Downloading it as we speak. Put a message in to their customer service and already received a reply. I will be reporting back.

http://www.lorextechnology.com/Security-system-with-monitor/Security-camera-system-with-home-security-cameras/2145.pHello new forum member here. First I want to say is great site and great thread. I have taken the responsibility to look into securing my home. A little about me , young family , going to school , no security measures besides door locks and window locks,  I have read many of these posts about camera systems , which ones are good and what not .

I know that I would like 6 cameras (3 inside 3 outside ). I really like the idea of PoE wiring , but budget may not allow.

I have looked into Dlink NVRs and Panasonic items , and this Lorex system http://www.lorextechnology.com/Security-system-with-monitor/Security-camera-system-with-home-security-cameras/2145.p (edited link up top )

Hopefully I posted the link correctly.  

Can anyone point me in the right direction for a decent system or something I can add on too later , I would like to keep it under 1000$.

I would like to supplement a Home security system with  some recording cameras.

Thank you all for this Great site.

I am really enjoying blue iris. For the small expense I find it far superior to milestone especially now since I can't even reinstall milestone since I'm running 32 bit.   I have one external and one internal camera operating on it, so I can't attest to its CPU usage yet. I will update once I get my second external working and my two additional internal delivered and setup. port forwarding is setup and the iOS software is great.  Setting up text SMS and email alerts was a breeze. For those who have limited tech knowledge blue iris is very user friendly.

My one complaint is that I can't get my GE RUGGED IP DOME camera to link with it. GE rebranded their camera department under a subsidiary name interlogix.
My GE rugged IP dome
That link is to the model camera I have. Any suggestions for how to get this to work with Blue Iris?

if you contact blue iris support he will log on your system and try and fix it. Its a one man opperation.

I had a problem and emailed on a Sunday and he responded lol. But was unable to correct the problem with the cheep china cam I had. It worked in a few other software platforums so I kept with it and dropped blue iris. If I replace the cam I will definatly go back Blue Iris seems to be a class act.

Ken from blue iris emailed me and I got back to him. We will see if this works out. If not I'm replacing the camera, blue iris makes me that happy.

Didn't know it was a one man operation.  I can't imagine how he handles support by himself.  



 

I dont know that for a fact he is a one man shop  its just what I read on the net. and you know if its on the internet its true lol.

i have been using this one for a while.

http://www.geniusvision.net/community.html

price = free.

tutorials are on youtube  
http://www.youtube.com/user/gvtube01/videos

by looking thru the tutorials you should be able to see if this is for you..  

myself , i love the smart search feature

if a bucket is moved i can draw a square around  the bucket and hit smart search it will show me when the bucket is not there.< or when it was placed there >  

i have it recording 24x7
i dont need to worry about setting up motion detection zones.  just use the smart search   since most of the software i tired gave hundreds of false positives when using motion detect

the AXIS client was good for motion detect since you can set the size to ignore and time its in view but its only  free for one camera.. I am running more then one..  if i am doing wrong and axis client software can be run with more then one camera i am open to your links. < oh and and only two of my cameras are axis..   the others are dahua and hkvision  >  and this software could care less.


no need to set up "zones"  
ii someone drives thru your front lawn while your gone..  draw a circle where the tire tracks are and hit search..  
in secs you have the guy on your screen ...   or what ever else  you can think of that you need to search for   draw a box  hit search .  



pros     ITS FREE
cons  its FREE and the only support i have gotten has been from the YouTube videos i posted.

come to think of  it,  all my questions have been answered by those videos..

never tried to reach the people that made this...  its free  so i feel like an ass asking " how do you ____  "  

had i paid for it i would be calling 10 times a day .. but its free and has been going for over a year ,  

what else........     it can record to an NAS

what else.  oh yeah  in the free version  only 4 channels have the smart search feature with a total of 16 i think.
"only"  lol..  most people dont even have that many cameras.



thanks thats  all i have.

and a random web pic

Went away across the country and was able to keep tabs on my home while gone. Halfway through I couldn't connect to blueiris any longer, but still received alerts. I determined the issue was my ISP uses dynamic IP addresses. Downloaded no-ip's dynamic updater and that issue is resolved. I have no networking background and am learning as I go, pretty fun and enlightening.

