One Camera IP CCTV Needed

[Dave_G]

Hi

I'm going to try and explain what i am looking for

I would like an IP camera for the back of my house, probably mount it below my first floor bedroom window or inside the window; the camera needs to be wireless as i do not want an ethernet cable trailing all around the house as my broadband connection is down stairs at the front of the house.

So would i need one of those 'camera servers' connected to my broadband modem, with an antenna connected to the 'camera server' to pick up the signal from the camera mounted above the first floor at the back of the house?

Your help would be appreciated, i hope the above makes sense?

Dave

 

[Phil]

Hello Dave,

Thanks for posting your query, let's see if we can give you some options to consider:

I think the most cost-effective solution for an outdoor wireless camera would be to use a Y-cam in a shell. Let's illustrate that with a few links:

Y-cam black - wireless network camera with built in IR LEDs for see-in-the-dark performance.
Y-cam Knight also available - same thing, different plastic body colour that's all.
And recently launched, a new model with the added ability to store video locally on an SD memory card; Y-cam black SD and Y-cam Knight SD.
To weatherproof any of these and make them suitable for outdoor use, Y-cam provide the Y-cam shell camera housing.

OK, that is option one for your wireless outdoor camera.

Right, bear in mind that these are all network cameras, you will need a wireless network to connect them to. Typically this wireless network will exist because you already have an internet connection in your home and have been provided with a wireless router by your internet service provider. If not, there are several options to achieve a wireless network e.g. replace the router with a wireless router, or add a wireless access point to your wired network.

Assuming you have a wireless network, then it is simple enough to connect the Y-cam to that network, and then to view and record your camera on a PC which is also connected to that network (free software to do this is provided with the Y-cam camera).

Option 2 - you could use mains networking rather than wireless networking. It is possible to use Homeplug adapters to utilise your existing in-house mains wiring as a computer network - you just buy a couple of adapters, and wherever you plug them in they create network points for you.

This would allow you to use wired network cameras, rather than wireless.

A well-proven wired network camera all-in-one solution would be the ACTi ACM-1231.

Again, ACTi cameras are supplied with free CCTV recording software to allow you to view and record your camera on any PC connected to the home network (or even remotely from across the internet from any other location in the world).

Some people don't like to leave a PC running 24/7 to fulfill this function, so the thing to do then is to use a network video recorder such as the QNAP NVR-104V. This is a simple fit and forget device for recording your network cameras.

Hopefully the product pages that those links take you to will help you to see and understand how it all comes together

If it raises more questions then please don't hesitate to come back for more ...

We now have videos on many of the product pages which will provide additional information to help you understand what the product does or how it performs, just scroll down the product page to find the video and watch it right there on the product page.

And, if you have any queries about a particular product, you can now click the link near the top of the product page to 'ask about this product'.

Hope that helps ...

 

[Dave_G]

Phil, thanks for the reply!

I can get a wireless internet router no problem, probably one of those Netgear ones? My PC i do not want left on during the day, so ideally i need to the camera to have motion detect on it so that i can see the images via the inernet (webpage) or mobile phone and not to my PC during the day.

How would i do the above, would i need to attach one of those camera servers to the wireless router and then connect the wireless dongle to the server to pick up the sent images from the camera?

Many thanks

Dave

 

[Phil]

Dave,

A Netgear wireless router should be fine. This can then be configured to create a wireless network at home, and your Y-cam camera can be added directly to that wireless network.

[You don't need a server, video servers are used to connect traditional analogue CCTV cameras to a network e.g. co-ax plug on one end of the server for a traditional camera and network port on the other.]

Once your Y-cam is connected to your wireless network you can then configure your router and camera so that it is visible from the network e.g. you can use a PC on the same network to connect to, view and record from the camera. You can also then configure the camera to be accessed from the internet.

If you don't want to leave your PC on to record, you might like to use one of the Y-cam SD models and configure it to record to its micro-SD memory card.

 

[Dave_G]

Thanks Phil, that sounds great!

I will keep your site bookmarked and get back to you in the near future to make an order.

Cheers

Dave