Surveillance Station

DSM Version

General

Features

  • Versatile monitoring platforms: Surveillance Station web-based interface, the desktop utility Synology Surveillance Station Client, the PC-less surveillance solution VisualStation, the network video recorder (NVR) application Local Display, and the mobile app DS cam
  • Comprehensive integration with 8,300 IP cameras, Synology Live cam, I/O modules, door controllers, IP speakers, and POS systems
  • Event detection with powerful video analytics and instant notifications
  • Centralized management for 10,000 cameras on 1,000 multi-site Synology servers
  • Recording backup and archiving to remote servers with customized setting

Specifications

  • System requirements:
    • Operating system: Windows 7/macOS 10.13 or above
    • Browser: Google Chrome
    • CPU: Core i5 and above (Learn more)
  • Supported formats:
    • Video formats: MJPEG, H.264, H.264+, H.265, H.265+, MPEG4, MxPEG
    • Streaming tunnel formats: MJPEG, H.264, H.264+, H.265, H.265+, MPEG4, MxPEG via RTSP over TCP, UDP, HTTP
    • Camera audio codecs: PCM, AMR, G.711, G.726, 16-bit PCM-LE
    • Recording audio formats: MP3, Wav, Qgg, QMA, G.726, AMR
    • Map formats: BMP, JPG, JPEG, GIF, PNG, SVG
  • Supported languages: Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese Brazil, Portuguese European, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Turkish

Limitations

  • The supported video formats may vary according to the specifications of each client device (Learn more)
  • The supported audio codecs may vary according to the specifications of each camera

Application component

Live Monitoring

Specifications

  • Available on web browsers, Synology Surveillance Station Client, Local Display, VisualStation, and DS cam (Learn more)
  • Supports Monitor Center as the centralized interface for viewing live video from multiple cameras
  • Monitor Center layouts:
    • Supports customizable layouts with up to 100 channels
    • Sequential layout: Rotates layouts in a set order periodically
    • Alert layout: Automatically jumps to the layout when an event is triggered
    • Camera group layout: Displays all cameras in the group
  • Supports dynamic stream adjustment by display size or event detection
  • Supports instant display of motion detection, advanced events, digital input, tampering detection, audio detection, Face Recognition, and Deep Video Analytics events
  • Supports an I/O widget channel to display device statuses and manually trigger events
  • Supports interactive maps that provide quick access to devices and alerts, and allows integration with OpenStreetMap, Google Map, and custom tile servers
  • Supports an alert panel for camera, I/O module, door controller, and transaction device event recordings
  • Supports on-screen display (OSD) buttons to control drag and zoom, manual recording, camera information display, and audio/digital output for external devices
  • Supports snapshots with instant blur, mask, and download features
  • Supports camera operation buttons to control zoom, focus, iris adjustment, auto-pan, show/hide PT control cursor, and auto object tracking
  • Supports Privacy Masking that covers sensitive areas in camera views
  • Supports overlaying text watermarks on live camera feeds to prevent data leakage
  • Supports GPU acceleration that can reduce the CPU loading to provide a smoother display
  • Supports Live View Analytics and Smart Search features for motion detection, missing object, foreign object, camera occlusion, focus lost, and no-idle zone events
  • Supports Fisheye Dewarping to display fisheye footage in a rectilinear or panoramic view
  • Supports Joystick control for an alternative operation method
  • Supports Live Broadcast to send live camera streams to YouTube

Limitations

  • Monitor Center cannot display footage if the total camera resolution exceeds the capacity of the graphics card of the client computer
  • Web browsers and DS cam do not support Joystick, Fisheye Dewarping, Smart Search, and Live View Analytics
  • Drag-and-drop map uploading is only supported on Google Chrome and Firefox
  • A Google Maps API key is required to use Google Maps in Surveillance Station (Learn more)
  • Recordings with privacy masking can only be downloaded from Synology Surveillance Station Client
  • GPU acceleration:
    • Only supports H.264 and H.265 formats (Depending on the graphics card of the client device)
    • Only compatible with Synology Surveillance Station Client running on macOS, Windows 7, and Windows 10
  • Audio output is only available over HTTPS connection via web browsers
  • Live Broadcast only supports streaming in H.264 format

