IP Cameras

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thesadguy

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Can anyone tell me the best place to buy a decent IP camera (at retail), or the best supplier of IP cameras (as a reseller)?

In addition, do IP cameras have the ability to connect through a (not always on) 3G connection? Or would the 3G connection have to be always-on for the IP camera to use?

For a 2 or 3 camera system, would it be more cost-effective (and useful) to use 3 IP cameras, or a central DVR + satellite camera system?

Thanks!
 
Not sure if Esquire sells IP cameras or not. But they have a range of CCTV products.
 
thesadguy said:
Can anyone tell me the best place to buy a decent IP camera (at retail), or the best supplier of IP cameras (as a reseller)?
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WAAYYY too little data, dude! :p Things like 'best' and 'decent' are not parameters that take into account price/performance ratios. Or, put another way: for one oke, the 'best' car would be a Porsche, for another it would be a Range Rover ..you dig?

In addition, do IP cameras have the ability to connect through a (not always on) 3G connection? Or would the 3G connection have to be always-on for the IP camera to use?
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Depends on the featureset but, from what I've seen likely doable.

For a 2 or 3 camera system, would it be more cost-effective (and useful) to use 3 IP cameras, or a central DVR + satellite camera system
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Again, undefined: like the man says, this is about tom (heh). But now you're bringing not only 'cost effective' but 'useful' into muddy the waters! :D

OK, all of the above notwithstanding, I'm a BIG fan of IP cams, I've got a site with 5x (4 outdoor, 1 PT(no Z) indoor) devices on it and everything is accessible via LAN; it sure-as-hell beats the pants off dealing with co-ax, I tell ya!
 
bdt said:
WAAYYY too little data, dude! :p Things like 'best' and 'decent' are not parameters that take into account price/performance ratios. Or, put another way: for one oke, the 'best' car would be a Porsche, for another it would be a Range Rover ..you dig?

Depends on the featureset but, from what I've seen likely doable.

Again, undefined: like the man says, this is about tom (heh). But now you're bringing not only 'cost effective' but 'useful' into muddy the waters! :D

OK, all of the above notwithstanding, I'm a BIG fan of IP cams, I've got a site with 5x (4 outdoor, 1 PT(no Z) indoor) devices on it and everything is accessible via LAN; it sure-as-hell beats the pants off dealing with co-ax, I tell ya!
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Hehe, ok, let me clarify...

I need to have at least 1 camera. It will be indoors and I think needs to be rated approximately 0 lux. Don't need perfect clarity in darkness. Is 0 lux necessary?

This camera needs to only record when motion is detected. In addition, motion can be detectable in any region of the frame. The mount point I have in mind is approximately 20m from the nearest, most convenient power and/or network point.

I then would like to have a second indoor camera that needn't be a night-time camera. The frame rate does not need to be good. It, too, is approximately 20m from the nearest, most convenient power and/or network point.

I would also like to have a third indoor camera. I'm not sure if this camera would be best used as a night-time camera or a day-time camera. As such, I'd like to be able to use it for both.

I'd like it if one camera detecting motion would trigger the other cameras to start recording.

I'd also like it if the cameras could upload the feed to somewhere off-site.

So would the above described system be better suited to 3 IP cams or a DVR system ?
 
thesadguy said:
I need to have at least 1 camera. It will be indoors and I think needs to be rated approximately 0 lux. Don't need perfect clarity in darkness. Is 0 lux necessary?

This camera needs to only record when motion is detected. In addition, motion can be detectable in any region of the frame. The mount point I have in mind is approximately 20m from the nearest, most convenient power and/or network point.
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By specifying wanting to record you've just bought into a DVR. Thankfully, 'smart', i.e. triggering on motion is a pretty standard DVR software feature.

I then would like to have a second indoor camera that needn't be a night-time camera. The frame rate does not need to be good. It, too, is approximately 20m from the nearest, most convenient power and/or network point.

I would also like to have a third indoor camera. I'm not sure if this camera would be best used as a night-time camera or a day-time camera. As such, I'd like to be able to use it for both.

I'd like it if one camera detecting motion would trigger the other cameras to start recording.
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Having watched some demo action at Securex yesterday I believe you can quite happily go down to 10fps for the kind of action. Which is good for, as in gaming, high fps == $$$! As to your likely cable lengths, 20-ish metres is well within PoE range which is fab: you can put the annoying-as-hell power bricks (12Vdc 1A is pretty much standard here) wherever your router sits and just run Cat5 to the cams - power and feed sorted in one cable!

I'd also like it if the cameras could upload the feed to somewhere off-site.

