CCTV solution

Hello,

I’m looking for a CCTV solution that will tick all these boxes:

A server based solution with DVR Card

Run as a service on Windows 2008R2 64bit

Allow snapshots to be taken from each camera every ten (or so) minutes for upload to a website

Or

A dedicated solution like the robox barracuda

Allow for snapshots to be taken and uploaded to a website (or alternatively allow a script to grab a jpeg from the DVR)

I’ve looked at luxriot which will do all I want, but it won’t allow snapshots to be saved every ten minutes. I’ve looked at the robox barracuda, but it doesn’t seem to allow snapshots to be taken either. I looked at geovision, that does everything but doesn’t run as a service. I-Catcher also does everything, but won’t run as a service.

I want to run it as a service, so that it starts as soon as the server starts. I can’t do autologon for security reasons.

Any help appreciated.

Chris

How about IP cameras that just upload directly to FTP on their own?

I looked at geovision, that does everything but doesn’t run as a service. I-Catcher also does everything, but won’t run as a service.

 

I want to run it as a service, so that it starts as soon as the server starts. I can’t do autologon for security reasons.

Not sure about the new versions but Geo claimed you could run their software as a service. I never tried as never needed that.

What are your security concerns for autologin?

It will still record without a Geovision user logged in. Or you can create a basic user and lock down the OS using the Geo Keylock utility, so until they login or out they cant access the Explorer shell.

Anyway it would be the usual sc create command.

So for example if using the GV-1120 Card:

Install Geo software

start, cmd, sc create Geovision binpath= "C:\GV-1120\GV1120.exe"

start, services.msc

double click on Geovision service

change startup type to Automatic

select login tab and check the box "Allow service to interact with desktop"

apply, ok, x out of services

restart computer

Ok I have no card installed so maybe this is why but I get the error:

The Geovision service failed to start due to the following error:

The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.

Anyway, maybe someone else with a card can test it, or test another DVR card.

Thanks for your replies so far.

The Win2008R2 server is also being used as a fileserver so i don't want to enable autologon. I know it would be preferable to have a separate server dedicated to CCTV, but at the moment it's all on one.

The current system has 2 analog cameras and the aviosys 7100 video server, so I'd like to continue using these cameras instead of replacing them with ip cameras.

Ideally i want to replace the aviosys 7100 with a DVR card, and run software on the server that will do the job of recording - but also allow occasional snapshots to be placed on a website.

I've heard that geovision can be run as a service, but i think that only applied to Win XP and not 2008.

The Robox Baracuda would do the job, but i'm not sure whether you can extract a picture from each camera at regular intervals?

Thanks for your help

chris.

I think the advice from everyone here would be pretty much unanimous: you really really REALLY want to use a DEDICATED system for a DVR. Video recording is, above everything else, disk-I/O intensive... probably not something you want to load onto your file server.

If your cameras are already network-capable via the Aviosys, take a look at a basic NVR with its own webserver built in... little standalone box that will record the cameras and allow remote viewing; you could just add a link to the website that would redirect browsers to the NVR. Take a look at options from Synology or QNAP, for example.

But either way, do yourself and your users a favor and DON'T turn your file server into a DVR.