Help picking versatile IP cam

T

TheCodeLife

n3wb
Jan 6, 2019
6
2
NJ, USA
My wife and I are having a baby in February and I was tasked, quite happily I might add, with picking a video capable baby monitor. Due to my education and work in computer science, I have a heightened security awareness which caused me to steer away from standard baby monitor cameras. Thus, I recently delved into the vast world of IP cameras to find one that could work as a baby monitor first, and a security camera second. Unfortunately the sheer camera model quantity and dearth of technical information available for most cameras causes me to feel lost in the IP camera sea. Thankfully, I stumbled across this forum and I am hoping for some assistance in picking a camera. Listed below are my requirements:
  1. POE (or POE+) capable
  2. Good low-light picture quality (for use with night light)
  3. Viewable on LAN using smart phones and laptops/desktops (web client is fine so long as it is local)
  4. White color (to please my wife, baby won't care)
  5. Dome camera (again, for my wife)

The following list contains the nice-to-have features:
  1. IR (can be turned off especially if it has a 60+ foot range) for future use as a security camera
  2. Outdoor mounting capable (likely would be mounted under my porch overhang, so very unlikely to get wet
  3. No proprietary software required to view or configure
  4. PTZ
  5. 4k (may not be possible since I need good low-light quality)

I'm likely missing some features that would be nice to have, but I feel this list is adequate. I'm looking at a $250 USD max price or lower.

I greatly appreciate any suggestions!
 
Are you mounting inside or outside? If outside a dome camera is not recommended, it fogs up and gets dirty. Use a turret camera.

Why a PTZ are you going to sit there and move it while viewing ? The normal problem with PTZ is they are always pointed in the wrong spot.

Your requirement for No proprietary software, is a problem. You will need software to view the camera, most modern browsers no longer support plugins. The only browsers that support some plugins are IE and Palemoon 32.

Do not buy NEST or reolink. Do not buy any camera that uses cloud storage. Do not allow the camera direct access to the internet.

Do you have a requirement to record, if so for how long ?

Please read the cliff notes in the wiki. The wiki is at the top of the page in the blue bar.
 
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Thank you for your reply! I have read the cliff notes.

I will be mounting the camera inside on the ceiling of the nursery for the first couple years and I would like to eventually move it outside to the front porch after that.

PTZ is certainly not a requirement. I thought it would be nice to have the ability to move the camera around, but realistically I would want it pointing in a single direction almost all of the time whether that be inside the house or outside the house. The only time I would want to be able to move the camera is when our baby learns to move around and perhaps climb out of the crib. Realistically I would probably just walk into the room if I can't see him on the camera anyway.

Regarding no proprietary software, I was too broad. I am OK with using the software mentioned in the cliff notes.

NEST was certainly not a consideration for me. I will be sure to avoid Reolink partially because I have read you cannot disable the IR through configuration. As for internet accessibility, I have set up a vlan on my switch that has no access to the internet which I intend to use for the IP camera.

I will not be recording while the camera is indoors (first 2 years at least), but I will want to record when I eventually move the camera outdoors. I already have an 8TB NAS which I would want to use as storage.

I have read good things about Dahua cameras in general on this forum, so I was leaning in that direction. My biggest issue is that I don't know how well any given model would work in a low-light situation such as a small night-light in the room. I do not want to use IR functionality indoors unless the power is very low since human irises do not adjust the pupil size based on intensity of IR. The last thing I want to do is damage the baby's eyes since he may stare at it for extended periods.
 
I completely understand your concern with using IR light but it's not concentrated so I doubt it can cause any harm.

"All infrared, visible or ultraviolet electromagnetic radiation can cause injury to the eye in sufficient concentrations, but this is very rare. The infrared light needs to be extremely intense to cause harm. It is important to take precautions, because infrared light is invisible, meaning your eyes won't take the protective measures like blinking or closing when a high-intensity beam of infrared radiation shines into them. In extreme cases, if the eyes absorb too much infrared light, they can be irreversibly damaged. Infrared lamps and incandescent bulbs are not powerful enough to cause such harm. But it's best if you don't stare directly at them for too long. Staring at any light source, including the sun, for too long can cause damage to the eyes, particularly in young people."

Source: Infrared Light Effect on Eyes
 
Thanks for the replies Dasstrum! I doubt it would cause harm as well, but I would rather be on the safe side. I don't have a problem using IR some, but I just don't want to have it on all night long in case the baby decides to stare at the camera for an extended period.

