Help me finish this new family and apartment setup. Warning long post!

Skyline1432

Young grasshopper
Joined
Jan 8, 2018
Messages
31
Reaction score
4
So I'm gonna start with some background... I recently had a son! Within 4 months of my sons birth came a new nanny, new apartment, "rougher" city, and our unlocked (wife's fault) car getting rumaged thru in our parking lot. The wife tasked me with setting up a camera system which I said no problem can't be that hard...........

So I looked at options in my $500 budget. Narrowed it down to pretty much "smart" cloud cameras and a NVR system.

Smartcloud cameras lacked 24/7 on site recording. I disliked how majority of them used subscription based services and they could up the price or remove features at any given time i.e. canary. They cost 160 up for a single camera and we wanted more then a single camera.

NVR systems actually look really cool and I got to learn all about POE. However ugly wires and concerns they won't be able to update often enough to remain secure made me nervous. Plus if God help me someone actually broke in a NVR and wired cameras would likely be the first item stolen. Plus I would have to commit to one type of camera I couldn't find any that mixed POE/wifi.

So after going thru every option I could find via reddit and Google I found a post discussing diy options with a PC and blue iris. Hot dang the chance to have a NVR/HTPC sitting in the bedroom was too good to pass up. Plus all these reddit comments about blue iris and articles said any cheap IP camera can be used. So I thought sure build cheap PC, pick up 1 high res wifi camera from Amazon to move around as needed and a few wired Logitech c920s to be more permanent cameras and done!

I am a paranoid man and decided I wanna use a separate wifi from an old router with no internet access to it and prevent the network from broadcasting. Nothing is 100 percent secure but I feel separate network no internet access is a darn good start. Hoping to also have no bandwidth loss doing it this way. I can't wait for meme videos on YouTube to buffer because I have 3 cameras on my wifi!!

Building the PC went fine although I blew budget for compatability reasons as I will be upgrading it with parts from my gaming PC as I update that rig. I then ordered a copy of Blue Iris that will be here in 4-5 days.
Link to the build here System Builder - Pentium G4620 3.7GHz Dual-Core, Core V21 MicroATX Mini Tower - PCPartPicker


So now I was left dipping over to amazon to just grab a few cameras real easy right.... well it seems the market for these things is confusing and full of straight bs Chinese manufacturers. Nothing against Chinese manufacturers just seems all the sketchy ones make some sort of secruity camea.

So lots of searching later I am no better off than when I started. Just figuring out if a camera will work with blue iris much less is a decent camera is a chore. So many options with hours already spent researching it has gotten overwhelming.

So I'm hoping you guys can help. I'll say what I think I need and will take any suggestions or advice this forum has to offer.

With a budget of $300

I need 1 (1080 2mp wifi camera) for baby/nanny watching. This camera will be moved to different locations depending on if I expect to capture a certain place in the house. Bonus points if doesn't have that bullet/prison cam look
I need 1(waterproof wifi outdoor camera) for the patio. The resolution on this one doesn't matter as it will be to simply watch packages and show us who is at the door.
1-2 (720p or less indoor cameras) these I wanna mount up high in the bedrooms.
All of these I would like to work with blue iris, use wifi, and not need access to the outside Internet


Not included in my budget of $300 because I already own them is 3 wired usb cams and a "D-Link DCS-920". However I'm unsure if blue iris will even work with any of these and how old they are I'm hoping to just use them. Also have two iPhones and an old Android kicking around and someone said I could use them too but I didn't save the Reddit post and unsure if that would work along with blue iris as well. If anyone has advice of saving dollars and using these or some of them would be awesome!

I know this post was super long and newbs aren't supposed to do that. However the posts I made in subreddits I found and another forum didn't really give me options that would fit in with what I want. Really hoping all the extra info will help narrow down any suggestions someone could have for me. So if you made it this far thank you for your time spent reading and answering it means alot to me and my family!!
 

mat200

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Jan 17, 2017
Messages
13,650
Reaction score
22,741
So I'm gonna start with some background... I recently had a son! Within 4 months of my sons birth came a new nanny, new apartment, "rougher" city, and our unlocked (wife's fault) car getting rumaged thru in our parking lot. The wife tasked me with setting up a camera system which I said no problem can't be that hard...........

