Wireless IP Camera thread

[geckoSG]

Someone posted on dropcam here before, uploads to cloud for recording. USB cable to power source. IR would be 3-4 LEDs, theres a number of online vids

 

[salmonella]

I've checked out the IP cameras at Challenge Funan. Some thoughts:

Since I intend to reuse the camera for other purpose after baby grows up, I'd rather get an IP camera that is better supported by 3rd party software, can record on my linux storage, etc.

Prolink: more costly. cam viewer software on demo laptop was not working.

Sineoji: Somehow the video was very laggy and the screen tears, even on the local wifi/lan network.

Edimax: seems decent. The 7110 also features motion triggered recording, but I couldn't seem to get it to work. Not sure if this is h/w motion detection, or s/w dependant.

Aztech: blinking lights on the cameras, but couldn't find the demo pc for viewing.

vstarcam: seems decent. Comparison info said that 7838 can only mount on ceiling and uses 4.2mm lens, while 7837 can also mount on wall and uses 3.6mm lens. But I think all 7838 are now supposed to use 3.6mm lens? The 7838 was also initially very blurry - realised that it was out of focus. Are all ip cameras in this price range manual focus? The f1.4 aperture on these lens means there's a smaller sweet spot with acceptable focus And, the 7833 is gigantic! Yet it's optical zoom really is just slightly more than 2x.

dlink: more expensive. harder to do side-by-side comparison because the dlink demo wall is far away.

I realised also that I was not able to compare many things that are important to me, including:
- low light performance
- sound/motion triggered recording and alarms
- remote viewing over 3g network
- 1way / 2way audio
- recording on to NAS

Some further questions for you gurus:
- can these things be mounted without drilling holes? Eg, using 3m command strips.
- why can't the vstarcam 7838 be mounted on a wall?
- do any of the above models have h/w motion/sound triggered alarms and recording?
- which models can record to sd and upload to ftp server on my NAS? Or alternatively, which cameras are supported by zoneminder or motion software on my linux NAS? Or... maybe I can fire up an android x86 virtual machine, and run the ip cam viewer software on it.
- do i need to find a camera with external speaker ports in order to have 2-way full duplex audio?

So currently I'm wavering between edimax and vstarcam. and maybe foscam.

 

[geckoSG]

For vstarcam, i know they have online demo in total darkness. Vstarcamsg.blogspot.sg, but u might have to look for older post to find the demo info, hosted on low bandwidth.

T7838WIP is using 3.6mm already, the last MO I did, all lens r 3.6mm, if u try mounting the T7838WIP ON WALL, imagine, when u swipe cam left/right, its like u place ur head wif chin touching ur chest n look to left n right. Trust me, its hard to move the cam to where u want to go. When I did review, this was one of the area I tested.

I do know MARIX is testing using their T7837WIP mounting kit now to stick to base of T7838WIP to see if it holds well with 3M tapes. Hope its a success cos people will b willing to buy the brackets.

You cannot use 3M tapes to stick vstarcam to the wall directly, you will seal the breathing holes. N brackets have no surface area to hold the tape too

T7838WIP can't do record to NAS, only image FTP upon alarm, software frame comparison based. D-Link have audio detection for certain models, how accurate, I can't comment. Need owners to feedback.

Btw, if audio recording is important, then vstarcam can't do it. D-Link certain models can. Hope these little info helps.

 

[salmonella]

Thanks thanks.

I think Dr Archer mentioned that the android "ip cam viewer" lite/basic/pro app can work with vstarcam. It doesn't work with the QR code / P&P functions right? How do we get it to work with ip, port, uid/password? Can vstarcam cameras work with just the basic port forwarding mode?

Basically, I'm trying to explore whether the ip cam viewer app provides an acceptable alternative, or whether zoneminder or motion can do the job.

 

[marixsupport]

Unfortunately, for VStarcam to work on Robert Chou's app, certain feature are not working, like the MIC for T7837WIP & T7838WIP, but you can effectively listen to it for T7838WIP.

