We plan to officially launch QVR Surveillance 3.0 next week, which is the successor to QVR Pro and QVR Elite.
This post mainly shares some information before the release, as a heads-up. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment.
QVR Pro and Elite, as QNAP’s second-generation video surveillance software, have been deployed in various scenarios over the past few years, from small offices and shops to large-scale systems.
This time, QVR Surveillance 3.0 is an integrated version based on this experience, unifying performance and features, and streamlining the product line.
About Surveillance 3.0
Starting from November 17, QVR Elite will be updated to QVR Surveillance 3.0.
The App Center icon will directly change to “QVR Surveillance,” and you will see this name even if you haven’t upgraded yet (this is by App Center’s design).
If you are currently using Elite 2.7.1, upgrading to Surveillance 3.0 requires no migration, and your licenses will be fully retained.
Compared to Elite, the new version includes several updates:
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AI Pack (including SmartSearch) can be used without a license
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Attachments can provide Snapshots
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Can be directly added to QVR Center central management without extra license
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In addition to subscriptions, a lifetime license option is now available
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After activation, you get an extra 6 channels, plus the original 2 built-in channels, for a total of 8 free channels
All existing features will remain.
Additionally, for those developing via API, note that the path will change from /qvrelite/ to /qvrsurveillance/
After upgrading QVR Elite to QVR Surveillance 3.0, environments using QVR Pro are expected to receive version 2.8.x in Q1 2026, at which time a migration tool will be provided to transfer camera settings and recordings.
Subsequent security and compatibility updates will be maintained for about three years, with details to be announced when 2.8 is released.
If your current environment is stable, you can also wait until the new environment is introduced before considering an update.
License Continuity
As mentioned during the World Tour, as long as you have purchased a QVR Pro or subscribed to an Elite license and activated it on your NAS, Surveillance 3.0 will recognize it directly without conversion.
For example:
If you originally had QVR Pro (built-in 8ch) + [GOLD (+8ch) + 4ch lifetime license],
after upgrading, the available channels in Surveillance 3.0 will be:
2 (built-in) + 6 (bonus) + 8 + 4 = 20ch
The number of available cameras will not decrease.
About the Free 6 Channels
NAS must first be linked to QID
The first time you open QVR Surveillance, an “Activate” prompt will appear; click to claim
If you didn’t claim it then, go to “… → Help → Feature Tour” to restart the process
After activation, you can log out of QID or go offline; it won’t affect usage
CAYIN Media Viewer
Since NAS now provides a free Media Viewer, after coordination with them, we can use related services to generate thumbnails in the system. So there’s no need to purchase AIPack or similar services. Additionally, if you want to use QVR Face / Human, you need to enable this service.
Usage Policy for Face / Human
This policy has actually changed for a while. As long as the source is a camera managed by QVR Surveillance, you can create analysis tasks for face and human detection for free, without additional licenses. This feature is supported starting from Celeron models.
myQNAPcloud Surveillance
Will also go live on November 17.
You can back up recordings from specified channels to the cloud (by camera channel), and a web interface is provided for online viewing, playback, and sharing of recordings.
HA Function and Surveillance in QTS 6
QVR Surveillance 3.0 (formerly Elite) supports HA mode in QTS 6 environments.
However, after enabling HA, performance will be halved,
for example, if a standalone system could handle 200 channels, after enabling HA, it will only handle about 100 channels.
If you really need a high-availability architecture, it’s recommended to use QVR Center, which offers much better performance and management flexibility.
In short, while Surveillance 3.0 can use HA in QTS 6, it’s more of a “usable” situation.
For enterprise environments, QVR Center with multiple NAS units will be more stable.
That’s all for now.
There should be more detailed updates after the official release. If you need more information, feel free to leave a comment here for discussion.