CCTV over the internet - Advice and tips?

WaxLyrical

WaxLyrical

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Hey guys.
Anyone has a home CCTV system with complete internet access from anywhere at anytime.

What setup do you have inc cameras, DVR, router, fibre or ADSL etc

Looking for a DIY project to get myself involved in and this sounds like the one.
 
Office:
16ch Digital CCTV (wired). Using ADSL and using N_Eye to access remotely.

Home:
2 x Xiaomi PTZ cameras that work on my wireless LAN and using the Mi Home app to access remotely. I have fibre at home.
 
I'm using a PC instead of a DVR. But it's not really difficult to setup.
The only pain really is the dynamic IP and if you're going to save footage to the cloud.

Make sure the DVR is Poe. Though I guess most if not all are.
 
WaxLyrical said:
Hey guys.
Anyone has a home CCTV system with complete internet access from anywhere at anytime.

What setup do you have inc cameras, DVR, router, fibre or ADSL etc

Looking for a DIY project to get myself involved in and this sounds like the one.
Click to expand...
I build XProtect systems, so far only on the free version, mostly because I've not had a call for more than eight cameras at a site). You want a reasonable 'doze box (better to have a Core i-something than a Core2Duo board), at least 8GB RAM, and storage to take the archive; you can get away with 2TB. As to cameras, only IP and driven by PoE, which is dead handy to do from a switch if you have enough to warrant that; else you can do passive injectors (that take the 12Vdc power from the brick that (most) cameras have, and put it on the line), or individual PoE bricks.

As to the router, it mostly comes down to being able to program in dynamic DNS and port-fowarding data. But you really want fibre if you're going to look at more than two cams remotely, ADSL just sucks too damn much on outbound capacity. There are iToy and 'droid mobile clients, and you can reach your site from any browser with your dynamic DNS URL, which is something like http://<your-dynamic-dns-address>:8081 (which, for at least one purpose is arguably better to work with than the mobile client).

Mobile client view:

Screenshot_20180223-134905_sml.jpg
 
Last edited:
msquared said:
Office:
16ch Digital CCTV (wired). Using ADSL and using N_Eye to access remotely.

Home:
2 x Xiaomi PTZ cameras that work on my wireless LAN and using the Mi Home app to access remotely. I have fibre at home.
Click to expand...

Link to Xiaomi PTZ cameras please.
 
I've been through several generations of XProtect so, IMO, know its peccadilloes pretty well. If you want to get free from the Redmond Monster, and maybe go all the way down to some hot Pi (or similar) action on your computing device, look at Felenasoft Xeoma.
 
msquared said:
Office:
Home:
2 x Xiaomi PTZ cameras that work on my wireless LAN and using the Mi Home app to access remotely. I have fibre at home.
Click to expand...

How reliable are these ? I've found wifi camera's suffer a bit.
 
CamiKaze said:
WiFi?
Click to expand...

Yes, wifi. Had no issues so far.

xrapidx said:
How reliable are these ? I've found wifi camera's suffer a bit.
Click to expand...

I think it's more about how stable your home network is. If you have in on range extenders etc they may start to play up.

Nice thing is that there is a night mode and you can activate Home Sentry mode. It takes a picture when it detects motion and send to your app.
 
msquared said:
Yes, wifi. Had no issues so far.



I think it's more about how stable your home network is. If you have in on range extenders etc they may start to play up.

Nice thing is that there is a night mode and you can activate Home Sentry mode. It takes a picture when it detects motion and send to your app.
Click to expand...

Interesting little device. Where did you buys yours? And for what price?
 
msquared said:
I think it's more about how stable your home network is. If you have in on range extenders etc they may start to play up.

Nice thing is that there is a night mode and you can activate Home Sentry mode. It takes a picture when it detects motion and send to your app.
Click to expand...

Not sure - wifi is pretty stable for all other purposes - although my camera is a chinese crap brand, so probably a poor implementation on their side. Over cable its fine.

Might order two of these to try.
 
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