The default application from VStarcam should meet your needs for single type camera application, support live streaming, audio and multi-view (4 cams in single screen, swipe right to left for more)

If you need to do via the IP Camera Viewer Pro, note that port forwarding is still a must using DDNS method. If using the proprietary app, then no need.

Hope this clarifies to all who are keen

 

[salmonella]

Is focus a non-issue for everyone?

- are all vstarcam models fixed focus? My rooms are rectangular... The f1.4 lens means that it may not be practical to pan from one angle focussing far away, to another angle focussing nearby.

- do any cameras in this price range have auto-focus?

Regarding use as a remote baby monitor, i think that h/w audio triggered alarms would be important. Which brands/models offer this?

And for use as a basic security camera, I think that h/w motion triggered alarm and recording would be important. Which brands/models offer this?

 

[Dr_ARCHer]

Is focus a non-issue for everyone?

It depends on the depth of field (DOF). Some cameras have a focus ring (e.g. some models of Dlink, some models of Trendnet etc.), which allows you to get a sharper focus depending on the distance the object is from the camera. However, this happens when the DOF is very small. I find that once I have adjusted the focus (usually for an object around the middle of the room from a distance perspective), I find that all objects in view are sharp enough (i.e. DOF is not that small).

 

[Fuzzywuz]

Camera's need to have very sharp image especially those on the cash registers and stores. Cost will be much more expensive compared to these used for maid or baby monitoring.

3M tapes can be used but it depends on the sufface. Read the 3M tape specifications before you apply.

If you need expertise on this please PM me.

 

[Hardcor?]

Hardware audio triggered alarm

Is focus a non-issue for everyone?

- are all vstarcam models fixed focus? My rooms are rectangular... The f1.4 lens means that it may not be practical to pan from one angle focussing far away, to another angle focussing nearby.

- do any cameras in this price range have auto-focus?

Regarding use as a remote baby monitor, i think that h/w audio triggered alarms would be important. Which brands/models offer this?

And for use as a basic security camera, I think that h/w motion triggered alarm and recording would be important. Which brands/models offer this?

Yes, I can rig one up for hardware audio trigger. You found the right place. PM me if you need my help. Good idea indeed!!

 

[salmonella]

According to http://www.vstarcam.com/T7838WIP-PnP-Series-NEW-HD-WiFi-IR-Indoor-P-T-IP-Camera-79.html, the T7838 has these alarm features:
Alarm Trigger: 1 Channel input/Motion detection
Alarm Actions: 1 Channel output/send pictures by email/upload pictures to FTP server

When you said that the T7838 has software motion detection, does it mean that the Vscam app must be connected and the app uses motion detection algorithm to guess whether there is motion? Or that the firmware has software codes to compare frames? Upon detection, it can notify me via email and upload pictures and not video to an FTP server?

According to http://www.vstarcam.com/T7833WIP-HD-Dome-Network-Camera-86.html, the T7833 has motion detection alarms, but it doesn't say anything about FTP.

For the baby monitor function, is it possible to set an audio threshold, so that it only plays the sound where it is louder than the threshold? Otherwise it will be constantly playing background noise, I guess.

vstarcam: seems decent. Comparison info said that 7838 can only mount on ceiling and uses 4.2mm lens, while 7837 can also mount on wall and uses 3.6mm lens. But I think all 7838 are now supposed to use 3.6mm lens? The 7838 was also initially very blurry - realised that it was out of focus. Are all ip cameras in this price range manual focus? The f1.4 aperture on these lens means there's a smaller sweet spot with acceptable focus

Are all vstarcam models fixed focus? My rooms are rectangular... The f1.4 lens means that it may not be practical to pan from one angle focussing far away, to another angle focussing nearby.

I think DrArcher is right, and there is no need for auto-focus as long as the initial focus is at a sensible distance. I did some calculations using http://www.tawbaware.com/maxlyons/calc.htm.