Recording

Specifications

  • Supports recording timeline features in Monitor Center
  • Supports recording playback, label, and bookmark features
  • Supports manual, continuous, motion detection, I/O alarm, customized, and action rule triggered recording
  • Supports pre/post-recording time settings that include footage of the 5 to 300 seconds before or after events into event recordings
  • Supports recording truncating that saves 1 to 240-minute clips
  • Supports Dual Recording that saves an extra set of camera recordings with different resolution, FPS, schedule, and retention settings
  • Supports Edge Recording that ensures uninterrupted recording on SD-card-supported cameras when they are disconnected
  • Supports Smart Time Lapse that condenses long recordings into 60-second clips
  • Recording Player:
    • Supports buttons to control play/pause, next/previous frame, forward/reverse, fast forward/rewind 10 seconds, next/previous event, fast forward/slow motion
    • Supports image enhancement options to adjust the brightness, contrast, saturation, and sharpness
  • Download:
    • Supported download formats: MP4 and AVI
    • Supports merging and downloading separate recordings into one file
    • Supports overlaying text and image watermarks when downloading recordings
    • Supports password protection to lock downloaded recordings
  • Supports recording encryption to secure recording access in Surveillance Station
  • Backup:
    • Supports using Hyper Backup to back up Surveillance Station system configurations and recordings to external devices or remote servers
    • Supports using Archive Vault to archive recordings to remote servers with customized time range, camera, and event-mode settings
    • Supports using C2 Backup for Surveillance (formerly C2 Surveillance) to upload recordings to Synology C2 cloud storage
  • Storage:
    • Supports customizing the recording storage with encrypted shared folder options for each camera
    • Supports recording rotation triggered by retention time or storage size
    • Supports recording indexing that synchronizes the recordings listed in Surveillance Station with the actual files in File Station
  • Supports share links that allow non-Surveillance Station users to view and download recordings

Limitations

  • Encrypted shared folders cannot be accessed via NFS
  • Videos cannot be locked during the recording process
  • Pre/post-recording times:
    • Settings over 10 seconds may affect the system performance due to increased memory consumption
    • 300-second settings are only available on Synology models with a memory capacity of 4 GB and above
  • Watermark:
    • Watermarks are only available on Synology Surveillance Station Client
    • Recordings with watermarks cannot be authenticated by Synology Evidence Integrity Authenticator
    • Watermarks cannot be overlaid if the recordings selected to merge and download are in different resolutions
  • Encrypted recordings cannot be accessed via SMB or File Station

Notification

Specifications

  • Provides instant notifications via SMS, email, mobile devices, and webhooks
  • Supports Action Rule triggered notifications
  • Allows customization of the notification contents of each event
  • Supports notifications of IP cameras, I/O modules, Surveillance Station Client, VisualStation, CMS recording servers, and external devices
  • Provides notification combination options to reduce excessive messages
  • Provides notification muting options to prevent interruption
  • Supported email providers include Gmail, Outlook, QQ, and customized SMTP servers
  • Allows 10 email notification recipients
  • Event snapshots can be attached to notification emails
  • Supports push service on DS cam

Limitations

  • Only administrators can modify notification settings
  • Event snapshots cannot be attached when the notification combination function is enabled

CMS

Specifications

  • Supports using a host server as the centralized platform to manage Surveillance Station features on paired recording servers
  • Supports up to 1,000 recording servers and 10,000 IP cameras in one system (Learn more)
  • Supports cross-domain deployment (Learn more)
  • Supports QuickConnect ID, IP address, and FQDN connection
  • Supports batch updating servers on-line and off-line
  • Supports migrating IP cameras and their recordings between servers
  • Grants host servers full management over the device licenses of recording servers
  • Failover:
    • Supports automatic failover protection from recording servers to multiple failover servers (Learn more)
    • Supports migrating device licenses to failover servers during failovers
    • Supports restoring recordings, snapshots, and archived recordings from failover servers back to recording servers

