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Ask HN: Best Home Surveillance Cam?

22 points by subbz ↗ HN
What's the best Home Surveillance Cam available? It has to work outdoors, stream to FTP or whatever, have IR night mode, have decent quality, not call home to China or wherever.

Any recommendations?

12 comments

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nakedrobot2
what kind of lens? should it zoom? should it be pannable and zoomable over the internet?

what resolution? VGA? full HD? 2.5K?

motion detection?

microphone?

two-way microphone? (i.e. you can yell at the intruder in your kitchen from the comfort of your office)

subbz
No zoom, VGA is OK, motion detection is a must, microphone/2w mic maybe.
linux_hobbyist
I'm in the process of setting up a DVR for my family and I've observed that very few (if any) support GNU\Linux. They all advertise to have "web clients", but all these require ActiveX controls. They do "support" Firefox through IE Tab and Mac through plugins, but that's it.

So 1) use caution if you're a non-Windows user, and 2) I'd be interested to hear of a good system that does support GNU\Linux.

zmguy
You should check out Zoneminder: https://github.com/ZoneMinder/ZoneMinder The development has been re-started and the project seems to be shaping up very well, I'm using it as well as many others.
linux_hobbyist
I have looked at Zoneminder, but I am hesitant on which hardware capture card to purchase. And I don't know the hardware requirements on recording (and streaming) eight feeds.
dm2
http://www.linux.com/news/hardware/peripherals/8211-five-fun...

http://infectedproject.wordpress.com/2007/06/26/set-up-a-web...

If anything requires ActiveX then don't use it because it's old / junk / what kind of developer creates a requirement for ActiveX these days?

linux_hobbyist
I agree that ActiveX requirements are junk. I recently just bought a brand new DVR (released last fall) and that had ActiveX limitations.

I will probably end up rolling my own with Linux and Zoneminder.

nimajalali
Mobotix makes great cameras. Not the cheapest but their cameras have an onboard computer which allows them to operate independently. Send emails, upload to ftp, etc...
runjake
Depending on your timeline, the AirVision stuff from ubnt.com might eventually meet your goals. Their line currently doesn't do night vision, but it's supposedly on the way Any Day Now(tm).

It's pretty flexible, good software, good motion detection, etc.

zomg
i'm ponying up for a couple of axis cameras...