So I looked at options in my $500 budget. Narrowed it down to pretty much "smart" cloud cameras and a NVR system.....

With a budget of $300

I need 1 (1080 2mp wifi camera) for baby/nanny watching. This camera will be moved to different locations depending on if I expect to capture a certain place in the house. Bonus points if doesn't have that bullet/prison cam look
I need 1(waterproof wifi outdoor camera) for the patio. The resolution on this one doesn't matter as it will be to simply watch packages and show us who is at the door.
1-2 (720p or less indoor cameras) these I wanna mount up high in the bedrooms.
All of these I would like to work with blue iris, use wifi, and not need access to the outside Internet


Not included in my budget of $300 because I already own them is 3 wired usb cams and a "D-Link DCS-920". However I'm unsure if blue iris will even work with any of these and how old they are I'm hoping to just use them. Also have two iPhones and an old Android kicking around and someone said I could use them too but I didn't save the Reddit post and unsure if that would work along with blue iris as well. If anyone has advice of saving dollars and using these or some of them would be awesome!..
Welcome Skyline,

Careful with cloud cameras - numerous issues with them including outages due to internet or their cloud service outages.

Note for Blue Iris the typical recommended CPU is i5/i7 and a newer gen, 4th gen+ iirc. There's a good thread on that here ( see notes below )

For a indoor camera a lot of people here like the Hikvision OEM cube which Annke has rebranded ( remember to update the firmware though! critical part of getting that camera for $50 )

For an outdoor camera, if you need a low light camera look at the Dahua OEM starlight models ( see links below ), note there are ways to setup a PoE camera to be a wiki camera using additional equipment.

If you need to keep an over watch on your parked cars, determine the distance from where you can place an outdoor camera and look for a Dahua starlight camera which can zoom into that distance.

You probably will have to increase your budget to achieve the results you are looking for.

It's easy to get swamped with information here, so I wanted to share some notes with you

Please check out @giomania 's notes:
Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)

I have also made notes which are a summary of a lot of the reading I've been doing here,:
Looking for some advice and direction!

Have fun joining us here.
 

Skyline1432

Young grasshopper
Joined
Jan 8, 2018
Messages
31
Reaction score
4
Thanks I skimmed the ready and will have to take a longer read at it tomorrow. As far as the cpu I know however the newest generations of these 7th gen Pentiums have hyper threading and may actually keep up pretty well. I do plan however to grab an i7 7700k for my gaming rig and put its i5 in this build. I'm realizing I will have to increase my budget I just can't swing it now. I was expecting to pay like 60 bucks a camera at the most.
 

mat200

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Jan 17, 2017
Messages
13,650
Reaction score
22,741
Thanks ... I was expecting to pay like 60 bucks a camera at the most.
<$60 for an indoor one works, the Hikvision OEM cube is $50

For outdoors I would 2-3x that, if you only need 1-2 it shouldn't be too bad ( well, may need more for setting up the wiki stuff.. )
 

Skyline1432

Young grasshopper
Joined
Jan 8, 2018
Messages
31
Reaction score
4
Reddn this is perfect those digoo m1z look spot on for what my budget can stretch at this point. After posting this I had ordered an R2 from foscam and Idk how it will perform but I'm hoping it will work with BI! I think as of now my plan is to snag two of digoo cams and use them in the bedrooms. Mount the Foscam up high to overlook both the living room and kitchen rather then moving a camera all the time or having to buy two. I'll use this real sketch D-Link camera I had to watch the patio cause even though I have a roofed patio worse case I destroy a 40 dollar camera that's probably years old! Lastly I'll over look the parking lot from a window with a logitech c920 as long as usb cams work with BL(Because i know the webcam is clear enough to see the license plate on my car from the window already).

I know the build I'm using is lacking in cpu,ram, and storage. However the cpu despite being dual core has 4 hyper threads so it will act like an I3 quad core at 3.7 ghz and it supports quick sync via the onboard graphics. It's really a massive bang for buck cpu and will update this thread on what my usage is once i get everything set up. The ram will get upgraded later but right now they are asking some insane prices for ram I'm just not ready to to pay(bought 16gb of LED ram in feb for $128!!!). Storage will be my first upgrade as soon as I gather some more cash and decide on Red or Purple Drives.

