pinkoos Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 I've posted extensively about my trials and tribulations with my IP cams, NVR, etc In the end, I decided to have my dealer take back the Zuum NVR and just go without an NVR for the time being for my 4 Lilin IP cams Not ideal, of course, as I only could access live feeds and do rudimentary motion detection with snapshot images emailed to me when motion was detected (and I've had problems with the motion detection as I posted about recently) Anyway, someone mentioned SecuritySpy in a Mac forum I follow, so I decided to try it out I already have a Mac mini running 24/7 as my primary computer, iTunes server and Plex server, so I didn't have to worry about going the NAS route or anything like that I also had a 2TB portable USB 3 drive laying around unused SecuritySpy has a 30 day free trial and a pretty decent iOS app (though a $6 in-app purchase is required to review captures (ie, recordings) - I went ahead and paid the $6 so I could try everything out in conjunction with the free trial So far so good; I'm really liking the Mac-centric interface, the iOS app, the remote web access, etc. When I had the Zuum NVR, I hated the generic NVR interface which I found clunky and just generally lacking in "polish" - I quickly realized that most NVRs have the exact same GUI I also hated the noise the NVR's fan/fans would make...it drove me crazy - I don't have any noise issues with SecuritySpy running on my Mac mini with the external 2TB drive I know it's only been one day and I may run into issues (if you all know of any already, please post here!) but, so far, I'm loving it After the trial, a 4 cam license will cost around $90 so I'll have to cross that bridge later, but that still beats the hundreds of dollars the Zuum NVR would have cost me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rea Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 How are you using C4 with this setup--if at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkoos Posted September 4, 2019 Author Share Posted September 4, 2019 I'm not. I know they have a C4 driver, http://drivers.control4.com/solr/drivers/browse?q=securityspy but I'm not sure what it does or what it's for Just installed the software last night, so still playing around with it and learning If anybody knows what the C4 driver does, please chime in rea 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcovach Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 1 minute ago, pinkoos said: I'm not. I know they have a C4 driver, http://drivers.control4.com/solr/drivers/browse?q=securityspy but I'm not sure what it does or what it's for Just installed the software last night, so still playing around with it and learning If anybody knows what the C4 driver does, please chime in That driver will bring camera's from your security spy server into C4. The current driver in the database has a bug. Every time you reboot the controller, the selected camera in each driver resets. You have to manually select them again from the drop down. A little annoying. Someone in this forum was gracious to fix it. I have a copy and can integrate this for you if you're satisfied with Security Spy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkoos Posted September 4, 2019 Author Share Posted September 4, 2019 Thanks Dan, appreciate the comment My Lilins are already incorporated into my C4 system, so I guess the driver would just be redundant for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcovach Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 3 minutes ago, pinkoos said: Thanks Dan, appreciate the comment My Lilins are already incorporated into my C4 system, so I guess the driver would just be redundant for me In case you decide to add more ip cameras later, you can integrate those with your C4 system. The driver is free. There are a lot of ip cameras on the market and unfortunately there isn't a driver for all of them. This is where DIY nvr systems like Security Spy and Blue Iris solve that problem. eggzlot and pinkoos 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtyceo Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 6 hours ago, dcovach said: In case you decide to add more ip cameras later, you can integrate those with your C4 system. The driver is free. There are a lot of ip cameras on the market and unfortunately there isn't a driver for all of them. This is where DIY nvr systems like Security Spy and Blue Iris solve that problem. I just installed Security Spy and like it a lot. Need to do more testing but first impressions are pretty good. I may be interested in getting your help to do a remote install. Before we do though, a few questions. Does still thumbnail view work in C4 when I want to see all my cameras at once? I assume the live video feeds show in T3 touch screens and TV Navigators, right? I assume the thumbnails and live video show up on the C4 mobile app for Apple iOS, right? Besides the controller bug, which you seem to have a fix for, are there any know limitations? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LollerAgent Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 6 hours ago, dcovach said: In case you decide to add more ip cameras later, you can integrate those with your C4 system. The driver is free. There are a lot of ip cameras on the market and unfortunately there isn't a driver for all of them. This is where DIY nvr systems like Security Spy and Blue Iris solve that problem. But - if the IP camera has a RTSP feed, what stops you from using the "generic" or "compatibility" driver and just manually specifying the feed URLs? What does BI or SecuritySpy when used with C4 give you in addition? Does it allow you to watch recorded video or something? If so, I'd be willing to bet the native interfaces/apps for BI/SecuritySpy are better anyways. Asking because I'm curious! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcovach Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 1 minute ago, LollerAgent said: But - if the IP camera has a RTSP feed, what stops you from using the "generic" or "compatibility" driver and just manually specifying the feed URLs? What does BI or SecuritySpy when used with C4 give you in addition? Does it allow you to watch recorded video or something? If so, I'd be willing to bet the native interfaces/apps for BI/SecuritySpy are better anyways. Asking because I'm curious! The camera compatibility test driver doesn't always work. Sometimes the url has to be arranged differently than the way the driver arranges it. Its better than nothing so I do use it on occasion. Its been a while since I last used security spy but I liked it. I stopped using it mostly because the mac mini I had at the time was starting to become under powered and a new blue iris beta driver was starting to surface. I was finally fed up with security spy after controller reboots would reset the camera in the driver. I mentioned it over 2 years ago in dealer forums and nothing came of it. Apparently its been fixed but I haven't tried it yet. The Blue Iris phone app allows you to watch recorded footage. It's not