Pre-purchase questions about SecuritySpy
I am about to purchase 4 or 5 Sharx SCNC3804 and/or SCNC3804W outdoor wireless cameras to build a security system for a small restaurant/bar. The folks at Sharx Security suggested SecuritySpy as a possible application to control and access the system from a Mac. The app seems to do everything we need the system to do, but I would like to first ask a few questions to confirm my understanding of how it works and its requirements. I have sent these questions to the 'sales@bensoftware.com' email address twice but have received no response.
Ben's on-line calculator for sizing a Mac says that to support 4, 2MP cameras running at 10 fps the Mac should have at least a dual-core, 2.3 Ghz processor. I have a 2009 Mac Mini with a 2.6 Ghz Core 2 Duo processor that thus meets the 2.3 Ghz minimum requirement, but its SATA bus is only 3 Gbps, not 6 Gbps. Will the constrained disk I/O be an issue?
The person I have been dealing with at Sharx says that their current-generation 1.4 Ghz Mac Mini works "really great, very efficient and quiet and even though you wouldn’t guess it based on the specs (dual core i5 and motherboard graphics as opposed to separate AMD / Nvidea graphics system), it is remarkably good." They went on to say that they use it "with Bootcamp/Windows and the very high-end LuxRiot PC software for recording our ultra resolution cameras. Even the USB3 or Thunderbolt connection to external drives works well.” They did not say, though, how many cameras they have connected to it. My question is: would this same model work OK with 4, 2MP cameras running at 10 fps or should we step up to the 2.6 Ghz model (if my old 2009 Mini won't do the job)?
Am I correct that SecuritySpy can operate with a mix of camera brands, models, and resolutions? We have one .3MP camera that we’ve had in place for years; I’d hate to have to throw it out or have to use a completely different tool from SecuritySpy to access it.
Are the Remote Patrol and Remote Patrol HD apps completely separate, or will the latter run on both an iPhone and an iPad? One of the reviews of the iPad version (which apparently hasn’t been updated since 2013) complains of instability; will it run reliably on iOS 9.3.1?
Can someone confirm that Remote Patrol operates in landscape mode (the images on the App Store suggest yes)?
Lastly, does the Remote Patrol license permit installation on all devices associated with a single Apple ID? The cafe has 4 iPads and we’d like the app to reside on all of them. A couple of employees will need to use their personal iOS devices (which are thus associated with different Apple IDs) to check the SecuritySpy video remotely. Will each of these have to purchase Remote Patrol separately?
Thanks in advance!
Ben's on-line calculator for sizing a Mac says that to support 4, 2MP cameras running at 10 fps the Mac should have at least a dual-core, 2.3 Ghz processor. I have a 2009 Mac Mini with a 2.6 Ghz Core 2 Duo processor that thus meets the 2.3 Ghz minimum requirement, but its SATA bus is only 3 Gbps, not 6 Gbps. Will the constrained disk I/O be an issue?
The person I have been dealing with at Sharx says that their current-generation 1.4 Ghz Mac Mini works "really great, very efficient and quiet and even though you wouldn’t guess it based on the specs (dual core i5 and motherboard graphics as opposed to separate AMD / Nvidea graphics system), it is remarkably good." They went on to say that they use it "with Bootcamp/Windows and the very high-end LuxRiot PC software for recording our ultra resolution cameras. Even the USB3 or Thunderbolt connection to external drives works well.” They did not say, though, how many cameras they have connected to it. My question is: would this same model work OK with 4, 2MP cameras running at 10 fps or should we step up to the 2.6 Ghz model (if my old 2009 Mini won't do the job)?
Am I correct that SecuritySpy can operate with a mix of camera brands, models, and resolutions? We have one .3MP camera that we’ve had in place for years; I’d hate to have to throw it out or have to use a completely different tool from SecuritySpy to access it.
Are the Remote Patrol and Remote Patrol HD apps completely separate, or will the latter run on both an iPhone and an iPad? One of the reviews of the iPad version (which apparently hasn’t been updated since 2013) complains of instability; will it run reliably on iOS 9.3.1?
Can someone confirm that Remote Patrol operates in landscape mode (the images on the App Store suggest yes)?
Lastly, does the Remote Patrol license permit installation on all devices associated with a single Apple ID? The cafe has 4 iPads and we’d like the app to reside on all of them. A couple of employees will need to use their personal iOS devices (which are thus associated with different Apple IDs) to check the SecuritySpy video remotely. Will each of these have to purchase Remote Patrol separately?
Thanks in advance!
Comments
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Hi Brian,
We did receive your emails, and we replied to them on the same day each time, so I'm not sure why you didn't get them. I even sent you an email from my personal Gmail account to check this. Check your junk mail folder, but if you didn't get any of these emails then you should probably check that your server and spam filters are properly configured because you might be missing out on important emails from other people too.
Anyway, to your SecuritySpy questions. Your 2009 iMac should be absolutely fine for this system. The SATA bus will be easily fast enough, especially if you will be receiving and recording the cameras' H.264 streams, which are very low-bandwidth.
As for the Mac mini, the new models are very capable machines, despite the fact that they are unfortunately limited to dual-core across the board. The GHz processor ratings aren't the only story, especially across different chipsets and Mac generations, as newer chips are typically faster at the same GHz rating than older chips, plus the new minis support features such as turbo boost. And the calculator is quite conservative so you would typically get a little better performance than it suggests. So I would suggest that the 1.4 GHz dual-core model would perform fine - perhaps not up to 10fps per camera but it shouldn't be too far below this. If you definitely need at least 10fps, and/or want to add more cameras in the future, then go for the 2.6 GHz model.
SecuritySpy can indeed operate with a mixture of different camera brands, models and resolutions. So it's fine to add your .3 MP camera to the mix.
The Remote Patrol and Remote Patrol HD apps are completely separate - the former is for iPhones and the latter for iPads. I don't have any information about compatibility with specific iOS versions (I think you might mean 8.3.1 rather than 9.3.1?) but we use these apps all the time, and have done for years on many different iOS versions, and they work well. Remote Patrol does indeed adjust between landscape and portrait modes.
As far as I know, the way the app store works is that devices using the same Apple ID can all download any purchased app and you only have to pay for the app one.
I hope this answers all your questions - let me know if you have any more! -
Thank you very much for the thorough and helpful response. Why I did not receive your email responses is a real mystery. I use SpamSieve to filter incoming messages. I always review those that it classifies as spam for messages that are incorrectly identified as such, but I never saw anything from you. But then, I get about 1000 spams a day, so I could have missed yours both times; my apologies.
I thought Remote Patrol was your app, but apparently it is developed by a third party. That would explain why it is a pay-for app rather than bundled with SecuritySpy. Apologies again.
Regarding iOS version: I meant iOS 9.0.2 (current release). Bad case of Cranial Rectosis here.
