Synology Surveillance Licenses
Tommie
Synology NAS/NVR comes with default licenses1 that allow you to set up and manage surveillance devices. Synology also provides three options for additional purchased licenses: 1, 4 or 8 Surveillance Device License Packs; each comes with a single license key, allowing you to activate 1, 4 or 8 surveillance devices at a time.
In the table above, you can see a detailed example of four different camera types. Certain panoramic cameras (e.g., Axis M3007) supporting on-camera dewarping may provide more than one stream (e.g., Quad View, Double Panorama, and Original View) at a time. Each regular and panoramic camera requires one license only.
There are two types of multi-lens cameras: fixed lens and removable lens. Most fixed lens cameras providing more than one stream at a time require only one license per camera. For fixed lens cameras with independent IP addresses or removable lens cameras, you will need one license per channel. For example, you can add as many as three lenses to Axis Q3709-PVE, which allows you to stream up to three channels. If you want to display all three channels in Surveillance Station, you will need three licenses. Take Axis F44 as another example. Axis F44 (with as many as four lenses) allows you to stream up to five channels, with four of the channels displaying footage from the four lenses, and the fifth channel combining the view of all four cameras. If you wish to display all five channels in Surveillance Station, you will need five licenses accordingly.
Video servers such as Vivotek VS8801 can connect to as many as eight analog cameras. In this case, you will need eight licenses accordingly. This rule also applies to video servers that are compatible with Surveillance Station.
You can contact our authorized resellers. Please be sure to keep the license keys and the proof of purchase (e.g., invoice or receipt) afterward in a safe place. If the keys are lost, Synology will not provide any replacements or lookup services.
Furthermore, we highly recommend signing in to Synology Account on your device from DSM Control Panel. In some situations, such as when a hardware replacement is needed, Synology Account can authenticate your ownership of the license keys. (Please note that you will still need to enter the license keys after signing in to Synology Account on the new device.)
One license key can only be applied to one Synology product at a time. In case of hardware replacement, you can either reactivate the licenses on a new Synology device by deactivating them on the original device first or follow the migration process (depending on whether you still have access to the original device). Please refer to this tutorial for more details.
Yes. If your Synology NAS/NVR is not connected to the Internet, there are two methods you can use to install/delete surveillance device licenses. You can either use Surveillance Station Client on an Internet-connected computer or DS cam app on a mobile device. Please refer to this tutorial for more details.
In the License app, you can see all installed surveillance device licenses and check the number of licenses in use. If more licenses are required, new ones can be added up to the maximum number of surveillance devices as supported by your Synology device. Licenses no longer in use can be removed here as well. Please refer to this tutorial for more details.
I'm thinking of setting up a surveillance camera for use with our XPenology box (bare metal Dell Optiplex 3010). I notice on eBay that "Surveillance Station licenses" are available - would I need to buy one and if so will it be happy being used on an XPenology install? I notice plenty of posts here from users of Surveillance Station so I'm assuming so.
Thanks for taking the time to reply. In those posts, where Surveillance Station is mentioned, people always seem to say "extra licenses" in their questions, possibly implying that Surveillance Station operates in a limited capacity (single camera?) but one needs to pay Synology to go further with it?
Steve
Hello, I want to thank you for hard work. Is it possible to add DVA features of Synology surveillance station to home assistant so automations and scenes will be triggered upon face recognition or license plate from cameras?
It would be nice to add those new features to hass, since it would be possible to automate many things, basicaly you can use it as Face ID to enter your house or property, keep an eye on suspicious people, and much more.
Hello, no, not yet waiting too since I have synology dva3221 and it would be nice to have automations by face recognition or license plate rec, maybe developers need help or something but noone has contacted me regarding this, I would help to make those features implemented into hass more quickly. But what I suggest you do is go to official integration page and go to their github and make a request, they need to know
that more people asking for this feature
One of those is building your DIY IP-cam security system via the Synology Surveillance Station add-on package. In my opinion, this feature is so useful and well-designed that it alone can be the reason you should get a Synology NAS in the first place.
