- Jan 8, 2018
- 31
- 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!!
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!!