trying to get organised..

[Ouch]

Howdy from the UK.

Like others I'm sure, I've bought first, and thought later. So now I find myself with a pair of cameras I'm not really happy with, and wanting a third, or maybe replace all of them..

First camera is a Loftek Nexus 543, externally mounted to cover the front garden and driveway- no real complaints other than it's comparative low resolution (480tvl)
The second camera is a 'Mustcam' H816, Indoor mounted in the baby's room. It has the desired resolution (720p), but crashes occasionally, and the browser feed drops out at random, and I can't get the audio to work.

So now I'm looking for a third camera, as there's another kid on the way, who'll have his own room, and not being happy with the previous offerings, I though I'd ask the experts, so here I am..

In short I'm after HD (720lines minimum), wired Ethernet, nightvision, Audio (2 way a bonus) all in a fairly discrete package.

At the backend, I have a home server running Debian and Motion, which is effective, though a little unrefined.

So, suggesions?

 

[bp2008]

Look at Hikvision DS-2CD2432F-IW

Choose one with a 2.8mm lens if you want a wide angle.

There is also a version without a wifi chip which may be a little cheaper depending on where you order from. I think its model number is Hikvision DS-2CD2432F-I (without the W). The no-wifi model is much less common, and may cost more as a result! The only difference is the wifi chip; both will work over ethernet and both support PoE power.

The audio isn't great quality or anything, but better than nothing, and it is one of the few good cams which supports 2-way audio without an external speaker or microphone.

 

[Ouch]

Thanks, That hikvision looks the part, how fussy are they about the browser you use?
The mustcam I have will only fully work with IE (or Edge), and even then insists on a plugin that has been depreciated. Other browsers can just view, not change settings.
Can I access a realtime feed via Lan-side URL alone? - I can do this with my loftek (I can put the username and password in the URL), but the Mustcam insists on asking for a username and password via a popup box.

 

[anijet]

The 2432 works fine with IE11. For an inside camera they can't be beat for the money. I found the audio to be better than I expected, although I didn't expect much. A side note, this camera works great wireless about 30 feet from the router (haven't tried further away).

 

[bp2008]

Hikvision cams work fully in IE or Firefox. They used to work in Chrome too but then NPAPI plugin support was removed from Chrome and now almost no modern camera's interface works in Chrome anymore. Hikvision doesn't just clone the activex plugin of the day to build knockoff cameras, like so many other Chinese makers.

Yes, you can access the realtime video by RTSP: rtsp://address/

There is also a jpeg snapshot feed but it is only 1 FPS and can return error messages if you access it more often than that: http://address/Streaming/channels/1/picture

Authentication can be turned off for the RTSP stream if you like. I run mine with RTSP authentication disabled, but with the cams not accessible from the internet so it doesn't matter.

 

[Ouch]

Yep, it's the NPAPI thing that chrome is saying is depreciated- is this just chrome being awkward? Over the years I've found Chrome better than Firefox for compatibility, I'd hate to think I have to reverse that thinking.