CMS Software, DVR’s, Networking

We do installations for many businesses that have multiple locations and have the need to be able to view all of them at once.  We also get a lot of questions about how to do off-site recording.  CMS or Central Monitoring Software comes with our 4, 8 and 16 channel H.264 DVR’s.  We currently have all of our locations networked in order to give our customers a better understanding of what they will see.  The software is pretty simple and you can actually turn a remote PC into your very own off-site recorder.

The software also works independently from the DVR itself.  You can configure settings remotely but they only affect the computer that’s being used to view and record the video and not the DVR itself.  We found this to be very handy and a really nice way of not accidentally changing settings in the DVR.

During our testing of the CMS we also liked the quick record from a live view mode.  Just a simple button of start and stop and you can record a bit of what you see live.   The address book was easy enough to populate with IP addresses and you can log into 2 different locations as once.  They are separated by tabs and all you have to do is tab from one to the next.

Now of course the one thing that is most important to anyone in this business is .. “will it convert to an AVi file?” .. and yes, yes it will.  In the software in one of the video playback menu’s there is a convert to AVI function.  Very handy.

B. Eaton

iTrail GPS Passive Data Logger Tracker Review

The iTrail is our newest passive GPS tracker. A passive tracker is great for when you want to find out where the vehicle is going, but don’t need to know where it is at any given moment. You can simply place the tracker on a vehicle, pick it back up after the vehicle has been in use, and hook it up to your computer so you can findout where it’s been.

The unit is small, at an inch and a half on each side (the smallest I’ve ever seen). It uses motion activation to conserve the built-in rechargeable battery and can store up to 120 hours of vehicle data. There is only one button on the unit and 2 lights to indicate the battery life and activity signal.

Using the tracker was pretty straightforward; run the software, charge up the unit, put it on the vehicle, and then connect it to your computer and see where the tracker went using Google Earth or Google Maps. You can generate full reports complete with latitude and longitude as well as addresses and idle times.

The iTrail is a simple tracker to use and it has a great battery life considering how small it is. The unit can easily be placed in a vehicle or can even be carried in a pocket and not be noticeable. If monthly fees and live tracking aren’t your thing, I’d highly recommend an iTrail.

Give any of our sales people a call or email if you have any questions. Also, feel free to visit our forums at the following link if you have any questions you would like to ask.

www.spycentresecurityforums.com

Allen at SCS3