Hidden/Nanny cam

[Meanie]

My sister suspects an intruder in her apt while she is away at work. She would like an affordable hidden IP camera which allows remote access with motion activation when detected to allow viewing on her phone and/or PC. I searched spy shops, Amazon, etc. and learned that hidden IP cams with with a few bells and whistles cost a great deal more than similar non-hidden cams with the same or more features. Frankly, I don't know know what's good or not such as a Chinese knockoff or a reliable nanny cam.

Can someone point me in the right direction to help her out?

Thank you

 

[fenderman]

If she suspects an intruder, why does the camera have to be hidden?
If you want a hidden camera you can use one of these
http://www.hikvision.com/Es/products_show.asp?id=9620

 

[Meanie]

If she suspects an intruder, why does the camera have to be hidden?
If you want a hidden camera you can use one of these
http://www.hikvision.com/Es/products_show.asp?id=9620

I asked her the same question. She doesn't want the person to see it then run. She wants to see who it is and why they are there or what they are doing.

That camera appears to be hardwired connected. Am I wrong?

 

[LittleBrother]

I asked her the same question. She doesn't want the person to see it then run. She wants to see who it is and why they are there or what they are doing.

That camera appears to be hardwired connected. Am I wrong?

You are correct. Pretty much every camera is hardwired, even ones that use WIFI for network. There are a few exceptions.

e.g. http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-VueZone-Wire-free-Monitoring-VZSM2720-100NAS/dp/B00BFPGDQ4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424445063&sr=8-1&keywords=vue+camera However, this camera is expensive and I've seen its image quality. It's not great. That is simply not the camera's fault; having a truly wireless, battery-only setup is a very tall order.

Another approach you could use would be to run something on a battery pack. The simplest approach that comes to mind is buying a large USB battery pack on amazon, e.g. http://www.amazon.com/RAVPower-15000mAh-External-Compatibility-Lightning/dp/B00MQSMEEE/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1424445127&sr=8-5&keywords=usb+battery+pack and using a Dropcam, because Dropcam uses wifi for network, and it is powered only by USB.

I've not run the numbers on how long that pack would run the camera for, but I bet it's a good number of hours. Would have to be recharged daily, probably.

Even though the pinhole camera fenderman mentions is pretty much custom built for what you want (discreet camera), you could hide many cameras within boxes, in book spines, whatever, if you really want.

The camera he links has an SD card for local storage. That will record a few days worth of footage onto a single card, so now all you need to do is power it, either with a socket hidden somewhere or, I suppose if you absolutely had to, you could rig up a car battery or something. Motion detection works well and you can have the camera record only motion events, which would let the SD card hold many days worth of data. It will automatically loop over old data, like a dash camera for one's car. It also has higher image quality than the vue or the dropcam.

I think in practice you'll find your requirement of truly wire-free is not really so important.

 

[Meanie]

You are correct. Pretty much every camera is hardwired, even ones that use WIFI for network. There are a few exceptions.

Not sure what you're referring as hard wired but I have several cameras in my home which are wireless. If you're referring to the power as wired, then I see your point, but when I state wireless, I mean no Ethernet cable hookup. I do expect a power cord to power the device.

e.g. http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-VueZone-Wire-free-Monitoring-VZSM2720-100NAS/dp/B00BFPGDQ4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424445063&sr=8-1&keywords=vue+camera However, this camera is expensive and I've seen its image quality. It's not great. That is simply not the camera's fault; having a truly wireless, battery-only setup is a very tall order.

Another approach you could use would be to run something on a battery pack. The simplest approach that comes to mind is buying a large USB battery pack on amazon, e.g. http://www.amazon.com/RAVPower-15000mAh-External-Compatibility-Lightning/dp/B00MQSMEEE/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1424445127&sr=8-5&keywords=usb+battery+pack and using a Dropcam, because Dropcam uses wifi for network, and it is powered only by USB.

I've not run the numbers on how long that pack would run the camera for, but I bet it's a good number of hours. Would have to be recharged daily, probably.

Even though the pinhole camera fenderman mentions is pretty much custom built for what you want (discreet camera), you could hide many cameras within boxes, in book spines, whatever, if you really want.

