SS4 client viewing software don't display the unlicensed cams from SSServer

McJohn
McJohn
edited June 2016 in SecuritySpy
Hi,

When you have for example a licence of 8 cams SecuritySpy and you have a 9th cam, the Server displays this 9th cam "View Only". That's normal.
In the former version of SecuritySpy, the SecuritySpy client viewing software displays this 9th cam also normally.
But in version 4 of SS the 9th cam isn't displayed anymore in the client software. (Server works well, 9th cam is recognised and displayed).
In the SS client software we got an error message in the window of the 9th cam: Unrecognised request Check device type". When we checked the cam settings in the prefs and reload the "Profile SecuritySpy", "Choose Stream", the 9th camera is disappeared in the stream list....
(but as said; it's mentioned and working at the SS Server).
And in the list of the SS4Webserver client page this 9th cam is displayed in grey and non selectable.

It this a bug in SS4?
Kind regards,
John

Comments

  • Ben
    Ben
    Hi John,

    This is expected behaviour in SecuritySpy version 4. When a camera is not licensed (e.g. you go over the 30-day trial period, or over the number of cameras allowed by your SecuritySpy license), this camera is in "viewing only" mode. This means that it will display in the software's video windows, but nothing else (no recording, no streaming via the web server).

    This allows you to use an unlicensed copy of SecuritySpy to provide a good viewing experience of your main SecuritySpy server plus any IP cameras you like, for free.
  • McJohn
    McJohn
    Hi Ben, why was this working well in SS3.x and not anymore in version 4?

    Kind regards,
    John
  • Ben
    Ben
    Hi John,

    Under SecuritySpy version 3, for any camera under these circumstances, there would be a big "DEMO" banner in the middle of the video feed coming from the web server. So it's changed a little between the versions, but I wouldn't say that it was working well before but now it doesn't.

    We decided to remove the DEMO banner restriction in SecuritySpy 4, in order to make the 30-day trial genuinely fully-featured with no restrictions. But that did mean that we had to come up with a different method of preventing cameras from streaming via the web server outside the license, and this is it.
  • McJohn
    McJohn
    Thanks for the explanation Ben.
    OK we understand your motivation. But before we had a remote image with indeed a little banner and now, with a newer version, we have nothing anymore :-(
  • srd
    srd
    I also miss this functionality - I only have 9 cameras - so therefore I cannot justify the upgrade price to go to 16, and was happy with the compromise of having a Demo Banner, until such time as I get more camera's to make the upgrade worthwhile.
    Without the option to buy a licence to cover the exact number of cameras I have - It seems like it is penalising customers who have more cameras.
  • Ben
    Ben
    I can see why this change is not ideal for some users, so I'm sorry about that. But without the demo message we need a way to limit usage of SecuritySpy to the terms of the license. The demo message was intended to allow users to test out all the features of the software before purchase; we never intended for users to actually use the demo-marked stream for any useful long-term purpose other than this!

    I can see why, with 9 cameras, you don't want to go up to the next license level. But I hope when you expand your systems a bit more you'll consider this worthwhile. In the mean time, feel free to continue to use version 3 if this suits your needs better.

    Another workaround would be to change the configuration of this 9th camera in the viewing instance of SecuritySpy to pull video from the camera directly, rather than pulling it from your main SecuritySpy server. This way you will get no demo restrictions on it.
  • srd
    srd
    Thanks for the suggestion around pulling the feed directly from the 9th camera, this will work for the second instance.

    Can you think of a workaround for Mobile/Spyglass - as this exhibits the same behaviour ?
  • Ben
    Ben
    Sorry, there is no workaround for the Remote Patrol or Spyglass apps, because these connect to SecuritySpy and cannot connect directly to the cameras themselves.
  • McJohn
    McJohn
    Ben said; "Another workaround would be to change the configuration of this 9th camera in the viewing instance of SecuritySpy to pull video from the camera directly, rather than pulling it from your main SecuritySpy server. This way you will get no demo restrictions on it."

    This workaround gives a lot of "troubles" with port forwarding of the router etc. and a kind of separate other cam solution outside the central SS Server.
    And indeed, also the Remote Patrol app didn't display the 9th cam with this solution. :-(

    I understand your arguments Ben but for the user this is unfortunately a step backwards.
    Maybe you could consider a 12 license version.

    Warm regards,

    John
  • guykuo
    guykuo
    I delayed moving up from an 8 camera license for quite some time due to the huge jump to go all the way to 16. That meant waiting until multiple more cameras were needed and funding justified. It also meant weighting a switch to another NVR solution against the cost of Security Spy.

    If a 12 license level were available, I would have made the leap much sooner and would not have even investigated jumping ship.
  • srd
    srd
    I would also be interested in a 12 licence if it were available - I cannot justify the jump to 16

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