Hi all, I am looking for an Outdoor, POE, two-way audio camera recommendations that are compatible with BI and am hoping someone with first hand experience will have some suggestions for me. I want a camera to put outside my front door so I can listen and talk to visitors prior to opening the door. This means that the two-way audio function needs to be operable from the Blue Iris app. Any advice here would be great. Thanks!
Looking for an Outdoor, POE, two-way audio camera compatible with Blue Iris
- Thread starter tazmajazz
- Start date
nayr
IPCT Contributor
two way audio is like a walkie talkie, its not bi-directional.. you can talk or listen but not at the same time; and there is a noticeable latency that makes it like your walkie talkie has a satellite uplink.
You dont want a camera with 2-way audio, you want a camera with built in VoIP.. and every VoIP door cam Ive seen is a shit camera..
You'll get much better results if you just drop the requirement for audio output and install a quality camera with a quality microphone.. Talking to someone at your door remotely is a gimmick that you'll rarely use.. Your doorbell phone wont do anything when someone knocks on the door and disregards your bell.
You dont want a camera with 2-way audio, you want a camera with built in VoIP.. and every VoIP door cam Ive seen is a shit camera..
You'll get much better results if you just drop the requirement for audio output and install a quality camera with a quality microphone.. Talking to someone at your door remotely is a gimmick that you'll rarely use.. Your doorbell phone wont do anything when someone knocks on the door and disregards your bell.
I'm not looking for a "door cam" per se. I don't need to be alerted when someone rings the doorbell. However, many times, when we are here and someone knocks on the door or rings the doorbell and we can't get to the door (or don't want to), I would like to at least say "how can I help you," and hear their reply. I don't need to have a long conversation so the delay shouldn't be a big issue.
nayr
IPCT Contributor
Chances are you'll be installing a shitty camera for this capability.
If your home and dont want to go to the door, then you have no obligation to go answer it.. just let em be.
If your home and dont want to go to the door, then you have no obligation to go answer it.. just let em be.
nayr
IPCT Contributor
what would that accomplish? PoE has nothing to do with this, and is better than external power..
Drop the audio out and then take your pick from a wide selection of fine cameras
Drop the audio out and then take your pick from a wide selection of fine cameras
Dropping POE expands the pool of possible cameras. Out of all of the requirements, two-way audio is the most important. I could even drop the weatherproof requirement if I had to and just get something weather-resistant. It doesn't matter that the audio isn't full duplex or great quality. I just want to be able to see the random person at the door and ask him what he wants and hear his reply. We're not going to talk politics 
nayr
IPCT Contributor
Your not going to talk to him at all, thats what im trying to pound through.. its a gimmick.. lots of people install doorbell cameras with audio output thinking one thing then finding a completely different thing.. ie, it was crap, unreliable, difficult to work with, overpriced waste of money and they wish they had a camera that had decent quality instead of a blurry low res image that struggles to see whats right infront of it.
Its like all those intercoms from the 80-90's that got installed in houses everywhere and then never used but 2-3 times.. You dont live in NYC with a 5min elevator ride down to the door, you dont actually need it.. You made it this far in life without this capability, you need air/water/food.. you want a gimmick.
Doorbell cameras with 2-way audio are the functional equivalent of X-Ray glasses sold out of the back of Commic books.. A Fool and his money will soon be departed.
Its like all those intercoms from the 80-90's that got installed in houses everywhere and then never used but 2-3 times.. You dont live in NYC with a 5min elevator ride down to the door, you dont actually need it.. You made it this far in life without this capability, you need air/water/food.. you want a gimmick.
Doorbell cameras with 2-way audio are the functional equivalent of X-Ray glasses sold out of the back of Commic books.. A Fool and his money will soon be departed.
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Why would I not be able to talk to him? There are functional two-way audio cameras on the market. I have a D-Link 2310L where the two way audio DOES work - just not through BI. Many indoor cameras have functional two way audio. Why do you think I wouldn't be able to talk to someone through a camera?
nayr
IPCT Contributor
and you use that audio out on that dlink all the time huh?
that dlink is a piece of garbage using pripotary protocols, thats why it dont work w/BlueIris, like the vast majority of these kinds of cameras.. they want to lock you into there apps/software/subscription fees.
that dlink is a piece of garbage using pripotary protocols, thats why it dont work w/BlueIris, like the vast majority of these kinds of cameras.. they want to lock you into there apps/software/subscription fees.
I have a friend who has one of the "Ring" two-way audio camera things. If you don't want to record, there is no subscription fee, BUT, you cannot access the live stream without their silly app. So no way to tie into BlueIris or anything else. I suppose you could probably do something with a Raspberry Pi if you had the skills, and use the API to tie into BI.
It's a shame that theres some really neat devices out there (the whole IoT madness), that are really good, but the company wants to lock you out of actually using it like you'd want/need. I have some IOTA GPS tracker things, they are AWESOME in reporting the locations of these little devices whos rechargable batteries last over a month. BUT, I need to use their silly app, so I can't simply record last known positions to a database, or use how I want, making them almost useless. Real shame, because obviously the technology is there.
It's a shame that theres some really neat devices out there (the whole IoT madness), that are really good, but the company wants to lock you out of actually using it like you'd want/need. I have some IOTA GPS tracker things, they are AWESOME in reporting the locations of these little devices whos rechargable batteries last over a month. BUT, I need to use their silly app, so I can't simply record last known positions to a database, or use how I want, making them almost useless. Real shame, because obviously the technology is there.