I had seen them mentioned while researching solutions to my problem. I just never looked into them since the first solution I tried resolved the issue.   Having the cameras not only gives peace of mind, it's also an addicting, fun, challenging hobby.

I have an fairly extensive IT background, which helps but does not make me an automatic IP Cam expert - so I'm learning like most of you folks about building effective systems.  Last year I evaluated a few software packages to use for my office, I ended up selecting Blue Iris for several reasons.  Since then I've setup another Blue Iris system for my home which has become somewhat of a hobby.





I cannot say enough about how Blue Iris has exceeded my needs and expectations.  There may be better systems out there, but for the price and performance I am completely sold on it.  At $50 for each "server" license, it's a steal - and Ken Pletzer (the developer) continues to update and improve the software while personally replying to each and every email in a timely and helpful manner.  Blue Iris has far more capability than I've needed, and continues to grow.





As far as Blue Iris being a resource hog - what I've found is there are many settings which are by default going to push resource utilization high.  These settings can be adjusted to run on lessor machines if necessary to bring down CPU utilization.  Both my Blue Iris installs run less than 10 cameras, so that is my zone of knowledge and I can't really speak for larger systems.  In my opinion, if you want serious features like read ahead buffering and high frame counts you just need to buy a dedicated machine with a decent processor.  I also run Blue Iris as a service, for what it's worth.





I use I5 processors, and with less than 10 cams Blue Iris has been bullet proof.  The machine I just picked up for home was a Dell Inspiron 660 with a I5-3330, 8GB RAM, 1TB Drive - I spent $440 for it at the Dell Outlet store.  That $440 machine runs about the same performance-wise as the dedicated Optiplex in my office with the I5-3470 which cost more than double (but that's an Apple/Orange comparison).  I guess my point is that for home use, there are less expensive ways to get excellent performance.  There is no need for 3D type graphics so don't buy a gamer machine for the performance as money will be wasted on graphics capabilities you just won't use.





Outdoors I am partial to the Dahua bullet cams, specifically the IPC-HFW2100 720p/night vision and wide field of view (about $130 ea on Amazon) - but I have Trendnet and Foscams too for various reasons.





With 5 acres, I utilize various methods to integrate the various cams, including: Power over Ethernet, WiFi, Power Injectors, and Power over Electric.  For example, my well system sits maybe 100' from my house and I have a camera there which looks back at the house.  That camera is strictly a Power over Ethernet type - yet I have no Ethernet wire or even WiFi there... I used a pair of Trendnet Powerline adapters to get out Ethernet there and a Power Injector for electric (all sealed in an outdoor utility box).  Even with 2 massive well pumps right there running frequently and surely injecting some electrical noise into the circuit, that camera has been rock solid.





I also use the alert feature which plays an audio file when a camera detects motion - over at http://www2.research.att.com/~ttsweb/tts/demo.php you will find a handy place to create standardized WAV files - mine say things like "Front Door"  -  "Patio" - "Behind Garage" and so fourth.  In this way we can hear what cam fired off without staring at the monitor all day.  It's handy when UPS pulls in the driveway as we hear the following sequence for example "Driveway" - "Front Yard" - "Front Door".





So to take that 1 step further, I use http://www.rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/ to stream that audio from Blue Iris over the LAN to a PC out 150' from the house where our hot tub enclosure is.  That PC has dual monitors where one is dedicated TV via Slingbox and the other to running VNC for camera video (full screen Blue Iris camera cycling) and Airfoil for the audio.  While relaxing in our secluded oasis we can see and hear the Blue Iris system while it monitors everything (and watch TV).  That has been a great success.





