<TLDR> I want to set up a 5 x IP camera security system for my wife's business, interior only. I have the following requirements:
-PoE
-1-way audio
-night-vision
-motion-based recording (alerting is useful bot not a deal-breaker)
-Smartphone app OR ONVIF capable for (re)viewing remotely
I'd like to keep it to about $100/camera or $700 total for a system. Can anyone recommend or endorse a product or brand? I literally can't find anything with that feature-set and price-point through normal retailers (Amazon, Newegg, Tigerdirect, Bestbuy). Normally, no audio is the missing feature. I'd LOVE to buy this stuff local so if something goes wrong I can return it easily, so big-box like Lowe's, Home Depot, Best Buy, etc.
</TLDR>
Reason & Dimensions: I need to monitor student activity and audio for security purposes. The cameras need to cover one 20x30' waiting room, one 15x20' waiting room, one 30x20' activity rooms, and one 10x40' hallway. Viewing angles are ideally close to 90 deg. Light is overhead florescent. I don't really need more that a week or two of video online, and I think 720 is an okay enough resolution.
Background: I currently have 2xFoscam FI9821p (one DOA), more for a test implementation. I have no power runs in the locations these cameras are going, so I got a PoE injector hub, ran CAT6 to the locations, and, after plugging the little bastard cameras in, found that I needed a power splitter. The business-end of the whips I bought were too big, so I spliced the end from the included adapter into the end of the whip, plugged it in and POP went the camera :sad2:. Apparently the whips are designed for the adapter to be plugged in to the end so the power is already stepped-down, not native PoE (I'm sure there were a lot of eye-rolls there; my bad!). I'm so fed up now that I don't even care I'm out a camera. The Foscam viewer app won't load on either of our phones (Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6s), so the one I do have working (ugly, heinous, long extension cord) can't be used.
So I'm on the prowl for a new setup. I'm in the IT trade, so I'm comfortable making port-forwards and DynDNS so my wife can load the cameras on her app from anywhere. Also, I can get a NAS for the cameras to write to, or set up a Samba/NFS cloud repository, so I don't necessarily need a NVR as long as the cameras support remote-writing. I'd like an all-in-one solution so I can plug it all in and be done, but everything I've found has some major drawback. I like NETGEAR's Arlo smart-home, but it's proprietary and the batteries need replacing every 6-months.
Any product/brand people can recommend? What about an enthusiast website with best-of-breed setups and typical pitfalls? I've found IP Cameras here and here but the quality seems dubious at best. I should also say this sysyem from Zmodo seems great, but lacks audio, and is only 4 channel.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
-PoE
-1-way audio
-night-vision
-motion-based recording (alerting is useful bot not a deal-breaker)
-Smartphone app OR ONVIF capable for (re)viewing remotely
I'd like to keep it to about $100/camera or $700 total for a system. Can anyone recommend or endorse a product or brand? I literally can't find anything with that feature-set and price-point through normal retailers (Amazon, Newegg, Tigerdirect, Bestbuy). Normally, no audio is the missing feature. I'd LOVE to buy this stuff local so if something goes wrong I can return it easily, so big-box like Lowe's, Home Depot, Best Buy, etc.
</TLDR>
Reason & Dimensions: I need to monitor student activity and audio for security purposes. The cameras need to cover one 20x30' waiting room, one 15x20' waiting room, one 30x20' activity rooms, and one 10x40' hallway. Viewing angles are ideally close to 90 deg. Light is overhead florescent. I don't really need more that a week or two of video online, and I think 720 is an okay enough resolution.
Background: I currently have 2xFoscam FI9821p (one DOA), more for a test implementation. I have no power runs in the locations these cameras are going, so I got a PoE injector hub, ran CAT6 to the locations, and, after plugging the little bastard cameras in, found that I needed a power splitter. The business-end of the whips I bought were too big, so I spliced the end from the included adapter into the end of the whip, plugged it in and POP went the camera :sad2:. Apparently the whips are designed for the adapter to be plugged in to the end so the power is already stepped-down, not native PoE (I'm sure there were a lot of eye-rolls there; my bad!). I'm so fed up now that I don't even care I'm out a camera. The Foscam viewer app won't load on either of our phones (Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6s), so the one I do have working (ugly, heinous, long extension cord) can't be used.
So I'm on the prowl for a new setup. I'm in the IT trade, so I'm comfortable making port-forwards and DynDNS so my wife can load the cameras on her app from anywhere. Also, I can get a NAS for the cameras to write to, or set up a Samba/NFS cloud repository, so I don't necessarily need a NVR as long as the cameras support remote-writing. I'd like an all-in-one solution so I can plug it all in and be done, but everything I've found has some major drawback. I like NETGEAR's Arlo smart-home, but it's proprietary and the batteries need replacing every 6-months.
Any product/brand people can recommend? What about an enthusiast website with best-of-breed setups and typical pitfalls? I've found IP Cameras here and here but the quality seems dubious at best. I should also say this sysyem from Zmodo seems great, but lacks audio, and is only 4 channel.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
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