Recommendation for security camera software similiar to ....

[The Orig Ralph 0]

First let me introduce myself, i'm a retired manufacturer here in the US, and kind of a "Fred Flintstone" when it comes to software, networks etc

 

After "wetting" my feet with a NEST camera, i quickly sold that and purchased 4 Hikvision cameras, 3 DS 2CD2542FWD-IS & 1 DS 2CD2142FWD-I. The iVMS-4200 software, while it gives a good number of adjustments, it's motion sensitivity adjustment as well as motion zone outlining leaves a little to be desired, plus it doesn't seem to be that stable. I got tired of the unnecessary motion detection push notifications, so i de-activated motion detection. The every few weeks it seems to re-activate motion detection spontaneously and i'll find 30 to 60 alerts on my phone (android) in the AM. The 2nd limitation in the Hikvision iVMS-4200 software requires a NAS to direct the video stream to in order to be recorded.

 

The Hikvision cameras have performed nearly flawlessly btw, and i'm pretty satisfied with them.

 

I went with Blue Iris, and it has much much better motion sensitivity adjustment and zone control lets me define a much tighter border about 2 feet off the street with no false alerts - Blue Iris also allows me to direct the video stream to a dedicated 1TB SSD in my computer for recording. In case, my cameras are connected to an unmanaged 8 PoE switch (Trendnet). But "bugs" keep popping up and response time from tech support has gotten fairly slow. My current issue is for whatever reasonnow indicating my activation key is invalid and needs to be reset, so i'm living with a 15 day trial version - i'm now on my 12th day waiting for a response from BI and while i like them, this is just not acceptable. Blue Iris also allows me to direct the video stream to a dedicated 1TB SSD in my computer for recording. In case, my cameras are connected to an unmanaged 8 PoE switch (Trendnet).

 

So my needs for management software are 1) able to record to a dedicated drive in my computer without need of a NAS & 2) much finer motion sensitivity and motion zone outlining than i saw in the iVMS-4200 software. I will be adding 2 more cameras, for a total of six, in case that makes a difference - I think BI is good up to 64 cameras.

 

I've looked and everything i find seems to require a NAS for recording. I've been doing fine now for 4 months with BI & that single SSD, - i'm getting about 11-12 days of storage on 1TB

 

am i looking for "unobtainium"?