Home security software advice please.

I have 2 Reolink IP security cameras outside my home. They save their footage to a Synology NAS. I use Reolink software that came with the cams but I have also used Synology software for setup and control of the cams. For various reasons, neither of them work very well. The "people only" filter still records animals and insects and the alerts to email don't work very well.
Can anyone recommend a free client that works well with IP cams? The majority of the recommended clients online are quite expensive and I'm fed up spending money on software that is disappointing. Thanks.

Zoneminder

The great thing with free software is you can just try as many as you want until you find one that suits your needs perfectly. open-source is a great thing to look out for in free software as it means you won’t get a daily pop up asking you to purchase a premium subscription.

neemobeer said:

Zoneminder

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Great if you run Linux. Windows, not so much.

James said:

I’ve heard that this one:

Security Eye - Video Monitoring Software for Windows

Video surveillance software with webcam and IP cameras. Turn your PC into security system! Video recording, motion detector, alerts via email & SMS.

www.security-eye-software.com

…and this one:

ZoneMinder - Home

A full-featured, open source, state-of-the-art video surveillance software system.

zoneminder.com

Are some good examples. The great thing with free software is you can just try as many as you want until you find one that suits your needs perfectly. The latter is also open-source, which is a great thing to look out for in free software as it means you won’t get a daily pop up asking you to purchase a premium subscription (not that security eye does that however).

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I looked at Security Eye but it states it is free download for evaluation. It appears to have a 2 hour recording limit.

AK6DN said:

Great if you run Linux. Windows, not so much.

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Can you explain what the issues are with the Windows version please?

Glad you posted this. I was thinking of obtaining a Reolink system/cameras. So far only using the Reolink wifi doorbell camera. I was going to get their 8 ch NVR for recording however to use PoE cameras.

BamaInArk said:

Glad you posted this. I was thinking of obtaining a Reolink system/cameras. So far only using the Reolink wifi doorbell camera. I was going to get their 8 ch NVR for recording however to use PoE cameras.

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The cams are good quality but the software is very limited. I record to NAS which is hidden from burglars. I would prefer to record to cloud but the costs mount up. I already pay for cloud backup but it's not possible to connect NAS to the same cloud platform. There's a lot to consider.

sydh said:

Can you explain what the issues are with the Windows version please?

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From the ZoneMinder website: "ZoneMinder does not run on any, and is incompatible with, all versions of Windows. We have no plans to support Windows. It is possible to run ZoneMinder under Windows Subsystem for Linux."

James said:

Try out Zoneminder for windows. It may be OK for your needs.

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Huh? From the ZoneMinder website: "ZoneMinder does not run on any, and is incompatible with, all versions of Windows. We have no plans to support Windows. It is possible to run ZoneMinder under Windows Subsystem for Linux."

That rules out Zoneminder then.