Looking for a reasonably-priced HD cam with good MJPEG resolution

[bookemdano]

I've tried numerous google searches but haven't been able to find a whole lot of info about this.

In short, I want an h264 camera that can also deliver an MJPEG substream of at least 720p resolution.

Right now I have a Foscam FI9831W (crappy camera, I know). It works fine and looks decent when viewing the h264 stream in its native 960p. It's possible to generate its substream in MJPEG format, but the resolution and bitrate are limited (640x480 @ 512kbps & 15fps), and as you can guess that looks pretty atrocious.

I know that MJPEG is not an efficient codec bandwidth-wise, and I have no desire to record it. But I would like the flexibility to have a higher-quality MJPEG substream available to allow on-the-fly viewing from any browser, while still having an h264 main stream available to record on an NVR.

I know I could apparently use Blue Iris to generate an MJPEG stream of whatever resolution/bitrate I want, but I would much rather find a camera that can supply one natively.

So can anyone suggest a more modern cam that offers the option for an HD resolution MJPEG stream? I would prefer either a 3MP or 5MP model that has a native 4:3 aspect ratio.

Much appreciate some suggestions if anyone has any.

 

[fenderman]

Most Modern cameras with updated firmware don’t require plugins and can be viewed by browser.

 

[bp2008]

Hi @bookemdano

I'm not aware of any modern camera today that offers an mjpeg stream at all, especially not as an HD sub stream. HD sub streams are relatively new and not even available in some of the lower-end models. Cams do usually offer native resolution jpeg snapshots via some URL, but at a low frame rate not suitable for scripted reloading to mimic an mjpeg stream.

Assuming you are on the electric grid, Blue Iris really is your best option. With the UI3 web interface you get in-browser H.264 playback without any plugins. And as you said BI does provide mjpeg streams if you need to integrate with other software. Tip: configure Blue Iris's mjpeg streams by using url parameters w= for width in pixels and q= for jpeg quality.

 

[bookemdano]

Thanks bp2008 and fenderman. I guess that explains why I struck out on google!

Appreciate the responses.