Limitations

  • Failover servers must support the same number of cameras as the recording servers
  • All servers under CMS must run the same version of Surveillance Station (The same DSM version is not required)
  • CPU performance may be affected if more than one-third of the recommended number of supported cameras are installed on the host server (Learn more)
  • Failover downtime is determined by the number of cameras to be transferred and the CPU computing power of the failover server
  • Camera migration can only function via SMB services
  • The default licenses of Synology products running as failover servers cannot be used

Management

Specifications

  • Supports high performance/high quality video scaling options in Monitor Center
  • Supports automatically signing out inactive accounts to ensure security
  • User:
    • Supports customizing user permissions to servers, IP cameras, I/O modules, and applications (Monitor Center, Maps, Recording, Log, Snapshot, and Home Mode)
    • Manager privileges grant users full control over all functions
    • Spectator privileges only allow users to view and operate authorized functions
    • Supports customizing account activation schedules for each user
  • Log:
    • Supports system logs that record all Surveillance Station system operations
    • Supports event logs that record camera, I/O module, Face Recognition, Deep Video Analytics events and corresponding recordings
    • Supported download formats: HTML and XLSX
    • Supports rotation by day, size, or log number
    • Supports sending logs to syslog servers
  • Supports Action Rule that links multiple surveillance devices and automates actions by trigger or schedule
  • Supports Dual Authorization with up to 20 supervisors (Learn more)
  • Supports using the built-in NTP server to synchronize the time across devices
  • Supports domain and LDAP services
  • Supports muting the beep sound temporarily on NVR Local Display

Limitations

  • Only administrators can manage privilege profile settings
  • Users can only be added to groups from DSM Control Panel
  • Synology NVR servers do not support domain/LDAP service

License

Specifications

  • Each Synology server comes with two or more default device licenses (Please refer to the datasheet of your model for the exact number)
  • Allows scalable surveillance deployment with extra licenses
  • Device License Packs are sold separately with 1, 4, or 8 licenses (Learn more)
  • Grants CMS hosts servers full management over the licenses of recording servers
  • Supports offline license management via Surveillance Station Client and DS cam
  • Supports license migration between different Synology servers

Limitations

  • Default licenses cannot be deleted or migrated
  • Certain surveillance devices may require more than one license (Learn more)
  • The default licenses of Synology products running as failover servers cannot be used

Home Mode

Specifications

  • Allows users to set recording, notification, stream, and action rule settings that activate according to their Home location
  • Supports Geofence triggering via DS cam device locations with a GPS radius of 100-500 meters
  • Allows manual and scheduled (one-time/recurring) activation
  • Supports GPS and Wi-Fi assistance for higher positioning accuracy
  • Supports trigger-delay to prevent unnecessary activations when users enter and leave the Home radius repeatedly within a short time

Limitations

  • Home Mode is not supported on servers in a CMS structure
  • Geofence can only be set up via DS cam
  • The power consumption of mobile devices may increase if GPS and Wi-Fi assistance are enabled

Comprehensive Camera Support

Specifications

  • Complete ONVIF integration with Profile S for video streaming, Profile G for edge storage, and Profile T for H.265 video compression
  • Compatible with over 8,300 IP cameras from 140 brands (Support List)
  • Supports up to 128 IP cameras on a single Synology server (NVR selector)
  • Supports HTTPS and SRTP connection
  • Supports batch adding cameras on-line and off-line by importing pre-filled .xlsx lists and configuration files, or by scanning an IP range
  • Supports multi-streaming with individual resolution, frame rate, bitrate, and image quality settings
  • Supports versatile event detection types, including motion detection, tampering, and PIR
  • Supports PTZ controls on compatible cameras
  • Supports automatic camera patrol triggered by schedule, detected events, or I/O alarms
  • Supports customizing information display settings, including timestamp, format, and camera position
  • Supports exposure mode settings that reduce image noise caused by light exposure or day-night mode switching
  • Supports Field of View (FOV) settings for cameras to capture images with wider angles
  • Integrated AXIS ACAP VMD and ACAP applications (Perimeter Defender, Cross Line Detection, Digital Autotracking, Tailgating Detector, and Object Analytics)
  • Integrated Hikvision Smart Events
  • Integrated DAHUA IVS (Intelligent Video System)
  • Supports camera groups for easy management of large numbers of cameras

