camera advice please

[Bill Dossett]

Hi, loving Blue Iris... have had a few security systems and this is by far the most stable and reliable.

I'm looking to build my system out a little further. I have hikevsion PoE domes at the front door and over the garage doors which is great. My office is in the basement and I can see when people pull up in the drive or come to the front door.

First thing I would like to do is up in my loft there is a window that faces west, I live in Colorado so that window has a great view of the mountains and also the street in front of the house. I don't have Ethernet up there though, so need to go wireless with this one. I want some that is fairly good at distance and wide range.. I know you can't have both so much, so maybe even a PTZ so could change my view from the basement. It can just sit on the window ledge, doesn't really matter if its indoor or outdoor I think, or is there any reason I should mount it out? Any advice on camera well suited for that would be appreciated.

second, wife would like two way comms at the front door thru the blue iris iphone app. As I want to put some domes out back I can move the one from the front door and buy something new. It needs to be PoE and a dome - I've read some threads but most are a couple years old - she is bugging me that my system isn't as good a Ring system which is irksome :-( so any advice on what camera I could use for that is also appreciated.

Thanks
Bill

 

[looney2ns]

Avoid domes, they will have multiple issues as they age with reflections.
The best all around cams at the moment is:
Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)

Dahua Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE

Ring, nest, Arlo, all of that sucks, stay away.

This is a rebranded Hikvison.
NSC-DB1 Onvif Compatible Wifi Doorbell 1080P IP Camera W/ 32GB Built-in Storage - Nelly's Security

 

[Bill Dossett]

thanks... I've made a ruddy great hole in the ceiling of the front porch so I am loath to take down the dome, and its protected from sun and rain etc, so hopefully won't have reflection issues soon anyway, now that the wiring and hole is there I can just replace it if I do get refection issues as they seem to be getting cheaper all the time. Thanks for the heads up on the doorbell cam, I hadn't really thought, but there is no reason I can't use a door bell cam as well as the dome to give me more angles and recording. Thanks again for pointers on the others... though I have a Nest thermostat linked into my home automation system and I can't complain about that, it works great. Will give the door bell camera a try.

 

[Bill Dossett]

Avoid domes, they will have multiple issues as they age with reflections.
The best all around cams at the moment is:
Dahua Starlight Varifocal Turret (IPC-HDW5231R-Z)

Dahua Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE

Ring, nest, Arlo, all of that sucks, stay away.

This is a rebranded Hikvison.
NSC-DB1 Onvif Compatible Wifi Doorbell 1080P IP Camera W/ 32GB Built-in Storage - Nelly's Security

one question on the doorbell cam, can I do the audio thru blue iris? or do I need another app? I am trying to downsize on apps, they update so often and half of them I never use again. Would like to be able to just do this though my blue irs iphone app if possible.

 

[looney2ns]

one question on the doorbell cam, can I do the audio thru blue iris? or do I need another app? I am trying to downsize on apps, they update so often and half of them I never use again. Would like to be able to just do this though my blue irs iphone app if possible.

I've not hand my hands on one, but I would think when setup correctly, the audio would work.