Needing advice on a live home webcam system

[Michael]

OK, I want to add about 3 or 4 streaming webcams to my home. I looking into something like this:

http://www.lorextechnology.com/Wireless-IP-cameras%2C-wireless-network-cameras/IP-network-cameras/prod330040.p

Thing is I don't want to buy the system only to find out the frame rate sucks in low light, or the range isn't the best, etc. I know nothing about webcams, but this looks like exactly what I want, the price is on par with what I want to spend, the number of cameras are expandable, has either wired or wireless connection to my router, and most importantly, I can watch live on my phone. The recording aspect is not too important, but they do have that capability, which I would trade for say the same system with an 4 cameras instead of three.

Has anyone installed streaming cameras in their home? What did you get and how do you like it?

[rdarlington]

Has anyone installed streaming cameras in their home? What did you get and how do you like it?

I did, but mine were not IP cameras, nor were they HD. I bought a couple of composite (with S-Video) teleconference sysetms, the Canon VC-C1 Mk II cameras with pan, tilt and zoom with remote. I needed something that I could point around and use to zoom in on electronics stuff I was working on. With these I used a $10 (delivered) USB based video capture board. This was used with ustream and some other online service for live streaming of work I was doing in my shop. For fun I was drinking heavily while repairing a stepped attenuator on an HP spectrum analyzer for some friends. This involved major surgery of a very complex instrument, microsurgery after opening the stepped attenuator so I was working under a microscope, and some specialized cleaning. Fun times. And yes, the spectrum analyzer still works.

It was good enough for that, but if I had to do it again, I'd probably go for something HD. It was fine for what I was doing but it's a bit dated.

[DMCVegas]

The four types of cameras that you're going to get will be either traditional with separate power and baseband video feeds, Wireless with Battery packs, Wireless with Power Adaptors, or Wired with PoE. For the most part, only the last two would I really consider.

The wireless isn't too bad as long as you have clean reception on a channel with the least amount of interference. The problem though is power. You can get a battery powered unit, but you've got to keep switching out batteries when they die. Externally powered units are fine, but you need to have an electrical outlet within close proximity to plug into. You also have to worry about interference from other sources such as Satellite TV and the MASSIVE proliferation of WiFi networks from U-verse, Fios, Prism, etc that clog up channels. Not to mention if you had a device to jam the WiFi frequency spectrum you could essentially jam an entire Wireless camera system in a home with minimal effort. With PoE, or Power over Ethernet though, you just run a single ethernet cable (I'd recommend Cat-6 or better) to where the camera is and plug it in. Electrical power is delivered via the extra pairs in the wire by either a PoE switch or a separate Power Injector. And of course it's shielded so you don't have to worry about interference.

Logitech is a good starter system. Each camera can have a flash card installed for onboard video recording, and you can get them to send you email alerts whenever the motion sensors get activated. You can also of course have the video saved to your PC or Mac inside, and even have off-site recording with DropBox.

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/video-security-systems

Personally, this kind of a system plugged into a Mac Mini Server with a Smart Box hidden somewhere in an attic or other inaccessible or unorthodox area with various cameras around the home is what I would choose for a home security system, and plan on installing eventually. Right now though, I use these at work, and you can scale them as needed.

[Michael]

Thanks, I understood some of that. I should probably mention that this is not really for security. We are in a very safe neighborhood. This is to keep an eye on my kittys while we are away. If someone wants to hack it, I don't care, but there is nothing around me but farms and government land. Not exactly a hot bed for wargaming here either. I really don't need or want the recording option either. like I said, even though we have people feeding and doing literbox chores. I just like the idea of checking in on the cats while we are away.

[Bill6298]

I recommend this app if you have a Mac or a PC running OS X. Check out http://bensoftware.com/securityspy/ and the related Remote Patrol iOS apps. You can choose virtually any USB or IP camera on the market. There's an extensive list published on the website. In one case, I use an inexpensive D-Link camera with support for low light situations.

Check out the live demo on the site. I believe they link to a real customer that uses this at a liquor store in TN.

Edit - with this method, you can buy a well reviewed camera on amazon.com or your local electronics store and simply exchange the camera for another if you like. If you don't like D-Link, you can switch to another vendor without changing the backend system. SecuritySpy is camera vendor agnostic.

Bill

[Dangermouse]

An alternative is to have your cable company supply it as part of a security package. Comcast/Xfinity offer it for only $Exorbitant per month.

http://www.comcast.com/home-security/equipment.html

[DMCVegas]

I recommend this app if you have a Mac or a PC running OS X. Check out http://bensoftware.com/securityspy/ and the related Remote Patrol iOS apps. You can choose virtually any USB or IP camera on the market. There's an extensive list published on the website. In one case, I use an inexpensive D-Link camera with support for low light situations.

Check out the live demo on the site. I believe they link to a real customer that uses this at a liquor store in TN.

Edit - with this method, you can buy a well reviewed camera on amazon.com or your local electronics store and simply exchange the camera for another if you like. If you don't like D-Link, you can switch to another vendor without changing the backend system. SecuritySpy is camera vendor agnostic.

Bill

Very nice! Is there a specific camera standard the the USB cameras have to be compliant for in order to work? I would agree that this is probably more what you want then, Michael.

I also currently do the same when checking in on the pets by demoting into the iMac at home and activating the camera via FaceTime or Photo Booth. It's a quick and dirty cam that works as well.

[Bill6298]

Very nice! Is there a specific camera standard the the USB cameras have to be compliant for in order to work? I would agree that this is probably more what you want then, Michael.

I also currently do the same when checking in on the pets by demoting into the iMac at home and activating the camera via FaceTime or Photo Booth. It's a quick and dirty cam that works as well.

For USB, I don't think it takes much to make it work. My USB camera is about 5 years old from a relatively unknown mfg. AFAIK, any USB camera that OS X will recognize will work. The IP cameras need to be on the compatibility list but it's quite exhaustive. If you have an iMac, it can use the built-in iSight camera.

The motion activated record on demand works quite well. It will create pictures and/or videos when motion is triggered. You can sync that folder to a cloud-based storage service and also use an encryption app to individually encrypt the content in the cloud. This works well for the security and pet monitoring use cases.

[Michael]

Well I got the system that I mentioned in my first post and it is exactly what I was looking for. The real beauty is I had it up and running in about 15 minutes! I was very pleased with these cams. I got a 3 pack, but you can buy them individually and this particular system is expandable from 1 to 16 cameras. I can quickly pull up live video right on my smartphone anytime anyplace. These cams have excellent night vision and they even have heat, sound, and movement detection and can be set up to send me an email with a snapshot if they detect anything. I can listen in and even talk through the camera. I can record video or take stills and best of all it works through my home network and streams via a private cloud so its all free! They have been going for about 4 days now and work perfect. I have them on wireless but the power cord is long and thin so I was able to mount them where I wanted and the cord was long enough to keep it out of sight. Another good thing is they will self connect, we lost power sometime today but once the router came up, all three cameras re-connected and all was right. If I had one complaint, the resolution is 640-480 but for 100 bucks each there is just no whining allowed at this price point. I may even pick up a few outdoor cams and add them to my network.

I know I'm a bit behind on all things techy but this outfit really impressed me.