HD IP Cam choices

Other Devices & Integrations Door Locks & Sensors
#1

I’m hoping somebody can advise on choices of camera for my upgrade plan. I’m thinking I may be looking for the impossible but I would like cameras that are
1 - hi def
2 - Allow video streaming via Vera (maybe using Homewave which I am finding great)
3 - PPOE

I’m looking for outdoor fixed and also outdoor PTZ (for the latter I would want Vera support for presets and PTZ generally)

I was hopeful Foscam would provide the solution but the UK offering is not so wide so I think I may struggle.

Thanks to all previous contributors that have helped me shape my plans - all comments gratefully received.

#2

Ubiquiti AriCams will do all that you’re looking for except PTZ at a reasonable price.

#3

I have seen this model about to be launched in the UK

http://foscamuk.co.uk/foscam-fi9828w.html

According to the detailed spec on the website it supports PPoe OK. Can anbody who is wiser than me in these issues confirm if it might work with any of the available plugins? Although they are not cheap I can replace a couple of statics with one of these (so long as they support PTZ presets) and therefore become more cost effective. I gather from reading other threads Foscam support is very good.

I still also need advice on a static outdoor camera as well. Thanks in advance to the Vera community - since migrating to Vera & Z wave I have had some great help.

#4

For the price and quality I have gone with Foscam. This is not to say they are the best, but the are the best at the price range of $80 - $140 depending on the model and where you buy it from. They have night vision, Pan/Title, 2-way audio, wifi and POE version and their newest even has a 3x zoom.

If you are going to setup cameras I would highly recommend setting up an NVR (Network Video Recorder). I use BlueIris, its very powerful and only cost $49 for up to 64 cameras. This is actually the only reason why I have a PC in my house, the rest are all Mac’s.

The other requirement you had “video streaming via Vera” is going to be your biggest issue. As of now I don’t know of any that are going to do that, from my understanding this is a feature Vera will allow later as a paid service and it really isn’t necessary. If you really want to see the video you launch an app on your phone or tablet so you can see the live and recorded video and have 2-way audio as well. Otherwise you can still see the camera in your applications it just updates every 1-5 seconds depending on the app and view which is generally enough to let you know what is going on.

I love my cameras and this hasn’t been an issue for me. An example is I have a camera in the baby room and at night my wife launches the BlueIris app or LiveCams Pro app on her iPad on the nightstand and turn off the screen and we have an instant baby monitor for much cheaper than you can buy one at Babies R Us.

#5

Thanks Chris. I’m sold on Foscam - I get it ref the video streaming - after your post I reread other posts on the forum and I understand - I think my route will be like others by using something like homewave as an interface to integrate vera controls and a decent camera app, I was going to retire my old DVR unit (incompatible with ip cams) when I checked out blue iris I found I have a laptop that will run it so that, with a Network storage drive that has lots of spare capacity and is fast will be recycled into my new DVR - hopefully get the best of both worlds. Now just need to replace the old cctv cables with catv V and I’m on my way.

#6

@Markle, BlueIris has a mobile app for iphone/android and tablets. I mainly use their app because I can just swipe up from a live feed to access the recorded feed and swipe left and right to go through the day. This is really useful for the camera on the front door, I just play it in fast forward mode and in 1-2 minutes I can see everyone that came and left the front door.

I use HomeWave and love it. I setup BlueIris to send notifications to Vera on motion, Vera trips the Motion Alarm for that camera and “Vera Alerts” by RTS forwards that message to HomeWave’s Notification plugin that lets me know there was motion at the front door, when I swipe the Alert on my iPhone it opens HomeWave where I can see the live feed and choose to unlock the door or not. I then use a PLEG instance to wait 2 minutes and reset the Motion Alarm for the camera back to 0.

I use BlueIris for all my motion alarms instead of the camera’s since I can use object detection and Mask in BlueIris to filter out tree limbs that move and sections of the street so I don’t get false alarms. This works very well.

Let me know if you need any help.

#7

I have a couple Foscam (not HD) indoors and a couple Dahua 720P outdoors (not PTZ but meets your other requirements) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0098OG8YG/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 - I wish there were cheaper quality PoE options.

The Foscam is a no-brainer for Vera integration. Super easy. The Dahua took a little more work but wasn’t bad. The image quality from the Dahua is very, very good. To me anyway.

Instead of dealing with each brand’s own configuration I use Blue Iris like so many others. Took a little getting used to but it is great. The iPhone app is a must, IMO. Much better than dealing remotely with the web server, although there are custom files that are better than stock.

I also use Homewave for iOS devices. Took me a while to get it configured but I now love it. Superb app, especially for the cost.

One of the helpful things I did was to trigger from a door unlock (from Vera) to Blue Iris to stop recording, which suspends alerts while I’m home. I do the opposite on a lock.

Wish we could integrate with 2GIG security but that’s another topic.