ZoneMinder vs iSpy vs Blue Iris | Setup | Comparison

[@mikesnapper9001]

Excellent review that actually shows all the pros and cons. It also takes enough time to explore each of the products and shows me so much I don't even need to install all of them myself to find out what I want. I wish more reviewers took the time to do through reviews like this.

[@ShaosilGaming]

This has got to be one of the best reviews I've ever seen. I was originally going to say it was a bit long winded, but I think every bit of it was necessary to show how terrible or awesome each app truly is. Thanks for putting the effort into this!

[@KameraShy]

It's definitely very busy, but there is a lot of detail ground to cover in a limited amount of time.

[@oneman2001]

Picked up a blue iris license off ebay for $45. Running on a Ex-corporate desktop which cost $150 for a i5-4590 with 8GB of RAM, added a 500GB SSD for recording. 4 x 2mp internal cameras and 4 x 5mp external cameras all connected via ethernet. Works really well.

[@cybersteel8]

This video is definitely the standard for how software comparison videos should be. Very well done. I used to use iSpy and suffered serious crashing and performance problems, so I installed ZM on my Linux server and I've been having a much better time (but, like you said, I am patient and will RTFM til the cows come home). I appreciate seeing how good Blue Iris is though. I think this video is also very good as a starting point on how to use each software, like a quick tutorial. You covered the basics and the primary requirements of each software, which is what most users will want to accomplish at a minimum. Very well done. I'll be recommending this video for both comparisons and tutorials!

[@neurofiber2406]

While wading through the features on these 3 products I came across your review. This saved me a lot of time. Thank you. I think consumers have a right to expect a 'User Compatible' interface on software products.

[@julioprada]

Wonder if ZoneMinder has improved its user interfase in these 3+ years?

[@silkytp789]

Nice job on content and editing. Excellent job on the comparison. I've been a BI user since version 3 and find it the most flexible software for the widest range of needs, from simple one camera home use to multiple camera small business use. I appreciate the time you put into this.

[@danielmastia87]

Just to clarify, you can use ispy server to serve your cams for free. I used to do it, right up until i started using blueiris :D

[@mrcrazyadd2]

I want to add that Zoneminder has a good bit of documentation and it's fairly clear and is also extensible with things like the event server and AI object detection. It very much follows more of the Arch and Gentoo philosophy, though.

[@davidmgillmer]

Lol, I use iSpy, I guess some of the initial setup is a bit quirky, not sure what happened with your onvif as I use that no problems, maybe check the correct port on your camera. This is a good review, interesting to watch.

[@TheAIKnowledgeHub]

15:28 I hope you know the nest prices are PER camera on top of what you have to pay for the cam itself. Also, you can right click and play from default player.

[@JWSpradlin]

Excellent comparison. Does anyone else think the Blue Iris interface is beyond outdated? It looks like software from 1995. It may work beautifully, but for those prices the interface definitely needs updating.

[@greenftechn]

Will be using both ZM and Blue Iris for an extended period. My biggest beef with ZM is the phone app (zmninja) isn't Android 13 ready.

[@jd-lien]

Excellent review and overview of the different software packages. Thanks so much for this! Well-done. (I must complain that the repetitive guitar loop got annoying after the first couple minutes, though.)

[@qianbang_]

Excellent review and comparison. I'll try Zoneminder first

[@gabiold]

ZoneMinder is really a grest piece of software, who knows what he is doing. I used it back in 2008 and I experimented it with a lot, it is very flexible. The problem with it now, in 2019, that it is stuck in that decade. Nothing marginal changed. The web UI still isn't polished enough, not mobile friendly enough, not responsive, refreshes the pages all over the place instead of some fluid JS/WebSocket update... And the motion detection is still the same. Come on, it would need much more sophisticated motion detection with object tracking! And it still uses JPEGs internally... By the way, the motion detection is not that hard to set up. At daytime. But when the night comes... Now thats where you start pulling your hair!

[@qwerty13380]

Also keep track of how many cores the program uses if you have a quad core system. Some free programs limit you to two cores.