Idk if it matters but I don't know if I'll utilize any sort of motion detecting or Blue Iris features other then time stamps and using it to record. I don't need or care for remote access and really just wanted to set it to record 24/7 and overwrite the oldest footage when I run out of storage.
 

Skyline1432

Young grasshopper
Joined
Jan 8, 2018
Messages
31
Reaction score
4
That's tad bit more into networking then my knowledge runs. My hopes were that I could setup a spare wifi router with no web access. Run all the cameras via that wifi. That way my 13 devices(Google home, 2 Google minis, 2 chromecasts, 2 laptops and phones, a tablet and a few home automation items) don't see more lag then they already do. Also planned on making this wifi not broadcasting itself so it can only be connected to if the name and password is manually typed in. Of course I have no clue if this will work as I've not done anything like it before.
 

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,897
Reaction score
21,250
Reddn this is perfect those digoo m1z look spot on for what my budget can stretch at this point. After posting this I had ordered an R2 from foscam and Idk how it will perform but I'm hoping it will work with BI! I think as of now my plan is to snag two of digoo cams and use them in the bedrooms. Mount the Foscam up high to overlook both the living room and kitchen rather then moving a camera all the time or having to buy two. I'll use this real sketch D-Link camera I had to watch the patio cause even though I have a roofed patio worse case I destroy a 40 dollar camera that's probably years old! Lastly I'll over look the parking lot from a window with a logitech c920 as long as usb cams work with BL(Because i know the webcam is clear enough to see the license plate on my car from the window already).

I know the build I'm using is lacking in cpu,ram, and storage. However the cpu despite being dual core has 4 hyper threads so it will act like an I3 quad core at 3.7 ghz and it supports quick sync via the onboard graphics. It's really a massive bang for buck cpu and will update this thread on what my usage is once i get everything set up. The ram will get upgraded later but right now they are asking some insane prices for ram I'm just not ready to to pay(bought 16gb of LED ram in feb for $128!!!). Storage will be my first upgrade as soon as I gather some more cash and decide on Red or Purple Drives.

Idk if it matters but I don't know if I'll utilize any sort of motion detecting or Blue Iris features other then time stamps and using it to record. I don't need or care for remote access and really just wanted to set it to record 24/7 and overwrite the oldest footage when I run out of storage.
Do yourself a HUGE favor and avoid every single one of those cameras mentioned by reddn...they are garbage low end brands (except
pay 100 dollars for a dahua FIXED starlight turret...these will provide superior images both day and night.....your logitech will be useless looking over the lot...
 

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,897
Reaction score
21,250
Have you used any of the ones I mention/currently using?

This guy set a budget and asked for suggestions, sorry if his budget offends you.
I am offended by folks recommending junk cameras. He should buy LESS cameras that are good quality than a bunch of crap cams...can also find non starlight 2mp cameras from name brands like dahua or hikvision for about 60 dollars...but the 40 dollars is well worth it...you have a collection of garbage, dont dump it on someone else too. For indoor cams hikvision cubes 1080p with pir are available for 50 bux...why buy crap?
 

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,897
Reaction score
21,250
But I must admit, your experience with them may thoroughly suck, but except for the sv3c 960p, all of them have been working as expected, except for ipv6 support. The digoo kept having erratic connection failures.
All garbage...foscam is top of the garbage pile...
 

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,897
Reaction score
21,250
At least foscam issues firmware updates. But I'm not really defending them, as you do have much more experience with them, and all other cameras than I do.

And in general, I do agree with your , 'don't buy that shit' statement. It's a crap shoot buying these low end cameras. But for me, it's mostly working
hikvision and dahua issue firmware upgrades - no sure where you get your misinformation from....
foscam is well known for failing to issues firmware updates to known exploits...(hikvision eventually issues them) however updates are not needed if the cameras are behind blue iris.,
You made the foolish mistake of buying crap..why would you recommend 40 dollar Digoo crap when a hivksion rebranded camera by annke is 50 dollars and includes pir, poe,.....
as far as outdoor cameras, what is the point of having them if they produce an inferior image...also remember that FIRMWARE is the most important part of the cam...these low end crap cameras are no to have severe issues..
 

