IP Cameras

[Nick]

So I'm leaving on vacation next week for about 2 weeks. We have a friend watching our house. I just bought a cheapo IP webcam so I can monitor everything on my Android phone... hahaha.

Foscam F18918W

Gonna try to use this app to connect to it via the phone:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.rcreations.WebCamViewerPaid&feature=search_result

Anyone ever play around with any of these? Seems like a pretty decent price. It has a speaker too so you can do 2-way communications. I want to see if I can get the dog to roll over when i'm not even there :lol:

 

[Puck it]

Why? You are on vacation.

 

[wa-loaf]

Wants to make sure his friend isn't messing around in his wife's panty drawer ....

 

[Nick]

We have someone staying at our house to take care of the dogs / cat. Let's just say last time we experienced some drama. :lol:

 

[Nick]

Wants to make sure his friend isn't messing around in his wife's panty drawer ....

Haha. Yes, that's one.

I probably should pick up a few cameras for every room in the house :lol:

 

[Glenn]

Let me know how that works. I was looking into getting a Foscam outdoor camera for VT. Mainly, to see the snow total...and if the plow guy came.

 

[Glenn]

I set up a FI8910W last week...sweet cam. It's got the IR cut on it so the colors aren't washed out. The picture isn't bad at all. I have the app Nick posted...but liked TinyCam a bit better. I just received a second cam to use up north. Setup wasn't too bad; there are some good vids on youtube. Setting it up to view on your network is really easy. It's access outside the network that's a little work since most of us don't have a static IP. I used no-ip.com. Port forwarding was fairly easy. All in all, I'm really happy with the cam.

 

[Nick]

I just picked up the 8910 as well, so I have two now. I also set one up for my father in law in south Carolina.

I want to get an external one. The setup is tricky but I've done it 3x now so now I'm a master

I want to leave on email alerts but I get spammed because of my dogs running around the house all day long.

 

[drjeff]

I set up a FI8910W last week...sweet cam. It's got the IR cut on it so the colors aren't washed out. The picture isn't bad at all. I have the app Nick posted...but liked TinyCam a bit better. I just received a second cam to use up north. Setup wasn't too bad; there are some good vids on youtube. Setting it up to view on your network is really easy. It's access outside the network that's a little work since most of us don't have a static IP. I used no-ip.com. Port forwarding was fairly easy. All in all, I'm really happy with the cam.

Is the resolution good enough that you can grab a still off the video image the next time Officer Price swings buy and then have it blown up onto a 4 foot high cardboard facial cut out?? :lol:

 

[mlctvt]

I got a Foscam FI8910W on the way too to use in my VT condo, so I will know when anyone enters. Got it from Groupon goods for $73 http://www.groupon.com/deals/gg-foscam-wireless-wired-pan-tilt-ip-network-camera
If it works well I'll get another to monitor our four pet parrots at home.

Online Reviews and Nick and Glenn's experiences look like it should be Ok.

 

[Glenn]

Is the resolution good enough that you can grab a still off the video image the next time Officer Price swings buy and then have it blown up onto a 4 foot high cardboard facial cut out?? :lol:

Thankfully, it isn't. :lol:

One more note. These cams can be rigged up to "listen" to audio. The TinyCam app alows you a preview...I think it's one minute at a time. Not that useful in my applications. However, I'm sure if you were monitoring a baby or pets....or an unoccupied house, it would come in handy.

I think some of the bad reviews stem from the setup. The directions that come with the cam aren't translated all that well. When you're dealing with a specific process, it can make things difficult. I found a few good vids on youtube that helped out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHTxuYa3Kzo&feature=plcp This one was good for setting the camera up for remote viewing. You can now you use no-ip.com. The firmware that comes with the camera should have no-ip.com as an option in the DDNS settings. The video I linked to was made before the new firmware came out.

 

[Glenn]

Vista...what a PITA. If you have Vista, don't try setting this type of cam up with IE. You get stuck in an endless loop about a non signed secrurity certificate. I ended up using Safari and all was fine. Oddly, the newest cam had the older firmware and user interface software. A quick update took care of that. No-ip.com takes awhile to resolve on smaller ISPs. I don't know if it helped, but the cam URL started working up after I went out to a few websites and surfed around.