The camera he links has an SD card for local storage. That will record a few days worth of footage onto a single card, so now all you need to do is power it, either with a socket hidden somewhere or, I suppose if you absolutely had to, you could rig up a car battery or something. Motion detection works well and you can have the camera record only motion events, which would let the SD card hold many days worth of data. It will automatically loop over old data, like a dash camera for one's car. It also has higher image quality than the vue or the dropcam.

I think in practice you'll find your requirement of truly wire-free is not really so important.

See my reply above. I don't mean wireless power source, only wireless PC connection......WiFi.

Thanks

 

[LittleBrother]

Yes, there are some cameras literally unwired. The vue is the only commercial one I'm aware of. The pinhole above does not have wifi. You could use a powerline adapter ($30 on amazon for that setup) to let it communicate through your house's power.

 

[fenderman]

You can use the pinhole camera without connecting it to the network at all..then after a few days, either pull the sd card or connect it to the network and review the video..

 

[lojix]

Hi Meanie
I know the guys are big on Hikvision products here ...and that's because they're decent quality. So I'm not trying to deter from their recommendations.

Just to give you something worth considering which may or may not work for you. The PIR Hidden Camera, pictured below has very good image quality, can be viewed by any device and across the internet, and it's also real easy to set up and super covert!! It could sit in the corner with the best view of a room and never be suspected of being anything other than a motion sensor for a home alarm system.

...it also comes with a very agreeable price tag.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Wired-and-Wireless-PIR-Style-Hidden720P-Onvif-Megapixel-IP-Camera-with-P2P-Smartphone-View-and-Audio/32249189919.html

The particular model above is built on the excellent Hi3518E chipset, many other cameras costing 3 or 4 times the price use exactly the same. I did a review on another camera which uses the same chipset with images and some sample recording. There is quiet a bit of information in the thread, so you can check it out and get an idea of what to expect from this PIR Hidden Camera: http://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php?1812-Review-TOP-201-Super-Mini-720P-HD-IP-Cam-(The-Cheapest-IP-Cam-So-Far-!!)&p=15188&viewfull=1#post15188

But, there are actually a few variations of the covert camera pictured above. Some also take an SD card for on-board recording, Wireless, POE and other combinations.
There is another one which uses the Hi3516 chipset and a SONY IMX222 sensor. Which is actually far better quality, at a higher cost. So you can compare what features are important to you and see if there is a workable solution on offer. Some of the noteworthy feature are:

> High Definition 1080P (Full-HD)
> 130 Degree Super Wide View Angle
> Built-in Audio
> Wired and Wireless network connection
> Support for ONVIF 2.0 and 2.3, compatible with any NVR brand Dahua/Hikvision etc.

...and of course, all the other wanted features:

• High sensitivity, high signal-to-noise CMOS image sensor,
• Large 2.0 megapixel resolution
• Up to 1080P(1920*1080) (resolution @2.0MP)
• H.264 Compression, up to 3 streams, mobile surveillance; compatible with various smart Phones
• Support of multiple network protocols: TCP/IP, HTTP, TCP, ICMP, UDP, ARP, IGMP, SMTP, FTP, DHCP, DNS, DDNS, NTP, UPNP and so on
• POE Port: Yes
• Wide Viewing Angle Lens: 3.7mm
• Support ONVIF 2.0 and 2.3
• Supports sending email alerts with attached pictures
• Alarm picture and record Uploaded to FTP server
• Incremental picture capture and auto send to FTP server
• Support Static IP and DHCP
• Support P2P Cloud
• Support iPhone, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Symbian, Android

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Wired-and-Wireless-PIR-Style-Hidden1080P-Onvif-Megapixel-IP-Camera-with-P2P-Smartphone-View-and-Audio/32249594421.htmlhttp://www.aliexpress.com/item/Wired-and-Wireless-PIR-Style-Hidden1080P-Onvif-Megapixel-IP-Camera-with-P2P-Smartphone-View-and-Audio/32249594421.html

and you can view a sample of the recording quality here, (make sure to view it in 1080p HD):
You can see more in the range of these cameras here: http://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/chOyHHFK

I am not trying to say these cameras are any better than the previous suggestions, but having a look at what they have to offer might help you work out what you don't want for your specific situation. Hopefully this at least helps.

Cheers!