Help - Looking For An Easy To Use VMS

Haha thankfully no, having customer's looking to buy products you can't make money on (through services) isn't my idea of a customer... I know that Exacqvision has a pretty solid rep for basic ease of use, but I can't speak to that directly. Also I would guess that even Exacq would be out of their price range.

I would guess there is someone here who might have some experience with really basic VMS platforms

This is not about the clients lack of money. It's his lack of respect for our industry I'm worried about. He's already bought 3 systems in under 7 years and feels very ripped off. He wants a system where the VMS is easy for HIS staff to operate should they have to. He has been fined by authorities when they have made snap visits for not having staff that know how to search for footage and provide a copy. If it's something a staff member may be asked to do once every couple of years they will not remember complex VMS. I sympathis with the guy. More than that, I want him and the rest of his businesses as long term clients. The fact he wants an easy to use VMS that does not mean he wants basic. Analytics are an essential requirment

Easy to use + Analytics ... I'll tap out of this one, hopefully someone else can chip in for you

And Sean, I didn't mean to have a go mate. As for Exacq I agree that it could be an option, as is perhaps the Axis camera station or if he went with some NVR or Hybrids perhaps Hikvision

Its no problem, that is just a very interesting problem to solve (Very Complex Feature set, Range of Camera Technology, Very Simple User Interface)...

DVR/embedded NVRs always seemed to be easy for users to pick up on. Say what you will about the features in a high-end VMS, but many casual end users are less intimidated by an (single-purpose) appliance than a server.

Like Sean suggests, that type of equipment generally isn't the cornerstone of commercial systems, so feedback might be limited. Camera count is essential to understand when calculating price. Can you share the exact number of cameras?

VMS usability is definitely a pain point. Could you share who the 3 VMSes were? This would give us a sense of what they implicitly consider good or bad usability?

This recent Lilin NVR Touch is something to take a look at - designed to be super simple with big buttons, old school security style.

I'd suggest giving Vigil a look. We've put these on a lot of fuel services sites where there's plenty of staff turnover, and only rarely had to do ANY training for basic operation (viewing, search, playback, export, etc.). They support a wide range of IP cameras (including Vivotek), and do have analytics built-in. I certainly wouldn't consider the analytics setup "simple" for a beginner, but then, you can't have EVERYTHING be dead-easy.

Initial setup will probably almost always require some integrator assistance, but once things are up and running, it's a pretty straighforward system to use.

I know that the most recent was the free CMS Pro and prior to that was Go1984. As for the first one, he can't recall. The main problem he has is that authorities expect everyone to be able to playback and copy footage on demand. That's ok if management is around who use the system more often, but when you've got casual staff who would not be required to do this function often, it can be a problem. Even with instruction notes, an over zealous police member or government official can intimidate a young worker. The client feels that if the VMS was more like an app or something very icon based, the younger staff may feel more at ease. There are 27 existing cams running to 2 dvrs and then 2 IP to a server with no VMS installed at present. He IS happy to change over the lot, but only on the easy to use criteria. I know its a hard one

Matt, thanks for the Vigil suggestion. Not heard much about them, but being at the other end of world from you guys we sometimes miss the news!

That helps. It looks like they've been using real entry level / low cost systems. On the other hand, most VMS UIs are designed more like excel than iOS apps.

If you are looking 'app like', take a look at OnSSI Occularis. Video below:

And here's a video of the Lilin Touch NVR UI:

Hey Undisclosed, I am a technical trainer for OnSSI.

If you want to see how easy Ocularis Client is for end users to operate, check out our new Client Tutorial page that our Technical Marketing team put together. It breaks down each operational feature in small ~2 min videos. In particular, check out the Exporting Evidence section and Bookmarks.