[@BoDiddly]

I have used Zoneminder for years and agree with your assessment of it here! I am a Linux user and I am currently using Ivideon (free and offline) which works fine and is less cumbersome and detects much better than Zoneminder, but it lacks some features that I need, like a preview image of a motion detected event. I have recently come across Shinobi (open source and cross platform) that looks promising, so I'll give that a try in the coming days.

[@alanmcrae8594]

Nice review! I like the approach that software should be highly intuitive if you understand the terminology & basic functions of the system's field of application. That's a measure of the developer's ability to code an easy to use UI that is clear to comprehend & operate. (Think like a user and make the parameters & choices extremely intuitive to grasp.) I agree with those who dislike music in review videos. They add nothing while distracting from the presenter & the video content. You are fine as a presenter - you don't need music at all. Your reactions to poorly coded interfaces add just the right touch of humor. It's exactly what the rest of us might say as we try to get some app to do what we want it to - while keeping it "family friendly", if you know what I mean.

[@EsotericArctos]

ZoneMinder is quite powerful, but seems way to complex to setup for the general user. I think once you understand it then it will work really nicely. It hasn't changed too much in recent times. Blue Iris is still my favourite, even though it is a little resource hungry

[@timg2973]

Configure right it’s not resource hungry. I that that at one time. I went from a constant 60-100 cpu to 3-10%. Using sub streams.

[@EsotericArctos]

@@timg2973 Blue Iris still won't run on a Rapberry Pi like Zone Minder can. I use Blue Iris. It still needs a full computer, either i5 for a small install or i7 for a larger install. Also it has to run on Windows. Most people that know it well know it tends to be resource heavy compared to other offerings, but it is the most feature rich for the price point

[@Murlock2000]

The link for the display is just a generic link with many different options and not the specific one he used

[@rdsii64]

This review confirms to me why blue iris is the gold standard.

[@partasuhari]

Very useful comparison, thank you for sharing!

[@flofgr575]

Awesome, I was reviewing a few different tools and I was definitly thinking to use Zoneminder, but my choice is made now :) Great work!

[@Mich665]

for iSpy instead of buying their subscription I used teamViewer to just see the desktop when I'm away, Little clunky but free and access to all the settings. And to work around their play videos I moved their default folder and then simply just play them through the computer app instead of in ispy.

[@EverythingEvo]

Way too clunky. I've been using Blue Iris for a few months and well worth the investment.

[@nickwilliams1953]

Great review, lots of info and no waffle, seldom found on KZbin! I haven't checked but Blue Iris is now on v5 so maybe an update would be good.

[@joeashley7477]

Question: Can Blue Iris show 12 cameras... split 6 on one screen and 6 on another???

[@edbouhl3100]

BOY did this save me a lot of time digging through config files!

[@b0neme]

Would your review be any different "today"? Have the products or cameras change enough in the last 2 years to change your mind?

[@granworks]

The three NVRs have the same pros and cons. Blue Iris did have a "major" upgrade to v5, but as far as I can tell, it is a foundation for future features rather than a transformational change right now. As far as cameras go, I am very curious about 4k. When I did this review, the available 4k cameras were either non-POE/wireless or expensive (or both). There are definitely some reasonably priced POE 4k cameras now, though, so I may get some soon to test.

[@theeltea]

The reason VLC isn't included is simple. Licensing.

[@kenfuciusfpv2800]

Can you real-time stream events to the cloud in case the camera equipment is stolen or destroyed?

[@otter-pro]

Excellent review. I'm using iVideon with limited recording (free version), since I don't need archive, but it's easy to use and has all the features I need, such as scheduling, notification, and motion detection. I've tried iSpy and it was really bad. ZoneMinder is a little intimidating, but I'd definitely try it in the future.

