IP Camera Recommendations

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cobbyroll

New Member
Oct 5, 2016
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if you look for a cheap system, blue Iris, Foscam, Siri cam are brands you can take into consideration.
IP cam viewer on android/ios app are various. Here are some apps:
Yoosee:
+iOS: Yoosee on the App Store
+Android: Yoosee - Android Apps on Google Play
+apk file for download on Pc/other phones: Yoosee - Android Apps on Google Play
Topsview:
+iOS: TopsView on the App Store
+Android: TopsView - Android Apps on Google Play
+apk file for download on PC/other phones: Download TopsView for PC - choilieng.com
 
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cthulolz

Member
Mar 17, 2015
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I have about 150 Axis cameras at work, and 5 at home. They are expensive, full featured, and support is generally very, very good. On the back end at home, I use QNAP for storage via the built in surveillance station app. It was very quick to setup and just works. It's easy to sync the storage to other devices and the cloud. At work I use Milestone for the back end, which is much more of a pain in the butt to setup and configure, but works well. There is a free version of the Milestone software that works for up to four cameras, I think, and requires re-registering every year.
 

CDLTech

New Member
Sep 11, 2016
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My Man Cave
if you look for a cheap system, blue Iris, Foscam, Siri cam are brands you can take into consideration.
IP cam viewer on android/ios app are various. Here are some apps:
Yoosee:
+iOS: Yoosee on the App Store
+Android: Yoosee - Android Apps on Google Play
+apk file for download on Pc/other phones: Yoosee - Android Apps on Google Play
Topsview:
+iOS: TopsView on the App Store
+Android: TopsView - Android Apps on Google Play
+apk file for download on PC/other phones: Download TopsView for PC - choilieng.com
I have been using IP cam viewer on Android for years with my current analog dvr.
 

Jon Massey

Active Member
Nov 11, 2015
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Used to manage 100+ Axis cameras, now just a handful but they have all been fantastic. Pricey, but worth it IMHO
 

CDLTech

New Member
Sep 11, 2016
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My Man Cave
Used to manage 100+ Axis cameras, now just a handful but they have all been fantastic. Pricey, but worth it IMHO
I have heard of them. They have been around for quite a while. I remember them from the early 2000's or possibly even the mid 90's.
The price isn't really an issue within reason. I would be replacing each analog camera one by one.
My next issue is pulling cat5e to each camera location to use POE. I know I could use wifi cameras. My reasoning is. I need to run a cable to power the cameras anyway. I might as well used wired networking. I have pull cabled before. It is just a pain in the butt.
 

wiretap

Active Member
Jul 14, 2015
128
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Michigan
That's what I use. They work great for me. I've had nearly 100% uptime with my indoor and outdoor cameras since 2014. (-20F coldest winter day, +101F hottest summer day, Michigan) I see a lot of people complain about software bugs, but I haven't run into any problems over the years. Also, some people complain about their WiFi UVC Micro cameras.. these do have problems with the 2.4GHz spectrum where they constantly drop out. On 5GHz which I run them on -- no problems. (I had to upgrade my wireless AP's to 5GHz to fix the problem)
 

maze

Active Member
Apr 27, 2013
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Sorry to budge in.. hope its okay :)

Does say milestone or blueiris use any form of granular access on a Group/user base?

I want to run a surveilance server that my parents, brother and friends Can run their cameras on if they want. (BW isnt a problem really). But obv i dont want everyone to see eachothers feeds.

Im running Synology/Xpenology at the moment, but I dont really see the feature in the version im running. Could be i just need to upgrade.. not sure
 

cesmith9999

Well-Known Member
Mar 26, 2013
1,417
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Blue Iris allows for different logins to see different cameras. I am not certain if/how you would separate the captured video.

