Surveillance Station 8.1 for Synology NAS

Synology Inc. announced the Surveillance Station 8.1, which boasts faster performance and provides a more complete surveillance solution than previous versions with the introduction of the remote recording archiving feature, the integration with transaction devices and intercom cameras, and the ability to intelligently switch between different security levels.

“In this new release, we focused on enhancing performance and providing a complete surveillance solution for homes and retail businesses.” said Ruby Lin, product manager, Synology, “The integration of POS systems with surveillance videos, and the capability to archive recordings remotely from branch offices to HQs, provide users a more complete retail solution. With new features that enable automatic switching between different security levels according to the location of the mobile device, and the integration with intercom systems, Surveillance Station 8.1 strives to deliver the most convenient and safe monitoring experience to home users. Additionally, the GPU decoder lets users use built-in graphic cards from the CPU to achieve blazing fast performance on Surveillance Station Client.“

Surveillance Station 8.1 includes following features:

• Remote recording archiving: Designed to help chain stores when individual branches have limited storage space, it now lets users customize the recording time and event type which will be archived to a remote location, such as the company’s HQs. Users will also have the ability to setup the execution time for archiving tasks and implement bandwidth control to prevent archiving tasks from affecting usual network activity.

• POS ⁽¹⁾ integration: Stores can now monitor every transaction with corresponding videos, and quickly resolve disputes by searching historical records via an intuitive interface. Users can also choose to receive notifications whenever there are abnormal transactions, or customize their notifications with the Action Rule application.

• Intercom camera ⁽²⁾ integration: With the integration of intercom cameras, users now have the ability to interact with visitors like never before. With functions such as video surveillance, doorbell, door lock operation, and two-way audio, intercom cameras provide users a new level of flexibility. In addition, users also have the ability to search through historical records in Surveillance Station, correspond with visitors via two-way audio and even enter the surveillance area with one-time manual access via DS cam.

• Home mode: For home security, Surveillance Station 8.1 provides two different security settings depending on whether the user is at home or away. Users can switch between different security modes manually, via a schedule, or automatically by Geofence. When switching to a different security setting, the system will adjust to different recording schedules, notification settings, stream profiles, and activate specific action rules.

• HTML5 supported ⁽³⁾: With support for HTML5, users are no longer required to use Surveillance Station Client or install plug-ins on Internet Explorer and Safari to manage it. On Surveillance Station 8.1, users can now view videos directly in Chrome.

• GPU acceleration ⁽⁴⁾: GPU acceleration is now supported in the Windows version of Surveillance Station Client. After upgrading to Surveillance Station 8.1 and enabling the GPU acceleration option, users can now enjoy smoother performance by leveraging the built-in graphics card. This eliminates the need to buy additional graphic cards and reduces CPU usage while providing a smoother video display.

Surveillance Station 8.1 is available for free download on DiskStation Manager in Package Center, and is compatible with the company’s DiskStation, RackStation, and NVR models running DSM 6.0 and above.

Applied models:

• 18 series: DS418j

• 17 series: FS3017, FS2017, RS18017xs+, RS4017xs+, RS3617xs+, RS3617xs, RS3617RPxs, RS217, DS3617xs, DS1817+, DS1817, DS1517+, DS1517

• 16 series: RS18016xs+, RS2416+, RS2416RP+, RS816, DS916+, DS716+II, DS716+, DS416play, DS416slim, DS416j, DS416, DS216+II, DS216+, DS216play, DS216se, DS216j, DS216, DS116, NVR216

• 15 series: RS815+, RS815RP+, RS815, RC18015xs+, DS3615xs, DS2415+, DS2015xs, DS1815+, DS1515+, DS1515, DS715, DS415+, DS415play, DS215+, DS215j, DS115j, DS115

• 14 series: RS3614xs+, RS3614xs, RS3614RPxs, RS2414+, RS2414RP+, RS814+, RS814RP+, RS814, RS214, DS414slim, DS414j, DS414, DS214+, DS214play, DS214se, DS214, DS114, EDS14

• 13 series: RS10613xs+, RS3413xs+, DS2413+, DS1813+, DS1513+, DS713+, DS413j, DS413, DS213+, DS213j, DS213air, DS213

• 12 series: RS3412xs, RS3412RPxs, RS2212+, RS2212RP+, RS812+, RS812RP+, RS812, RS212, DS3612xs, DS1812+, DS1512+, DS712+, DS412+, DS212+, DS212j, DS212, DS112+, DS112j, DS112

• 11 series: RS3411xs, RS3411RPxs, RS2211+, RS2211RP+, RS411, DS3611xs, DS2411+, DS1511+, DS411+II, DS411+, DS411slim, DS411j, DS411, DS211+, DS211j, DS211, DS111

⁽¹⁾ Each POS device requires two surveillance device licenses.
⁽²⁾ The installation method of intercom cameras is just like regular cameras, and each intercom requires only one device license.
⁽³⁾ Only MJPEG and H.264 video codec are supported in the current version, and some advanced image features such as fisheye dewarping, live view analytics, and smart search are not supported. For complete features and services, we still recommend using Surveillance Station Client or Internet Explorer and Safari.
⁽⁴⁾ Only H.264 streams in Live View and Preview supports GPU acceleration, advanced video processing such as fisheye dewarping and live view analytics is not yet supported. The stream types that do not support GPU acceleration will still use CPU decoding.