Thanks for the recommendation on the Starlight cameras! I was just looking into those and I found a review from wopi82 regarding the HFW-1831E which seems to use the IMX334 Sony sensor. I think this camera has the detail I would enjoy along with good quality in low light. I would like to get a turret camera with this sensor, but I'm having trouble finding one. Does anyone know if a turret camera exists with one of these sensors? If not, I'll see if my wife can put up with the looks of this camera.

My primary concern with the HFW-1831E camera would be the minimum focus distance. We have an 8 foot ceiling in the nursery and I would like to mount the camera directly over the crib. Dahua's website for that camera claims the minimum focus distance is 1.5m (about 4 ft. 11 inches) which should not be a problem directly over the crib, however, the site also says the minimum focus distance is 16.4 ft. which would obviously be too far. I assume 1.5m is accurate and the site has a mistake on the conversion to feet.
 
Take a look at the SD1A203T-GN

Review-Dahua SD1A203T-GN Starlight Mini PTZ

It's a Dahua Starlight PTZ with IR.

As for focal distance I find even the 4ft to be crazy far.
Most of the cameras I tested had no problem focusing at like 2 ft away. I bench test my cameras before being installed and they are sitting on a desk. I dont pay attention to the "focus distance" as I am just setting up the cameras but there is times it was pointing at the wall like 2-3 ft away and it focused just fine.

The 4 ft might just be a recommendation and not a minimal standard
 
Thanks! I just looked at the review. I may go for this camera instead of a turret camera despite my hesitation regarding dome cameras. The low-light quality is excellent! Does the camera remember the zoom level and orientation through reboots?
 
TheCodeLife said:
Thanks! I just looked at the review. I may go for this camera instead of a turret camera despite my hesitation regarding dome cameras. The low-light quality is excellent! Does the camera remember the zoom level and orientation through reboots?
Click to expand...
You can set a default boot up position in the camera settings
 
I found a review for IPC-HDW5231R-ZE and read further discussions comparing the two cameras. Due to the facts that I would very rarely use the PTZ functionality, the IR intensity is adjustable, and the IPC-HDW5231R-ZE has more white color in the construction (to match the ceiling color), I am planning to go with the IPC-HDW5231R-ZE.

Thank you for your guidance Dasstrum and SouthernYankee! I greatly appreciate the help!
 
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Good Evening,

While searching the web for a video baby monitor alternatives, I stumbled upon this forum. Specifically, this thread.
My requirements are exactly the same as the original post, so I am curious if the recommendation of the IPC-HDW5231R-ZE still holds true today, several years later. If not, is there another recommended option? I don't plan on using the camera after the use as a baby monitor has been exhausted, so I might not need the top dog camera.

For viewing the feed, I planned on purchasing BI and the android web app. I have already setup a vLAN on my router (DDWRT flashed) and plan on restricting it from the internet. An old android phone will serve as the viewing device. We have an audio monitor that will serve as the audible alert system. This camera setup will be used on an as needed basis if we want to check on her for some reason. I do have some hesitation on the app because of some really poor reviews. So, before I went this route, I wanted to get some opinions from this community.

Anything I'm missing? I'm new to the security camera universe.

Thanks for your help!
 
save yourself some money and get an Amcrest 841 ptz on amazon
 
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I have 2. 1 is baby monitoring a 3.1 million BTU Boiler.
and the other is monitoring my Shop
they have audio, and the abilty move the camera and zoom in to get it looking right where you want it. it can sit on a shelf. i believe they operate either as wifi or ethernet.
The Amcrest viewpro App works well.
 
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Thanks for the unbelievably fast response and recommendation.
Do you know if you can turn off the IR?
Any experience with the BI app?
Thanks!
 
yes you can disable the IR.
2 years of bumbling around in BI.....
 
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If you just rely mainly on the phone App, you wouldn't need BI....but if you want to easily and quickly and intuitively review footage, then BI.
 
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I want to keep all of the video feed local. I don't want the feed to bounce off a cloud server somewhere and then come back to an app on my phone. That is why I was hoping to use the BI andriod app and a vLAN on my router that is restricted from the internet. Only the camera and the old android phone running the app would be on that vLAN. I thought I read I needed to buy the full version of BI for the $10 app to work. Am I misguided?
 
The full version on a windows pc is the server for the BI App.
 
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