For the T7837 & T7838 cameras using fixed 3.6mm f1.4 lens, focusing on the hyperfocal point at ~ 50cm should allow acceptable focus all the way from 24cm to infinity.

For the T7833 camera using 4mm - 9mm f1.4 zoom lens: at the 4mm (wide) end, focusing on the hyperfocal point at ~ 61cm should allow acceptable focus all the way from 30cm to infinity. However, at the 9mm (tele) end, focusing at a point 306cm away should give acceptable focus from 1.5m to infinity. And if we used the 306cm focal distance on the 4mm (wide) end, the acceptable focus is from 50cm to infinity. Assuming the 50cm - 1.5m near focus distance is acceptable, we should zoom to 9mm and use a 306cm focal distance.

For other cameras such as foscam fi9826w using 4mm - 9mm f1.8 zoom lens, a similar calculation suggests that adopting a focal distance of 238cm would give a near focus distance from 40cm to 1.2m

The problem is, it's really difficult to focus with precision. But if you choose to do so, this calculation should help tell you where to expend your energy if you want maximum depth of field.

 

[geckoSG]

Its ultimately how to manage expectation of an ip camera, if we expect too much from a consumer grade hardware, we often gets disappointed.

Ok, the VStarcam range uses its software algorithm to compare the whole frame for motion detection, thats why I say its a hit/miss thing, if you configured email or ftp info, once alarm trigger, it will upload pictures. But remember, hit/miss ratio.

Audio hardware sensor can b purchased n added to the external connectors on the camera, it shld work. i've not done so myself as I dun need to complicate my watching of my kid.

 

[Fuzzywuz]

Does any one know where I can get a T1000? Even though very old model.

 

[salmonella]

Yes, I understand there will be limits. Trying to understand what the limits are and also what can be hackable to go beyond.

Is the software algorithm running in the camera firmware, or running in the software application (VSCam or eye4)? Just wanted to be sure that the motion detection doesn't require the application to be continuously connected.

Also, once triggered, what actions are possible with the T8738? Send email? Record picture and video to sdcard? Upload the picture and video to ftp? I looked at Marix's demo cameras and couldn't find these options.

I take your point about the audio hardware. After thinking about the use case, it's not so simple.

 

[geckoSG]

Oh, from my experience, the Vstarcam product can annoy you with program notification if your phone app is turned on (Android only for now, iphone coming soon), it will also record video to microsd card (no audio for now) on motion detection, email you or ftp a picture to you.

Algorithm is on cam, so u need not have the super client turned on.

Hackable wise, its not so easy for the T series now. Seems tat telnet password is not granted to distributors, only way is to get into console and extract the firmware from it.

I've opened up my T series cam before, but they have hidden the serial console pins... So I can't check anything for sure. Last time H series, open up can see the serial wording to know where it is.

 

[geckoSG]

Does any one know where I can get a T1000? Even though very old model.

Terminator?

 

[Dr_ARCHer]

On the part about getting OOF images, I have several 10x optical zoom cameras (dlink 5635 etc) that needs to have a focusing algorithm if you zoom in or out. So far, I never have issue with the auto focus of these cameras with optical zoom.

 

[Dr_ARCHer]

Terminator?

Don't think he mean this model

 

[geckoSG]

Don't think he mean this model

Hahaha... Bro, u too had a good sense of humour.

 

[geckoSG]

Fuzzywuz, Hardcor? The VStarcam V6834W is an OEM of EasyN, auto-focusing algorithm doesn't seems to be as good as it should. Will this be same for EasyN? Cos I may need to get 1 but m not comfy buying another from VStarcam since it does not support PnP. Does easyN support PnP

 

[Hardcor?]

Oh, Oh, someone looking for me? T1000? I was not even born when T1000 came about. And how did I get associated with a scum like Fuzzy in the first place. H3-187V and H3-137V will be easy enought to setup. I would consider these PnP as well as P2P.
P2P only when network situation allows. Otherwise only on relay.