[@fitlikeaglove7396]

I have tried just about every software NVR and iVideon has been my go-to since I switched to it about a year ago. I used iSpy for about a year but I needed access on my phone even when I looked at a paid iSpy plan the apps were just awful. To date, iSpy has been the best in recording and viewing but lacks a lot in mobile apps. I also tried Blue Iris and it's okay but was crazy heavy on my CPU (using 10-20% of my CPU on an 8 core Ryzen chip) and I quite frankly really dislike there licensing model. It just felt like a slap in the face to buy a $70 license and then $10 for the iPhone app and another $10 for the android app as we have both types of devices in our home. Blue Iris's Windows viewing interface was also just all sorts of awful. It wouldn't snap to sides of my monitors or resize very easily. I then tried iVideon, it's not perfect by any means but it works well where any NVR should. Pros: Free License for home use W/ Free unlimited local storage. Best NVR app I've ever used on Android and iOS, also free Very CPU efficient with 6 IP cameras recording 24/7 it uses 2-4% CPU on a Ryzen 8 Core chip. Vs 10-20% in Blue Iris. Okay-ish Motion detection but free instant Pushs to Mobile Apps. Cons: Kinda a pain to add a camera if you don't know what RTSP settings to use. iSpy was great at the discovery. Local video is stored in a proprietary format but you can export to MP4 fairly easily. Local playback of streams more than 1080p can be a little buggy at times but if need be when exported plays flawlessly in VLC.

[@mrmotofy]

Ok an easier way of remote viewing...sort of but it is more secure and simpler in some ways. Figure out how you will setup your cameras on your network. Either recording each one individually or one of these NVR software to do all at the same time. Then block all 1-66,000 or however many internet ports to the NVR software or cams IP address, found in your router settings, unless you want the emails/alerts etc.. That way they can't (theoretically) talk back to china or wherever they may try. You want them on your network and that's it. It's also more secure that way. Much harder to hack them then. Now everything should be secure on your network. Now the fun part. Go into your router and setup a DDNS, it will vary by brand etc but most home router will have a free option. Essentially that names an IP path to your home network regardless of the actual IP address your router has since they change. Once that is setup essentially you just type in the ddns name you picked like [e-mail]. Then go into your router settings and setup a VPN Server with a username and password, internet redirect and view other users enabled in most cases for home users. You use the ddns name in the vpn server and the router will handle all the settings of setup and updating the actual IP address to the DDNS service. If your router doesn't have it built in you can set up a VPN server on just about any device. It's very cheap with a raspberry pi although a little slower due to lower powered hardware. Or you can use a small single board computer old laptop etc. But with that route you may have to setup a paid DDNS or the free ones have little catches like you have to click an emailed link every month to keep it active. The built in router option simplifies it. The router or vpn server you use will give you a config file to use on the vpn client. Use a flash drive to transfer the file to the laptop or portable device. Use security precautions cuz that file is the front door to your home network. Don't email the file etc cuz it ends up out there, which you're trying to avoid. You will also want to experiment a little with the port number the vpn server uses. Most of the time the default will work fine. But I occasionally frequent a restaurant with a third party managed free wifi and they blocked the regular port. I had to set up a server on port 443 which is frequently used for remote access. It would be how they remote access the network. With that setup you now have a remote access to your home network over the VPN, which is a private encrypted secure tunnel end to end. That gives you full network access to any resources on your home network. Other shared folders, servers, printers etc. It's all secure over the vpn and with the redirected internet it means everything you do online from your remote location is encrypted from any prying eyes on that public wifi or remote location network, whether it be a hotel, mcdonalds or starbucks etc. Anything you do online will look like you're at home. And you get full access to your home network. But how do you connect? You just need a free app called OpenVPN for your devices or OpenVPN for your computer version. I found the WIN version a little buggie so I bought Viscosity for $14 that seems to work flawlessly and has a nicer details page. I can browse my home network server like I'm sitting at home, just a little slower cuz the internet upload is a little slow. So from anywhere in the world online just enable your VPN connection and poof network access to home network all secure and encrypted. Now my preferred app is IP Cam Viewer from Robert Chou $7 for the pro version. It's fairly easy to use and defaults to a full screen view of cams. It's worked for every single cam I have ever had/tried. Onvif is the easiest though. It's one app that can connect to all the different cams. There are groups that make viewing groups of cameras convenient. If you have 12 cams the pics are very small. So set up a group of say 4 that show around your house. Second group for inside the house etc. If you have a second location with cams those cams can be a different group, then just connect to the other vpn and select the group name. The app can also view street cams etc. It's pretty amazing. So the app works the same if you're on your how network or just enable the VPN while away from home and bam all your cams show up in the same app. When you're away on a trip your laptop can connect through your vpn to view cams etc or all your portable devices. The App can connect to each individual cam or through the NVR. You get access to your home media server plex server or any other data at home.

