Your cameras are fine. It's the lack of intelligence that's the problem.

Why Universal Camera Compatibility Changes Everything

The security camera industry has a dirty secret: proprietary lock-in is more profitable than good security.

When you buy a Ring system, you're not buying cameras—you're buying a subscription to Ring's hardware ecosystem. Want to add coverage? Buy Ring cameras. Existing cameras from another system? Throw them away. System discontinued? Your entire investment vanishes overnight.

This isn't security. This is vendor capture.

scOS rejects this model entirely. Your cameras are fine. They just need intelligence.

The Problem With Proprietary Camera Systems

Traditional security vendors make money by trapping you in their ecosystem. Here's how the lock-in works:

You buy cameras, but you don't control them. Ring cameras only work with Ring systems. Arlo cameras demand Arlo infrastructure. The camera you purchased—that you physically own—won't talk to anything else. It's not broken. It's not incompatible. It's deliberately restricted to force you to keep buying from one vendor.

Expansion means vendor-priced cameras forever. Need to cover your side gate? That's £300 for a Ring camera. Not because cameras cost £300—Hikvision offers superior hardware for £120—but because proprietary systems eliminate competition. You can't shop around. You can't compare prices. You're locked in.

Existing cameras become waste. You already have four Hikvision cameras from your previous installation. They work perfectly. But the new proprietary system won't talk to them. So you rip them out, throw them away, and buy four new cameras—not because the old ones failed, but because compatibility was deliberately excluded. That's not an upgrade. That's environmental vandalism disguised as security.

System discontinuation means total loss. Remember Nest Secure? Discontinued. Guardzilla? Shut down overnight. Proprietary systems live and die by corporate decisions you don't control. When they stop supporting your cameras, you don't lose a feature—you lose everything. Years of investment. Hundreds of pounds per camera. All worthless because you were locked into hardware you never actually controlled.

This is why professional security installers don't use Ring or Arlo. They use Hikvision. They use Dahua. They use Axis. Because professional-grade security demands hardware freedom—and proprietary consumer systems deliberately exclude it.

How scOS Delivers Universal IP Camera Compatibility

scOS is built on a fundamentally different architecture: intelligence is centralized, cameras are sensors.

The cameras do one job: capture video. All intelligence—AI analysis, person recognition, cross-camera tracking, threat detection, vehicle validation—runs on the scOS Intelligence Hub. The cameras send video. The Hub thinks.

This separation changes everything.

Any wired IP camera becomes intelligent. Hikvision, Dahua, Axis, Uniview, Reolink, Amcrest—if it outputs a standard network video stream (RTSP, ONVIF, HTTP, direct IP), scOS uses it. No compatibility lists. No firmware requirements. No "approved models." Just universal support.

Your existing cameras stay. Already have Hikvision turrets from 2019? Perfect. scOS connects to them. Those cameras now get spatial motion detection, person recognition, DVLA vehicle validation, property line intervention—all the intelligence they never had. You keep your hardware. It just becomes vastly smarter.

Expansion is your choice. Need another camera for the back gate? Buy whatever fits your budget. £80 Reolink? Fine. £300 professional Axis? Also fine. They both connect to the same Intelligence Hub, and they both get the same AI capabilities. Your coverage decisions aren't held hostage by vendor pricing.

Professional cameras welcome. scOS was designed for the real world—where professional installers use Hikvision and Dahua, not consumer plastic. If it's a wired IP camera, it works. Superior sensors, better build quality, longer lifespans—scOS leverages professional hardware instead of excluding it.

No system discontinuation risk. Your cameras output standard IP video streams. If scOS shut down tomorrow (it won't), those cameras still work—with any system that accepts IP streams. You're not locked in. Your hardware retains value independent of the vendor. That's security you actually own.

What "Wired IP Camera" Means

scOS works with wired IP cameras—cameras that connect via Ethernet cable and output network video streams.

Wired = Power over Ethernet (PoE) or mains powered. The camera receives power through a cable—either the same Ethernet cable that carries data (PoE), or a separate power adapter. No batteries. No solar panels. Continuous power = continuous recording.

IP = Internet Protocol. The camera outputs video over your network using standard IP protocols: RTSP, ONVIF, HTTP, or direct IP streams. These are the industry standards that professional security uses—not proprietary cloud-dependent streams.

