I am just getting started with my Vera3 setup and am looking for a good wireless camera for monitoring my front door. Night mode would be nice but isn’t necessary; what IS necessary, however, is motion detection, for a few reasons:
• I want to be notified when someone is approaching the entrance, especially at night - when home, by flashing the lights - when away, by sending a notification.
• I would like to have the courtyard lights automatically turn on when someone approaches at night so that they can better see where they are going; this would also make night mode unnecessary if it could see the image with lights on.
• I want to be able to automatically save images or video of people approaching, potentially for security reasons but mainly to see when and how packages are delivered (“It says ‘fragile’ for a reason, you fool!”).
I have multiple windows of the entry area from all angles, so outdoor capability is not necessary.
Does anyone have any recommendations for a camera that will offer good value and quality and can provide motion detection capabilities?
I’m not a fan of WiFi cams, but the Axis M1031-W will fit the bill and I use one at the front door of our lake house. It has VGA resolution, PIR motion detect (very reliable), 2 way audio, built in white light you can activate on motion and it’s dirt cheap, at least for an Axis camera (#1 make of network cameras). You can set it up to email you pictures of what it captured, albeit the more pictures you ask for, the longer the delay in you receiving them. I have a writeup on my blog at ipcamnetwork.wordpress.com.
Alternatively, AVTech makes some very cool cameras like the AVN80X or the lower priced AVN801, not sure if they have a WiFi version yet, but you can always get a tiny access point to make it wireless. They have a feature that instantly notifies you of motion through it’s PIR motion detection via an IOS or Android app. It then plays the last 5 seconds of what was encountered during that event. From your smartphone, you can then look at recorded video (if you get the model with an SD card slot) and/or live video and audio of what is going on. Also, it’s 1.3MP which is about 4X the resolution of a VGA camera.
Lastly, the ACTi acm-4201, built in PIR motion detection, 2 way audio, 1.3MP resolution, interchangable lens, but it’s PoE, not WiFi, but frankly, I prefer PoE (power over ethernet) as you don’t need those clunky a/c adapters that WiFi cameras need, just a nice clean ethernet cable you can run in the wall.
All these cameras mentioned cost in the $200ish price range. They all require white light to operate (not IR) and I would recomend getting a light switch that is motion activated, they sell them at Home Depot or Lowes and work great.
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