[@a.s.l711]

I don’t understand is it you can only do this from the same WiFi or can be done from different location

[@granworks]

They all work locally by default. It is possible to access all of them remotely but it’s not trivial to do so securely so it’s out of scope for this video

[@12schnsaint]

does blue iris have face recognition?

[@granworks]

No. They mentioned in the release notes for version 5 that face recognition is coming, but didn't say when. It's not here now. It apparently is possible to integrate 3rd party facial recognition software into Blue Iris, but I haven't done it.

[@12schnsaint]

@@granworks cool, do you have a video showing your set up? Are you using a pc, qith a POE box? What do you use to store the videos? A NAS?

[@granworks]

No video on my setup, since it is so vanilla. I got a used corporate Dell Optiplex 7040 with an i5 and 8GB RAM to run Blue Iris. It does take up a decent amount of the CPU but this box is dedicated to just this, so it is doing what it is supposed to be doing. My PoE cameras all connect to a switch and then I just access them over the network. And I don't (yet) record a lot of video so there's no need for excessive storage. I just want recordings of motion triggered actions and I don't care about them after a few days. That is, I care about real-time updates for certain cameras at certain times and for the rest, they are there as a record of what happened immediately following whatever happened.

[@AndreeVasquez9]

Hi, would you be able to do a Blue Iris advance settings walkthrough? I'm having difficulties understanding it and basically not taking full advantage of what BlueIris has to offer.

[@parallaxggyt]

Your first and last 5 characters are your liscence are also leaked when you show settings under about tab

[@granworks]

Hey, thanks for the vigilant checking of personal information. I am relatively paranoid, but it's easy to miss something that shouldn't be made public. In this case, I'm not concerned about the license characters since my understanding is that those are the same or similar with all Blue Iris licenses. It's the hidden numbers that are the ones that make my UID unique. That is, you wouldn't be able to reproduce any usable license from those 10 digits, much less my specific license.

[@SeipherTown]

You did an excellent job. Thanks!

[@Max34557]

I prefer to use Linux where i can, but for my security software i just went with Blue Iris on a Windows Server 2012 VM, because all other free Linux alternatives all lacked in some way. (Zoneminder use Motion JPEG, iSpy has a monthly subscription etc etc.).

[@NixonRexzile-xz4sq]

Do you know the best software for scanning many videos for identifying body movement? (regarding to peephole) Thanks

[@laszloperesztegi]

Hi Kirt. Thanks for the review. (You can pixelate your WAN IP though if you wish to) :)

[@DesertFernweh]

Zoneminder is decent, if you have the time and knowledge. I have it running 4 cams from VM. Helped me to strengthen my sql and Apache skills.

[@robertthurman8412]

One of the best overviews I've ever seen. Though, seemingly biased towards Windows based tools this is a very good overview of three products. I can't wait to see more.

[@granworks]

Thanks. Yeah, I would have loved to find a non-Windows solution since I had successfully avoided having a non-VM Windows install since the mid 1990s... until now. Alas, there doesn't seem to be many alternatives.

[@Valkyrie1911]

Awesome video. I've been planning a surveillance system for a while and was wondering what software to use. I had heard of Blue Iris before and was leaning that way, but this video helped me eliminate iSpy and added ZoneMinder to the list of considerations.

[@internetisinteresting7720]

Dude thanks a lot for the comparison you saved me a lot of time, ZOneMinder is good but have 0 point on User Interface, iSpy is Very good too but acces to you camera via they company web sucks, Blue Iris it´s the dude

[@ichernev]

Great review and in depth showdown. However, I would say the weather (sun) conditions were most favorable in blue iris, so a fair comparison will use the same video. In any case a paid pro product is more polished than an open source one, that is for sure.

