Recommendations wanted for a basic network camera

[techman]

I have 3 of these at my house. Seem to fit your requirements, except they may be too low cost !

Amazon.com: Zmodo 1. Megapixel 128 x 72 Pan & Tilt Smart Wireless IP Network Security Camera Easy Remote Access Two-way Audio - Cloud Service Available: Electronics

Paul

 

[RNeumann]

Just to be clear. My issues were mostly related to the software interface with my computer, phone etc- especially when I wanted to view the camera from outside the network.
A little webcam that just “sits” on the home network and can’t be viewed from anywhere else, doesn’t have some storage to see what happened and doesn’t alert you that their is movement and or sound is a different beast in my mind.

OP- besides IR, what features were you looking for?

 

[LittleBill21]

any of the foscam's work great!

 

[aczlan]

Just to be clear. My issues were mostly related to the software interface with my computer, phone etc- especially when I wanted to view the camera from outside the network.
A little webcam that just “sits” on the home network and can’t be viewed from anywhere else, doesn’t have some storage to see what happened and doesn’t alert you that their is movement and or sound is a different beast in my mind.

OP- besides IR, what features were you looking for?

I want to store the data locally (that could be on an internal SD card or my network drive ) and be able to view it from a phone tablet or computer.
I can set up a VPN so that I can access it remotely without it being able to go anywhere and it will be blocked on the firewall so it can't get out to the outside world.
Worst case, if someone hacks in and watches the cows and horse in the barn, they won't learn much...

Aaron Z

 

[jwstewar]

I've been using the Foscams and the Amcrest in our barn. I'm running a total of 10 cameras in our barn. Tried the wifi thing with a couple, that didn't work. Installed a wireless bridge and then hard wired everything in the barn to the bridge. Works like a charm. All cameras are hidden from the internet, but then I run a software package called Blue Iris that monitors them and rebroadcasts them over a web server for viewing from the phone. Works great. We are working on 2 years with this setup. Since I do IT consulting on the side from my computer programmer job, I've installed several of these systems in barns and everyone has been please with them. I have one customer that cheaped out on me and weren't totally satisfied, they sent me a message on Saturday, they are ready to step up and go the rest of the way

 

[RNeumann]

I want to store the data locally (that could be on an internal SD card or my network drive ) and be able to view it from a phone tablet or computer.
I can set up a VPN so that I can access it remotely without it being able to go anywhere and it will be blocked on the firewall so it can't get out to the outside world.
Worst case, if someone hacks in and watches the cows and horse in the barn, they won't learn much...

Aaron Z

If that’s the case I’d find one that offers storage and remote access- think “network security camera”. Nest makes one but charges a monthly fee. iSmart can be either have local or cloud storage- free or paid. Ring has a service- I’ve heard good things but don’t have personal knowledge of that one.
I’d skip the VPN unless you already have that set up. That’s a whole other bunch of crazy plus you will need to leave your computer on all the time. Not worth it IMHO.
First choice is a camera and system that is designed to do what you want to do.
Distant second would be remote access to your computer. What a PITA though.
Miles down in third is the VPN route.

The nice ones allow you to open an app and boom you are looking live through your cam. Some of these other work arounds won’t be nearly that smooth.

 

[LittleBill21]

If that’s the case I’d find one that offers storage and remote access- think “network security camera”. Nest makes one but charges a monthly fee. iSmart can be either have local or cloud storage- free or paid. Ring has a service- I’ve heard good things but don’t have personal knowledge of that one.
I’d skip the VPN unless you already have that set up. That’s a whole other bunch of crazy plus you will need to leave your computer on all the time. Not worth it IMHO.
First choice is a camera and system that is designed to do what you want to do.
Distant second would be remote access to your computer. What a PITA though.
Miles down in third is the VPN route.

The nice ones allow you to open an app and boom you are looking live through your cam. Some of these other work arounds won’t be nearly that smooth.

vpn can be done via most routers these days, and setup is generally very easy. i use vpn routinly at home, and it works wonderful if users don't want to port forward. i have multiple camera's and the vpn allows me not to port forward all of the camera's making the vpn setup actually easier.

 

[kcassidy]

I just purchased 2 WYZE Cams. Can't beat the price @ 19.99 each. Check it out :WyzeCam: 1p HD Smart Home Camera With Free AWS Cloud

 

[aczlan]

vpn can be done via most routers these days, and setup is generally very easy. i use vpn routinly at home, and it works wonderful if users don't want to port forward. i have multiple camera's and the vpn allows me not to port forward all of the camera's making the vpn setup actually easier.

Exactly, I run custom software on my router (LEDE/OpenWrt) and it has built in support for VPNs, it will talk to my phone with the minimum of hassles and it is at least as secure as a cloud based service (smaller target, less places the system could be compromised).

Aaron Z