Limitations

  • IP addresses in IPv6 format are not supported
  • Certain event detection types, PTZ controls, day-night mode, and FOV adjustments are only available if the camera supports the features

Intelligent Video Analytics

Specifications

  • Face Recognition:
    • Supports registering up to 10,000 user profiles with customized members, local DSM, domain, and LDAP users
    • Supports detecting covered/uncovered faces
    • Supports ignoring faces smaller than a set size
    • Supports recognition result playback, download, and locking
    • Available on CMS recording servers and failover servers
  • Deep Video Analytics (DVA):
    • Supports four task types: People and Vehicle Detection, Intrusion Detection, People Counting, and Vehicle Counting
    • Supports detection result playback, download, and locking
    • Supports DVA task, detection result, and archive features on CMS recording servers
    • Supports Smart Tags that automatically mark object types and specific behaviors
  • People and Vehicle Detection:
    • Supports License Plate Recognition that identifies global license plates that consist of alphanumeric characters (Enhanced the accuracy in specific regions)
    • Supports registering up to 10,000 customized license plates (4 to 12 characters)
    • Supports detecting vehicles traveling at a speed lower than 40 km/hr
    • Supported report download formats: HTML and XLSX
    • Supports loitering detection that triggers events when people or vehicles stay over a set time
    • Supports crowd detection that triggers events when the occupancy in detection zones exceeds the limit
  • Intrusion Detection:
    • Supports detecting specific targets
  • People Counting & Vehicle Counting:
    • Supports crowd detection that triggers events when the occupancy in detection zones exceeds the limit
    • Supports merging counting tasks to combine the numbers of multiple tasks
    • Supported report download formats: HTML and XLSX

Limitations

  • Face Recognition and Deep Video Analytics are only supported on DVA series models (Learn more)
  • The number of available intelligent video analytics tasks depends on the model of your Synology server (Learn more)
  • The detection accuracy depends on the actual surroundings and task deployment

Affiliated Utility

Synology DS cam

Features

  • An intuitive mobile application on Android and iOS devices for viewing live streams, recordings, and snapshots from IP cameras connected with Surveillance Station
  • Provides real-time notifications for events triggered by surveillance devices