In one area that I consider a high risk potential breech zone, I have Blue Iris send me text alerts if that camera detects motion.





I have a static IP at my office, but use NoIP.com for my home.





The central forum for Blue Iris users is at http://www.cam-it.org/.





I haven't looked over here at this forum for a while, but I'm glad you all are putting the knowledge together.  Forgive me if this post is Pro Blue Iris, but I am very much sold on it.  I use all the access methods such as the console, an extended console at my hot tub, the iPhone App, and web/browser interfaces.





The home system has been accepted and embraced by my wife too, she really feels more secure with it - and it's amusing to see the various wild animals come out after dark too.





I am interested in reviewing the other software you're using too, as I feel we'll be supporting our clients with various software systems - as these systems become as normal as every house having a washing machine.





I offer the above information with hopes that perhaps something I've done will help another overcome an obstacle.  Putting the system has been very satisfying - and challenging at times.  For example, I spent a couple weeks testing and finally finding the best way to stream the audio.  I'm running Windows 8.1 too - and I'm a stickler for reliability, so everything MUST load and run perfectly from a cold start in my opinion or it's not reliable.





Check out that AirFoil software too - $25 for a license but it puts PC audio over a LAN to another PC  or even to an iPhone with their APP - basically it's Apple AirPlay software running on a PC rather than built into a device.  I went to that after much frustration trying to get VLC to load reliably from a command line - as well as several other programs which... while they did stream audio - they wouldn't load automatically from a power interruption and reconnect reliably.





Enough about my stuff, I'll be looking and gaining info from others here.  Good forum, good topic.





Happy


Happy


Happy







 

Security Monitor Pro, is a powerful video surveillance software that supports up to 32 IP cameras.  It has time based recording and motion detection alerting, and remote viewing, along with many other features that are useful. Easy to use and reliable and supports just about every IP and USB camera I have tried.

FYI, XprotectGo has removed the "email" feature on the 2014 version.



I guess I'm off to find another solution.

I have that setup for one camera, since it's the only one that really gets any action.



I still would like to get alerts, since I don't have hardware motion wired in. Especially during my crazy work outs.



 

I wondered if anyone has any info on Hikvision software.

Are there any other softwares? I've tried all of these (except zoneminder). Xprotect Go didn't work with most of my cameras. Blue Iris didn't work very well, especially not for it's cost. Remote viewing was rough at best, and playback was difficult. Genius Vision was by far my favorite, but it wouldn't connect to a few of my cameras.

I've had D-Link cameras for quite a while. I bought them because they could be used as standalone cameras for the time being, plus email notifications. I'm now trying to use them and testing with my primary desktop. The D-Link Myview software works and is free, but leaves a lot to be desired.

I had plenty of issues with the 932L camera, and a few issues with the 5222L. I bought them for specific applicaitons/budget, but at times wish I just went with a full standalone PoE system.

I am thinking of going with the Luxriot software.

If I do, can I stream certain cameras to a separate tv? For instance I dont need to monitor my entire system unless something happens.  But if I run a hdmi or whatever wire to a tv near my desk can I just have the perimeter cameras show up on that tv while the other cameras are in use with the system, just not that view for me.

Also they advertise their capture boards.   Is that needed??

double tap

Thanks for all the info.   Still didnt buy it yet but may this week.   For our office I want to use it and get SMS alerts if motion is detected, but not during normal business hours.  Do you know if I can set up like a schedule where alerts are sent?   For example I would get SMS alerts Mon-Fri 6pm-7am and Sat/Sun 24hrs?   I tried googling and didnt find a clear answer.

Thank you

Thanks..as you can tell I have no experience with cameras.

Our office is small and easy to cover...like 100x25 feet.  A front door and a back door.  Very open.  I was just going to have a camera monitor the front and rear doors (only entry points).   Open area.

I am leaning towards:
Cameras x2
Switch  
and the Luxriot software.....

