Difference between ViewCam and SecuritySpy software?

pinkoos
pinkoos
in SecuritySpy

Hi @Ben saw your tweet about the new version of ViewCam

I haven't downloaded to try it out but was just curious how is it different from SS?

If one already uses SS, is ViewCam redundant?

Or, does it add additional functionality and/or present redundant functionality in a different way?

Thanks

Comments

  • pinkoos
    pinkoos

    Forgot to include the link for others:

    https://bensoftware.com/viewcam/

  • Ben
    Ben
    edited September 2022

    In a nutshell:

    ViewCam is for viewing live video/audio streams from IP cameras in a nice user interface, in order to monitor cameras in real time. ViewCam's full list of features can be found here.

    SecuritySpy has all of ViewCam's features, plus: continuous recording, motion-triggered recording, AI-based object detection, notifications, remote access via web or iOS app, Home integration, playback of recordings, and more. SecuritySpy's full list of features can be found here.

    ViewCam does not have any features that SecuritySpy doesn't have.

    ViewCam can be used as a remote viewer for SecuritySpy, so in this way they can be complementary pieces of software. Otherwise, if you need a simple IP camera viewer, ViewCam is the better option (because it's cheaper), but if you need a fully-featured CCTV solution, then that's SecuritySpy.

  • pinkoos
    pinkoos

    Helpful explainer, thank you, I may give it a spin

  • pinkoos
    pinkoos

    Just thought of a use case:

    can this run on a secondary Mac that is not the SS server or does it have to be on the same Mac that serves as the camera server?

  • Ben
    Ben

    There wouldn't be any point in running ViewCam on the same Mac that is running SecuritySpy already - on this Mac you can just use SecuritySpy for viewing the cameras. So yes - the main use case would be to run it on a different Mac for the purposes of live viewing the cameras. If this second Mac is on the same network as the cameras, then it can pull the streams directly from the cameras themselves. Or, if this second Mac is at a different location, it can connect over the Internet to SecuritySpy to obtain the streams (assuming that SecuritySpy has been set up for remote access over the Internet).

  • pinkoos
    pinkoos

    Okay, that is great to hear

    I've been using web access on a secondary Mac to access the feeds, so maybe this could be useful for me to be able to use a native app

  • Ben
    Ben

    Yes definitely - for live viewing, ViewCam will give you a much better viewing experience than the web interface.

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