[@richardjelinek5038]

Thanks for the comparison. All questions I came for were answered. There was some fun watching this though: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bIKYk42uobqbhtU LITERALLY 2 seconds before you give up the log shows your turtle yard already streaming with 20fps and you do not see it. 4:46 comes the insight to RTFM which should have happened in the 1st place (we remember: video surveillance is a security sensitive application, if you expect or even reassure people to run this kind of software "fire and forget" without reading docs, tweaking etc. you're doing something very wrong. 6:30 first mention of "your iphone". Now this explains a few - if not all - things about RTFM reluctance. ;-)

[@Gershy13]

Have you found any other competitors to blue iris?

[@SupportSquirrel]

I really like Blue Iris but geeze look at that CPU usage! 50% vs the 12-20% of iSpy...

[@fatgirlboy9341]

James Konderla there are ways to reduce that search on google. i dropped mine from 45% to 16%

[@gorgeousdzastr]

You have a robust wealth of knowledge in monitor software. I am using iSpy. How do you find the IP address of an IQeye 705 hooked into the router? Does the IQeye 705 camera need anything other than a POE (Ethernet) connection? Thanks for the informative video!

[@granworks]

IP cameras can often get an IP address via multiple protocols but BY FAR the most common will be DHCP. That is, when you plug the IQeye into your router and it starts up, it will immediately query the router for an address. You can discover it by simply looking at the allocated DHCP addresses on your router before plugging in the camera and then comparing it with the list after. If that particular camera has ONVIF support, then iSpy should be able to discover it automatically while scanning your network. If it doesn't automatically detect the camera, then it could be because the camera doesn't support ONVIF or it could be that your network is bifurcated enough that broadcast packets can get from one network to another (rare).

[@gorgeousdzastr]

@@granworks This seems like a little above my paygrade. lol I'm not sure if the IQeye 705 supports ONVIF or not. It does not appear to support ONVIf according to the specs online. I went to my router, logged in and went to DHCP but can't see it listed there. I plugged it in and still can't locate a change after it's plugged in. I will continue to experiment/research this, because even though it's an old discontinued camera it sure looks like a good one according to the specs. Thanks

[@socksincrocks4421]

Blue Iris is the winner. It runs like a champ on my Ubuntu VM Windows 7. I OpenVPN into my server, which allows me access to Blue Iris's WebServer. Just awesome. Ispy is nice but it doesn't have the WebServer that Blue Iris has... no contest. ZoneMinder is just a pain in the ass to install. The choice is obvious, unfortunately, Blue Iris remains jailed within WinBlows.

[@ptwonk7746]

Perhaps a stupid question, but what state does my computer need to be in? Will it (that is, Blue Iris) record events if I have my computer in Sleep or Hibernate modes? Or does my computer need to be on at all times?

[@granworks]

It needs to be running -- Blue Iris goes to sleep with every other application if the computer goes into either Sleep or Hibernate mode.

[@TheAIKnowledgeHub]

All of these your computer has to be running and on the same network for it to be running. I found it's better to add extra features to the computer like a FTP server

[@chocolatebayouworshipcente2250]

The onvif didn’t work because Lorex cameras aren’t Onvif compliant.

[@MrKlyushin]

ZoneMinder does not provide AUDIO ????? I've spent all night fighting with configs and at last managed the cam to work (((

[@moeiscool]

i know how you feel dude. i found a solution, check out some of my videos.

[@drsquirrel00]

Audio has always been a low priority in enterprise setups. It's only just coming in now with h264 but even then that's just because its part of the stream now (not that many high end cameras have microphones either).

[@sergiomolena]

Hi, can you give me a hand? How can I make the recording time longer? My videos are only 10 seconds. Thank you

[@Volkavv]

Thank you very much!!!!!

[@DJLNR.]

11:10 I waited patiently for this vlc plugin installation part i knew was coming. 😂😂😂😂😂 Very nice video. Nice voice

[@fringemonkey]

Fantastic video with all the info I needed.

