Xeoma Surveillance Software

[ceejay07 0]

Hi All,

 

I read through this site a lot but have not seen much on Xeoma; not sure anyone has a lot of experience with it, but here's my experience in a short time testing.

 

I have been testing the trial version of Xeoma for the past twenty four hours and I have to say I am extremely impressed with what I have seen so far. I am, however, a bit disappointed that all the settings I have put time into were deleted when I rebooted my system; apparently the trial version looses its settings when you exit out of the program (minor setback).

 

I have been looking for a security solution for my apartment complexes (on Mac) and I think I may have finally found the solution. Before I go into more details, I have tested many and found the following be the at the top of the list: Vitamin D Video, Securityspy, Zoneminder (though I am still having problems getting zoneminder to work, I like the features and I’m a big fan of Open Source). Pricewise, Vitamin D is the most affordable (well zoneminder is); though I am not crazy > about the options (1 camera license, 2 camera license, or unlimited); one may not want to spend 199.00 and only willing to pay for 4 cameras even tough it’s a good deal at 199. You are forced to spend the extra money if your needs are above 2 cameras (may it be 3 or 100 cameras). Securityspy license prices are a bit high, but Max out at about 800.00 for unlimited camera license. Lots of great features and more importantly, their support is great. I was impressed how Ben responded to me fairly quickly when I had issues with the software and he followed up even when I had forgotten to try his recommendations to report back. Nothing like great support. Zoneminder, well it’s free, but suffers from the same issues as most Open Source software, lack of support. Xeoma, licenses start out cheap, but there is no unlimited license price (at least I did not see any listed). For about (pricy :-[) 2400.00 you can have enough licenses for 1024 cameras; probably far more than most would need. (at least most in my situation).

 

I have to say the idea of modules is brilliant; not only is it easy to set your flow chart of actions, but it’s also fun ;D in my opinion. For any with a programming background or understanding, it reminds me of functions. The modules are easy to understand. For example, say you add the motion detection module; you can connect several other modules to it (email, preview, preview and record, webserver, etc.). Or you can add several motion detection modules monitoring different areas and connect other modules to them with with specific outputs. Example setup I have been playing around with is a simple flow Camera ------- Scheduler ------- Motion detection (for apartment entrances) with output to email {subject Entrance [time]} from the same Scheduler, I have another Motion detection for Parking Area with output to email {subject Parking [time]}. Again, that’s just touching the surface of how capable this software is (easy to sort through emails). I have just found this software, I am surprised that through all my searches for months I finally found it. Maybe I overlooked it in the past, but I’m glad I have yet another option to consider. I recommend you you give it a try http://felenasoft.com/en/ if you are in the market for a surveillance solution with lot of great options and features. I am still in the process of testing and yet have to contact support (it will make or break the deal; I’m very support oriented).

 

This was not meant to be a full blown detailed review of the software; I did not want to end up writing a technical paper on Xeoma. I just wanted others in my situation to have yet another option to turn to; good software on Mac OS X is somewhat limited. I still have more testing to go through with this software. Give it a try if you are still looking.

[Brawler 0]

I am actually using Xeoma with my "home" video surveillance system! Very nice and well-tailored piece of software! simple and affordable, yet powerful enough to create a large number of various types of systems. Of course, it is not the best and the most professional one, but still. I guess, it is one of the best for DIY systems.

[kelsy 0]

Good programm indeed ) but I would also like to hear what is not that good about it...

[jhonovich 0]

We did a test of Xeoma. There are a number of strengths, especially for the price. For those looking for potential issues / limitations, here's an excerpt of the downsides we noted:

 

Key Disadvantages

Fundamentally, this is a borderline professional VMS, at best, lacking many critical enterprise functionalities: access control integration, alarm management, video analytics, network video distribution.

 

Moreover, ONVIF support, though claimed, did not work with any of the 3 ONVIF cameras we tried plus the manufacturer confirms that they have not run the official ONVIF conformance test.

 

Beyond those big structural ones, a number of features are missing and or weak, including:

• No archive search: no date/time, calender feature or the ability to search across multiple cameras
  No digital zoom via software, has to be a PTZ capable camera with optical zoom to use.
  No Maps
  No ability to TAB between entry fields, frustrating for avid keyboard users and is apparent when configuring settings via UI.
  Passwords are in clear view in UI, both in password fields and URL of cameras connected to via VMS (security issue)
  End user manual is built into the software via hyperlinks and pop-ups. This results in nested child pop-ups, which are annoying, some area tooltips will disappear once shown 3 times, others will always remain.
  No iOS app available
  SMS capability is an add-on service that costs ~1.3 cents per message- added cost, albeit low.
  Raw video files are proprietary .xem files, play via Xeoma or export in another format from software.
  Support: Company is located in Russia and support via email only; adds a delay in response given hours of operation are 1AM-10AM CST.