Need a new software monitoring solution (Win8)

I work for a business that recently had a 12 camera system (Hikvision IP domes) put in by a local security company. They installed a Windows 8 PC tower for recording and monitoring but we are having problems with the monitoring. An HDMI cable connects the PC to a 60" tv for monitoring in the manager's office but performance is pretty poor. We are seeing a lag of 10-20 seconds for all cameras plus the layout is not rearrange-able and just sucks. The current software is called VideoInsight Monitor Station. The PC has 8GB RAM and it's only using about 25% most of the time. It's also pushing the video from an integrated video on the processor.

Is there a software solution that will be less resource intensive and allow more rearrangement of the layout or is this strictly a problem of poor video card performance? Can anyone make a recommendation on the easiest and cheapest upgrade option for our situation? Thanks!!!

Typically, VMS software doesn't use a lot of graphic card horsepower, as it's 2D only - gaming cards are wasted on it. You do need decent 2D performance, and any of the recent gen Intel CPUs with on-chip graphics should handle that fine.

The delay is typically either in the network or in the h.264 decoding. If you're running high frame rates, like over 15 fps, you might try turning that down to reduce the processing load. Many people run 10-15 fps for surveillance.

You can check if it's your current software by logging on to the individual cameras' web pages to see if performance is any better from there. You can also ping the cameras to see if there's any inherent network delay going on, but 10-20 seconds delay doesn't sound like a network issue.

Blue Iris is inexpensive and has a free demo, but it requires a pretty high power PC to handle 12 cams at MP resolution and decent frame rates. It's easy enough to test, though, and quite flexible in how the display is arranged.

Hikvision has their own VMS software that's free, so that's worth a try as well.

For low CPU impact, Milestone Express is good as a video server, but you'd need a client to view on the big screen, since it's the decoding and viewing that uses up CPU. To handle 12 cams, you'd need the paid version, which starts at $50 per cam, I think.

I started out by downloading the Hikvision iVMS-4200 since it was free and easy to setup. BAM! Problem completely solved. We went from 1-2 frames/sec and 10-20 second lag to full frame rate and zero lag. Better color and more flexible layout options as well. Thanks for the lead!!

I started out by downloading the Hikvision iVMS-4200 since it was free and easy to setup. BAM! Problem completely solved. We went from 1-2 frames/sec and 10-20 second lag to full frame rate and zero lag. Better color and more flexible layout options as well. Thanks for the lead!!

Videoinsight has much more functionality than ivms...doesnt seem like you need it though...

For the record you can easily change the layout in Video insight...there is a video here

http://www.video-insight.com/support/videos.php#prettyPhoto

Typically, VMS software doesn't use a lot of graphic card horsepower, as it's 2D only - gaming cards are wasted on it. You do need decent 2D performance, and any of the recent gen Intel CPUs with on-chip graphics should handle that fine.

Actually, Avigilon's vms takes advantage of NVIDIA Graphic cards that have the PureVideo engine set.

Using like a GTX 500 series with a VP4 engine could decode 6 720p streams at 30fps or 3 1080p streams before hitting the cpu.

Actually, Avigilon's vms takes advantage of NVIDIA Graphic cards that have the PureVideo engine set.

Using like a GTX 500 series with a VP4 engine could decode 6 720p streams at 30fps or 3 1080p streams before hitting the cpu.

Can the Avigilon Gateway take advantage of NVIDIA Graphic cards?