much Nx Witness costs and I do like its search features and overall simplicity. Another VMS that I like a lot is Axxon Next which is actually free but it is limited to a 1 TB archive. It did not work on the Lenovo since it needs a better graphics card and the latest Open GL. I installed it on a workstation and was very impressed by it.

 

I have not made up my mind yet and I am open to try other VMS systems that are affordable.

[jestermaroc 0]

Hi Hamada,

 

I would recommend Milestone Essentials VMS simply because of the usability of the software. You can upgrade it with so many modules to accommodate any unforeseen future need. It is very stable, easy GUI, and the mobile app is fantastic. Lastly, it is very easy on system resources.

 

Pricing will be lower than what Bluewinkle (RIP, sad to see you go mate) lists on his review if you are a integrator or reseller. PM me should you wish to know what the pricing structure can be.

 

Lastly, I would strongly advise against using an external HDD as storage. 16 megapixel cameras recording simultaneously will struggle to transmit the data across a 3.0 USB cable or eSata (read up on required IOPS for your needs). Not to mention what happens to your valuable evidence should the drive be dropped.

 

Cheers,

Jester

[hamada76 0]

Hi Hamada,

 

I would recommend Milestone Essentials VMS simply because of the usability of the software. You can upgrade it with so many modules to accommodate any unforeseen future need. It is very stable, easy GUI, and the mobile app is fantastic. Lastly, it is very easy on system resources.

 

Pricing will be lower than what Bluewinkle (RIP, sad to see you go mate) lists on his review if you are a integrator or reseller. PM me should you wish to know what the pricing structure can be.

 

Lastly, I would strongly advise against using an external HDD as storage. 16 megapixel cameras recording simultaneously will struggle to transmit the data across a 3.0 USB cable or eSata (read up on required IOPS for your needs). Not to mention what happens to your valuable evidence should the drive be dropped.

 

Cheers,

Jester

 

Thanks for the reply Jester, really appreciate it. You must be telepathic since I did buy Milestone Express since it came with 2 camera licenses to start. Its interface made the best sense to me. I am still playing around with the trial on a guinea pig PC for now. I do like it, but that is not to say it is perfect. One thing I noticed is that it may be complicated for the average home user. For example, getting the mobile server to work if the default ports are taken is a bit tricky. Also, there seems to be issues or bugs in the management console and it crashed on me a couple of times. In specific, when adding my old GVI Auto IP cameras, I kept getting "connection time out" and "connection lost" errors on the previews yet the camera(s) was streaming fine from the client software and if accessed directly via the browser directly. The 2 crashes happened as I tried different profiles for the camera from the camera settings... Anyways, I will most likely post a different topic in the appropriate sections if I hit any issues or hurdles. I come from IT/ Web Development background and I think I can manage fine. The software looks like it's solid and built on a good foundation. I also like the low CPU utilization so far. One thing that kinda sucks is Millstone sort of closed their forum to new users.

 

Finally, when you mention IOPS, are you suggesting internal storage is the way to go? I see that many systems actually store footage to NAS drives so I thought USB 3 would be a faster choice since NAS systems usually run slower than USB 3.

[jestermaroc 0]

My telepathic abilities are growing in strength!

 

I agree Milestone is not perfect, but you won't find a software suite that is perfect though. Yes, setting up the servers is not for the faint hearted, but Milestone has excellent guides on how it should be done. The help function inside both the management application as well as the Smart client is wonderful.

 

Adding cameras can sometimes be a pain, just keep at it. I once had to re-add a camera 5x to get it on the server. Remember, Ovif is still a work in progress and with hundreds of cameras on their database there are bound to be a hiccup here and there. Still I have found my local based support staff to be very friendly and knowledgeable.

 

Hmm, never knew their forum is closed, though I have never used it before. I normally just log in and search through their knowledge base if I cannot find appropriate help within their help files.

 

Internal storage/NAS is always the way to go in my opinion because of reliability and security. If your drives are recording a lot of data your external USB drive will quickly fail as it was never designed for surveillance. The amount of write cycles will be way above what it can handle. Look for a Western Digital Purple (best imo) drive or Seagate Surveillance drive. These are designed for 24/7 recording. I have drives that are approaching 150 petabytes of data on their write cycles (one is on a 13 camera system).

[hamada76 0]

Internal storage/NAS is always the way to go in my opinion because of reliability and security. If your drives are recording a lot of data your external USB drive will quickly fail as it was never designed for surveillance. The amount of write cycles will be way above what it can handle. Look for a Western Digital Purple (best imo) drive or Seagate Surveillance drive. These are designed for 24/7 recording. I have drives that are approaching 150 petabytes of data on their write cycles (one is on a 13 camera system.

 

Thanks for the WD drive suggestion, I did not know about the Purple line. I agree with you especially I have certain cameras set to record continuously. I will look into a the NAS solution. Thanks again!