Specifications

  • System requirements
    • iOS: 14.0 or above
    • Android: 8.0 or above
  • Multi View
    • Multi-channel live views and synchronized playback with multiple layout choices (1×2, 1×3, 2×2, and 2×3)
    • Allows users to choose display cameras and change the display order
    • Flexible playback speed control (from 0.25x to 5x), with key frame playback at maximum speed available
    • Shortcut panel with buttons for the following functions: playback controls, event switching, quick seek, snapshots, PTZ controls, optical zoom, timescale, two-way audio, manual access, and fixed aspect ratio
    • Supports dragging the timeline bar to an earlier moment to view recordings at the time
    • Supports pinching the timeline to adjust the scale or enabling Smart Timeline to automatically adjust the timescale according to your scroll speed
  • Single View
    • Available in both Multi View and Cameras tabs
    • Flexible playback speed control (from 0.25x to 5x), with key frame playback at maximum speed available
    • Shortcut panel with buttons for the following functions: playback controls, event switching, quick seek, snapshots, PTZ controls, optical zoom, timescale, two-way audio, manual access, and fixed aspect ratio
    • Supports dragging the timeline bar to an earlier moment to view recordings at the time
    • Supports pinching the timeline to adjust the scale or enabling Smart Timeline to automatically adjust the timescale according to your scroll speed
    • Mute/Unmute button to turn on or off sounds in the videos
    • Manual recording and camera setting adjustments available in the single view mode, including stream quality, digital output, preset position, patrol, auto-pan, etc. (Available options vary by device)
    • Supports PiP mode for Android devices
  • Cameras
    • Allows users to manage all available cameras and view live streams, recordings, and event recordings from a single camera
    • Supports switching the display mode between List-view and Thumbnail-view and changing the camera display order
    • Provides camera basic information
    • Cameras can be enabled and disabled
    • Supports searching for cameras by keywords, sources, or statuses
    • Floating player to continuously play recordings without having to stay on the page
  • Recordings
    • Allows users to view all recordings stored on Synology NAS/NVR
    • Flexible playback speed control (from 0.25x to 5x), with key frame playback at maximum speed available
    • Mute/Unmute button to turn on or off sounds in the videos
    • Supports searching for recordings by date, time, source, camera, lock status, and recording mode
    • Delete, lock, unlock, and download actions of recordings
    • Supports taking snapshots of the current video frame
    • Supports the downloading of an video file by specifying a time duration, and allows you to preview the video clip
    • Floating player to continuously play recordings without having to stay on the page
  • Snapshots
    • Allows users to view all snapshots stored on Synology NAS/NVR
    • Supports searching for snapshots by date and lock status
    • Delete, lock, unlock and download actions of snapshots
  • Notifications
    • Sends push notifications when predefined events are triggered, with available notifications including system, camera, I/O module, speaker, VisualStation, server, access control, external device, Deep Video Analytics, Archive Vault, and clients related events
    • Notifications can be muted for a given period (20 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours, or mute until today ends)
    • Do Not Disturb mode mutes all notifications within a specified time frame
    • Thumbnails for quick accesses to the single view page of cameras
    • Supports searching for notifications by keywords and read status
  • Home Mode
    • Supports the automatic activation of Home Mode on Surveillance Station based on the device's location or the connected Wi-Fi
    • Supports the use of GPS for better Home Mode location detection accuracy
    • Supports setting the Home location by using the current location, entering an address in the search bar, or dragging and dropping the location pin on the map
    • Supports adjusting the Home location radius to reduce possible detection errors (Available options range from 100 meters to 500 meters)
    • Supports pairing multiple mobile devices, activating and deactivating Home Mode when a paired device enters and leaves the set Home location (When there are multiple paired devices, Home Mode will be activated by the first device that enters the Home location and deactivated by the last device that leaves)
    • Adjustable trigger delay time to reduce possible miscalculations if users enter or leave the Home location range within a short time (Available options include 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes)
    • Supports manually entering/leaving Home Mode
  • Licenses
    • View, add, and delete actions of licenses
    • Offline license management for Surveillance Station without an Internet connection or within an isolated local network
  • Others
    • Supports signing in with a QuickConnect ID over the Internet (Network latency may be higher than usual if the connection to Surveillance Station is made via the QuickConnect relay service)
    • "Remember me" option and login history for quick logins
    • Hardware decoding for system performance optimization
    • Passcode lock supporting fingerprint/Touch ID or Face ID unlock and passcode re-authentication settings for data security
    • Screen Mirroring (AirPlay) with options to cast the entire screen or play videos only (Only available on iOS devices)
    • Administrators can assign privilege profiles to users to allow only users with sufficient permissions to perform certain actions on DS cam or access certain devices (Privilege profiles must be configured on Surveillance Station)
    • Supported video codecs: MJPEG, H.264, H.264+, H.265, H.265+, MPEG4, and MxPEG
    • Supported audio formats: G711, G726, PCM, and AMR

Limitations

  • Timeline in the Multi View page only supports Sync-mode
  • Preset positions and patrol paths can only be created on Surveillance Station
  • Enabling GPS and Wi-Fi assistance may increase device power consumption
  • The mobile devices are required to be connected to the Internet for users to add or delete licenses
  • Maximum supported resolution may vary by device
  • DS cam does not support multi-window mode/Split View

Synology LiveCam

Features

  • Turns your Android or iOS mobile devices into an IP camera and pairs it with Surveillance Station
  • Records seamlessly even when disconnected from the Internet or paired Surveillance Station
  • Files can be downloaded and stored locally on the mobile devices

