Synology and Y-Cam Grasshopper Bundle Review

1. Introduction2. Y CAM Knight S3. Synology DS211J4. Grasshopper Bundle (Super High Res Gallery)5. System Configuration (1)6. System Configuration (2)7. DS211j Performance8. Acoustics, Power Consumption & Power Drain9. Closing Thoughts10. View All Pages

We have covered the Synology products in great depth before and you can check out all of our reviews over here for in depth analysis of the Synology software. A very important aspect of a NAS system purchase is the operating system. DiskManager 3.2 is a multi threaded, multi tasking configuration which is continually improving. Today we are going to look at basic setup as well as configuring the YCAM Knight S camera.

Version 3.2 of the software was released recently and you can recap over the configuration options and changes here.

The initial setup is handled via the Synology Assistant software which is included on the disc. Newer versions may be available from the Synology website, so it is always good to check first. Initial setup takes around 10 minutes.

The first demand is to configure the hard drive(s). This system supports  Synology Hybrid RAID, Basic, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1. It also allows for RAID Migration: Basic to Raid 1 and volume expansion with larger HDD's: RAID 1.

Surveillance Station is a option available in the bottom section of the main control panel. The initial procedure demands that it is enabled.

After opening the Surveillance software, the first demand is to scan for a supported camera, available on the network. The Synology software found the Y-CAM Knight S camera immediately which was a relief.

When the camera is located, there are configuration options available, but remember to key in the same user name and login as previously configured via the camera software, or you will get no further.

The settings are comprehensive, and there are various adjustable parameters which support motion detection.

Camera quality is very good, although it isn't HD compatible. It supports 640×480(VGA), 320×240(QVGA), 160×120(QQVGA) with 30 fps at 640×480. This is adequate as a surveillance camera and the night vision capabilities are very good.

The images above are taken in perfectly daylight (left) and an almost dark room (right). This is without any adjustable compensation parameters configured.

Motion detection worked well and we were able to configure the Synology system to email us when an alert occurred.

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