I setup a small ONVIF CCTV system in a test environment this week.
The intention was to get several different ONVIF CCTV compliant Axis encoders recording on an IndigoVision NVR to allow integration to an existing system rather than running two different VMS systems.
The products I tested were:
- IndigoVision NVR-AS3000 recorder
- IndigoVision Control Center v4
- 1x Axis Q7406 6 channel video encoder blade
- 1x Axis Q7404 4 channel video encoder blade
- 1x Axis P3364 IP CCTV camera
After a significant amount of time trying to connect
After a significant amount of time trying to connect to the Axis CCTV products via the IndigoVision ONVIF configuration tool with no success I decided to open the IndigoVision Control Center purely to read the help file and to my surprise, all the Axis cameras and encoders were showing up in visible devices.
So I dragged them into the test site that already had 15 IndigoVision cameras and encoders (both 8000, 9000 & 11000 series), setup some recording jobs and it worked!
The Results
In live mode, all cameras appeared to the same to the user other than the bandwidth. The IndigoVision cameras were typically 30% less bandwidth than the Axis. Sometimes 50%.
In playback mode, searching and normal play was identical but the IndigoVision had some key features that worked better, including reverse play and motion search.
Final Opinion
Having multiple camera brands on the one system is achievable under ONVIF but you may not get the same capabilities from all products as ONVIF is only designed to bring in the bare bones compatibility between CCTV products.
Do not assume that if a IP camera is ONVIF compatible, it will work – it may only give a limited set of functions such as MJPEG but not H.264
Further reading:
How Well Does a Video Surveillance System Design Based on ONVIF Work?
