New to the forums but love the software. I am a convert of Zoneminder after the development kind of died off and was looking for a better solution. So my setup is a cheap one, and easy to manage. I am using a combination of phones/tablets for my cameras (and speaker- more in a moment) and BI for the intel on the backend. I am using old smart phones (some running Android 2.3!) for the cameras and using the IP webcam app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pas.webcam&hl=en) for the access. I use the "overlay" on the webcam app to tell me the time at the camera and I can compare it to the time on BI for determining lag. I then installed Zello on the devices (https://zello.com/app) and created my own channel naming the devices what the camera names are. I set the IP Webcam software and Zello to restart upon reboot to make sure it is always available if it restarts. I have a total of $113 (including cost of BI) in my entire system. Below are a couple of tips if anyone wants to do the same, and please ping me if you have any questions!
Tips for such a config:
1) make sure both the server/computer and the phones/tablets are set to receive NTP updates from the same source for time sync
2) make sure your power plug for the micro-USB puts out enough juice to charge the phone/tablet while it is running. This may seem silly, but some of the cheap chargers don't have the output to do both and the device dies over time.
3) make sure your devices are either static set for IP or have a DHCP reservation so they always get the same IP
4) good idea to make sure your computer is static too
5) I factory reset the phones and copies the IP webcam APK to the devices. I DO NOT have them attached to a Google account!
6) You can pick up a hard case for cheap for older phones if you want to put a device on a covered entry or Lanai.
Enjoy!
Tips for such a config:
1) make sure both the server/computer and the phones/tablets are set to receive NTP updates from the same source for time sync
2) make sure your power plug for the micro-USB puts out enough juice to charge the phone/tablet while it is running. This may seem silly, but some of the cheap chargers don't have the output to do both and the device dies over time.
3) make sure your devices are either static set for IP or have a DHCP reservation so they always get the same IP
4) good idea to make sure your computer is static too
5) I factory reset the phones and copies the IP webcam APK to the devices. I DO NOT have them attached to a Google account!
6) You can pick up a hard case for cheap for older phones if you want to put a device on a covered entry or Lanai.
Enjoy!