Milestone XProtect Essential+ Free VMS Tested
Milestone continues to expand its aggressive free and low-cost offerings, with this year, Milestone releasing XProtect Essential+, part of their new "plus" lineup based on the same code as the high-end XProtect Corporate VMS, including features not normally found in low-end systems.
How could is it? What strengths and weaknesses does it have?
We downloaded and tested XProtect Essential+, looking at:
- Installation and configuration complexity
- Live view and monitoring
- Mapping and events
- Playback, search, and export
- Camera support
- Mobile apps
- Limitations compared to paid XProtect versions
- How it compares to low-cost NVRs
See our full results inside.
Summary
XProtect Essential+ is one of the most fully featured free VMSes available, with broad camera support and advanced client features not found in most free VMSes or low cost NVRs, with no storage duration limits found in many free offerings. Additionally, automated camera discovery sped install time, adding cameras to the recording server with little effort, an uncommon feature.
However, Essential+ is quite complex and time consuming for setup, administration and use for a small scale / entry-level system. Novices are likely to be confused by its many components, installation options, terminology, and client setup, making these small Essential+ systems more likely to be sold and installed by integrators than implemented by end users themselves.
Limitations Compared To Paid XProtect
XProtect Essential+ is Milestone's latest free VMS version, replacing Essential and Go before it, with three key limitations compared to other XProtect versions:
- Eight channels: Essential+ is limited to eight channel licenses. Note that "channel" does not always mean a single imager/camera, with devices such as encoders and multi-imager cameras using only a single license.
- Single server: Users may view only a single Essential+ system at a time, regardless of how many channels are connected to each server (e.g., no viewing of two 4-camera systems simultaneously).
- Limited add-ons: Finally, Essential+ is limited in which Milestone add-ons may be used, with only Screen Recorder available. XProtect LPR, Retail, POS, and Access require higher tier paid versions of software.
Additionally, some less common features such as edge storage, Milestone Interconnect/federated sites, failover, and bookmarks, are not available.
Camera support (H.265, smart codecs, fisheye, multiimager, etc.) and most other client features (maps, web pages, events, etc.) are otherwise identical to other XProtect versions.
No Recording Limits
Additionally, unlike some free VMSes which limit recording duration to short periods or allow only live viewing, Essential+ does not have any retention limits. Users may store video as long as their disk space allows (internal, external, or network).
New Versions Free Download
Since Essential+ versions are free to download, users may upgrade simply by installing the new version on top of the previous one. No software upgrade agreements are necessary, unlike other Milestone versions which require Care Plus in order to access new versions.
Disadvantage: Complex Installation
XProtect Essential+ installation is more complex than many VMSes, with many options presented to the user, without clear guidance, including single server/distributed system options, IIS setup, and multiple Milestone server roles which are optional (mobile server, event server, "service channel", etc.) and even those familiar with surveillance may not understand.
Note that users may simply hit "next" to walk through installation without changing any features, but the amount of information presented and terminology used may be confusing for novice users (a large segment of those looking for free VMS).
The installation also may take a significant amount of time due to the size of the install (nearly 2GB). In our tests, installation took over 20 minutes start to finish, seeming to stall at several points in the process, but ultimately installing without issues.
Advantage: Automatic Camera Discovery
During installation, users supply common credentials for cameras on their network, with XProtect Essential+ automatically adding cameras on the local network after setup is complete. For example, we entered admin and root, two common usernames for cameras:
And XProtect added 8 cameras found on the test network from a variety of manufacturers (Bosch, FLIR, Dahua, Geovision, Pelco) without any manual intervention. Note that users with more than 8 cameras online may want to manually add specific cameras, as there is no way to control which cameras are automatically added.
Advantage: Extensive Camera Support
XProtect Essential+ supports the same cameras as other versions of XProtect, over 6,500 devices total at the time of our test, with some notable advantages over many VMSes:
- Broader Manufacturer H.265 Support: XProtect supports 7 manufacturers' H.265 cameras, more than most VMSes, such as Exacq (3 manufacturers), or Avigilon, which does not support H.265 at all.
- ONVIF H.265 Support: Additionally, Milestone supports H.265 via ONVIF, while even most VMSes which support the codec do not, a notable camera integration issue (see our report: How And When ONVIF Will Support H.265
Additionally, Milestone supports several manufacturers' fisheye dewarping, detailed configuration of codecs on multiple manufacturers, including smart codec configuration, audio and I/O for most supported devices, and even less used features, such as Mobotix's MxPEG codec, making it more likely to support oddball or older cameras than many VMSes.
