Axis Camera Station is software that has been developed specifically for operating their security cameras and video servers. The software is used in professional surveillance camera applications and has specific features for enhancing audio and video. Video can be improved with the ‘Image Enhancer’ function in Axis Camera Station; the drawback is that a separate license key is required. The image enhancer enables you to improve the image of video recorded under severe whether conditions and is quite effective. Users of the system can monitor video in a variety of remote locations; this is done through either a web browser or through the software’s Windows client.

The user interface for Axis camera station makes operating your surveillance system straightforward. You can control PTZ cameras easily with the software and set the sensitivity of motion detection cameras. PTZ camera positioning can be controlled with a Windows joystick or with the Axis 295 surveillance joystick. You can set specific recording times with the software or set it to record when your surveillance cameras detect motion. For tweaking the motion detection settings the software displays a grid you can manipulate that overlays the image picked up by your surveillance camera. Continuous recording is another option but this will consume a lot of hard drive space if you have a multitude of cameras attached.  A way of getting round this is to set your key surveillance cameras to record continuously while the others record at set intervals.

You can search for recorded camera footage with the software by entering the specific date or time of an incident. Video footage can also be searched for based on when motion was detected at specific periods.

Axis camera station acts as a hub for all surveillance system operators, you can give users different levels of access to its features. Three options are available, one of these allows users to do nothing but view camera footage, the second allows the user to view and operate cameras attached to the system. The third user level is administrator and at this level the user has full access to the features of Axis Camera Station.

System requirements for Axis Camera Station are moderate, you will need a 1GHz Pentium processor with 256 MB of RAM. The software is compatible with Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista. A free demonstration of Axis Camera Station is available, to get more information on the software and to download the package, click here.

Check the latest price on Axis Camera Station

Visec is a software package designed for Windows based PC’s giving users the opportunity to create their own surveillance system. The software is capable of taking control of the cameras you have attached to your system and it can notify you about events that have been recorded. If you have purchased a DVR card or security camera for your PC based surveillance system, you may have received a software bundle. Visec tends to have better functionality and more features than the free software that is included with many surveillance related hardware packages. If you don’t have any such software you may find Visec to be the alternative you need for operating your surveillance system.

Most USB cameras are compatible with Visec and it can upload recorded images to the Internet by FTP. You can also use the software to view camera footage from any location that has Internet access, this means you can stay informed even if your surveillance system is miles away. Even if you don’t have access to your PC the software is capable of notifying you about events (such as motion detection) as Visec can send alerts to your mobile phone. You can set the program to start recording only at times when motion is detected, this feature can help to save your hard drive space.

The software does a lot to ensure your surveillance system is secure, you can use it to set up user accounts and passwords for access. When you view video remotely the software sends video to you through video streaming and you can convert the recorded video into AVI files. The motion detection settings of cameras attached to your system can be tweaked with Visec and you can specify the levels of sensitivity. The software does have some limitations, without a DVR card it only works efficiently with up to four cameras.

Another handy feature found in Visec is ‘Stealth Mode’ this enables you to set your surveillance system to record without being noticed. The program can be set to run at Windows startup giving you the ability to monitor the activities at a specific PC. When Visec is started in stealth mode Windows gives no apparent notification that the software is running and recording video footage.

Visec is compatible with the majority of Windows PC’s, the hardware requirements are reasonably low. It is compatible with Windows Vista and XP and a number of earlier versions of the operating system. An 800MHz processor along with 256 megabytes of ram are required to run the software.

Get the latest price on Visec surveillance software