Debating getting some Amcrest cameras.. is there a preferred NAS?
Is there a way to playback from NAS on iPhone or only by logging in through PC?
Any other tips before I buy cameras and NAS?
Whats the best NAS setup? WD MyCould, QNAP, etc?
Re: Whats the best NAS setup? WD MyCould, QNAP, etc?
Synology!
I am using a Synology NAS which is very impressive. It is intuitive and very capable. Synology has many features built in such as a cloud server, you can access all of your content through well built apps on your mobile device. They also offer a surveillance software built into the NAS which works extremely well, it's literally a few clicks to add amcrest cameras and then you can manage them from the Synology NAS. The downside is that you have to pay to play, Synology Surveillance station software comes with 2 free licenses (one license per camera is required), additional licenses are $50 each. Cost is the only complaint you will read about because synology is well designed, well supported, and works; all of which saves time and frustration down the road.
My first Synology NAS was the DS213J which was about $85 + plus $100 for a pair of 1 TB hard drives. This unit worked flawless although I've just upgraded to a similar unit (DS218+) with more processing power thinking I will run an APPLE Home Kit bridge on the NAS to bridge my Vera home automation with APPLE home kit.
Before using the Synology NAS for my IP cameras, I started out with an Amcrest NVR4108 which was only about $80 plus the $50 for a 1TB NVR rated hard drive. I still have this but thinking of all the times I try to show someone how it works and... It doesn't work, or all the times you simply cannot access it because of stupid web compatibility issues, or trying to get Amcrest support which is hit and miss... Synology cost me a few hundred dollars but they are rock solid, very fast support, consistent development and updates, and work very well with Amcrest cameras or most any modern IP camera (ONVIF?).
You don't have to pay for or use the Synology Surveillance software either, Synology has an FTP server on it so if you don't mind managing your cameras individually via their IP address using the Amcrest configuration app you can have them write their data to the NAS using FTP and then access the snapshots or video files over your synology mobile app or from any PC anywhere. You can log into your NAS from any PC with any web browser and an internet connection using synology's "QuickConnect". When you set up the NAS you also set up a quickconnect account ID, then from any computer anywhere you go to http://www.quickconnect.to/username and it logs you into your NAS just like you were on your PC at home.
A tip for cameras, don't buy dome cameras for outdoor use, the cover really degrades the night vision. The IP2M-841 is a pretty legit camera, I have several of them outdoors under eaves where the temp gets down to about 20F (pacific northwest) and they've been running 2+ years. I find the 720p cameras to have insufficient performance as well. If you don't need pan/tilt I'd look closer at the IP2M-844 camera for outdoor application and if you really want better night vision (again you have to pay to play) I'd look at the starlight series from Dahua model HDW5231R-Z, the price is coming down a bit on these now, I see them from US sellers on ebay for about $155 each or a bit more for the slightly upgraded HDW5231R-ZE; this will be my next outdoor camera for driveway/yard monitoring. (FYI- I'm pretty sure most if not all Amcrest models are produced by Dahua yet not nearly as many models/features to choose from).
There is a very active forum at ipcamtalk.com if you are looking for more information in general.
I am using a Synology NAS which is very impressive. It is intuitive and very capable. Synology has many features built in such as a cloud server, you can access all of your content through well built apps on your mobile device. They also offer a surveillance software built into the NAS which works extremely well, it's literally a few clicks to add amcrest cameras and then you can manage them from the Synology NAS. The downside is that you have to pay to play, Synology Surveillance station software comes with 2 free licenses (one license per camera is required), additional licenses are $50 each. Cost is the only complaint you will read about because synology is well designed, well supported, and works; all of which saves time and frustration down the road.
My first Synology NAS was the DS213J which was about $85 + plus $100 for a pair of 1 TB hard drives. This unit worked flawless although I've just upgraded to a similar unit (DS218+) with more processing power thinking I will run an APPLE Home Kit bridge on the NAS to bridge my Vera home automation with APPLE home kit.
Before using the Synology NAS for my IP cameras, I started out with an Amcrest NVR4108 which was only about $80 plus the $50 for a 1TB NVR rated hard drive. I still have this but thinking of all the times I try to show someone how it works and... It doesn't work, or all the times you simply cannot access it because of stupid web compatibility issues, or trying to get Amcrest support which is hit and miss... Synology cost me a few hundred dollars but they are rock solid, very fast support, consistent development and updates, and work very well with Amcrest cameras or most any modern IP camera (ONVIF?).
You don't have to pay for or use the Synology Surveillance software either, Synology has an FTP server on it so if you don't mind managing your cameras individually via their IP address using the Amcrest configuration app you can have them write their data to the NAS using FTP and then access the snapshots or video files over your synology mobile app or from any PC anywhere. You can log into your NAS from any PC with any web browser and an internet connection using synology's "QuickConnect". When you set up the NAS you also set up a quickconnect account ID, then from any computer anywhere you go to http://www.quickconnect.to/username and it logs you into your NAS just like you were on your PC at home.
A tip for cameras, don't buy dome cameras for outdoor use, the cover really degrades the night vision. The IP2M-841 is a pretty legit camera, I have several of them outdoors under eaves where the temp gets down to about 20F (pacific northwest) and they've been running 2+ years. I find the 720p cameras to have insufficient performance as well. If you don't need pan/tilt I'd look closer at the IP2M-844 camera for outdoor application and if you really want better night vision (again you have to pay to play) I'd look at the starlight series from Dahua model HDW5231R-Z, the price is coming down a bit on these now, I see them from US sellers on ebay for about $155 each or a bit more for the slightly upgraded HDW5231R-ZE; this will be my next outdoor camera for driveway/yard monitoring. (FYI- I'm pretty sure most if not all Amcrest models are produced by Dahua yet not nearly as many models/features to choose from).
There is a very active forum at ipcamtalk.com if you are looking for more information in general.
Re: Whats the best NAS setup? WD MyCould, QNAP, etc?
Hi markcm
thank you so much for the post..You actually mentioned something I've been looking all over.
I use Amcrest IP cameras with NVR and NAS DS428J which I am really happy about it..
I also use Action Tiles (Smart house control panel Web I. )
Action Tiles can see your cameras IF you have the IP address of the cameras. No RTSP accepted. URL only.
When you said FTP and managing the cameras with IP addresses, I thought this is exactly what I need.
Can you point me a driection where I can figure out how to setup NAS for FTP acces to my IP cameras.
As you mentioned I have 2 licences and I will get more (6 cameras all together)
Thank you for the post.
Ike
thank you so much for the post..You actually mentioned something I've been looking all over.
I use Amcrest IP cameras with NVR and NAS DS428J which I am really happy about it..
I also use Action Tiles (Smart house control panel Web I. )
Action Tiles can see your cameras IF you have the IP address of the cameras. No RTSP accepted. URL only.
When you said FTP and managing the cameras with IP addresses, I thought this is exactly what I need.
Can you point me a driection where I can figure out how to setup NAS for FTP acces to my IP cameras.
As you mentioned I have 2 licences and I will get more (6 cameras all together)
Thank you for the post.
Ike
Re: Whats the best NAS setup? WD MyCould, QNAP, etc?
I'm not sure I understand exactly what you're trying with NAS/FTP but I can point you toward Synology support, they have quite a bit of documentation and a forum as well.