free and neither is it pretty but it works. I have no idea if you can do this with security spy so someone else needs to comment on their experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcovach Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 27 minutes ago, dirtyceo said: I just installed Security Spy and like it a lot. Need to do more testing but first impressions are pretty good. I may be interested in getting your help to do a remote install. Before we do though, a few questions. Does still thumbnail view work in C4 when I want to see all my cameras at once? I assume the live video feeds show in T3 touch screens and TV Navigators, right? I assume the thumbnails and live video show up on the C4 mobile app for Apple iOS, right? Besides the controller bug, which you seem to have a fix for, are there any know limitations? Not sure. I can install a few instances of security spy and you can test it out. I also suggest using known cameras that do work in C4 to compare. I'm not sure if your Ubiquiti cameras will work. I don't have any to comment on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkoos Posted September 5, 2019 Author Share Posted September 5, 2019 1 hour ago, dcovach said: The camera compatibility test driver doesn't always work. Sometimes the url has to be arranged differently than the way the driver arranges it. Its better than nothing so I do use it on occasion. Its been a while since I last used security spy but I liked it. I stopped using it mostly because the mac mini I had at the time was starting to become under powered and a new blue iris beta driver was starting to surface. I was finally fed up with security spy after controller reboots would reset the camera in the driver. I mentioned it over 2 years ago in dealer forums and nothing came of it. Apparently its been fixed but I haven't tried it yet. The Blue Iris phone app allows you to watch recorded footage. It's not free and neither is it pretty but it works. I have no idea if you can do this with security spy so someone else needs to comment on their experience. You can watch recorded footage on the iOS app if you pay the $6 in app purchase - that gets you access to "captures" (ie, the recordings) and gives you a "multiplex" view (multiple camera feeds on a single screen) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LollerAgent Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 10 hours ago, dcovach said: The camera compatibility test driver doesn't always work. Sometimes the url has to be arranged differently than the way the driver arranges it. Its better than nothing so I do use it on occasion. Its been a while since I last used security spy but I liked it. I stopped using it mostly because the mac mini I had at the time was starting to become under powered and a new blue iris beta driver was starting to surface. I was finally fed up with security spy after controller reboots would reset the camera in the driver. I mentioned it over 2 years ago in dealer forums and nothing came of it. Apparently its been fixed but I haven't tried it yet. The Blue Iris phone app allows you to watch recorded footage. It's not free and neither is it pretty but it works. I have no idea if you can do this with security spy so someone else needs to comment on their experience. Maybe I'm missing something, but the camera compat test driver lets you specify your own custom URL's for Still/MJPEG/H264. Are you saying that sometimes something other than these three types of URL's are necessary? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggzlot Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 11 hours ago, LollerAgent said: But - if the IP camera has a RTSP feed, what stops you from using the "generic" or "compatibility" driver and just manually specifying the feed URLs? What does BI or SecuritySpy when used with C4 give you in addition? Does it allow you to watch recorded video or something? If so, I'd be willing to bet the native interfaces/apps for BI/SecuritySpy are better anyways. Asking because I'm curious! I am not sure about the free BI driver, but the paid BI Driver lets you interact with c4. BI has profiles, 7 I believe. so on various profiles you can have the cameras act different - example: Profile 1: Cameras 1-3 record 24x7, Cameras 4-6 record on motion and cameras 7-9 no recording Profile 2: all cameras record 24x7 Profile 3: Cameras 1-6 record 24x7, camera 7-8 record on motion, camera 9 no recording And then in C4 you can trigger these various profiles. I do this as I do not want my indoor cameras recording UNLESS our housekeeper is over, then I put on housekeeper mode and one of my BI profiles has camera recording profiles for when the housekeeper is over. I have some cameras record via motion and some 24x7 but when my alarm goes off - all cameras record 24x7 and that swap in profile happens with the BI/C4 integration cannot speak to the free BI driver or the Security Spy driver - this is my experience with the Paid driver There is documentation too for the paid driver about using motion on the screen to active triggers in C4 - examples if someone is on your walkway coming up to your front door you could get the lights put on - almost like a motion detector but done through BI and the camera vs having a separate piece of hardware out there http://www.audioobsessions.com/blue-iris-nvr.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdougray Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 6 hours ago, eggzlot said: cannot speak to the free BI driver or the Security Spy driver - this is my experience with the Paid driver There is documentation too for the paid driver about using motion on the screen to active triggers in C4 - examples if someone is on your walkway coming up to your front door you could get the lights put on - almost like a motion detector but done through BI and the camera vs having a separate piece of hardware out there http://www.audioobsessions.com/blue-iris-nvr.html Are house logic drivers still supported? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggzlot Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 36 minutes ago, tdougray said: Are house logic drivers still supported? HL is out of business I am sure he moved the driver to another platform. @Audio Obsessions wrote the driver so maybe he can chime in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdougray Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 17 minutes ago, eggzlot said: HL is out of business I am sure he moved the driver to another platform. @Audio Obsessions wrote the driver so maybe he can chime in. Hopefully. I just checked the link on their website and it goes to houselogic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggzlot Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 1 hour ago, tdougray said: Hopefully. I just checked the link on their website and it goes to houselogic Yep saw that too. I am on version 1.1 of the BI driver but within the properties I cannot tell where it may be hosted at this time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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