In search of ... multiple IP camera software (opinions or suggestions)

[barney]

Folk,

Back ~1998-2000 I had software that made a Web cam a surveillance device, capable of being activated by movement, recording so long as there was movement.  Also had a Panasonic [cabled] remote pan/tilt/zoom camera.  Both were useful, but both were cabled.  This was on Win2K, maybe WinXP.

Two (2) or three (3) years ago, while still on XP, I bought three (3) IP cameras.  After assigning them IP addresses, via cable, they worked just fine in wireless mode.  All three (3) came with software - different version for each camera, although they were all from the same vendor.  They worked just fine, had pan/tilt/zoom/IR capability.  But I had to use the software that came with each camera to access that camera.  (Recording capability and motion detection sucked, at least to my mind.)  Then I changed routers.  Cameras no longer worked - new router didn't recognize their IP addresses.

Back with the original cameras mentioned.  There was, at that time, a software that would handle multiple cameras, up to sixteen (16) I think.  Don't recall it, and it prolly wouldn't work with Win7 anyway.  However, I've seen searched reference to similar software recently - too much of it  !

So much for background, now comes the question  .  Rather than spend six (6) months diddling with various softwares that claim to function, I thought I'd ask here first.  Are any of you using such software  ?  Can you recommend such software  ?  Or am I gonna diddle for six (6) months  ?

[x16wda]

Great questions!  I have used Dorgem in the past for single cameras (although it supports multiple) but they're locally attached.  Also have a Linksys wireless IP camera (one of the cheapie ones, no pan/tilt/zoom) that came with its own software, but the camera regularly loses its address.

After you get your six months of diddling done, please let us know what works! 

[kunkel321]

As if I wasn't paranoid enough already....

[barney]

As if I wasn't paranoid enough already....

Paranoia strikes thee ... everybody look what's goin' 'round  .

Not to worry - unless you walk into my garage  ... assuming I get something to work  .

[adam718]

I have tried them all.  The best is Security Monitor Pro.  It is reasonably priced and has the best interface and usability of any of the mid level security software - http://www.deskshare.com/video-surveillance-software.aspx

[barney]

I have tried them all.  The best is Security Monitor Pro.  It is reasonably priced and has the best interface and usability of any of the mid level security software - http://www.deskshare.com/video-surveillance-software.aspx

I'll take a look, but ~$90 (US) is a bit steep for my purposes.

[barney]

Haven't tried Security Monitor Pro just yet.  Been working with IP Camera Viewer.  Of the three (3) cams, two (2) of 'em set up just fine, as long as they were cabled.  Third cam did not, apparently (no mfg or model).  But when I tried its IP in a browser (Firefox) it works just fine.  However, that, too, is cabled.  So now the project becomes dependent upon finding guidelines for wi-fi setup.  Well, the IP Camera Viewer process, anyway.  Still others to try.

Just a point of information regarding Win8.  I installed Win8 Pro Upgrade on one of the laptops yesterday - about six (6) hours, but a significant part of that time was uninstalling a few files that were incompatible with Win8.  And a significant part of that time was finding a way to remove DisplayLink drivers - a real PITA.  Anyway, the point is that Win8 Pro is fully installed, works just fine.

But.

When I try to activate the cabled cam in IE10, it wants an OCX file.  Win8 won't let it load - it just cycles back and forth between notification that the installation is blocked and a UAC  permission block.  It's locked into an endless loop - well, at least seventeen (17) cycles that I counted  .  However the cam loads fine in Firefox on Win8.

Oh, it just doesn't load in IE9 on Win7 Ultimate, offers no option whatsoever.  W/O knowing the OCX name ahead of time, there's no simple way to counter this.  Had to kill IE9 with Task Manager, but can't find it yet in Win8.

Every other browser I've tried, on both OSes has worked just fine for the wired cam.

Well, that's progress as of 2013.01.19.

- no 30 -

[helmut85]

I recently had a good web look into such sw, and I'm afraid most prof. offerings were on "quote" only, i.e. you can be happy if they are not more than 500 bucks. So 90 bucks IF that sw works well, seems very reasonable.

This vid is good, just scroll down a little bit beneath the article before (which says a 67-year-old woman stole meat for 2,000 bucks (which she didn't eat but stored in her fridge), hundreds of hair coloring kits, 400 silk stockings, and much more): It shows a burglar who forgot his mask so put on a waste basket as his makeshift hat:

http://www.welt.de/vermischtes/article112951135/Steak-Oma-stiehlt-Fleisch-im-Wert-von-1500-Euro.html

[michaelclyde]

i don't know if your still looking but...
i've been using securecam2 for over a year. it has a built in webserver for your ip cams, it works with usb cams , with cctv cams (that have a single conductor and a shield/ground whether it's rca or a cable type fitting.
i routinely take 15,000 .jpeg pics @ 95% quality and only use 600MB's (Bytes)
you can only use 4 cams at once unless you make a donation, then you get 100 cam usage.
the best part is it's  F R E E ,  F R E E ,  F R E E. v3 is due soon and i expect it to support better compression. i use it on se7en x64 and 1 cam uses 0-1% cpu (back and forth) on an amd x3 athlon ll rana 435 at idle, with 4 cams detecting motion simultaneously i might hit 18%. 1 cam uses about 11k worth of ddr2 800 ram.

Here are some key features of "SecureCam2":

· Full Security Camera Recording Package.
· Supports IP Cameras or DirectX Cameras.
· Motion Detection Recording Ability with Region Highlighting.
· Schedule Recording Ability.
· Text Overlay Ability.
· Record output as Mjpg video or as individual JPG frames.
· Integrated Webserver with Password Security.
· Mjpeg Video Player with built in Video Editing Capabilities.
· Android and IPhone webserver view compatibility.
· Ability to encode Mjpg videos to any AVI format (divx, ect) (appropriate codec must be installed).

sorry, didn't mean to dribble on,
michael clyde
BTW-
if you can't find it let me know  and i'll attach it here... it's small 341KB
IT'S ATTACHED NOW   thanks to 12oClocker Software

[x16wda]

Wow, thanks michaelclyde!  Sounds great, and if I can get some time I'll beat it up with a few cameras.

The link to 12oclocker's programs page is here.

[michaelclyde]

hope you can make use of it. one of my favorite features is if you hook up a usb cam that gets recognized as a usb "video cam" (not very many) you get an extra page in device settings that has 4x software zoom with pan/tracking ability even though your $8 webcam has no pan, zoom etc... it's all software enhanced.
well, i see the new ads might have some of those souped-up registry cleaners available. i want to get 6 or 7 of them and run them all at the same time along with a couple of speed-up-my-pc optimizers... good times ahead.

michael clyde

REMEMBER -
"if you don't play well with others,
you could end up playing with yourself"