Jump to content
Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

Recommended Posts

I'm wanting to setup one or more cameras to monitor my home when I am away.

I have a wireless network in my home that I want these to connect to, without the need for a PC to be running at the same time.

I also want to be able to view the feed(s) on my iPhone.

Does anyone have any experience with a system that accomplishes this which they can recommend?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No excperience, but I looked at the Panasonic cameras pretty hard. It's been a year or so, but they seemed to get strong reviews and to be a decent bargain. (they were sold in multi-pack kits)

I think you get your own website with them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I work strictly in high end fire alarm sys. but I have some camera/security gurus at work who might be able to answer this one. Not many I-phone guys at my work though. Android phones seem to be coming on strong here. But as long as internet is available maybe it doesn't matter what phone you have. I'll send them an email and let you know as soon as i can.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I have done this before, and the method I used can do exactly as you want down to using ANY phone or device with a web browser. For starters it requires have at a minimum of one computer running Ubuntu Linux. You will use that computer as the server for your webcams. And that's the beautiful part...you can just use cheap WalMart webcams. No expensive security cams and stuff. This (chriswpage.com) article pretty well explains it. It says it's for Ubuntu 8.04, but it works on all versions up to 10.04 too. There are a couple other settings to change to make it viewable from a device outside of your local network, but I don't remember them off the top of my head and that article doesn't go into that. I will need to look at my motion.conf file and see what the entries are. Also (I am simply assuming this would be done already) but for it to be viewed outside of your network you will need to set up some sort of dyndns account and updater for that so you can connect using a (free) domain name instead of having to know your home or office ip address.

ETA: I just read that you want for a PC to not be running all the time. As you can see this method requires a computer running all the time but the computer I am using to do this is a very low power machine. It has a dual core 1.6 ghz Intel Atom processor, 2GB ram and tons of hard drive space. It is very low on power, I estimate the power draw to be 25-35 watts at idle.

Hope this helps

Mitch

Edited by mjohns930
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I'm wanting to setup one or more cameras to monitor my home when I am away.

I have a wireless network in my home that I want these to connect to, without the need for a PC to be running at the same time.

I also want to be able to view the feed(s) on my iPhone.

Does anyone have any experience with a system that accomplishes this which they can recommend?

We went with one of these at our club.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6075590&CatId=4442

Motion activated, 4 cameras, night viewing, dumps to internal HD..

Works slick. Give it an IP address from your local network, and then point forward to the outside world.

Gives the iphone an IP to go to and watch the cameras.

(Not affiliated with either company.. just happy with the product.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

Note: merged threads.

I'm looking to install a few web based security cameras around the house. In the past, I've set up a couple of cisco wireless cameras, but nothing of the advanced level I'm looking to do. I'm looking for recommendations on Vendors, Hardware, Monitoring software, etc. Any help would be appreicated.

Edited by Flexmoney
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm looking to install a few web based security cameras around the house. In the past, I've set up a couple of cisco wireless cameras, but nothing of the advanced level I'm looking to do. I'm looking for recommendations on Vendors, Hardware, Monitoring software, etc. Any help would be appreicated.

PM sent

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm looking to install a few web based security cameras around the house. In the past, I've set up a couple of cisco wireless cameras, but nothing of the advanced level I'm looking to do. I'm looking for recommendations on Vendors, Hardware, Monitoring software, etc. Any help would be appreicated.

PM sent

maineshootah - i've also been looking into this for a bit, keen to hear your experiences with this stuff. unless there's something personal in your pm, would you mind sharing with the board? thanks, jared

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm looking to install a few web based security cameras around the house. In the past, I've set up a couple of cisco wireless cameras, but nothing of the advanced level I'm looking to do. I'm looking for recommendations on Vendors, Hardware, Monitoring software, etc. Any help would be appreicated.

PM sent

maineshootah - i've also been looking into this for a bit, keen to hear your experiences with this stuff. unless there's something personal in your pm, would you mind sharing with the board? thanks, jared

+1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

maineshootah - i've also been looking into this for a bit, keen to hear your experiences with this stuff. unless there's something personal in your pm, would you mind sharing with the board? thanks, jared

+1

Ok,

there are a ton of boxes that can be connected to a PC that have a dedicated box with all the camera connected to them. The PC can control the box, set trigger points, send emails, etc. YOU can spend $300 or $30,000, it all depends what you want to throw funds at.

We had an issue at our local club, this is what we went with.

camera

Cheap,($300ish) 4 cameras (two wide angle, two standard) DVR, ability to set sensitivity per camera, IR illumination for dark recording, viewable via the internet and works great.

There are other units that have 8 cameras connected instead of 4, as well as better/smaller cameras (wired or wireless)

This unit can be connected to and monitored/controlled over the internet with a web browser and viewed on the Android and iphone. (A bonus)

Having the built in DVR is nice.. some of the models associated with this one can burn to DVD as well for archiving.

The DVR allows us to watch the weeks activities on the ranges on Friday when the Execs are there. All the triggered recordings are date/time stamped.

You can label each camera, set the sensitivity and the recording zones per cam, export to thumb drive / USB drive.

Some may bash the brand, etc etc etc.. However, we have not had any issues and amazingly, the issues at the range have seemed to go away as well...

hummm.. who would have thunk it? :huh:

Edited by maineshootah
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Here is what I ended up with http://vuezone.com/ not very sophisticated but serves my needs.

Thanks.

I forgot to say that it needs to work with Mac, which the Vue will, because it only requires a web browser of smartphone.

I also fogot to say that it needs to be real small or undetectable, so it won't be discovered/stolen. I could probably come up with a clever way to hide the Vue.

This is also good:

Record unexpected activity.

Vue CM motion detection cameras trigger and record a 10 or 40 second clip when something enters their field of view.

Although I'm not sure where the recording would "end up." Probably in your online account?

I didn't see if it would record video in the dark?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What happened with this thread?!?

I decided to go with a PC based solution. The web cams all come with software, but there are also software packages you can buy that have additional features. If you already have a wireless router setup, adding the cameras is easy. I decided to go with a wired, hi-def camera, but there are plenty of options out there. I'm sure some of them are Steve Jobs friendly. :rolleyes:

I've got this one mounted behind the sheetrock in my living room. The hole is a little conspicuous, but I'm looking for solutions to that.

http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/product-SNCCH110/B/

This one is mounted above my front door. I want anyone who's messing around on my porch to know they are being recorded.

http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/product-SNCDH210T/W/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...