Not talking PSIM.
Just a simple client that could receive streams from say Digital Watchdog and Milestone, etc.
Yes, you could multi-stream or multi-cast from cameras as an alternative, but besides that...
Is the protocol between VMSes and Clients guarded/secret? Can any use ONVIF streams besides Milestone ONVIF bridge?
Maybe I am talking PSIM?
It's a good idea for sure.
Indeed, ONVIF Profile G is supposed to enable that, i.e., an open interface to simply access live and recorded video from other systems. VMS adoption though remains poor as most VMS / recorders do not want to allow easy take-over of their systems.
Theoretically, with G, you could imagine a low cost or free client that let you connect to any VMS / recorder supporting G. Theoretically...
In practice, outside of PSIMs or higher end VMS system that support a limited amount of 3rd party recorder integrations (typically with a per camera license fee), I do not know of any.
Related: Did the old Occularis client (pre-SeeTec) work with old Milestone server?
Milestone probably wouldn’t have wanted it to aim guessing...
I don't know if the old Occularis client also worked with a Milestone server, but there's no technical reason it couldn't. Our SDK/API are available at no cost, and while it's not my area, I can't think of a commercial reason to disallow it.
I like the idea of a VMS agnostic client. Milestone could be supported via our SDK/APIs, but from a dev perspective using ONVIF is a more attractive option when only basic functionality is needed.
Even if it did wasn’t the Occularis client 32 bit? Seems like a big step back.
Seems like a big step back.
Only if you take it, which I wasn’t suggesting.
Also, depending on how ONSSI did the integration (did they change the SeeTec server protocol or the Occularis client protocol or both), the new version of Occularis might still be able to talk to it.
Really, I was just curious after seeing this edgy, tear jerker of a video back in the day, whether Milestone users could replace their space bar with an ONSSI one:
Who is going to invest thousands of developers hours making a great universal VMS client that connects to any and every VMS server it can, when pretty much every VMS model out there sells itself through server/channel licensing?
Would you be willing to pay a thousand dollars per install for each of those clients? If so, there might be a business model to support it. If not, then you're asking some company to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a software product for you to have for free so you can connect all your servers that have been paid for already.
I could see something like this being developed as an open source project. Probably something for the home automation space where OSS projects already need to develop support for a range of IoT type products, and users might want to integrate a range of different NVR/DVR/VMS.
It would be difficult for an independent for profit company to develop a compelling client application which outstripes the native clients so thoroughly that customers of VMS software would go out of their way to pay extra for it.
I could however see such a client be added value for a PSIM or access control system, that way the client application doesn't need to stand on it's own and instead acts as a differentiator.
Would you be willing to pay a thousand dollars...?
If not, then you're asking some company... to build a software product for you to have for free...
So you pay $1000 per install (or more) for all your software that isn’t free?
Btw, i just remembered the Milestone ONVIF bridge which we tested last year. The idea of it was just that but it did not work for recorded video. Joshua, any improvements on that?
Sure, currently both live and playback is possible, including reverse playback. There's also PTZ control capability.
It was always 'possible', the problem was it actually working with specific mainstream vms / recorders. What systems has Milestone verified that the bridge works with four play back?
Btw, i just remembered the Milestone ONVIF bridge which we tested last year...
Yes, I mentioned it above as well. Also, as far as I recall some Hik and Dahua hybrid recorders used to stream outbound via ONVIF...
So take the open source ONVIF device manager, fork a couple viewing windows, and it’s a start...
There is a program for Windows called IP Centcom that you through the Microsoft Store (supported on Windows 8.1 and higher). It is an ONVIF client designed to connect to multiple ONVIF cameras and/or NVRs as well as direct to RTSP streams. They also have an Android app called ONVIFER. I haven't messed around with IP Centcom or ONVIFER it in a year or so but it did work via Milestone's ONVIF Bridge when I tried it back then.
It isn't full featured but it is actively developed (latest release was October 16, 2017). I also don't recall if it supported playback or not.
I know it' PSIM, but isn' tthis what Vidsys does?
As long as there is an SDK, you can integrate into their VMS
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