Surveillance

You can download and install the Surveillance Center app in App Central.


You must first go into the settings menu in order to install the IP cameras connected to your network. You can either elect to automatically scan for IP cameras or manually input their IP addresses. The automatic scan only recognized two of our three Foscam cameras properly, so we had to input the third camera manually.


Username and password verification was a success.


This menu allows you to configure each installed camera by selecting a video format and resolution and setting the frames per second.


After you add your cameras, you can specify their recording schedule and the storage quota for those recordings. Setting up a recording schedule is also a breeze.


You can set notifications to be sent automatically once something goes wrong with the recording or when a new camera is added or an existing one is deleted.


One of our cameras (Foscam FI9816P) wasn't recognized properly by Surveillance Center despite our efforts. Although it was initially enabled, it just didn't work in Live View and was shown as disconnected afterward.


The Surveillance Center application provides you with the ability to collectively manage an array of IP cameras, and Asustor provides four free camera licenses where the competition only provides you with one. A maximum number of 16 cameras are supported.


Before using the Live View function, you will be asked to download a component. Although we did download a component, a message asking us to do so kept popping up in Google Chrome. We had to use Firefox in order for Live View to work properly.


The web-based interface allows you to monitor live feeds and playback previously recorded video content.


Use the Settings tab to set the maximum length of each recording (in minutes), and whether there will be a pre- or post-recording (in seconds). A storage quota can be also configured here, and you have the ability to either stop recording if the quota is reached or overwrite the oldest files, which is enabled by default.


You can assign roles to users who have access to Surveillance Center. This can come in handy when you need to restrict some user accounts to its basic functions only.


A notification system will immediately alert you in the event of an interruption, giving you the ability to dynamically monitor your most valued assets, and there is a useful log and some information on who is online. You can also enable the RTSP server and stream video from the cameras to another network location.


The Logs tab not only logs events since there is a user activity window. You can even check on which users are active.


You are able to upload a map of the area you want to monitor.