DVR-Scan vs OpenCvSharp
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted video surveillance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
DVR-Scan
Detect and extract motion events from video footage
VS
OpenCvSharp
.NET wrapper for OpenCV computer vision
| Feature | DVR-Scan | OpenCvSharp |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Video Surveillance | Video Surveillance |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | C# |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 513 | ★ 6,056 |
| First released | 2016 | 2008 |
| Replaces | Blue Iris motion review | Commercial vision SDKs |
Why pick each one
Choose DVR-Scan if…
- Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is DVR-Scan or OpenCvSharp better?
Neither is universally better. OpenCvSharp has the larger community, while DVR-Scan is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are DVR-Scan and OpenCvSharp free and open-source?
Yes. DVR-Scan is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and OpenCvSharp under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run DVR-Scan and OpenCvSharp with Docker?
DVR-Scan: check the project docs for container support. OpenCvSharp: check the project docs for container support.