[@ibernous]

Hello, i have a Reolink RLC-511 and i need a picture preview from the video clips (useing sd card or FRITZ!Nas) anyone know a software or anything how i can do this? (i had a arlo before, i want the "same" overview...)

[@Tarbard]

Great comparison.

[@highflowhighflow9896]

Thanks for the nice comparison! you going a way too fast so hard to follow, playing at half speed helped me out a lot

[@davidh7246]

highflow highflow lol, I usually watch YT at 1.25 or 1.5 for everything, I did actually have to slow down for once.

[@qwerty13380]

How about doing another video with the same three surveillance programs and this time tell us the computer configuration, motherboard, chip set, CPU, memory. and add at least 4 cameras and tell us the resolution, frame rate and how much CPU and memory the cameras use. Also for Zoneminder they say use it headless and use remote computer to view cameras to save CPU. That could be another test.

[@cdneal12]

Here is benchmark info from Blue Iris: biupdatehelper.hopto.org/default.html#stats

[@qwerty13380]

Thank you very much.

[@KevinCoughlin89]

Thanks for this comparison!

[@Major_Thorn]

have you tried the new ispy agent application yet? it has a few more advanced features in it for free. like ifttt integration

[@RedDelPaPa]

It doesn't work for my purposes. Seems you cannot have more than one PC with video and sound. The PC i have agent running on, I can view video and sound via the website and iphone app. But with a second PC running ispy server connected to the pc running ispy agent, I can only get video with no sound. This is very easy to replicate. So unless this is by design, this is an epic failure on the part of the ispy programmers.

[@sergiointerior]

Did you try "tiny cam " for android tv box ? It cost just a few eur and mobile app included. Ppl say it works

[@granworks]

No. For this comparison, I concentrated only on the "big" players that are stuffed with features. Tiny Cam competes at a very different space than these three.

[@sergiointerior]

@@granworks but its much better then ispy anyway in quallity and stabilty

[@richdibs]

Hahahaha. Love you reactions to esoteric set up issues!!! Having spent countless hours and hours over the last few years setting up foscam ip cameras to be view-able on desktop and remotely on cell phone, I can SOOOO relate to just stupid mysterious error messages and other types of coded messages leading to so much confusion and frustration. I'm using Blue Iris now but considered switching because it's a resource hog. I have a CPU monitor on my desktop that shows CPU usage in real time and it's way higher with Blue Iris running. I was considering Xeoma, Zoneminder, iSpy, etc. After watching your video, not sure now if it's worth switching. Anyway, Great video. Thank you. Any updates?

[@granworks]

Yeah, even going through all of the recommended steps to reduce CPU load, I still find Blue Iris to be quite the resource hog. That's acceptable to me now if only because I have a dedicated box to use as my DVR/NVR and so it doesn't really matter how much of the CPU it grabs, since there's nothing competing for it. So I'm still using Blue Iris and it's working as well as when I installed it. No regrets to date.

[@richdibs]

granworks Thank you.

[@richardwilliamjohnson8566]

For me, running blue iris, I'm running a mobile i7 3rd Gen. Using four 5mp reolink cameras (2k at 25fps) with continuous recording etc etc, the system sits at about 23% CPU usage during the day, and 10% at night. I'm pretty happy with that. Memory use is close to 4gb for the system (I have 8gb installed)

[@SirMickPb]

Great Video!!! - Please keep them coming. Any thoughts on an OpenHab integration video? Also - what about offsite archival? Again - great video

[@CavMort]

Many Lorex products some with a DVR/NVR. Will ZoneMinder, iSpy, and Blue Iris work in conjunction with the DVR/NVR? Thanks.

[@granworks]

These products are all competitors or replacements to the NVRs that traditionally work with IP cameras. That is, you'd use one or the other -- either the Lorex NVR records the camera feeds OR Blue Iris does.

[@CavMort]

Thanks. I like the idea of a purpose built NVR. But, I also need to be able to feed notification data to smart home software. I figure ZoneMinder, iSpy, and Blue Iris would have the best chance of doing this.

[@jamesgray9705]

Really great review. Thanks for investing the time and energy.