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,897
Reaction score
21,250
note, the other cheap cameras do not issue updates.

The sv3c is having a stream corruption when ir is off, they sent me another one as a replacement
I dont get your point. what cheap cameras dont issue updates?
 

tangent

IPCT Contributor
Joined
May 12, 2016
Messages
4,338
Reaction score
3,519
Reddn this is perfect those digoo m1z look spot on for what my budget can stretch at this point. After posting this I had ordered an R2 from foscam and Idk how it will perform but I'm hoping it will work with BI! I think as of now my plan is to snag two of digoo cams and use them in the bedrooms. Mount the Foscam up high to overlook both the living room and kitchen rather then moving a camera all the time or having to buy two. I'll use this real sketch D-Link camera I had to watch the patio cause even though I have a roofed patio worse case I destroy a 40 dollar camera that's probably years old! Lastly I'll over look the parking lot from a window with a logitech c920 as long as usb cams work with BL(Because i know the webcam is clear enough to see the license plate on my car from the window already).

I know the build I'm using is lacking in cpu,ram, and storage. However the cpu despite being dual core has 4 hyper threads so it will act like an I3 quad core at 3.7 ghz and it supports quick sync via the onboard graphics. It's really a massive bang for buck cpu and will update this thread on what my usage is once i get everything set up. The ram will get upgraded later but right now they are asking some insane prices for ram I'm just not ready to to pay(bought 16gb of LED ram in feb for $128!!!). Storage will be my first upgrade as soon as I gather some more cash and decide on Red or Purple Drives.

Idk if it matters but I don't know if I'll utilize any sort of motion detecting or Blue Iris features other then time stamps and using it to record. I don't need or care for remote access and really just wanted to set it to record 24/7 and overwrite the oldest footage when I run out of storage.
Steer clear of all of those cameras they'll all disappoint you. Those cameras are barely worthy of being mousetrap cams. I mean foscam actually has the word SCAM in their name.

Most wifi cameras will disappoint. Run ethernet to a couple cameras and power them with PoE. You have to get power to the cameras anyway it might as well be power and data. Don't mount the cameras too high and don't try to look through your windows you;ll see nothing but a reflection at night.

This is the budget option you should consider: Dahua Starlight Fixed Lens Turret (IPC-HDW4231EM-AS)
 

Skyline1432

Young grasshopper
Joined
Jan 8, 2018
Messages
31
Reaction score
4
So I'm gonna say thanks to reddn again. I am very aware that at my current budget I'll be running mostly janky cameras. I realized that when I decided to go the build my own PC for an NVR option. The benefit to using a PC and blue Iris was that later with a better budget and some upgrades to the pc I could upgrade to POE cameras or upgrade just about anything else I want with this setup semi easily. My main goals were to avoid cloud cameras and proprietary NVR systems while still mostly ordering from Amazon.

My own research proved that POE cameras were superior over WiFi in about every mark and they are what I wanted. However budget and strict apartment rules about hanging and drilling(no Ethernet prewired) made POE an unreachable option despite wanting it more and the cost of POE vs wifi is not much. If it counts for anything I did run a POE system by the wife however she really didn't like that their would be Ethernet running along the baseboards/doors and shot that plan down at least until we bought a house and I could discretely run the wires in the wall.

My plan currently is to remain in this apartment no longer then 2 years. In that two years I am expecting to rely on janky wifi cameras and slowly be upgrading the PC with parts from my gaming PC has I upgrade it. My current 3 year life goal is to purchase a home for my new family. My plan is when I purchased a home I could then dump cash into running cat6 everywhere and upgrading to to POE cameras.

However in the meantime I have a strict budget of 300-200ish dollars and need at the very least 3 cameras to watch 3 angles and would like more around 5. I think I have a reasonable expectation from what I'm gonna get with my budget.