So would the above described system be better suited to 3 IP cams or a DVR system ?
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Ah. OK, while recording to file is pretty standard, and easy to do, I can't answer about file upload - from within the DVR system at any rate. And I suspect that it would likely cost you a pretty penny to do get that feature, which would be silly to do when that's something you could do with free software anyway. Also bear in mind that your DVR 'box' could just as easily be a program on a PC - very likely way cheaper than going with some fancypants box someone WILL try to convince you is the only way to do this!

Also no mention of software DVR would be compleat without a mention of the mac-daddy of 'em all: ZoneMinder!
 
bdt said:
Ah, good old Eagle, some de-lovely kit there ...you seen their pricing? *cough*
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Well, the OP did say..

thesadguy said:
Can anyone tell me the best place to buy a decent IP camera (at retail), or the best supplier of IP cameras (as a reseller)?
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but yeah those prices are scary.

Anything goes between that and the CCTV blister packs in your local Gamé :D
 
Bit of an old thread, but I can't find anything else on IP cameras...

I'm looking for an IP POE camera for home use, but higher resolution than what the cheapies have (higher than 640x480 at least). Budget is around R2000 - R2500. Can anyone recommend something? Ideally one that have a pan / tilt function as well.
 
Esquire, PM sent.

Pada, had a look at the Scoop cams. The mini-dome one is the best I've found so far, just wish it had pan / tilt functions as well. If I can't find anything else, I'll probably go for those.
 
Roger.Wilco be *VERY* careful to check the browser capabilities of the camera you choose: I've just been scanning through Planet kit and, short of the very latest stuff (which the ones on Scoop are not) they are IE/ActiveX Control *only* in terms of browser. You may be OK on a mobile device as they seem to have 3GPP/RTSP but check before you buy.
 
Roger.Wilco said:
I'm looking for an IP POE camera for home use, but higher resolution than what the cheapies have (higher than 640x480 at least). Budget is around R2000 - R2500. Can anyone recommend something? Ideally one that have a pan / tilt function as well.
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OK, going in this laughs at your stated budget as it shoots through it :erm: but the AVTECH AVN362 is megapixel *and* does PTZ ...digitally, it's quite funky to see. Which you can also see on your iDevice or whatever from the Android Army too. One gotcha though: at full resolution I don't get full motion video and you'll need PoE and power too.
 
bdt, thanks for that info regarding ActiveX.

I actually did a project on ZoneMinder, and with that you should be able to provide access to the mobile devices, because it is taking the camera's stream and then transcoding it for you at a lower bitrate and compliant codec so that the mobile device can understand it.

Even with ZoneMinder I had ActiveX control issues at one stage, but there are ways around it.

You can also do that transcoding with something like the VLC command-line server, but then you won't have any authentication or a webpage.
 
bdt said:
Roger.Wilco be *VERY* careful to check the browser capabilities of the camera you choose: I've just been scanning through Planet kit and, short of the very latest stuff (which the ones on Scoop are not) they are IE/ActiveX Control *only* in terms of browser. You may be OK on a mobile device as they seem to have 3GPP/RTSP but check before you buy.
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Erm, I have no idea what you're trying to tell me??? What do you mean by the IE/ActiveX control in terms of browser?
 
@Roger.Wilco:
He meant that to view the video feed directly off the camera with a web browser, you will have to use Internet Explorer, because it is the only browser that supports ActiveX controls.
So if you want to view it from another browser, you'll have to stream the video feed from another source, like from a Linux machine running ZoneMinder for instance. I'm not a fan of ZoneMinder either.

ZoneMinder had a Java app that allowed the other browsers to view the video stream, OR you could've used like the VLC plugin for Firefox to view the video stream.
I think you should be able to view the stream directly off the camera with like Firefox and the VLC player plugin, but then you'll have to get hold of the URL of the camera that provides you with the mpeg stream and not the mjpeg stream.

I haven't played with these things in over a year now, so please excuse me if some of my info is incorrect...
 
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Pada said:
@Roger.Wilco:
He meant that to view the video feed directly off the camera with a web browser, you will have to use Internet Explorer, because it is the only browser that supports ActiveX controls.
So if you want to view it from another browser, you'll have to stream the video feed from another source, like from a Linux machine running ZoneMinder for instance. I'm not a fan of ZoneMinder either.

ZoneMinder had a Java app that allowed the other browsers to view the video stream, OR you could've used like the VLC plugin for Firefox to view the video stream.
I think you should be able to view the stream directly off the camera with like Firefox and the VLC player plugin, but then you'll have to get hold of the URL of the camera that provides you with the mpeg stream and not the mjpeg stream.

I haven't played with these things in over a year now, so please excuse me if some of my info is incorrect...
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But most of these cameras comes with software that lets you record and save the video as well. So this is only an issue if you want to view it live from a browser?
 
Yes, that is only an issue when you want to view the live feed of the camera from the browser. Often you can just view the live feed with software that comes bundled with the camera, or with media players like VLC.
 
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