Simple Home Monitor Camera

[BradW]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XN21LX2?psc=1

Anyone use something like this to monitor their home while they are away? I'm not sure I know how it works. I want something simple. Would I have to leave my computer on for this to work? Or does just the wifi need to be on? If the power goes off and comes back on, will something like this come back up on line or does it have to be manually reset?

Thanks for any help,
Brad

[BradW]

http://www.foscam.com/video_view.aspx?id=2

Man, I watched this video and it looked pretty dang complicated to set the Foscam up.

[Gdlow]

I use an old cell phone..doesn't pan or tilt but cheap and I can monitor from app called Salient Eye..takes pictures of motion and emails or texts to me...

[kohai]

Blink kickstarter

Many of the sites charge a monthly fee for monitoring or recording. Blink is a product about to launch that has no monthly fee.

I'm not related to Blink but I've looked at cameras before for a vacation home of a relative. The monthly fee was always a deterrent.

[RenoAl]

I use Dlink cloud cameras at two locations. They offer a variety of cameras and are easy setup. They only require wifi and reboot after a power outage. You can program them to do several actions. I use my Samsung phone or PC to access them.

[Oldme]

Pirate wrote:
x3 on Foscams. I have them set via Blue Iris to send me notifications and emails as stated earlier. Mine monitor my driveway too so I can see who is coming/going.

The Blue Isis is the program that the neighbor uses, that I mentioned.
We both use Foscams.

[BradW]

SCVJeff wrote:
They only stream when being watched (at least the Foscam's). If you set it for motion alarm, it takes a series of 5 .jpegs of the event and emails it to you. So in this case it doesn't matter the speed. It'll get there when it gets there.

Thanks, that is good to know.

I was reading a review on Amazon of one of them (not Foscam) and it streamed 1080 HD continuously. The guy said he used 8 times as much upload the first month he had it as he normally did. Seems like he said 250GB vs 30GB, or something like that.

I'm definitely going to look into the Foscams. All I need to see is the inside of my house, a big dial thermometer and if the $20 I left on the kitchen table is still there. 🙂

Dropcam was bought up by another company and the name was dropped.

[SCVJeff]

BradW wrote:
OK, I've read up on some of the suggestions and I'm thinking I will have a problem with my slow internet connection. It is generally below 1M/s; probably about .7M/s. Those cameras seem to be just what I need, but they seem to be sending a lot of data down the wire.

They only stream when being watched (at least the Foscam's). If you set it for motion alarm, it takes a series of 5 .jpegs of the event and emails it to you. So in this case it doesn't matter the speed. It'll get there when it gets there..

Also remember your "slow" internet, I assume you are measuring download speed? Cams are doing the opposite and dont care about slow downloading. .7-1M upload speeds are pretty common.

[bcsdguy]

You can buy two Foscam tilt/rotate and two way audio for what one Simplicam costs. You have many choices and it all comes down to what you feel would work in you situation. Good luck.

[BradW]

OK, I've read up on some of the suggestions and I'm thinking I will have a problem with my slow internet connection. It is generally below 1M/s; probably about .7M/s. Those cameras seem to be just what I need, but they seem to be sending a lot of data down the wire.

[SCVJeff]

No.. Power was lost just today and they rebooted just fine.
What's nice about these cameras is IF when you lose power in the house and the router picks up a new ASAP, these cameras send an email letting you know what the new IP is, and it's a very simple field fix. My router, modem, and a few critical switches are all on UPS anyway so that's happened probably once in 2 years.

I bought one of those RING doorbells and returned it within hours for a number of reasons, but one of the big ones is the subscription picture service. Don't need to pay for something that the bought gear should do

[TechWriter]

SCVJeff wrote:

TechWriter wrote:
I vote Simplicam -- no Port Forwarding. Very easy setup.

No pan or tilt, and it appears the reason for no port forwarding is that its talking to an off-site server doing recording. Sooner or later they are going to charge for that.

1-day recording storage for 2 cameras is about $8/month. If you don't opt for storage, then no monthly fee.

If you lose power in your house, do you have to restore your camera's settings?

[dieseltruckdriv]

I have two Foscams too, and I do like them. I also use an old Android phone with an app to be an ip cam.

I do not use the Foscam software, I really like an android app called Tinycam Monitor. I use the paid version.

[SCVJeff]

TechWriter wrote:
I vote Simplicam -- no Port Forwarding. Very easy setup.

No pan or tilt, and it appears the reason for no port forwarding is that its talking to an off-site server doing recording. Sooner or later they are going to charge for that.
Not cheap either

[TechWriter]

I vote Simplicam -- no Port Forwarding. Very easy setup.