Should be good to go?  All I really want is alerts if someone is in after hours/weekends and pics if something would happen which is doubtful.   Seem okay to you?  Anything else I would need other then cable?

Thanks...Ill renew your membership next year :-p

Alright got the 2 cameras and switch as mentioned above... Great pitcure and thanks the Hikvision software works for me.   My computer shows 100% cpu usage with just the 2 cameras though.  I am just using the computer for the cameras alone nothing else being run.   Its an older HP on windows 7 pro. Dual core processor.   1 gb storage, 2.5 GHz.    I'm sorry I don't know crap, but if I increase storage will that slow the cpu down with both cameras running?

Thanks

Milestone XProtect Essentials for 8 cameras is now free... Was about $50 a camera for a license before.

https://www.milestonesys.com/globalassets/materials/sections/products/software-suite/documents/pdfs/milestonexprotectprofessionalvmsproducts_freexprotectessentialquickguide_en-us.pdf

Luxriot came out with EVO software for up to 9 cameras on 1 server for free.  Has anyone tried it?

Any good software to throw on a laptop just to view the camera to test it while mounting? IP based hikvision stuff.  Tried just hooking up the laptop to a poe switch to camera and typing in the IP but it doesn't open anything.

I only used their old VMS software and I liked it... The "Full HD" (aka 1080p) restriction sounds ominous considering most cameras these days are 3MP (2048x1536) or higher. I would hope it wouldn't force transcoding, which means you would have to reconfigure cameras to make it work? By going from the native 4:3 3MP resolution to a 16:9 1080p resolution in the camera software you often get considerable cropping losing a large portion of the visible frame which would be a deal breaker for most I would think, no?

ETA: Heh I sent an email asking about it and they basically told me to fly a kite, cripple the camera by cropping it, or pay up for the Evo S software. Seems silly to me to not support most common aspect ratio, no reason to even install it now if it's not compatible. Meh.

I've spent hours in my office room trying to get my first camera working.  This is all new to me.  I have a stand alone PC just for the NVR system.  I got my new Hikvision DS-2CD2142FWD-I   4MP dome camera.  I plugged the new dome cam into a new Netgear POE switch unit and plugged that into my router and PC.  After a couple of videos and online reading I downloaded the SADP program to setup up my camera IP address and password.  I then used Firefox to open the Hikvision program in the camera IP address and modify camera settings.  I followed some online instructions for making changes in the settings and verified the camera works fine in the Hikvision program.  

I downloaded XProtect Essential for the free trial program.  Got the license email and loaded the license to the software.  I tried numerous times to load the camera to this program and it always failed.  I tried to manually add it and it never would work.  I tried everything I could dream up and it never added the camera.  I gave up and removed the program from the PC.  

I loaded Luxriot Evo to try the free version of that.  It saw my camera as a Generic camera and not by the Hikvision name.  I was able to see the camera in the monitor they use and tried to learn how it functioned.  As you move the mouse over the items they don't tell you what they perform, so there was a lot of clicking and backing up to see what things did.  I never did figure out how to tell it to record to my 4TB drive.  It played LIVE feed from the camera, but wasn't recording to a file.  So they don't support my model of camera and the software isn't exactly Newb proof.  I again gave up and deleted the software from my PC.  

I had no idea this was going to be so crazy.  The main online info I was following for setting up a Hikvision cam was by a guy who used Blue Iris.  I didn't really want to spend money for downloading that one just yet.  I don't think they list my camera as supported either.

Much more of this and I'll be throwing stuff at the wall

In XProtect did you add it as a generic ONVIF Conformation device? I can't think of why that camera would have any difficulty adding.

