XanCloud

[S.Weathers 0]

Hi guys,

 

I am looking at installing an NVR with 2-3 Axis cameras in my house and have decided on the cameras with a reasonable angle and night vision however still researching the NVR solutions.

 

I have come accross a few such as Macroscop (http://www.macroscop.com), XanCloud (http://www.xanview.co.uk) and Milestone however Milestone seems quite pricy and the other two I can't find many reviews on. XanCloud sounds more trustworthy to me since it's made in UK however I was wondering if anybody had any experience with it already and can provide a reference or some tips?

 

Thank you all in advance!

[buellwinkle 0]

I personally avoid products made in the UK, maybe because I'm from the country they were last declared war with, but putting that aside, have you considered the free product from Axis? Axis Camera Companion runs on the cameras, so no NVR needed. It can write to a NAS or internal SD cards if the models you chose have this feature. Not all Axis cameras support this, so make sure the specs say Edge Storage. Then you run PC software to configure it, view the cameras and recordings and did I tell you it's free.

 

If you prefer a more traditional approach to NVR software, I use BlueIris, costs about $50 per PC, supports many camera brands, has smartphone apps available (not free).

 

If you want something a little more commercial grade, ExacqVision Start is about $50 per camera, has free smartphone apps.

 

Milestone XProtect Go is free for up to 8 cameras and 5 days of storage. Supports a huge variety of cameras and is a free version of their commercial software.

 

Axxon costs nothing for up to 16 cameras, I believe with a 1TB limit for the free version. Has built in analytics.

[tomcctv 187]

however still researching the NVR solutions.

 

 

 

2-3 axis cameras I would use something like the aver nano and then also use a analog to make up the 4th screen

 

1 off cost no licence fee or extra costs .... free DDNS service

[S.Weathers 0]

Hello guys, thanks for your replies! I've had a look at the solutions you recommend and they seem interesting albeit a little below par.

 

The reason Xanview took my interest is because it seems really ahead with the features.

I love the fact that it requires no software installation and works from any device and any browser.

 

Another big selling point to me is that I can connect multiple NVRs (home & office) in one interface and watch them side by side.

Have you had a look at their online demo on the website?

 

I think I may get one to test anyhow, they have a standard return policy, so if it doesn't behave as I want it, can always return it quickly!

[tomcctv 187]

Sounds like a sales pitch.

 

How can a NVR be below par ???

 

 

Going out to a recording station with your axis ........what res do you think you get back ?

 

And your paying for it every time

 

NVR is a one of cost

[buellwinkle 0]

Depends on how fast an uplink you have to support a couple of cameras with cloud recording. I'm going to assume you want at least 1MP, maybe more. First go to the Axis bandwidth calculator website and enter all the cameras you want at the frame rate and resolution you want. This will give you the required upload bandwidth you need from your ISP. Even a single 1MP camera may overwhelm most home internet accounts. The best way to check is go to an internet speed test site like speakeasy.net or speedtest.net and see what your upload speeds are.

 

Cloud surveillance may be the future, but not sure the future is here yet. You may want to consider an NVR software product like BlueIris where you can have it record to the NVR and then transfer those recordings via FTP to the cloud giving the advantage of fast local access to video and the security of having the recordings offsite. Offsite can mean a cloud provider, maybe AWS or to an inexpensive NAS device at someone else's home.

[S.Weathers 0]

Hi Buellwinkle, thanks for your post, do you have a link for that calculator? I looked at some reviews for Axis and they just seemed to be the ferrari of cameras.

 

I couldn't find the Xanview NVR I wanted online so emailed them about how to get one. No reply yet so have contacted Macroscop and will take a look at the BlueIris - sounds interesting!

It's not actually cloud storage I am after as my internet is pretty slow here, it's mostly the remote access that I need. As far as storage is concerned, I am happy for the video to be stored on my NVR.

 

Will return with my findings

[MaxIcon 0]

If your cameras allow you to set the bit rate, that simplifies the calculations considerably.

 

If you have 6 cameras set for 4096 kb/s, that's 25 Mb/s. If your upload speed supports that, you're good to go. If not, you have to reduce either the bit rate or the number of cams. A fixed bit rate is unaffected by frame rate, resolution, whatever; but the video quality drops as you increase those things at a fixed bit rate.

 

Variable bit rate is another matter and can vary depending on the scene and motion, though some cams (like Dahua and Hik) still set the overall variable bit rate and presumably just vary the inter-frame encoding.

 

A good way to measure actual bit rate is to install Blue Iris (the 15 day demo mode works fine for this), connect to your cams, and call up the Stats screen. It shows both real-time bit rate and FPS for all connected cams. Note that BI displays in bytes (kB/s), not bits (kb/s), so you'd have to multiply BI's bit rate times 8 to get the equivalent bandwidth your internet supplier would spec.

[buellwinkle 0]

Here's the Axis tool, click the Start Tool button - http://www.axis.com/products/video/design_tool/

[S.Weathers 0]

Thanks for the replies! I don't think I am clued up enough as the tool is really confusing and I was unable to get much use out of it.

 

From what I read there is no reason that a few Axis cameras won't record over my home network without any need for additional hardware. Correct me if I am wrong but bandwidth and everything else only matters if I store video offsite?

 

Thank you!

[buellwinkle 0]

Yes, you will be fine in your home network, it's if you try and use a cloud solution like you proposed that you may run into problems, of course non that money can't solve.

[S.Weathers 0]

I thought so. The cloud solution is just to access the video that's stored locally so I guess just like streaming some online TV.

 

Thanks for your help