Specifications

  • System requirements
    • iOS: 12.0 or above
    • Android: 8.0 or above
  • Camera
    • Portrait and landscape orientations for video streaming and recording
    • Controls LED flashlight of mobile devices for better illumination (LED flashlight can also be controlled from paired Surveillance Station and DS cam)
    • Power-saving minimizes device display brightness
    • Supports taking snapshots and stores the snapshots in Surveillance Station
    • Two-way audio to receive/send audio from/to paired Surveillance Station
  • Recording
    • Access to all Synology LiveCam recordings stored on paired Surveillance Station and mobile device
    • Supports searching for recordings by date, time, lock status, and upload status
    • Delete, lock, unlock, and download actions of recordings
    • Supports taking snapshots and stores the snapshots in Surveillance Station
    • When recording continuously without interruptions, the system automatically truncates recordings every 30 minutes; recordings in the seamless recording mode are truncated every 10 minutes
  • Snapshot
    • Supports viewing all snapshots, including snapshots taken by Synology LiveCam, paired Surveillance Station, or DS cam
    • Supports searching for snapshots by date, time, and lock status
    • Delete, lock, unlock, and download actions of snapshots
  • Settings
    • HTTPS-secured connection
    • Supports selecting device front camera as the streaming source
    • Supports recording without sound
    • Adjustable resolution and FPS (The available options vary by your device)
    • Adjustable video quality: low, medium, high
    • Video Stabilization feature (Only available on supported devices)
    • On-screen display information, including date, time, and custom texts, can be shown on the top or bottom of the video
    • Auto screen lock: 1, 2, 5, 10 minutes, or never
    • Motion Detection with adjustable sensitivity and threshold
    • Recording rotation by day/size
    • Recordings can be stored in any existing shared folders on paired Surveillance Station
    • Records seamlessly when the Internet or paired Surveillance Station connection is lost and uploads the videos temporarily stored locally once the connection resumes
    • Passcode lock that supports fingerprint/Touch ID or Face ID unlock and passcode re-authentication settings for data security

Limitations

  • Each mobile device running Synology LiveCam requires a Surveillance Device License to operate
  • Synology LiveCam requires Android 7.0 or iOS 9.0 and above
  • Only user accounts belonging to the administrators group on DSM or with sufficient permissions can pair Synology LiveCam with Surveillance Station
  • Users cannot view live streaming without recording the videos
  • Video orientation cannot be changed once the recording starts
  • Video streaming consumes a certain amount of mobile device power
  • Video streaming may be interrupted by other system operations, such as launching another camera app or entering power saving mode, which block apps from running in the background
  • Video streaming is not available if your connection to Surveillance Station is made via QuickConnect relay service

Synology Transactions Simulator

Features

  • A desktop application that simulates a Point of Sale (POS) user interface, allowing users to test all features of Transactions in Surveillance Station

Specifications

  • System requirements
    • Windows 7 or above
  • Simulates a transaction device connected through TCP
  • Supports processing transaction data by a list of predefined items
  • Supports deleting or canceling transactions
  • Supports checking-out transactions by the total amount or payment amount

Limitations

  • The predefined items of the transaction data list cannot be modified
  • Transaction data cannot be saved

Synology Transactions Compatibility Tool

Features

  • A desktop application that checks the compatibility between Surveillance Station and Point of Sale (POS) software

Specifications

  • System requirements
    • Windows 7 or above
  • Checks the compatibility through TCP and COM connections
  • Displays transaction data
  • Allows users to set rules for starting and ending transactions
  • Allows users to add filters to ignore certain characters or replace characters with line breaks/other characters to mark the data

Synology Evidence Integrity Authenticator

Features

  • A desktop application that validates that recordings and screenshots produced by Surveillance Station have not been tampered with

Specifications

  • System requirements
    • Windows 7 or above
    • macOS 10.12 or above
  • Validates files uploaded individually or in batch
  • Shows the exact production time and the serial number of the Synology server that produced the images

Limitations

  • Recordings with watermarks, even ones added via Surveillance Station, cannot be authenticated

Synology Video Converter

Features

  • A desktop application that converts videos to a format compatible with Surveillance Station

Specifications

  • System requirements
    • Windows 7 or above
  • Converts the formats of videos