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Need some opinions on security cameras Current client has 5 sites connected by site to site vpns all Meraki Gear they want to change there old cameras to Meraki ones.

Anyone using or used these if so what is your opinion on them and any certain tweaks need to be done to the network for optimal performance?

If got away from Meraki cameras what did you go to?

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Last I knew Meraki was HaaS (hostage as a service) where their proprietary cameras could not be used with any other system if you were ever dissatisfied with their service. There’s a reason boomer IT gear has not overtaken the security market - because they are not good at it.

Are they wanting a cloud CCTV system is why they are asking about Meraki? If so, might want to look at something like Eagle Eye, AVA or Blub0x. That way you’re not required to use proprietary cameras that only work with their system, and you don’t have egg on your face trying to explain to your boss why you can’t ever switch without heavy capital expense again.

As for “tweaks” on the network, it’s all about bandwidth. You can find a lot of “CCTV bandwidth” calculators on the Internet where you just plug in the number of cameras, resolution, and framerate to get an idea of your bandwidth requirements. It’s always recommended you have at least 30% or more overheard for your pipes. And don’t forget your aggregation points where streams meet.

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My preference is the Unifi Protect line. No licensing. Good featured (use the G5 series cameras) easy to setup and manage

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I would think to know what is their requirements and overall setup over there for HQ and the 5 sites ?

Then there are several reasons to use products & services from the “big boys” as they could have lots of vendors & partners for sales, aftersales & implementation support ?

But to be fair…what is OP’s role in this exercise as to advise clients or customers using forums instead of getting proper product knowledge and client’s requirements first ?

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After quite a bit of homework we eventually went with Hanwha cams and their branded VMS, Wisenet Wave.

Cams are ONVIF compliant and VMS licensing is perpetual.

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I like the Synology Surveillance Station.
Works with any IP cam over any network. Simple to use and setup.
Get any Synology unit and put as much storage as you can in it.
You can connect to AD for authentication and accessible from anywhere through Synology QuickConnect.

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Hanwha are a great competitor of us - depending what grade you bought designates whether I am impressed with your purchase or not.
More importantly - with your new (old) leader, those NDAA/TAA requirements (that people have been choosing to bypass) will be reinvigorated. Hanwha pass those checks as well…

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I have been installing LTS for years and happy with them. I use their NVRs and they will allow non LTS cameras to attach.
My observations:

  1. Stay away from Cloud only systems because they are just trying to get into your pockets monthly.
  2. Do not work with any system that only support their cameras.
  3. Blue Iris is very good in supporting many different cameras but the processing is done on the NVR system so you need a powerful computer or server to run the system.
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Are they ONVIF compatible now? That was always an issue that prevented them from being in a discussion previously. At first glance it currently doesn’t appear so?

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They did announce they now support using 3rd party cameras with ONVIF a while back. But I am not sure if they fully adopted the ONVIF standard and allow their cameras to be adopted to a 3rd party System via ONVIF.

I know they support RTSP and can be added into 3rd party systems using RTSP. They have always had that feature.

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If you’re not doing camera side motion detection or some other camera side analytic, then RTSP is fine. Just makes it more of a manual process in initial setup versus ONVIF. ONVIF actually uses RTSP for video streaming.

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I have built camera systems from scratch using DWSpectrum and Watchdog. The fact that you can spin the thing up on a Linux box and a server of your choice (make sure your server has a decent graphics card), was a great way to setup a system. Cameras could have been pretty much anything. The remote access was cludgy, they may have fixed that (its been about 6 years since I built the systems I build), and you basically had to expose a web server to make it work externally (something I hate for these).

Presently we’re looking to replace our aging HIKVISION (not my choice was here before me) and the Safety Manager is big on the Verkada platform. I see some advantages to it, the storage is basically local to the cameras and longer archiving goes to the cloud. Verkada will work with other cameras and systems, so there is that. Meh. It works.

Finally I have a pretty good sized Meraki wireless platform and have played around with a few cameras on our Meraki dashboard (3 or 4 cameras). They work fine, and the interface and player seems functional. It is really expensive though to maintain and their cameras are pretty pricey (as are all their equipment from Meraki). But if you already have a big investment with Meraki then the ongoing G&A to maintain licensing is probably less of a big deal to you.

Not sure any of this helps and unlike the others that do this for a living (see above), I’m just giving you my experience with various systems.

I’ve probably only done about 10 systems in my career over the last 8 years, each system was between 20 and 60 cameras, so I’m hardly an installer.

Just saying a lot of it has to do with what your infrastructure already is.

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When considering any cloud system, make sure you do your research, and use keywords like “hacked” “controversies” and “cybersecurity failures”.

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And please for love of all you hold dear, do not open your cameras/nvr to the outside world by punching a hole in your firewall and port forwarding. Access from the outside via VPN or not at all. Botnets don’t need more devices.

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Ha, fortunately I just have to impress my boss. JK but also seriously. And that’s one nice thing about Hanwha; if you need AI features, varifocal lenses, motorized pan/tilt you can spend a lot. If an area doesn’t require anything fancy you can go with an inexpensive one. We have a variety of models and they all work seamlessly with WaveVMS. Being ONVIF compatible I was able to connect a few older IP cams with limited functionality also.

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