Reddn seemed to pick up on the fact my question was along the lines of what's the best junk for my money and situation for RIGHT NOW! However I understand a lot of new to this forum people are expecting to get a whole lot with out spending any money. As good community members you are just trying to keep me from being disappointed and I sincerely appreciate it.

I am also aware that it would be cheaper long term to not buy janky cameras now and just wait until I could afford higher end more trusted ones now then waiting till I buy my house. Yet in response to that very real arguement I'm on a extremely pinched and planned budget with the new baby(seriously have a fixed budget for the next 5 years). There is no large unplanned sum of cash coming in that I could spend on cameras now or thru the year of 2018. The 300 I have now is about it for this project for a year or two. I have already planned upgrades for my gaming PC( which will effect the NVR build) thats not affected by my budget as I pay for those via side cash I make via donations for gaming on twitch.

The wife wants this done ASAP and is not a big fan of listening to reason(I.e. if we wait and spend more the cameras will look/work a 100 times better). She simply wants it done now and the janky cameras will give her non technical self the piece of mind she needs to stop nagging me. The unreliability and low resolution/bad image that will come with janky wifi cameras will be my headache alone while also being motivation to get around to upgrading them to POE models ASAP. POE cameras also carry the cost of Ethernet cable,POE injectors, and a Ethernet switch. It's not a high cost for what I would get using POE but still throws it way out of my budget.

Thanks to all replying in this thread I do really like these starlight cameras and unless something better comes out in the next few years the star lights are very likely to be my choice in POE.

However reddn did a good job in giving me some options within my budget even if they are junk. Realistically looking at my budget and situation wifi junk is what I'm stuck with and came here looking for recommendations on the best junk money could buy in my budget.

Again though thank you all for the advice and trying to keep me from crap products. I know this was another long reply but hoping it can explain why I'm kind of stuck looking at these janky options.
 

mat200

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Jan 17, 2017
Messages
13,650
Reaction score
22,741
.. I know this was another long reply but hoping it can explain why I'm kind of stuck looking at these janky options.
Hi Skyline,

Completely appreciate the Apartment and budget restrictions

I think you can get a decent set of cameras within your budget, as pointed out this is $50 and a good camera once the firmware is updated:
ANNKE I61DR 2MP (Hikvision Cube Clone)

If you can find a partially protected area to place one of those cameras outdoors, then I would suggest hacking together something to protect it again rain, and keeping the unit from attracting the apartment "police". Maybe placing it in a fake planter with fake plants? or a fake birdhouse.

The nice thing about that particular camera is you can change out the lens! - so if you need better zoom to watch your parked car you can do it.
 

tangent

IPCT Contributor
Joined
May 12, 2016
Messages
4,338
Reaction score
3,519
My own research proved that POE cameras were superior over WiFi in about every mark and they are what I wanted. However budget and strict apartment rules about hanging and drilling(no Ethernet prewired) made POE an unreachable option despite wanting it more and the cost of POE vs wifi is not much. If it counts for anything I did run a POE system by the wife however she really didn't like that their would be Ethernet running along the baseboards/doors and shot that plan down at least until we bought a house and I could discretely run the wires in the wall.

My plan currently is to remain in this apartment no longer then 2 years. In that two years I am expecting to rely on janky wifi cameras and slowly be upgrading the PC with parts from my gaming PC has I upgrade it. My current 3 year life goal is to purchase a home for my new family. My plan is when I purchased a home I could then dump cash into running cat6 everywhere and upgrading to to POE cameras.

However in the meantime I have a strict budget of 300-200ish dollars and need at the very least 3 cameras to watch 3 angles and would like more around 5. I think I have a reasonable expectation from what I'm gonna get with my budget.

Reddn seemed to pick up on the fact my question was along the lines of what's the best junk for my money and situation for RIGHT NOW! However I understand a lot of new to this forum people are expecting to get a whole lot with out spending any money. As good community members you are just trying to keep me from being disappointed and I sincerely appreciate it.
This forum has a low tolerance for junk cameras and people who register for the sole purpose of peddling them.

The fact that you were in an apartment and can't drill holes and such was not something I noticed. It's easy to overlook important details in very long posts. In a house Ethernet cables would be installed inside the walls. If these details had been more apparent you would have gotten different advice.

