Need advice on what to buy

[robertuk17]

Looking for an IP cam to point at our driveway to monitor the cars and visitors at the front door.

Need these features:

1) Can withstand a bit of rain (will be under cover) and UK winter temperatures.
2) Good enough quality to recognise a face 5m away and good night vision
3) Saves video over network, not on memory card
4) If possible, wireless network connection
5) It doesn't need to be hidden, but should be subtle. Probably a dome rather than bullet shape.
6) Email alerts when motion is detected
7) Easy to use, low maintenance, easy to view remotely, etc.

Budget... Obviously the less the better, but I want something reliable so I'll leave it to you experts to tell me what to spend!

 

[Del Boy]

How are you going to power them? If PoE then wireless is a waste of an option.

1) Most cameras are IP66 water/weatherproof, which is fine for the UK
3) Saves to what though? An NVR, NAS or computer?

The rest is all possible with a decent brand Hikvision (which most here would recommend) or Dahua

Budget wise: top-end 4MP DS-2CD2142WD-IW (wireless)
mid-end: 3MP DS-2CD2132F-IS (not wireless) or 3MP DS-2CD2332-I
bottom-end: I wouldn't go any cheaper than 3MP DS-2CD2132F-IS

The great thing about Hikvision is that it's easy to use, low maintenance and easy to view remotely via iVMS on your tablet or phone.

My personal recommendation at the moment - save yourself a little money and get the cheaper 3MP DS-2CD2332-I to start, it has better night-vision and less prone to spider attacks! Check out the videos in the links.

With the newer firmware models you can record to a 128GB memory card and still remote in with iVMS and have e-mail alerts. Might be a good option and save you a bit more cash. If you are having more than one camera than better to get an NVR or NAS.

Listen to the guys here (you can't go wrong then!) and don't buy any over-priced cheap analog crap from Maplin.