I'm sure you guys get this all the time, but I didn't see any of these threads in the first few pages of this forum. I've just started researching this, so I'm not sure if what I want is available for a reasonable price.
I'm looking to set up a video system for the exterior of my mother's house. Therefore, it needs to be pretty simple for her to operate when she needs to.
Here's what I've come up with, so far. I need eight cameras to cover all the doors and windows without any blind spots where the cameras could be disabled. I think I want 1080 resolution, though I could be talked into 720 for some of the cameras. One thing I know I want is at least 90 degree FOV for most of the cameras. Otherwise I'd need another camera or two to cover blind spots. The side of the house could be covered by a couple of more narrow views. I think I want both local recording and cloud storage. I think I'd prefer wired and POE vs Wi-Fi and having to run a wire for power, anyway.
One feature I'm finding difficult to fill is easy viewing on the TV controlled by the remote. (She has an older Logitech Harmony, so I can teach it commands.) I might be talked into a dedicated display, but I would greatly prefer giving her a way to quickly switch to it on the TV.
One idea that comes to mind is sticking a Raspberry Pi in the cabinet that can access the system and display it on the TV. The only hard part is finding the right software to control with a TV remote. She's not going to keep a mouse and keyboard by her chair in the living room.
She has Frontier for her Internet, so 40 Mbps up. That should be plenty to stream to a cloud service and real time viewing.
Nice to have future additions might be an extra PTZ camera or two. And, maybe one camera dedicated to license plate recognition. She's in a good neighborhood, but there's a parking lot across from her driveway that has been a gathering place for some unsavory characters.
My budget is $750-1000 plus $100ish/yr for cloud storage. Less is better, of course
I've seen some systems on Amazon that come kinda close to what I'm looking for, except for the TV display, in the $650 range.
Again, simple is a pretty important feature. She's pretty sharp, but this is not something I expect her to use every day. So, it needs to be something that she doesn't need a tutorial on each time. I'm okay with more complicated for the remote viewing options. But, those are pretty straightforward, these days.
All suggestions appreciated,
Drake Christensen
I'm looking to set up a video system for the exterior of my mother's house. Therefore, it needs to be pretty simple for her to operate when she needs to.
Here's what I've come up with, so far. I need eight cameras to cover all the doors and windows without any blind spots where the cameras could be disabled. I think I want 1080 resolution, though I could be talked into 720 for some of the cameras. One thing I know I want is at least 90 degree FOV for most of the cameras. Otherwise I'd need another camera or two to cover blind spots. The side of the house could be covered by a couple of more narrow views. I think I want both local recording and cloud storage. I think I'd prefer wired and POE vs Wi-Fi and having to run a wire for power, anyway.
One feature I'm finding difficult to fill is easy viewing on the TV controlled by the remote. (She has an older Logitech Harmony, so I can teach it commands.) I might be talked into a dedicated display, but I would greatly prefer giving her a way to quickly switch to it on the TV.
One idea that comes to mind is sticking a Raspberry Pi in the cabinet that can access the system and display it on the TV. The only hard part is finding the right software to control with a TV remote. She's not going to keep a mouse and keyboard by her chair in the living room.
She has Frontier for her Internet, so 40 Mbps up. That should be plenty to stream to a cloud service and real time viewing.
Nice to have future additions might be an extra PTZ camera or two. And, maybe one camera dedicated to license plate recognition. She's in a good neighborhood, but there's a parking lot across from her driveway that has been a gathering place for some unsavory characters.
My budget is $750-1000 plus $100ish/yr for cloud storage. Less is better, of course
I've seen some systems on Amazon that come kinda close to what I'm looking for, except for the TV display, in the $650 range.Again, simple is a pretty important feature. She's pretty sharp, but this is not something I expect her to use every day. So, it needs to be something that she doesn't need a tutorial on each time. I'm okay with more complicated for the remote viewing options. But, those are pretty straightforward, these days.
All suggestions appreciated,
Drake Christensen
