Anyone using IP cameras in their home to watch while away? What system do you have? Is it wired or wireless? How easy was it to set up? Are you able to view from phone? Specific likes and dislikes about the system.
Anything to add appreciated.
Thanks
Could you make sure to include your IP addresses, usernames, and passwords?
Ditto
Per Meanie:
Yes
BlueIris + HikVision cams
Wired 100%
Depends on your personal degree of techweeniesh-ness. Simple for some, learning curve for others.... IP addresses, port numbers, and so-forth
Yes
Like: - Configurability - Built-in web pages (take a look at
- Features - like the ability to FTP and/or email motion alert snapshots.
Dislike: - Care and feeding - Definitely NOT plug-and-play.
Other Stuff: - You want "Turret" cams like this:
Reasons: - Spiders are attracted more to the Bullet cams' IR and their webs need to be constantly brushed away as they interfere with the image and create false motion detection events.
- Turret cams' adjustability and general durability are far superior to Bullet cams'.
Sure, try it out
ip: 78.284.4.84
user: admin
pass: Hax0rd3
When you say wired, are they actual POE cameras or wired as in "the need for AC power"? If POE cams, to what are you connecting...a DVR then PC with Blue Iris?
Please list your objectives. Why do you want this? What is it gonna cost you to monitor it remotely? Take a look at the data rate and divide into the numbers on your phone data plan to determine how few minutes you could watch it.
What are you gonna do when you get an email showing you a ski mask making off with your TV? How are you gonna power it? Sounds simple until you figger out that the insulation in your attic won't let you get to the other end of the house to power it.
You can certainly come up with good reasons for some people to have security cameras. Watching the news and seeing someone stealing a Xmas package off someone's front porch is compelling. For most of us, it's a big, expensive hassle that won't do any good.
I put up a camera to watch the front yard mostly because I got it for $5 at a garage sale. After using it for a year, I want my $5 bucks back and the hours I spent setting it up. Only thing I've ever used it for is to play back the motion capture to see if the mailman has been.
Which comes right back to your objectives.
I dont know what I'd do if I had one of them, and saw a masked raccoon on my porch, stealing that bag of potato chips that I forgot to bring in the house after my last Bar B Que. And worse yet, if that sucker drank my beer that I didn't finish. (Particularly if the coon is under 21).
I guess that's why I prefer the more effective security methods. My double barrel shotgun works every time. I keep it right by my door, and it's always loaded....
My objectives are irrelevant. Many people either need or simply want surveillance cams within the boundaries of their home for many reasons. People steal packages from porches, thieves attempt robberies during the day, animals/pets that destroy outside property, watching pets inside, watching the nanny or babysitter, watching handicap family members at home and many more.
Perhaps the reason for the difficult set up with your camera was due to it being a $5 camera. For you, it was a novelty, for others, a $5 camera doesn't suffice and will pay for a better system and easier set up because they feel the need for it.
Is it wired or wireless?
Per Meanie:
POE all the way - would not advise using anything else.
Couple places I have POE switches... one place I have an el-cheapo little thing that goes inline between the switch/router and the cam and injects the POE.
No DVR... It's all on a PC running Blue Iris.
If somebody were going to buy a new PC for this, I would suggest going high-end (i.e. Intel I7)... down at the shore
It works but, with six cams connected, it's pretty much on it's knees when I TeamViewer into it for maintenance.
My home 24-7 PC that I run the house yard cams on is an I7 and six cams running 1280x720 are only taking about 30% CPU.
Tangentially: I've tried higher and lower resolutions and have settled on 1280x720 as the best balance of speed, detail, and bandwidth.
It'd be nice to have some AI that recognizes the mailman and turns on a special indicator. Same thing with UPS, FedEx, newspaper, and trash pickup (and maybe recognize neighbors too).
[snip]
I'm sure it won't be too long before consumer FRS becomes common in household electronics.
Jon
Would you walk into a food store and say, "give me food?"
Many people either need or simply want
Yep, and when they walk into the store and ask for help, the first question would be, "what do you want to accomplish?"
OK, make up your mind. Watching someone steal your package from the field of view of your camera is easy. Ability to IDENTIFY them is quite a different matter.
The primary objective of any security system is to convince the robber to go rob someone else. That requires visibility. If you want to identify the perp, you want stealth.
If you live on a farm, your requirements will be different from what you'd want in a apartment on the 20th floor.
Watching your dog tear up the couch is yet another different set of requirements.
You can't accomplish anything without deciding what you wish to accomplish. The more specific your question, the more likely the discussion will proceed in a direction helpful to you.
Did I say difficult? Any camera is gonna require some way to mount it, some way to power it and some way to get the data from it, all in a tamper resistant location that has access to all and views the place you want to see. A camera inside your living space might require much more access security than one watching the driveway. It's a lot more detailed than you might think.
For you, it was a novelty, for others, a $5 camera
That implies they can express what they wish to accomplish, which was my question to you. You can't determine what suffices without an objective.
Don't be mislead by garage sale pricing.
My $5 camera is high res, POE, Pan-Tilt, excellent low light performance, onboard storage, web enabled, motion triggered,... Biggest problem was location. The optimal location would have required swimming thru a huge sea of insulation in the attic. Simply not worth the risk for something I don't really need.
If you don't know what you want, hire a security guard...but then you'd want a camera system to watch the security guard.
It's ALL about deciding what you want to accomplish. The rest is just $$$ and turning the crank.
I have one of those somewhere. Sold by radio shack decades ago. Some kind of tilt sensor on the mailbox door with a radio link to an inside receiver. Seemed like a good idea while at the garage sale. Just one more useless gadget. Never bothered to install it.
Same thing with UPS, FedEx, newspaper, and trash
Not what you asked about but have you given thought to game cameras? Maybe have one as a backup if your primary system is down for some reason.
Everybody loves IP cams:
I've got one of those made by GE, came with a base (receiving) unit and the sender unit. Picked it up on clearance about 15 years ago for a couple of bucks, and it ended up getting repurposed for a project.
The sender unit unit used a 12V battery in it which I thought was a bit odd.
Jon
Per Meanie:
For somebody with a total beginner's level of sophistication, I would think not.
Requirements like viewing width-of-view vs resolution, facial recognition, night-vision vs day-only and so-forth help determine the best choice of cams.
Not that I would have anything intelligent to say even given those specifics.... but Those Who Know would be better able to advise...
Per mike:
My #2 daughter gave us a little radio-based system: transmitter/motion sensor sits in the mailbox; receiver lives in the house and beeps when the mailbox is opened (motion sensed).
I thought it was the dumbest thing I had ever seen: how on earth could a AA battery-powered transmitter possibly get through an enclosed steel mailbox and transmit to the inside of a house well over 100' away?
Must be totally junk, right ?
Beeeeeeg surprise: it works like a charm and the batteries last for months on end.
A23? This battery has the diameter of an AAA cell and is about 2/3 as long.
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