Blue Iris for Windows

User Reviews

• frustrating

  fannyfernackerpanzSeptember 7, 2016

  Pros

  the evaluation is free.

  Cons

  frequent crashes, PTZ sometimes works, then stops working for no reason, image comes and goes. I've been trying to view my camera on it for the last 2 weeks and am sure I have more grey hairs now than when I started. The software support is about as much use as a chocolate teapot.

  Summary

  try it by all means, but don't say you weren't warned. Even the free evaluation is too expensive for the hassle you will have.

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• Buggy. Daily lockups and crashes

  revconguy1March 7, 2016

  Pros

  Great user interface Supports multiple simultaneous cameras Support many many different makes of cameras

  Cons

  Frequent crashes Frequent lockups where the display stops updating

  Summary

  Not suitable for security purposes.

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• waste of time and money

  hunter31361February 12, 2016

  Pros

  looks nice and has nice features

  Cons

  Video doesn't always show up. Support is worthless. You can click on the IP address of the camera from within Blue Iris and it will open your browser and display the cameras video but it still doesn't show up on the Blue Iris screen. You can try everything imaginable, different IP addresses, different ports, different drivers, exempting Blue Iris in your firewall anti-virus anti malware, port forwarding in your router, changing all kinds of parameters in your router and in Blue Iris bit nothing helps. You will waste hundreds of hours and have minor advances and then it messes up again. You will waste your life trying to get this to work and it never will be reliable.

  Summary

  waste of time and money and support is of no help

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• The worst service of any software I've ever used!

  Sal_BrusJune 17, 2015

  Pros

  Reliable, doesn't crash.

  Cons

  Not intuitive Poorly laid out Poor customer service The customer service person I spoke with was a snide jerk with endless smart ass remarks.

  Summary

  Blue Iris use to advertised free lifetime upgrades, but when version 4.0 came out, they reneged on that deal. And if you dare complain to the company about that, they go ghetto on your in .3 seconds.

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• Superb VMS software

  Tester333February 9, 2015

  Pros

  This software is superb...Lots of amazing features, scheduling and alerts..Works with almost any ip camera. The mobile app is another 10 dollars but well worth it....allows you to review video from your phone.

  Cons

  Requires a powerful cpu if recording high resolution HD cameras (2-3MP)

  Summary

  Check out ipcamtalk.com where there is a great blue iris user forum!

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• Customer Support Sucks!

  February 8, 2015

  Pros

  Version 3 was a good working product for me.

  Cons

  Version 4 kept on crashing and customer support was unhelpful.

  Summary

  I purchased version 3 a while back and it ran well. I recently updated to Version 4 and it has been over a week without home security. The product has crashed on me everyday. I contacted Ken at Customer Support and he gave me a laundry list of things that it could be. I was not equipped to handle such a technical list and time consuming things. I questioned him on the efforts I would have to take for a brand new product I just bought. I was not prepared to spend the next couple of weeks being my own support technician to fix a problem of the blue iris software not working. I was a little course when I questioned me having to go through so many things to maybe fix the problem. He tried to give me lesson on how I should ask him for help and basically told me to go "f" myself. End of technical support at Blue Iris. I will find another software for my Security needs.

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• Loaded with malware

  chuckkashakNovember 2, 2013

  Pros

  There is none.

  Cons

  Malware can't be removed with "uninstall software".

  Summary

  Loaded with malware.Set your system restore if you still want to try it.

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• I agree with other reviews, don't expect tech help.

  J_ChillAugust 23, 2013

  Pros

  You can use this software with almost any camera on the market. It is NOT proprietary. Things are well placed and the options are almost limitless. It will even use your web camera or laptop camera. You will like the options (formats) you can use to record. Motion setup is straight forward and it will send you alerts to your IPhone (free app available). NO APPS FOR MICROSOFT PHONES.

  Cons

  The manual is good but your sure to ask yourself "what input is it asking for in this area of the setup". So you send an e-mail to "Ken" for tech support. 4 days later you will get a response back but instead of an answer he will just ask you questions about your setup. I have never received a response from "Ken" where he actually will answer my problem. There is NO phone assistance. Over a couple of days I work it out my self by trial and error or just give up.

  Summary

  Despite the poor response from BlueIris Tech Help this software is worth the purchase. I've tried nearly all of the camera software on the market (and there are a lot of them)and still find this software to above all the rest.

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• Don't try and get support

  dogbiz1November 15, 2012

  Pros

  Fairly quick to install and use

  Cons

  Blue Iris has to be running on your computer in order to get email or text alerts. That means if you are traveling you will not get them.

  Summary

  I bought the extra cd from them knowing that I would soon buy a new computer. It can only be running on one computer at a time. I email support and it would take at least a day for them to respond with the a question each day over several days rather than asking them all at the same time. Felt like they could care less and was stalling. I asked about getting better support and what it would cost and they said $100 for 45 minutes. I would have expected some better support.

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• Blue Iris is brilliant in its simplicity & its options

  van_April 28, 2012

  Pros

  I didn't spend too much time on the demo. After finding out how good it was, I bought the package. BTW, if you have any problem getting the online payment service (RegNow.com) to work, as I did, just email Ken Pletzer and he will give you his PayPal address. I have 4 Logitech Alerts, 1 Loftek Sentinal D1 (PTZ) and 1 AXIS 214 PTZ. I use the camera software to establish an IP address & port, and to preset the views for the PTZ cameras. I also set their motion sensitivity to full screen max. Then I close them down and let Blue Iris do the rest. When setting up a camera in BI, you give it the IP address & port of the camera and it works -right away. Then take your time experimenting with and refining your preferences. It has all sorts of options to the Nth degree, but not overwhelming like the AXIS setup, or underwhelming like the Loftek and Logitech setups. The Help documentation is nicely done, easy reading and thorough - and written by someone whose first language is clearly english.

  Cons

  There were no defects; just preferences. I emailed Ken Pletzer about preceeding emailed file attachment names with the file date - AND HE DID IT!!

  Summary

  I have used a lot of IP cam software over the years, and Blue Iris <u>clearly and simply</u> outshines them all by a mile.

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