Chris
 

Aestr

Well-Known Member
Oct 22, 2014
967
386
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Seattle
@maze as @cesmith9999 mentioned BlueIris does allow for users with different access. You create camera groups and then can permit users access to specific groups. Pretty straightforward and intuitive. You can also separate the storage if you want to. Say for example you want to provide 1TB of storage to two family groups and 3TB to yourself. You can create 3 folders and configure each with different storage limits.
 

maze

Active Member
Apr 27, 2013
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Perfect. Sounds like blueiris is where I want to look :)

Thanks guys
 

DouglasteR

Active Member
Dec 19, 2015
119
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28
I second Hikvision and BlueIris. You can save a bunch of money with the grey market Hikvision Chineese cameras. Just leave the firmware alone and they are fine.
This is my setup.

It really is Flawless.

Just dont forget to NOT LET THE CAMERAS on an accessible subnet (from the internet) or will can potentially have problems. Just put them on VLAN and forget about them.
 

Jon Massey

Active Member
Nov 11, 2015
339
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That's what I use. They work great for me. I've had nearly 100% uptime with my indoor and outdoor cameras since 2014. (-20F coldest winter day, +101F hottest summer day, Michigan) I see a lot of people complain about software bugs, but I haven't run into any problems over the years. Also, some people complain about their WiFi UVC Micro cameras.. these do have problems with the 2.4GHz spectrum where they constantly drop out. On 5GHz which I run them on -- no problems. (I had to upgrade my wireless AP's to 5GHz to fix the problem)
Are they standard PoE or UBNT-special? If the latter, is there a way of powering them from a standard 802.3af/at switch?
 

maze

Active Member
Apr 27, 2013
576
100
43
Are they standard PoE or UBNT-special? If the latter, is there a way of powering them from a standard 802.3af/at switch?
They have ubnt poe converters. But I actually Think their ip-cams are standard 802.3at
 

T_Minus

Build. Break. Fix. Repeat
Feb 15, 2015
7,625
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Their new ones are standard, old ones were not. Make sure you buy 'latest revision' to be sure.
 
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wiretap

Active Member
Jul 14, 2015
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Michigan
Correct, the old non-pro models are passive 12-24VDC PoE. They have to be used with the corresponding Ubiquiti switch or the PoE injectors that come with the cameras.
 
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AnnaAngel

New Member
Jan 10, 2017
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I am looking to upgrade to ip cameras with a network dvr. My current analog system is from LTS LTS - Video Solutions for Security Professionals. It is a 4 channel model. I have had it for several years. I am thinking 5+ years. I just had a camera stop working. I don't want to replace it with another analog. So that is why I am looking to upgrade. I will also need suggestions for a POE switch. I have never used one before. I usually buy Netgear or dLink network equipment except for Intel network cards. I have had some friends try TP-Link. So about 3 years ago I bought a gigabit broadband router (wired only). It replaced my Netgear that was only 10/100. My home lan is all gigabit. I am open to other brands. I don't need more than 4 channels but for a good price. I am not against getting an 8 channel.

I am trying to decide between a NAS based nvr and a traditional nvr (like what I have right now). From what I have seen. The NAS based ones require licenses for x number of cameras. Where the traditional nvr systems don't require them. The advantage to the NAS based nvr's is having more storage.

Thanks!
Entry-level NAS unit comes with 2 IP cameras with a free license that can be used with the surveillance software and the additional license can be purchased from QNAP. But NAS nvr is more powerful than the traditional nvr. I have read that FMC IP CCTV can hybrid the commercial CCTV video surveillance system(http://www.fire-monitoring.com/cctv/) so that you can migrate the analog CCTV to a more digital environment.
 
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sthsep

Member
Mar 7, 2016
72
10
8
I use Milestone XProtect which is for some moths free for 8 Devieces. It uses much less cpu then blue iris. With 1 Device I got a small ptz issue and with 2 other cameras I got an audio issue (Could als be a problem on the camera side). Also I have some small issue with the motion detection but blue iris is not better here. Everything else is working really great.