Smart Client Features
XProtect Essential+ uses the same Smart Client as other versions of Milestone, so users of other versions will see little difference. This is both good and bad, depending on one's experience with the Smart Client, as some functions are less intuitive or more complex than other VMSes/recorders, discussed briefly below. Note that we also cover these functions in more detail in our Milestone XProtect 2014 Test.
Live View Setup Complexity
Unlike other VMSes, in which users simply drag cameras into and out of viewing panes of a layout, Milestone requires users to enter setup mode to add/remove cameras and change layout. Users cannot simply switch between 2x2, 3x3, or 4x4 layout on the fly, without predefining it. Additionally, cameras cannot be removed from a tile without entering setup.
Playback/Search Advantages
Milestone includes several playback and search modes, including timeline, event, thumbnail, and smart/pixel search, offering more flexible search than many VMSes, and more usable than typical low cost NVRs/CMS, which generally include only timeline and basic event search. XProtect also includes synchronized multi-camera export, not typically found on NVRs, nor some VMSes.
Advantage: Additional Monitoring Tools (Events, Maps, Web Pages)
Finally, XProtect includes multiple specialized tile types which may be used for system monitoring, most of which are found only in professional or enterprise systems.
- Event list/video: Users may view a list of events into a layout, along with a separate tile used to view event video as they occur.
- Complex maps: XProtect offers complex mapping, allowing maps to be nested, display alarms, I/O, audio, third party plugins, server status information, etc., allowing more detailed maps than most low cost/free platforms, which are typically limited to cameras only.
- Web pages/images/text: Finally, users may use web pages as well as static images or text in XProtect layouts, typically included only in enterprise VMS. These options may be used to display maps, instructions, weather, external systems, etc., in the layout.
Disadvantage: Configuration Complexity
Users new to XProtect Essential+ may find administration and configuration more difficult than other VMSes/NVRs, with some common tasks requiring additional configuration steps which may not be obvious to even experienced users of other VMSes.
For example, instead of simply setting a recording schedule or selecting "continuous" as recording mode, users must create a new rule to set cameras to continuously record in XProtect 2017, totally separate from the "Record" tab of camera setup.
Additionally, using camera side VMD is similarly complex, requiring users to define an event (motion, analytics, I/O) in XProtect before it can be used, while other VMSes/recorders simply receive these events automatically from connected cameras.
Advantage: Free Included Mobile Server/Full Featured Mobile App
XProtect Essential+ includes Milestone Mobile server at no additional charge, installed by default. Using Milestone Mobile apps, users may view live video, playback, and event video from the Essential+ server, shown below. In our tests, we saw no issue running this server for up to 8 cameras on the same server as recording and management, with CPU load only increasing a few percent.
Compared To Low Cost Recorders
Compared to low cost NVRs such as Dahua or Hikvision, there are several advantages to XProtect Essential+:
- Better camera support: XProtect lists over 6,000 devices as supported, via direct drivers and ONVIF Profile S. By contrast, most low cost NVRs mainly support the manufacturer's own cameras, with limited support for a handful of direct drivers and ONVIF. In our tests, third party support is typically spotty in these recorders, but rarely in XProtect.
- Better search and export: In our testing, XProtect's search and export features are superior to low cost NVRs/CMS software, with more search methods (thumbnail, smart search) and multi-camera export with proprietary player.
- Higher end features: XProtect includes several features not found in low cost NVRs, such as screen recording, complex multi-tier maps, embedded web pages, event management, and more.
However, there are several drawbacks, as well:
- More complex/time consuming: Unlike low cost NVRs which generally may be unboxed and cameras added immediately, users must prepare a PC and install software themselves, greatly adding to the amount of time necessary for system setup.
- More costly: 8-channel PoE NVRs may be found online for $300-400, similar to the pricing of the Windows PC required for Milestone installation. Additionally, users must supply a separate PoE switch, an additional $100-200, making an XProtect Essential+ recorder/switch likely twice the price of an all-in-one NVR.
- No cloud access/requires port forwarding or VPN: Finally, while Essential+ includes the Milestone Mobile server at no additional cost, users must manually forward router ports or use VPN for remote access, while most low cost NVRs now include free cloud access, requiring no port forwarding.