Indoor IP camera recommendations please?

[crazy about cars]

I initially thought this would be a simple task but after going through reviews it doesn't seem so...

I am looking for an indoor camera for the kids room. I wouldn't want anything that connects online due to security concerns - I'm happy as long as I can stream live feed through the LAN. I also wouldn't want/need any recording facilities.

One feature that I would definitely want is 2 way audio communication. The camera has to have a pretty good view angle as it would be place up high on a cupboard and would need to cover most of the room. The room itself it not big (single bedroom)

So far the closest one I've found is the Motorola Focus 66 but apparently that relies heavily on Hubble which is an online/cloud based app for iOS and Android. I cannot find any info as to if it's possible to view on my home PCs...

So as a summary my requirements are:

• indoor use only
• 2 way audio definitely required
• decent video quality >=720p (night vision not important)
• camera needs to cover wide area while maintaining reasonable quality
• pan/zoom/tilt would be added bonus
• recording facilities not required - live streaming via LAN is important
• would prefer non-online solution if possible due to security concerns

Any input most welcomed!

Edited by crazy about cars on Sunday 8th February 12:49

[smashie]

You could go for the Foscam. I have one to monitor the dogs and find the quality good.
I have the P2P version so it can be seen from the Internet without the need for Port forwarding. This feature however can be turned off.

With the available apps, you can have it working just on the LAN. There is 2 way audio, although the inbuilt speaker is not brilliant. There is an audio out socket so you can attach an external speaker.

[crazy about cars]

smashie said:

You could go for the Foscam. I have one to monitor the dogs and find the quality good.
I have the P2P version so it can be seen from the Internet without the need for Port forwarding. This feature however can be turned off.

With the available apps, you can have it working just on the LAN. There is 2 way audio, although the inbuilt speaker is not brilliant. There is an audio out socket so you can attach an external speaker.

Thanks for the reply! Do you happen to have a link of the model you've got? Is it this one? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Foscam-FI8918W-Wireless-Ca...

There seem to be a HD one too but no mention of 2 way audio support https://www.theelectrohut.com/IP%20Cameras/FOSCAM/...

What is the quality of the streamed video? I would prefer something that's 720p or above.

[Sheepshanks]

smashie said:

You could go for the Foscam. I have one to monitor the dogs and find the quality good.
I have the P2P version so it can be seen from the Internet without the need for Port forwarding. This feature however can be turned off.

With the available apps, you can have it working just on the LAN. There is 2 way audio, although the inbuilt speaker is not brilliant. There is an audio out socket so you can attach an external speaker.

We've got a couple of Foscam's (FI8918) for baby monitoring. For their video purpose they're fine. But, unless I'm doing something wrong, I'd say the audio monitoring is useless - I've tried with an external microphone but it was still no good. The internal speaker is no good either - not tried with external speaker.

Edited by Sheepshanks on Sunday 8th February 16:25

[smashie]

crazy about cars said:

Thanks for the reply! Do you happen to have a link of the model you've got? Is it this one? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Foscam-FI8918W-Wireless-Ca...

There seem to be a HD one too but no mention of 2 way audio support https://www.theelectrohut.com/IP%20Cameras/FOSCAM/...

What is the quality of the streamed video? I would prefer something that's 720p or above.

Mine is http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00JOAL4GG
It's quite a bit more than the one you linked to.
Video quality is very good.

Sheepshanks said:

We've got a couple of Foscam's (FI8918) for baby monitoring. For their video purpose they're fine. But, unless I'm doing something wrong, I'd say the audio monitoring is useless - I've tried with an external microphone but it was still no good. The internal speaker is no good either - not tried with external speaker.

What I have found with the Audio, certainly if using the mobile App, is that if the Speaker and Microphone are enabled in the mobile app, the person listening to the Camera hears a lot of feedback.
As for quality from the camera, well I have not had a problem telling if my dogs are barking! Not quite the same as talking and unfortunately from that point of view I cannot tell you what the quality is like as my dogs don't (yet) talk.

[crazy about cars]

Thanks again for the reply! Regarding viewing the stream, can you do this on a PC? There are some IP cameras which streams directly to cloud. I would prefer that it streams locally instead (like my CCTV) as I'm cautious of pictures of my kids being broadcast online.

smashie said:

What I have found with the Audio, certainly if using the mobile App, is that if the Speaker and Microphone are enabled in the mobile app, the person listening to the Camera hears a lot of feedback.
As for quality from the camera, well I have not had a problem telling if my dogs are barking! Not quite the same as talking and unfortunately from that point of view I cannot tell you what the quality is like as my dogs don't (yet) talk.

[league67]

All ip cams on ebay are foscam clones (more or less). As per previous poster, 2 way audio is crap at the best of times (I've tried about 5 different ones). Cameras that I've tried are streaming to the device that's requesting stream either your local pc or the phone tablet via dyndns or similar service (you'll need to forward port on your router to be able to see stream outside your lan).

hth.

[crazy about cars]

league67 said:

All ip cams on ebay are foscam clones (more or less). As per previous poster, 2 way audio is crap at the best of times (I've tried about 5 different ones). Cameras that I've tried are streaming to the device that's requesting stream either your local pc or the phone tablet via dyndns or similar service (you'll need to forward port on your router to be able to see stream outside your lan).

hth.

Ah I see, so let's just say my LAN is not connected to the Internet I can still watch the stream say on another PC in the house? As on my CCTV machine (AVTech) to view the stream from outside my network I have to give it a static IP and then port forward from my router to that IP.

I am just asking as the Motorola IP cam I've mentioned in OP seems to only stream direct to a cloud server (Huddle) as you can only view via Huddle app on iOS or Android - unless I've been missing something obvious here.

