Use cases
A normal computer.
Your disks.
Lookout runs on a desktop an office already owns, or on a Linux machine with Docker. The limit is that computer, not a camera count in the software. New footage belongs on a fast disk in the machine. Older days can move to a larger disk, including a spinning disk or a share the operating system has already mounted.
Examples
The shapes people actually run.
A house
One desktop. The cameras around the house. Personal use is free. New footage goes to an NVMe or SSD in that PC. A larger disk keeps the older days. The Windows viewer can sit on the same machine. Recording does not need an account.
A shop or a small office
The same recorder, on one computer the office already has. Add the camera resolutions before you buy a second machine. A machine with no NVIDIA card is a normal recorder. Windows uses the installer. Linux uses the smaller Docker image.
A Dell desktop
Yes. A solid desktop is a normal recorder, including a Dell an office already owns. The Dell Precision we measured is 8 cores at 3.6 GHz with hyperthreading and 32 GB of memory. At 4 MP and 5 fps, with detection on every camera, it holds about 18 cameras in a typical scene and about 15 when the scenes are busy (roads, car parks, trees in wind). The measured RTX 5060 Ti on that machine does not raise the count: its decode is credited at about 459 Mpx/s after real camera streams, under the CPU budget of about 540 Mpx/s. Decoding a 640 by 360 sub stream at 5 fps instead, which is what you enter when the high resolution stream is only recorded, holds about 56. Add each camera's width times height times the frames you will decode. If one machine cannot hold the sum, split the cameras across two recorders. A second building is always its own recorder. Detection speed on a graphics card has not been measured, so AI still costs CPU in this plan.
More than one building
Each building is its own recorder, with its own disks. If one building does not fit on one computer, split the cameras there. The Windows app can sign in to more than one recorder. My wall is up to 16 tiles on that PC. There is no one browser tab that merges every camera.
Linux, no NVIDIA card
Docker tag edge, the smaller image. A Windows viewer points at https://the-box:5000. Do not pull the gpu tag onto a machine with no card. That image is larger because it carries the NVIDIA libraries.
An installer, several sites
Each customer building has a recorder. The dashboard lists the sites. Video stays at the building. Open it over Tailscale or the VPN the site already uses. A site with no internet can stay on the list without an alarm.
Storage
Fast disk now. Big disk later.
Lookout writes files into a folder. It does not speak NFS, SMB, or S3.
NVMe or SSD for new footage
Cameras write all day, and Review reads those files back. Put that folder on an NVMe or a SATA SSD in the computer. On Windows, use a second drive rather than the system drive root. On Linux, mount a real disk at the recordings folder.
Spinning disk, or a share, for older days
A second folder can take finished days after the copy is checked. Review still opens them. That folder can be a spinning disk, a larger SSD, or a share the operating system has already mounted. NFS and SMB are that mount. They are not a protocol Lookout logs in to.
One folder on the first screen
Setup asks where recordings go. With no day limit and no size cap, the disk fills and the oldest finished day is deleted. The second folder is a setting the recorder already honors. It is not a button on that first screen. A cloud copy of every camera, all day, is not in this release.
The yard example, a speaker that answers when an animal shows up, is on the features page. How many cameras fit is on the sizing page.