CCTV for Home

[dannyboy]

Hi all,

my sister needs a couple of camera's for the house, probably outdoor front and back. There's that many different ones available I don't know where to start. IP Camera, built in web server etc? I'm pretty clueless at the mo

Ideally she would like to watch the house when she's not there. She only has a laptop and an iPad around the house and iPhones. She's on VM for the net.

Does she need one with a built in web server? Or are IP camera's ok? (i'm clueless)

We bought a cheap one for our house a couple years back from Maplins. 4 camera's and a 500gb DVR. And to be honest it was a pain to set up, the UI is shite and getting it set up on the network for remote viewing was a struggle.

So is there anything easier these days? perhaps wireless camera's? Would we then use the laptop as a DVR?

Thanks all

[evilsatan]

Securix was recommended to me on here and it was a good shout, far easier to set up than most other brands. I would go wired if possible as it's one less technology to go wrong. They have their own app for iOS which makes watching remotely easy and the DVR is part of the package.

[ZX7R]

I have found the following setup to be rather awesome (but needs configuring and a pc/server):

- Outdoor Poe camera = G4S EN 7350 DOME. Got mine off ebay for 99 quid. It was a gamble purchase as I have never heard of the make/model but I am extermely happy with the quality of the product and video quality.
- BlueIris Software installed on server/PC. $50.00 http://www.blueirissoftware.com/
- BlueIris App for Android or iOS. Around £15-£10 I think.

The software is awesome but will eat up some CPU and memory. Fully configurable, mark motion areas, mutliple profiles and schedules, etc.
You can access the camera(s) remotely plus the software will alert the app on your phone when it detects motion; open the app and you can view the recorded video or watch it live. It can also email you and attach pics.
If you rig up a speaker and microphone to the camera then you can actually speak/listen via the app to the camera.

[reverend]

I've got a Foscam 720p wifi jobbie and a couple of Tenvis ones that are just SD - all indoor ones though.

To be totally honest the Tenvis ones are garbage - they kept resetting and the picture format kept going funny so the aspect ratio went wrong - it seemed a common complaint on the Tenvis forums.

The Foscam on the other hand has been excellent. It's a 9821W from memory, and we use it as a baby cam. It's never reset once and the picture quality is excellent.

I use an app on the phone and iPad called LiveCams Pro - it was cheap and it's been fantastic for what we wanted!

[dannyboy]

Thanks everyone,

I did notice this one at Maplin, it's a 960H DVR and by the looks of it is much higher quality. It's also got HDMI out so can set it up to a TV in the bedroom. It's also got an eSata2 and 2 x USB ports so external hard drives or flash drives can be used.

Was only looking at 2 cameras really, Maplin have an offer on the 4 channel 500gb model for £183.99 at the mo, and 2 camera's for £95.

The only thing I haven't seen is the ability for push notifications to your phone if it detects movement. I'm guessing this is to do with the app itself though?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/swann-4-came...-system-787984