I'm so lost.... Help the NEWB

[phr0ze 0]

I initially was just going to get the YCAM Black with enclosure. but now I have second thoughts.

 

I Need

[*]outdoor camera to make out a face at 40 feet

[*]good day/night performance.

[*]wifi IP camera

[*]windows/mac/linux compatable. Preferable to work with zoneminder.

 

 

I live in a townhouse and my cars are parked right out front. We have had cars broken into. I want to see the face of who is doing it, day or night.

 

My neighbor has a flood light that usually comes on, but not always. I need the camera to be able to handle both situations and adjust quickly.

 

I can get power to the device, but there are too many walls and floors to run a Cat5 cable.

 

Please, any suggestions. I prefer to stay below $800 for the whole thing. And under $500 is even better.

[Soundy 1]

I can think of one major problem with your plan right off, and that's the limited range of WiFi. You're talking "walls and floors" - how many? What distance? What sort of construction? If there's concrete (and hence, rebar), your range will be severely limited indeed.

[phr0ze 0]

The Wifi range has already been tested. I can actually setup another wifi access point closer if needed too. I have a 24 port gigabit smart switch and nas devices on the backend. I can separate the traffic from my computer traffic via vlans and have everything handled by the router.

 

My biggest concern is picture quality, and I know things get worse through wifi due to bandwidth. However if there is a recommended camera with wifi, please let me know.

[hardwired 0]

I, and a number of others here, will strongly recommend separating the IP camera and WI-FI link. Cameras with built-in wireless tend to be much lower quality images, and wireless performance, than separate units. You can also place the link for best performance, instead of being limited to the camera location.

 

I'd suggest looking into wireless links from Ubiquiti, and cameras from Acti, as being a good place to start.

[phr0ze 0]

That is a possibility. Can you suggest the specific model numbers? I only ask because I have looked at so many it's really hard to tell which is a good camera. I'm sure even Acti cameras have some winners and some losers and price isn't the only indicator.

 

I guess if the camera is a wired POE, can the wifi bridge provide POE so it's one cable to the camera and power to the bridge?

[phr0ze 0]

I've found this: ACTi ACM-1231

And I was considering this one before: Vivotek IP7361 Day/Night 2MP Outdoor Bullet IP Network Camera

 

Any of these good? The Vivotek looked very feature rich.

[hardwired 0]

I've had good luck with the Acti product, not so good with Vivotek. The ACM-1231 is a good product, although around here, bullet style cameras tend to get turned into pinatas by the hoodlums.

 

I use a lot of the ACM-7411 domes, which have the same performance as the 1231. Keep in mind the megapixel cams have somewhat lower night performance, due to smaller pixels, and (usually) CMOS imagers.

 

Having said that, I find that with reasonable lighting levels, the performance is usually very good, and the picture resolution can't be matched by standard res cams. You may want to look at sample images here on this site to give you some ideas.