Since you are not fond of the NVR software....Consider a
Blue Iris/computer combo as an NVR. Keep in mind an NVR is a stripped down computer after all....and isn't true plug-n-play like people believe. You still have to dial the cameras into your setting. Once you do that, might as well go with something that has the best chance of working with many different camera brands. And I have found
Blue Iris to be more robust and easier than an NVR. As always, YMMV...
Many of us purchase a refurbished computers that are business class computers that have come off lease. The one I bought I kid you not I could not tell that it was a refurbished unit - not a speck of dust or dents or scratches on it. It appeared to me like everything was replaced and I would assume just the motherboard with the intel processor is what was from the original unit. I went with the lowest end processor on the
WIKI list as it was the cheapest and it runs my system fine. Could probably get going for $200 or so. A real NVR will cost more than that.
A member here just last month found a refurbished 4th generation for less than $150USD that came with Win10 PRO, 16GB RAM, and a 1TB drive.
Blue Iris has a demo, so try it out on an existing computer and see if you like it. You can pull the cameras from the Swann NVR right into
Blue Iris by simply adding in the IP address of the NVR in the camera IP address of
Blue Iris and then down about halfway is a camera # and you just select the camera number to bring in.
There is a big
Blue Iris or NVR debate here LOL. Some people love
Blue Iris and think NVRs are clunky and hard to use and others think Blue Iris is clunky and hard to use. I have done both and prefer Blue Iris. As with everything YMMV...
And you can disable Windows updates and set up the computer to automatically restart in a power failure.
