Testing Decentralized / Edge Recording (Mobotix / MxControlCenter)
What if you could eliminate your VMS servers and get your video management software for free? That's the value proposition behind Mobotix's IP video surveillance solution. They refer to this architecture as 'decentralized' in contrast to 'centralized' approaches where cameras must connect and record to dedicated VMS servers.
Free software and less hardware is certainly attractive but what are the tradeoffs and limitations involved?
In this test, we examine Mobotix's overall video management solution including the use of Mobotix's MxControlCenter client and on-board storage for Mobotix's panoramic cameras and their dome cameras. For a primer on Mobotix's cameras, please review our test/examination of Mobotix camera configuration.
We find 2 major differences that make Mobotix somewhat 'unique' among IP video offerings:
- The decentralized approach makes some things much better and others easier much worse or harder to do
- Mobotix makes it easy to access and use advanced functionality but this makes it harder for people to do basic tasks without training
For example, with a decentralized approach, you eliminate a single point of failure but you know need to ensure that cameras are time synched because the VMS server does not act as the synchronizer, you have to set up workarounds or manually copy client settings from user client to user client. Additionally, there are limitations in managing users or doing batch configurations across multiple cameras. [Note: this is just an overview - details are provided in the usability and admin video screencasts].
Key Criteria / Decision Points
When evaluating Mobotix, the following 9 key criteria / decision points should be considered.
Criteria | Strength | Description |
Pricing | Strong | VMS Software Free, Storage can be done entirely and directly to low cost NAS devices |
Simplicity | Weak | Training critical, infeasible for people to learn by experimentation; violates standard conventions making it hard for even experience operators to figure out without training |
3rd Party IP Camera Support | Weak | Limited range of support, only MJPEG encoding, only continuous recording |
3rd Party System Support | Moderately Weak | Little to no 'out of box' integrations, requires custom integration using IP Notify/Receive |
Analytics Support | Moderate | Not true video analytics but complex event configuration possible with VMD and audio analytics |
Enterprise Management | Moderately Weak | Limited enterprise management, requires 'work-arounds' to centralize configuration |
Alarm Monitoring | Moderately Strong | Integrated column, provides tracking of alarms, instructions for guards |
Video Distribution | Moderate | IP Notify can trigger changes to applications and switching to preferred views |
Redundancy | Strong | Eliminates VMS Server as central point of failure |
Recommendations
Recommendations are tough because this is an inexpensive but complex system to use. Inexpensive is generally good for residential and SMB. However, because of the system's complexity, non-technical users may become frustrated and waste significant amount of time. This is reminiscent of the old saying that 'Linux is only free if your time is worthless.'
On the other hand, if you are technically strong and you like to optimize and personalize your solution, Mobotix is attractive. This is even more so if your technical skills outpace your budget as Mobotix provides a technologically sophisticated offering for the price basically of a camera.
For larger scale systems (with hundreds of cameras), we think the limitations on 3rd party IP camera support and 3rd party security system support plus the constraints on management will become more significant issues. Perhaps the cost savings can outweigh the specific functional limitations. However, in our experience, the bigger the organization, the more 3rd party support and 'first class' enterprise management become hard requirements.
The cost savings are significant and if the system's usability was simplified we believe this would become a very attractive mass market solution. Mobotix's cameras are fairly competitively priced to other megapixel cameras (even without factoring in the free VMS, NAS storage etc.). The hard cost reduction for eliminating VMS licenses, servers and allowing for cheaper/more flexible storage options is worth easily $200 USD which is about a 20% cost reduction for overall video surveillance equipment (compared to most mainstream competitive offerings). As it is today, though, specifiers should carefully weigh the tradeoffs.
3rd Party Systems Support
For 3rd party IP camera support, Mobotix offers integration through its MxServer application/service. However, there are important limitations:
- Narrow range of manufacturers supported: Axis, LILIN, Toshiba, Sony
- Only MJPEG encoding
- Only SD resolution [Note: In Summer 2010, a new version will support up to 3 MP]
- Only continuous recording
3rd party cameras are second class citizens in Mobotix's VMS. While support is free, the functional drawbacks are significant.
Usability
In the screencast below, we examine the key usability challenges we found:
- Overview of administration (00:14 min)
- Administering live monitoring functionality (01:12 min)
- Configuring cameras (03:00 min)
- Optimization options (05:07 min)
Live Monitoring
In the screencast below, we examine
- Overview of layout (00:11 min)
- Creating Layouts (00:35 min)
- Creating Background Layouts (03:45 min)
- Network Video Display (06:20 min)
Investigations
In this video we examine investigations. We found investigation functionality hard to locate on the UI and complex to use, especially for multi-camera synchronous search and exporting.
- Overview of stored video (00:20 min)
- Two search modes (00:50 min)
- Synchronize camera controls (03:40 min)
- Exporting (04:55 min)
Administration
In the screencast below, we examine key elements of administering a Mobotix system. Given its 'decentralized' approach, a number of elements are materially different or restricted compared to traditional enterprise video management systems.
- Potential money savers (00:19 min)
- Understanding storage workflow (00:25 min)
- Issues working with live monitoring (01:20 min)
- Issues in investigations (03:50 min)
- Isssues in administration (07:11 min)
- Recommended support (08:55 min)