The best CCTV software?

[Phil]

What is the best CCTV recording software?

We get asked this question all the time.

Many people start off with the free CCTV recording software provided by manufacturers such as ACTi or Vivotek, and then later decide that they'd like to add another camera from a different manufacturer.

In particular, we need to find software that plays nicely with a mixture of IP cameras from ACTi, Axis, Sanyo, and Vivotek.

We don't believe that there is a best for all circumstances or 'one size suits all' solution.

With complex products like CCTV recording solutions there are many, many features, and one man's must-have feature might not even appear on the wishlist for another customer.

Then there's the question of value!

So, we've worked through the big list (there are dozens of potential CCTV software providers) and reduced it to a shortlist of just three providers which we would now like to recommend to the cloud crowd for your consideration and feedback:

Alnet System's - NetStation
LuxRiot
Netcam Watcher Professional

Follow the links, checkout the products, we look forward to your feedback

 

[Harv]

Wow,

Good call - I've spent hours and hours trying to find good software for our application.

I've ended up installing Luxriot, as I thought it was the only software which supported the Sanyo cameras. It's not badly priced either and offers a true Server/Client solution. In fact, I'd recommend not using the DVR Viewer application on the same machine as the server at all- it loads the CPU to nearly 100% a lot of the time, and can mean frames being dropped.

So far, I've found getting the web viewing setup a little tricky, not figured this completely as yet - rather than just loging in to your server, you need to access through the luxriot website. The other downside to Luxriot is the interface to review recorded images isn't as nice as i-catcher. On the plus side, it seems to have the widest range of supported cameras out there.

I'm not a huge fan of the per camera pricing model of NetCam watcher - it soon becomes much more expensive than Luxriot, and doesn't seem to support as many different brands of camera (ie. Sanyo).

Alnet Netstation looks really good, however, none of the 3 UK stockists on their website offer pricing online, so i guess it must be pretty expensive. Does anyone have any experience of using this package, or pricing knowledge - they don't offer a trial version, would really like to try it!

Harv

 

[Phil]

Alnet Netstation looks really good, however, none of the 3 UK stockists on their website offer pricing online, so i guess it must be pretty expensive. Does anyone have any experience of using this package, or pricing knowledge - they don't offer a trial version, would really like to try it!

Ahem, make that four UK distributors on their website

Prices and further details for Alnet Systems NetStation CCTV Software

Unfortunately, I couldn't negotiate free trials - they use USB dongles for security, so you do actually need to purchase boxed product CDs with dongles.

After you've purchased your recording software, you can then access your site CCTV from a free remote client and/or free remote mobile phone client.

 

[Daniel Simoons]

There are many software that best suits your need, but I recommend iSpy because it is handy and free