Not wireless. scOS does not support battery-powered wireless cameras (Ring, Arlo, Blink). These cameras are cloud-dependent, have proprietary streams, and suffer from battery limitations that make continuous AI monitoring impossible. Wireless cameras are fundamentally incompatible with intelligent security.

If your camera plugs into your network via Ethernet and outputs video over IP, scOS works with it. That's the standard the vast majority of professional security cameras use—and exactly what scOS is designed for.

Keep Your Cameras. Add Intelligence.

Here's the typical scOS installation for someone with existing cameras:

You already have: Four Hikvision turret cameras from a 2020 installation. Wired, PoE-powered, working perfectly. Cost at the time: £600 total.

Traditional proprietary approach: "Those cameras aren't compatible. You'll need to purchase four of our cameras at £300 each. Total: £1,200. Your old cameras? Electronic waste."

scOS approach: "Your Hikvision cameras are perfect. We'll connect them to the Intelligence Hub. All scOS features—spatial motion detection, person recognition, DVLA vehicle validation, cross-camera tracking—work immediately. Cost: £0 for cameras. Your £600 investment preserved."

That's not just cost savings. That's respecting your investment and refusing to create waste for profit.

Mix and Match Any Brand—They All Work Together

scOS doesn't care if your cameras are all the same brand. Intelligence is centralized, so brand mixing is irrelevant.

Example scenario: Property has two old Hikvision turrets (front), one Dahua PTZ (driveway), one Uniview bullet (back garden), and one Reolink (side gate). Different brands. Different purchase dates. Different form factors.

Result: All five cameras connected to one Intelligence Hub. Cross-camera tracking works seamlessly—person detected on Hikvision camera 1, tracked to Dahua PTZ, then to Uniview camera. scOS sees them as one continuous journey, not five separate brands. The system doesn't notice they're different brands—because it doesn't care.

How It Works In Practice

You contact scOS. "I have four Hikvision cameras from 2020. Can you work with them?"

scOS Architect reviews your setup. "Yes. Those are excellent cameras. We'll connect them to the Intelligence Hub and enable full scOS intelligence—spatial motion detection, person recognition, DVLA vehicle validation, everything. No new cameras needed."

Installation day. The scOS Architect arrives, installs the Intelligence Hub (a small device that connects to your network), configures your existing cameras to send feeds to the Hub, and enables AI analysis.

Day one: Your four old Hikvision cameras now have spatial motion detection that ignores cats and shadows. They recognize family members. They validate vehicle plates against the DVLA database. They track people across multiple camera views. Nothing changed physically—they just became intelligent.

Six months later: You want to add coverage to your side gate. You purchase a £90 Reolink camera, mount it yourself, and contact scOS support. They add it to your Hub configuration remotely. Done. Full scOS intelligence on a £90 camera.

That's the power of universal IP camera compatibility. Your hardware. Your choices. Real intelligence.

Integration With scOS Intelligence

Cross Compatibility isn't a standalone feature—it's the foundation that makes scOS accessible and future-proof:

Works with Up to 4K: Universal camera support means you can choose high-resolution cameras that fit your budget. Budget 1080p for low-priority areas, 4K for critical coverage. scOS handles both.

Enables Dynamic Quality: Because intelligence runs on the Hub, not the cameras, scOS can dynamically adjust video quality based on motion importance—regardless of camera brand.

Supports Professional Installation: scOS Architects guide you toward the right cameras for your specific needs—not the cameras they're contractually obligated to sell you.

Enhances Nearby Camera Context: Cameras from different brands can be positioned and configured to understand spatial relationships—front, side, back—because intelligence is centralized.

The Future Is Open Standards

The security industry is moving away from proprietary lock-in—because professionals never accepted it in the first place.

Wired IP cameras with open standards (ONVIF, RTSP) are how real security works. Consumer proprietary systems are the outlier, not the norm.

scOS aligns with professional standards: open protocols, universal compatibility, hardware freedom. That's not a technical decision—it's a philosophical one.

Your cameras should outlast the company that made them. With universal IP camera compatibility, they will.

See all scOS features to understand how Cross Compatibility works alongside other intelligent security capabilities.