[@joshuahiguera6672]

What is the best multi brand/type of cam to view all. I'm having trouble adding multiple ptz ip cams.

[@granworks]

All of my cameras are the same brand, so I can't say for certain, but I'd assume that any of these three should easily be able to handle multiple brands. As in, I can't think of any reason at all why they wouldn't.

[@joeydelmarsjr.646]

which version is most stable and best performance for 8+ cameras? v4 or v5?

[@granworks]

The NVR with the most stable and best performance is always going to be ZoneMinder, since it is so comparatively lightweight. But if you're looking for Blue Iris for something more reasonable to use... then v5 is definitely worth the upgrade. In my experience, it is just a little bit more efficient with multiple cameras than v4, but it has quite a few more features that make it worth upgrading.

[@joeydelmarsjr.646]

@@granworks okay I appreciate your time to answer my question I wish know what features tilt the upgrades worth mentioning Honda version 5

[@granworks]

The v5 "killer feature" for me was the ability to integrate with DeepStack for AI object recognition. I love the ability to set my front door camera to only trigger if it detects a PERSON there, and not just some shadow moving or a car passing by or any number of other false triggers. It's great, too, that since DeepStack runs locally, none of my camera feed is sent out to the cloud where I have no control of it.

[@joeydelmarsjr.646]

@@granworks that sounds pretty interesting I don't know what keeps that kid is but I can Google it and maybe get a better understanding of how it works so how it's implemented in the V5

[@illmanneredphotographer3155]

how about connecting DVR unit (with 4 cameras and one LAN port) to linux server such as ubuntu? is it possible?

[@granworks]

Yes, that is what ZoneMinder is -- DVR software that runs on a Linux server. If you mean connect a hardware DVR... then I'm not sure what you would expect it to do?

[@johngreene6783]

I use iSpy and have no idea why he had so much trouble. Easy to setup, easy to get notifications and all free

[@granworks]

I do like the free aspect of iSpy, plus the plugin support. As far as the issues I had... I literally show the steps of me getting setup, so it's pretty easy to see the cause of those issues. But if you watched the entire review of iSpy, you'll note that I gave quite a bit of leeway towards the setup issues. In the end, the "unforgivable sins" to me were the requirement to pay a monthly fee to access the feeds remotely plus a shockingly terrible mobile "app".

[@HugDeeznueces]

I love blue iris! What motherboard and cpu are you using? great review!

[@granworks]

Thanks! I simplified matters by just buying a pre-owned Dell Optiplex 7040. It has a Dell-proprietary motherboard, like usual, and an Intel i5-6600 3.3Ghz "Skylake" CPU.

[@jmm42991]

This was great! Ive been trying to decide what NVR software to use. Can you take a look at Milestone XProtect Essentials vs Blue Iris?

[@granworks]

I initially rejected XProtect since it's definitely not a classic DIY solution -- the Essentials variant is a stripped down version of a super expensive commercial package. Still... it might be interesting to see how a stripped down commercial-grade system works against a full-featured DIY solution. So yeah, maybe.

[@nemolindberg2093]

Fa

[@Kyraaá.2772]

please anyone tell me, does this work with USB connected webcam?

[@granworks]

Yes, all three will work with USB webcams.

[@Kyraaá.2772]

@@granworks okay, thank you

[@schroedray]

Well done...nice clear voice wish I had one.

[@granworks]

Thank you!

[@audio_poetry]

Developers need to think more of UX.

[@tcc5750]

Does ZoneMinder support 24/7 recording like iSpy? I dislike motion recording, but I do like snapping photos upon detecting motion.

[@granworks]

Yes. There is little to nothing that iSpy can do that can't be done in ZoneMinder... albeit with potentially a lot more work up front. Continuous recording is simple, though. Just set the Monitor type to Record or Mocord. The former will just continuously record while the latter will continuously record AND highlight any motion that happens.

[@tcc5750]

Thank you for the reply. Only issue I'm now having is zoneminder won't allow me to view the camera, instead I can only view events after they end, and it's using significantly more HDD space than iSpy for some reason.