I still would advise you to avoid all of the cameras reddn suggested. A few cameras that are a little better will run circles around more awful cameras.

WiFi cameras will be even harder to use in an apartment complex with all the other wifi devices nearby. HomePlug AV2 adapters are an option, they send the data over your power lines. It is pretty hard to look through your windows at night, you won't be able to use IR.

More details about the apartment, sq ft, number of rooms, what you want to actually view would help too.
 

Skyline1432

Young grasshopper
Joined
Jan 8, 2018
Messages
31
Reaction score
4
As an Amazon Associate IPCamTalk earns from qualifying purchases.

Skyline1432

Young grasshopper
Joined
Jan 8, 2018
Messages
31
Reaction score
4
Tangent I understand how the long posts can be difficult to extract information from. I have 1200 sq ft apartment. That has 2 bedrooms I wanted to watch
This forum has a low tolerance for junk cameras and people who register for the sole purpose of peddling them.

The fact that you were in an apartment and can't drill holes and such was not something I noticed. It's easy to overlook important details in very long posts. In a house Ethernet cables would be installed inside the walls. If these details had been more apparent you would have gotten different advice.

I still would advise you to avoid all of the cameras reddn suggested. A few cameras that are a little better will run circles around more awful cameras.

WiFi cameras will be even harder to use in an apartment complex with all the other wifi devices nearby. HomePlug AV2 adapters are an option, they send the data over your power lines. It is pretty hard to look through your windows at night, you won't be able to use IR.

More details about the apartment, sq ft, number of rooms, what you want to actually view would help too.
I have some scribbles with my floor plan I took a picture of early on my researching process. I put letters where I planned to place cameras
My dining area contains my desk as we eat at the kitchen counter. I was gonna use a simple USB Logitech c920 to watch the car and this area is also the base point for any equipment PC/monitor/router.
Nursery camera is pretty simple and can be moved to about anywhere in the room
Master bedroom camera is placed at a preinstalled desk space that has a shelf about 7 feet high.
The kitchen camera placement was because right in the corner their is a hole that runs to the top of the counters and has an outlet right near the hole so with 3 feet of cord I could have a camera about 8 feet up overlooking the majority of living space. This is the only one I really would like to have decent image quality to watch what the nanny does.
The patio camera is marked where the patio light fixture is and is a covered patio. The doors to the master room from patio are French glass doors so I could also place inside camera there as well if I have a suction cup.
The parking lot like I mentioned before i can use a wired usb cam to watch however I don't really care about this camera as I want the wife to worry about locking her car rather then watching people outside of my living area.(unsure of legal problems with it being a public space)

I hope this helps and sorry I do understand how longer posts are likely to be skimmed rather then someone getting every bit of information I put I'm them.
 

Attachments

mat200

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Jan 17, 2017
Messages
13,650
Reaction score
22,741
..
The parking lot like I mentioned before i can use a wired usb cam to watch however I don't really care about this camera as I want the wife to worry about locking her car rather then watching people outside of my living area.(unsure of legal problems with it being a public space)
..
Hi Skyline,

If you are only recording video of the public parking area you should have no legal worries.

note for the logitech webcam, while 1080p I suspect it has a rather wide FOV and thus will have a short ID distance.
 

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,897
Reaction score
21,250
So I'm gonna say thanks to reddn again. I am very aware that at my current budget I'll be running mostly janky cameras. I realized that when I decided to go the build my own PC for an NVR option. The benefit to using a PC and blue Iris was that later with a better budget and some upgrades to the pc I could upgrade to POE cameras or upgrade just about anything else I want with this setup semi easily. My main goals were to avoid cloud cameras and proprietary NVR systems while still mostly ordering from Amazon.

My own research proved that POE cameras were superior over WiFi in about every mark and they are what I wanted. However budget and strict apartment rules about hanging and drilling(no Ethernet prewired) made POE an unreachable option despite wanting it more and the cost of POE vs wifi is not much. If it counts for anything I did run a POE system by the wife however she really didn't like that their would be Ethernet running along the baseboards/doors and shot that plan down at least until we bought a house and I could discretely run the wires in the wall.