I finally figured out how to link my new camera to XProtect Essential.  I had to load the software again since I removed it last night.  I was looking at the supported hardware list again and they list my model camera and a few models that are very similar.  I found if you click on the model itself in the list it opens another window.  In this page there is a tip for adding the camera.  They recommend shutting off the "Illegal Login Lock" when you are setting up the camera in the Hikvision software.  I did this and then did a manual camera add, and it worked.  One thing I prefer on Essential so far is when you move the mouse over items it will tell you what it is, unlike the Luxriot software I tried.  I still have to figure out if it is saving the image to my 2nd hard drive.  It shows it created a folder on the 4TB drive, so I'll keep experimenting with it.  

I had no idea doing cameras was this in depth.  I knew there would be some work to it, but not on this scale.  Some of the companies talk about how their software detects and adds cameras easily, that didn't happen for me.  I spent hours finding out how to configure the camera and then trying to add it to the software.  I was up till 2am and finally gave up and tried again today.

I still have a long ways to go, but it's a start.   I have to order 2 more cameras and get a roll of Cat6 cable to build the system.

Now every time I try to use the iPhone app and enter the login info it says "Cannot connect to server?  Check your internet connection."  

I've tried everything I can dream up.  No dice

I may have to take a week off from this.  A disaster at every turn

Was trying to get the iPhone to connect.  The computer was showing the camera every time I opened the program on the PC.

I made a million different changes and it finally let my iPhone and iPad connect to the server.  I did a new download of the Milestone Mobile program on my PC.  I think loading it separately from the rest of the software helped.  It allowed me to list the address for the server and my login and password during the setup.  I had also made a change to the port settings for the camera.  I earlier changed it from port 80 to something like 8080 and then it wouldn't function if you typed in the address in a search engine.  So I had it back to port 80.  Tonight I changed the port back to another fairly random number and rolled with it.  It won't pull up in a search engine, but it still works fine in the Milestone program.  I read one place that said you need to replace the port 80 so it won't confuse it with the router.  It's all new to me

I've kinda learned a lot the last couple of days on listing IP addresses and computer settings, but mostly I just flopped along like a fish out of water.

I finally see some light at the end of the tunnel.  I still need to get a roll of Cat6 and tools to do a full install of my new camera.  I plan to add 2 more Hikvision cams as funding allows.  I work 7on/7off and tomorrow starts my on week, so I'm not likely to mess with it for a week.  Gotta make the money.

That is one of the selling points Meraki will throw at you regarding their cameras. It's a really neat feature.

I just got two Hikvision 4MP domes in. I've downloaded the newest vendor DVR software and will be checking out one or more of the products listed on page 1. Those entries are all several years old, but at least a few of them should still be viable. Once I get the cameras mounted and the various programs installed, I'll pop back in and mention what i've encountered. 

Well, it has been several months and I still don't have this mess set up all the way.  

I installed one camera at our front door and it is recording to the hard drive.  I never did figure out how to get the software to access my network when my phone is not on the network.  I can view the camera when at home, but only then.  I have another new camera still to install and didn't want to be in the attic during the summer heat.  I need to install that camera, but mostly I need to figure out how to get this stuff working on the phone or maybe switch software brands.  I'm using the free version of Milestone so far

I was looking at buying some Nest brand cameras just cause they are so much easier to monitor and get alerts without needing a degree in computers.  The big downside to Nest is the price of the subscription and they don't mount like the dome cameras I have.  

I'll be pretty busy this week, but can anyone help me set this stuff up in my system?  My wife would feel a bit safer knowing she can get alerts and check the cameras on her phone.  My coworker got video at 3:30am of a guy trying to open his truck and his neighbors truck on his Nest cameras.  I spent a decent amount of $ on this gear and I need to get it running.

Thanks

Yes, that's one of the major things I have to work on.  I made some attempts to mess with it months ago and then walked away.  I got busy with working on boats and trucks and haven't touched my camera system in a long time.  I already forgot what I learned before.  I took a few notes so hopefully I can get my 2nd camera setup without too much cussing.

Can you give me some tips on the port forwarding?  I tried a few things and got nowhere with it.  

Thanks!