[@granworks]

Make sure that PATH_ZMS is set to /zm/cgi-bin/nph-zms if you are using Ubuntu. Also ensure that the configured resolution and bit depth match what the camera is outputting. Beyond that, you will have far better luck getting help in the ZoneMinder forums. I running Blue Iris instead of ZoneMinder after examining the three, so my experience in the latter is limited.

[@sergiointerior]

Hi there! Cool vid! Did you buy "lite version" of blue iris for 60$?

[@granworks]

No, the $60 version is the full version supporting 64 cameras. The "lite" version is only $30 but only supports a single camera

[@sergiointerior]

@@granworks i see now its 40 eur for lite and 85 for thr full.....

[@granworks]

IP Cam Talk has an affiliate link that's a little cheaper -- I don't know if it works in the EU, though: store.ipcamtalk.com/shop/blue-iris-software/

[@amithimani8163]

Excellent review!

[@granworks]

Thank you!

[@sickvic3909]

Does this work only with nvp not a dvr

[@granworks]

These software suits will allow you to create your own DVR/NVR rather than buy a more limited one from the manufacturer.

[@sickvic3909]

@@granworks So my router would be the direct cam connection?

[@granworks]

It depends on what kind of camera you have. If you have a Power Over Ethernet IP camera (detailed in an earlier video), then it first needs to be plugged into a PoE switch to give it power and to get it on the network. If it's a DC powered camera, then yeah, just into your router. If it's wireless, then through the access point. In the end, the camera needs to have an IP address for the software to find it.

[@cbenson76]

I like the video, but the background music gets SUPER repetitive. Just an observation. Not trying to be a jerk. Very helpful video though!

[@weldersandblaster]

Dam, youtube is so dumb. I hit the like button five times, but youtube cant count higher than 1.

[@paulpantsoff6584]

THanks, i would remove the remainder of my hair with that zoneminder shit

[@paulpantsoff6584]

....been struggling with ispy for 2 years now but the winner is clear and time for me to shell out

[@joeydelmarsjr.646]

does blue iris run on windows 7 , 4gb ram i3 laptop? is ok to have intel gpu? for 6 cameras 1080p?

[@granworks]

Yes, Blue Iris will run on that laptop. It MAY struggle with 6 cameras, though. See this page for some thoughts on system limits: ipcamtalk.com/wiki/choosing-hardware-for-blue-iris/

[@vmaxmadness]

Zoneminder is a bitch to set up, but a very powerful program. If you are non-tech stay away unless you hate losing to a machine. It can be done but takes some studying. It will also introduce you to the great world of Linux.

[@Tree-ations]

Thanks! That was a great overview. :-)

[@granworks]

Thank you!

[@dmitriyserdyk5762]

Great! Thanks to you, once again convinced of the correctness of his choice. ZoneMinder forever !!))))

[@McCuneWindandSolar]

Zone minder is great but to buggy. Blue Iris is good but man power hungry since its windows based. if they ever make a Linux based blue Iris software it would be very very power full.

[@OlegKuznetsov31337]

4k is exactly 4x of 1080p (HD)

[@th3b0yg]

That looks like Southern Utah

[@Citizen-of-theworld]

Thanks for this video. You have helped me to decide that all these options are incompatible with my mere mortal level of software abilities.... I’ll just buy the Nest and be happy! :)

[@martinsjurkovskis32]

Great video!

[@kleash]

I will pay $1000 for a blue iris on a linux... Window VM doesn't count.

[@mal798]

Why is Linux open source stuff always such a painful experience? It's not 1975 anymore.

[@pubcollize]

i know this video is old but the background music is very distracting and completely unnecessary. otherwise decent comparison.

[@angzarr9584]

ispy linux version via web is much smoother and works much better

[@granworks]

Ah, it looks like iSpy is transitioning to "Agent DVR". iSpy remains strictly Windows-only, but Agent DVR is cross-platform. Notably, while iSpy was Open Source, Agent DVR is definitely not. Interesting!

[@richardwilliamjohnson8566]

Haha zoneminder is exactly how I expected it to be

[@rmp5s]

STELLAR video, my friend.