My plan currently is to remain in this apartment no longer then 2 years. In that two years I am expecting to rely on janky wifi cameras and slowly be upgrading the PC with parts from my gaming PC has I upgrade it. My current 3 year life goal is to purchase a home for my new family. My plan is when I purchased a home I could then dump cash into running cat6 everywhere and upgrading to to POE cameras.

However in the meantime I have a strict budget of 300-200ish dollars and need at the very least 3 cameras to watch 3 angles and would like more around 5. I think I have a reasonable expectation from what I'm gonna get with my budget.

Reddn seemed to pick up on the fact my question was along the lines of what's the best junk for my money and situation for RIGHT NOW! However I understand a lot of new to this forum people are expecting to get a whole lot with out spending any money. As good community members you are just trying to keep me from being disappointed and I sincerely appreciate it.

I am also aware that it would be cheaper long term to not buy janky cameras now and just wait until I could afford higher end more trusted ones now then waiting till I buy my house. Yet in response to that very real arguement I'm on a extremely pinched and planned budget with the new baby(seriously have a fixed budget for the next 5 years). There is no large unplanned sum of cash coming in that I could spend on cameras now or thru the year of 2018. The 300 I have now is about it for this project for a year or two. I have already planned upgrades for my gaming PC( which will effect the NVR build) thats not affected by my budget as I pay for those via side cash I make via donations for gaming on twitch.

The wife wants this done ASAP and is not a big fan of listening to reason(I.e. if we wait and spend more the cameras will look/work a 100 times better). She simply wants it done now and the janky cameras will give her non technical self the piece of mind she needs to stop nagging me. The unreliability and low resolution/bad image that will come with janky wifi cameras will be my headache alone while also being motivation to get around to upgrading them to POE models ASAP. POE cameras also carry the cost of Ethernet cable,POE injectors, and a Ethernet switch. It's not a high cost for what I would get using POE but still throws it way out of my budget.

Thanks to all replying in this thread I do really like these starlight cameras and unless something better comes out in the next few years the star lights are very likely to be my choice in POE.

However reddn did a good job in giving me some options within my budget even if they are junk. Realistically looking at my budget and situation wifi junk is what I'm stuck with and came here looking for recommendations on the best junk money could buy in my budget.

Again though thank you all for the advice and trying to keep me from crap products. I know this was another long reply but hoping it can explain why I'm kind of stuck looking at these janky options.
I cant read your entire post..but PLEASE do yourself a favor and DONT BUY THAT CRAP...you can but 720p for that price...the fixed hikvison domes are the same price as the CRAP he is recommending...you will be sorry...but there are many like you...
 

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,897
Reaction score
21,250
I dont think you should assume what I have, or have said is a recommendation of a product. You want my recommendation? Go get some Honeywell cameras.

It is only, 'I have it, it works, but watch out'. Also, dont port forward it, and block its access to the internet, because I do not trust them.

THe 960P camera is fucked up as its h264 stream is corrupted. It is about 70 ft from the back of the house. They sent me a new one that i have not put up yet.

On the front yard cam, that far house is 301.17ft(per google maps) away. The IR is pretty concentrated.

The panoramic camera is just sitting on my table facing the ceiling in a dark room 960x960. That is going on the back corner of my garage to see both sides.

The digoo camera is 87 ft from AP(4.5 ft above ground) to camera(8 ft above ground level) in a different building. It goes through at least 3, but i think more like 6 walls line of sight. My router reads -68dBm, with rates at 41/27mb/s tx/rx. It is a 2.4 band only. You can notice some image distortion at the far left and right, kind of a wide angle effect.

Router is a Asus RT-N66U running Tomato by Shabby (Advanced Tomato).

As everyone has already said, don't buy them. But I am going to buy a few more. If there are some cameras that are open source, and cost more, I'll be switching to the open source cameras.

ETA: BI is reporting the 960P as a 1.6MP, not 1.3
Shows how little you know and how dangerous it is to make recommendations that will steer folks wrong...honeywell simply rebrands other manufactures...for example this is a hikvision "honeywell"
TDN WDR IR Ball Camera
they rebrand dahua as well....
 
Top