Web-Link II or WL3

[JonW]

I have my OmniPro II on order from Worthington and I'm trying to figure out which web server to use for it.

I currently have Panasonic IP cameras and it appears that only WL3 supports these. Unfortunately, WL3 also only runs on WHS and I'm running SBS 2008 at home. Has anyone done a manual installation of WL3 on an alternate server platform?

Additionally, is the iPhone support added to Web-Link II the same as what WL3 has? I see iPhone screen shots everywhere for WL3, but none for WLII.

Any input, pro's/con's, etc. appreciated.

 

[jharrell]

WL3 is basically Web-Link III but they made an arbitrary limitation where it will only install on WHS and they keep selling Web-Link II if you are not running WHS. For a while Web-Link II had no iPhone interface, but last year they upgraded it to have the same skins as WL3.

So at this point the difference between Web-Link II and WL3 is the IP camera support. WL3 can connect and record/restream ip cams, Web-link II cannot do this, instead it can record analog camera from video capture cards which WL3 cannot. WL3 only installs on WHS but Web-Link II will install on any windows with IIS including WHS or SBS.

Make sense? No I don't think it does either, but that's it.

What burns me is I spent $300 on Web-Link II which I installed on my WHS then not long after they released WL3 with no upgrade path from Web-Link II, so if I want ip cam support I need to spend another $300 for the upgrade. According to them they are separate products(which they are obviously not), unlike PC Access, which I got a free upgrade to from 2 to 3, whatever...

 

[nexus99]

WL3 is basically Web-Link III but they made an arbitrary limitation where it will only install on WHS and they keep selling Web-Link II if you are not running WHS. For a while Web-Link II had no iPhone interface, but last year they upgraded it to have the same skins as WL3.

So at this point the difference between Web-Link II and WL3 is the IP camera support. WL3 can connect and record/restream ip cams, Web-link II cannot do this, instead it can record analog camera from video capture cards which WL3 cannot. WL3 only installs on WHS but Web-Link II will install on any windows with IIS including WHS or SBS.

Make sense? No I don't think it does either, but that's it.

What burns me is I spent $300 on Web-Link II which I installed on my WHS then not long after they released WL3 with no upgrade path from Web-Link II, so if I want ip cam support I need to spend another $300 for the upgrade. According to them they are separate products(which they are obviously not), unlike PC Access, which I got a free upgrade to from 2 to 3, whatever...

The new version of WHS is in Beta now. Looks to be based off of Server 2008. Probably Server 2008 SBS with the WHS software. I wonder if this will break WL3.

 

[jharrell]

The new version of WHS is in Beta now. Looks to be based off of Server 2008. Probably Server 2008 SBS with the WHS software. I wonder if this will break WL3.

Given that the current WHS is 32bit and the new "Vail" WHS is 64bit only, and that MS decide not to allow upgrades from one to the other, only wipe/clean install, my guess would be WL3 will need changes to run, if only for the add-in SDK.

 

[JonW]

I have my OmniPro II all installed now, yet I still don't have a webserver for it!

I'm in the same position as jharrell in that I may have to buy WL2 for now and then repurchase WL3 later - not a happy feeling. But that is only if they add support for SBS servers. I'm not about to add a WHS server just for hosting a website that SBS is more than capable of doing.

I'm sure WL3 could functionally work on an SBS server with some manual install and tweaking. Is there a demo version or non-licensed version of WL3 available that I can play with to make this work?

I really think HAI should license WL2/WL3 as a package and let the user decide which version to run based on their configuration. Realistically, how many people are going to buy both? Probably very few, but this would give the user the option to use either one without having to repurchase. Better yet would be an install package that let's you run the functionality of either version on WHS or another IIS flavor.

 

[sknaf]

I purchased the combo - WL II + Home Control - 1110
for $300, but never used it.

PM if you are interested.

I went with WL3, but it still does not work with my Panasonic IP camera for some reason.

~Knaf