seebo

hi, i am new to network cameras and was looking for a decent high res camera for outdoors. i am a huge PC guy and always preferred wired devices over wireless, especially when it comes to networking. anyhow due to it being an older house wiring can be a PITA so i wanted to at least try wireless cameras first and see how they perform. i couldn't find much in terms of wireless but i did manage to find a couple decent looking 2mp wireless cameras (sorry it won't let me imbed the link : http://www.ebay.com/itm/161087843692?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649) ordered just a couple of them for now to test.. hope i don't regret it but they appear to be decent "quality" .. although i am very aware of risk when buying things from china, but i do know some of the cameras and car cameras have improved a great deal so im hoping for the best. and worse case scenario, i also have option of using ethernet cable with this camera if wireless doesn't work out. would be nice if the camera turned out to support POE, but im not holding by breath. cameras should arrive in a couple days.. guess i'll be a guinea pig unless someone has information on this cam. can anyone recommend PC software other than Blue Iris? it looks like it's a popular pick, but i'm not liking paying for each PC i would like to run the software on (i have 5 computers in my house) also not a fan of the activation process and the hardware scanning it does to verify things and all the horror stories of peoples' serials being locked out. i'm PC guy so i upgrade my machines and play around with them a lot. not really looking for freeware, just something without all the piracy protection (stuff that seem to only frustrate the buyers not the pirates) and i could possibly install on other machines on the network. thanks!

coincidentally, i just discovered IP Cam / Basic / Pro and works just fine using the basic version so i may buy it. turns out "TinyCam Monitor" only supports MJPEG. i contacted the developer and they told me in the near future, but after doing some research they said that about a year or two ago i set the cams up wirelessly and so far the wireless aspect works pretty good.. considering my router is on one side of the house (in the attic in a 3-story) and cameras on the opposite side, 12ft from ground, i am getting them locked at 54mbit/s. and signal at -60db which isn't too bad. i will buy another access point to increase wireless power and hopefully lock a bit higher for more reliability. i do like how i still have the ethernet option with the cams if things don't work out, but so far for the money ($300 for both) i am impressed. wireless really has matured, and i think it should be taken seriously now it's pretty amazing at the progress in the last few years and the speeds that can be delivered now wirelessly. latency has improved a great deal, and more power for better signal penetration through walls. only downside with the cams is trying to get firmware updates,etc. i can't find much information.. i will try to contact the manufacturer to see if they will have updated firmware (my cam shows last build end of July so fairly recent). i'd want to see if MPJEG support is something they could add, even though i don't really need it, useful to have more features! i would like to order a couple more of them, but a little cautious about how they will hold up in the coming months (rain/winter/etc) but at least they appear well sealed which would be the primary cause of failure if they do. are lens typically easy to change on most cams? would like to get some replacement, 3-4mm maybe.. they came with 6mm which isn't too bad but i feel they are too zoomed and i want to cover a bit more area. cheers

how can i check if camera supports MJPEG? because from the looks of it the android app i bought does not support RTSP / h.264 streaming, it uses MJPEG instead.. so maybe that's the reason the app doesn't work because the camera only offers RTSP?

received the cams today., quicker than i thought. first impressions is they appear very well built, entire housing is aluminum. the brand appears to be "Anran" and model number AP2GA i only tested them indoors but so far the image quality appears good and night mode also looks very promising. my only thing is i cannot get the camera to work with the software i bought: ActiveWeb Cam i had purchased this software a while back for other purposes and turns out it looks like it would also work for my application., ironically, the software i didn't want to use (Blue Iris - demo) works fine with my cam and also has "Anran" as a supported model. also, i had purchase this app: "TinyCam Monitor" for my android phone but the app won't connect to the camera. this is the android app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alexvas.dvr.pro the camera cam with an android app, but it's basic and not as advanced as the one i bought. the camera supports ONVIF and RTSP and h.264 and i confirmed streaming h.264 via streaming with VLC (RTSP), i do not know why they will not connect to cameras (even though they detect them on the network). i did not want to buy Blue Iris, so i may contact the devs for the other apps i'm using to see if it can be resolved.

looking for a small dome outdoor PTZ ip cam,with day/night image. is it possible for $300?

tell me about it. just didn't want to spend a lot for my first ptz and thought there was something half decent for 300 bucks out there. some of the ACT domes are like 2 grand lol. it must be some Swiss army type motorized internals to cost that much, because i seriously doubt the lens/camera they're using cost that much.. they figure most would use these cams in commercial application so $$$ is usually no option for many companies buying ptz cams. i saw a few of them on ebay they might be worth risking $200, but they are the lamp type looking domes and appear big. maybe i'll wait a bit longer and muster up a few bucks more to around $500-6 but don't really want to go above that. maybe hk or ESC or one of those companies will make an affordable unit.