Treading water? I don't even know WHICH POOL to go in!

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Yup, I'm that little kid standing at the side of the pool, balling his eyes out...

I need a simple, cost effective setup to help me keep an eye on my vulnerable mother, who has multiple carers etc coming into her home. It needs to be hidden (e.g. I could hollow out a book on her shelf), and operate for 24 hours over several days without maintenance.

From what I've read, there seem to be two basic options. The first is an IP camera, connected to my mum's wifi, which will stream video and audio over the internet to my smartphone. They typically support motion detection, to send a push alert to my phone when someone comes into the room; and can record 24/7 to an SD card (but NOT triggered by motion??). Battery life tends to be very limited.. a few hours.. but I think I could plug it into a power bank to give a few days run time?

The problem for me is mum doesn't have working Internet at the moment.. I can't wait until it gets fixed. So to begin with I'll be relying on the SD card recording, but I can't find any IP cameras with the ability to run in low power/motion detection mode for many days, only recording when there's motion. I'd have to trawl through hours and hours of footage of nothing happening?!

The second option is a simpler recorder - no network connectivity, just records to SD card, but typically DOES have the wake-on-motioin functionality I need. But of course I lose the ability to steam over the Internet / get sent alerts, when mum's Internet is fixed.

Are there any options that give me the best of both worlds? Am I missing a trick?

I need audio as well as video, but don't need IR/night vision. Thanks for any help you can offer!
 

bigredfish

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Pretty sure this does what you need... I actually have one but have only played with a very limited time so not the go-to guy on all of the features or setup, but it does have a good image and built-in audio with recording possible to an internal SD card.. others here recommended it..

Best Wifi Video Monitoring Camera | Amcrest
 
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Pretty sure this does what you need... I actually have one but have only played with a very limited time so not the go-to guy on all of the features or setup, but it does have a good image and built-in audio with recording possible to an internal SD card.. others here recommended it..

Best Wifi Video Monitoring Camera | Amcrest
Thanks for the reply.. yes, it looks like that has the right features, but it's quite big.. I don't think I'd be able to conceal that. I need something up to about 1" in at least one dimension. And it needs to be battery powered.
Something like this Mini Battery-Powered Pinhole Spy Camera with Motion Detection 720p HD has the long standby/motion-activated recording I need, but it's not IP. Then there's this sort of thing: Mini Camera Wifi 1080P HD DIY Camera Wireless Smallest: Amazon.co.uk: Camera & Photo which is IP and will send alerts for motion, but DOESN'T have long standby / record-on-motion capability (as far as I can tell).
Thanks!
 

looney2ns

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Thanks for the reply.. yes, it looks like that has the right features, but it's quite big.. I don't think I'd be able to conceal that. I need something up to about 1" in at least one dimension. And it needs to be battery powered.
Something like this Mini Battery-Powered Pinhole Spy Camera with Motion Detection 720p HD has the long standby/motion-activated recording I need, but it's not IP. Then there's this sort of thing: Mini Camera Wifi 1080P HD DIY Camera Wireless Smallest: Amazon.co.uk: Camera & Photo which is IP and will send alerts for motion, but DOESN'T have long standby / record-on-motion capability (as far as I can tell).
Thanks!
You would be disappointed with either of those cams.
 
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