Regarding the audio I don't expect studio quality as long as it's possible to perhaps pick up some of the words. It would only be used very occasionally but would be a nice feature to have.

Edited by crazy about cars on Sunday 8th February 16:55

[karona]

crazy about cars said:

I initially thought this would be a simple task but after going through reviews it doesn't seem so...

I am looking for an indoor camera for the kids room. I wouldn't want anything that connects online due to security concerns - I'm happy as long as I can stream live feed through the LAN. I also wouldn't want/need any recording facilities.

One feature that I would definitely want is 2 way audio communication. The camera has to have a pretty good view angle as it would be place up high on a cupboard and would need to cover most of the room. The room itself it not big (single bedroom)

So far the closest one I've found is the Motorola Focus 66 but apparently that relies heavily on Hubble which is an online/cloud based app for iOS and Android. I cannot find any info as to if it's possible to view on my home PCs...

So as a summary my requirements are:

• indoor use only
• 2 way audio definitely required
• decent video quality >=720p (night vision not important)
• camera needs to cover wide area while maintaining reasonable quality
• pan/zoom/tilt would be added bonus
• recording facilities not required - live streaming via LAN is important
• would prefer non-online solution if possible due to security concerns

Any input most welcomed!

Got a spare Android phone? this app ticks most of the boxes
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com....

[Sheepshanks]

crazy about cars said:

Ah I see, so let's just say my LAN is not connected to the Internet I can still watch the stream say on another PC in the house? As on my CCTV machine (AVTech) to view the stream from outside my network I have to give it a static IP and then port forward from my router to that IP.

Ours are viewable through any browser on any device on our home network - I set the cameras to have a fixed IP address and bookmarked then so it's not a faff to find them as they're not left on all the time. Also set it so it stays in the same position on power-up, otherwise it cycles and returns to the centre position.

The pan and tilt controls don't work on mobile devices, I don't think.

They're pretty crap, to be honest, but they do the baby (toddler) video monitoring job just fine. If she wants us to hear her, then she can soon make herself heard!

Now she's bigger, she'll hop out of bed to get something but will generally go back, so we know all is well and can leave her alone.

Edited by Sheepshanks on Sunday 8th February 17:19

[crazy about cars]

Sheepshanks said:

Ours are viewable through any browser on any device on our home network - I set the cameras to have a fixed IP address and bookmarked then so it's not a faff to find them as they're not left on all the time. Also set it so it stays in the same position on power-up, otherwise it cycles and returns to the centre position.

The pan and tilt controls don't work on mobile devices, I don't think.

They're pretty crap, to be honest, but they do the baby (toddler) video monitoring job just fine. If she wants us to hear her, then she can soon make herself heard!

Now she's bigger, she'll hop out of bed to get something but will generally go back, so we know all is well and can leave her alone.

Edited by Sheepshanks on Sunday 8th February 17:19

That would suit me fine - don't expect pin sharp images mind The older siblings do like to play in the same room as the toddler so it's just a peace of mind if I can have a monitor up there.

[crazy about cars]

karona said:

Got a spare Android phone? this app ticks most of the boxes
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com....

No spare Android phone - we do have a cheap 10" Android tablet but that is permanently used as the monitor for our CCTV.

[crazy about cars]

Looks like I'm most probably going for the FOScam linked here : http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00JOAL4GG#cust...

However someone mentioned the eBay alternatives are basically the same but cheaper. Are there any viable (cheaper) eBay models I should go for?

[Max M4X WW]

I'm a bit late to the party here. But I'm after something wired or wireless that I can point out of a window to look at the cars.

Would need it to save all footage or motion detected footage to a memory card and allow live viewing on-line.

What are my options? Have been looking at Y-Cam but would prefer cheaper if possible (thought the reviews for these on Amazon are not great!)

Thanks

[Max M4X WW]

Anyone?

[crazy about cars]

From experience if you point the CCTV through window you won't get a good quality of recording due to the reflections.

Is mounting outdoors not an option?

[Max M4X WW]

I don't really want it to be visible from outdoors, as people will think I have something worth watching or in the house.

I'm not worried the cars are going to get touched but a bit paranoid as I've gone from having a private drive to having two allocated bays over the road.

Is it actual legal for me to film the bays/road/ pavement?

[crazy about cars]

I think you'll have to display a sign. Not sure mine only point at my property although pavement is in view too. Police came to my house to look at one of my cameras to assist them and they never mentioned anything untoward.

[Aviz]

I've got loads of cameras. I've used foscams and all sorts of crap from Amazon and eBay.

I now exclusively use Hikvision cameras, which are proper professiona kit, and more often cheaper than foscams etc. I have a dedicated pc running software called blue iris which is awesome for the £35 I paid, but these cameras have a built in sd card, so technically you could just use that to record motion to, and access via the mobile app.

For an indoor camera, the Hikvision DS-2CD2432F-IW is the answer!

I use their ds-2cd2132f-is for outdoor. The picture quality is like day and night compared to everything else I have seen recommended. My cams are full 1080p or 3mp and were approx £55 each.

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/FREE-shipp...


If you're willing to wait a few weeks , order from China , that's where mine come from. These guys are highly recommended on Forums, otherwise there's plenty of uk sellers on eBay who obviously just buy them from China and add a few quid on.

Link to indoor camera

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/wholesale-Hikvision...

Great forum
http://www.ipcamtalk.com

Good review blog

http://www.networkcameracritic.com

Software I use

http://blueirissoftware.com/

Edited by Aviz on Monday 16th March 22:30

Edited by Aviz on Monday 16th March 22:34

[Max M4X WW]

They look great, the outdoor one is actually quite discreet but I will try my crappy webcam through the window and see what it looks like.

Can they both have SD card slots and wifi? Won't really be able to cable the exterior one.