This post will explain the Surveillance Station app and how to make the most out of it. Before continuing, check out my take on Synology NAS servers to get an overall idea of working with one, including accessing its web user interface and handling apps.
Dong's note: I first published this review on May 20, 2019, with Surveillance Station 8 running under DSM 6, and last updated it on August 10, 2023, to add more information with Surveillance Station 9 under DSM 7. Synology regularly pushes out minor updates for this app and DSM, and in March 2020, the company introduced its first IP cams. The information in this post is based on the latest versions and Synology hardware available as of the published date.
The apps allow you to manage multiple IP cameras at a remarkably comprehensive level and save security footage directly on your NAS server. That's on top of the options to use the camera's built-in SD card slot or the vendor's cloud.
Since 2019, Synology has maintained a surveillance-centric line of network video recorders (NVRs) called the DVA series, currently represented by the DVA1622 and DVA3221. This series combines the video management features of Synology Surveillance Station with advanced analytics for improved incident response and business intelligence.
It's worth noting that Surveillance Station 9 requires DSM 7. Consequently, Surveillance Station 8.2 will remain relevant to existing servers of model years 2013 and older that can't upgrade past DSM 6.
I upgraded my Surveillance Station from version 8.2 to 9 in May 2022, and the process was a no-brainer. After a few warnings, shown below, the 10-min migration finished without a hitch. All of the existing recordings remained in place.
Since then, I've been using version 9 for over a year and have grown to like it. The C2 option is not applicable in my case, but the Monitor Center is an excellent way to keep tabs on multiple cameras simultaneously in sync for live and recorded footage.
That said, if you have a 2013 or older NAS server and have to stick with DSM 6.2 (hence Surveillance Station 8.2), keep in mind that Surveillance Station 9 is nice to have, but it's not necessarily earth-shattering.
As mentioned above, the Surveillance Station has an intuitive user interface of its own. Each major function of the surveillance system is managed via an app with shortcuts readily available on the desktop.
It's important to note that even those not (yet) added to the list will work with Surveillance Station as long as they support ONVIF -- an open set of standardized interfaces available in most IP cameras.
When a camera is supported, most, if not all, of its functions and features will be available to the app. For example, if the camera has pan and tilt functions, the app can control those. For all cameras, all essential features, including zoom, night vision, and motion detection, are all there.
Specifically, the process is super-quick if you use a Synology cam since the app handles everything. All you have to do is install the cam like any PoE device, run the Surveillance Station app, and finish the two steps below with a few clicks.
On the other hand, if you use a third-party cam, each part of the two-step process below needs some attention. You must first physically connect the camera to your network and then logically add it to Surveillance Station.
If it's a wired camera, plug it in via a network cable, and that's it. For a Wi-Fi camera, you'll need to follow the camera's manual to connect it to the Wi-Fi network using its web interface or mobile app.
It's important to note that the actual amount of customization varies depending on the camera's capability. Version 9 has a function where you can quickly copy the setting of an existing camera to a newly added one, making the setup process much faster.
I've been happy with how the app works for the most part. It's reliable and delivers excellent performance. Compared with other canned security camera systems, like the Arlo, the best thing about Surveillance Sation is that there's almost no limit to how long a recording can be.
The Timeline view and Sync playback (now available with improved performance via Monitor Center in version 9) are also helpful when I need to find a particular recording or have a good picture of what's happening at a specific time.
Remote access to the system is also convenient. You can do that via the web interface, the Surveillance Station desktop software, or the DS Cam mobile app. They all use Synology's QuickConnect vendor-assisted portal to access the NAS server. Alternatively, you can also use Dynamic DNS.
Using remote access with the Surveillance Station means you stream recording (or live footage) from the NAS server. For this reason, the performance depends on the Internet speeds at both ends, where the NAS server resides and the remote location.
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