Considering different options for a petcam/security setup

[spork947 0]

Hello Everyone,

 

After being burglarized I now have a alarm system with glass breaks and sensors on all entrances. We self monitor through next alarm and it sends alerts to family close by as well. We were planning a trip and wanted to check in on our pets while we were gone so I finally made it around to setting up a camera. I started out with a dlink cam so were were able to watch from our phones and it worked well for a proof of concept. However after reading the tos they pretty much say you have no guarantee at all of security.

 

I returned and picked up a dropcam instead which advertises 256 bit encryption directly from the cam. It works great for us. 3 cams would give us nearly a complete view of the areas accessible to our pets when we are gone so I'm looking for some more options. They stay in the living room 75% of the time so 1 works quite well but we are really thrilled about being able to check in away from home. My Wife leaves a tablet set up on her desk and checks in on them often.

 

I like being able to record but the most important thing to me is just a quick peak to make sure everything is ok at that moment. I was thinking of going with the cvr plan on the primary cam and having 2 more setup for live feeds. My other idea was to use a different brand of ip cam in the other areas and have them email or dropbox sync snapshots to my phone.

 

Basically I don't want any kind of server running with outside ports forwarded so I can stay as secure as possible. The dlink is accessible without forwarding ports, maybe cause it goes directly to the mydlink servers? If I was going to do this I would want a cam that can be completely shut off from the outside internet. I would prefer not to keep a pc running and something that could email shots without a pc would be awesome as well if its not visible outside. Running a pc and replacing hdd's on occasion isn't free so I can certainly see the benefits on cloud storage for smaller setups and I can schedule them to shut off when I'm home.

 

Sorry for the long winded post but I hope I explained what I'm trying to do. The dropcam setup still seems the over all most simple, and maybe best solution (not because of the simplicity either). Additional cvr cams are $50 and not $100 a year. The company is also looking into plans with less retention and local recording so options should continue to open u with them.

 

One last options I can't find a lot of info on is y-cams homemonitor setup. It has good reviews on amazon but their other products don't fare as well. They claim completely free dvr storage as well.

[buellwinkle 0]

If Dropcam works for you, why look elsewhere. If you want cameras that email you pictures, most do that and do that without opening ports up.

 

Also, not sure what you fear is. I'm pretty good at hacking, been doing it all my life. Imagine this, with Dropcam, the video is outside your control, Dropcam can be hacked, your account can be hacked and you don't even know who at Dropcam is looking at your video, heck, it may end up on YouTube or America's Funniest Videos.

 

So the alternative is to port forward which means the outside world, including you has access to your camera or NVR only, nothing else. So how is access controlled, the same way it is on Dropcam, via a username and password. Why do you think that is less secure than Dropcam?

 

You can record to an NVR, to a PC with NVR software or just have the cameras write to a NAS via FTP, CIFS or NFS. You can hide the device where it can't be found. Also, you are only port forwarding the device, not each camera.

Edited August 21, 2013 by Guest

[StanLee2066 0]

Have you considered a NAS? I've been using the DLINK DNS-323/325 for years and have been extremely happy. Works perfectly and well priced. You can get an add-on application for them (free I believe) called 'Surveillance Center'. It's an Embedded NVR (network video recorder) that supports real-time monitoring, recording and playback of surveillance video using select D-Link Network Cameras. Supports up to 4 D-Link network cameras..

 

Is this the kind of thing you're looking for? Since you already have some dlink cameras and are reasonably happy with them. I can see how they would be fine for looking at pets.

 

Just an idea.

[spork947 0]

Imagine this, with Dropcam, the video is outside your control, Dropcam can be hacked, your account can be hacked and you don't even know who at Dropcam is looking at your video, heck, it may end up on YouTube or America's Funniest Videos.

 

So the alternative is to port forward which means the outside world, including you has access to your camera or NVR only, nothing else. So how is access controlled, the same way it is on Dropcam, via a username and password. Why do you think that is less secure than Dropcam?

 

Thats why I was curious about this subject but from my understanding some of these cams use the authentication in plain text and are easily hackable. If you could connect directly with ssl wouldn't that make them safer? Are the connections to a nvr setup encrypted?

 

I don't see dropcam as unhackable either however they state that not even their employees can access your video feed as its encrypted on their servers. I guess if someone has your password its open game but to me that seems safer than connecting to a cam or home server with a unsecured connection.

 

If someone was able to access my cam they would be quite bored and not the end of the world but it does give me the heebeegeebees. Thats why I like to physically shut them off when I'm home.

 

thanks for the info from everyone!

 

edit: After further thought a motion email setup may not work as my dogs would activate it constantly!

[buellwinkle 0]

Some brands have SSL over port 443 instead of port 80 so you can use HTTPS. For example, in ACTi, AVTech and Axis cameras, you can create an SSL certificate and access the camera via HTTPS, just never tried it. I would imagine the NVR's would do the same. Most have manuals accessible online so you can verify how you would do this before buying. Some have additional anti-hacking features, like AVTech uses Captcha and SSL by default. Dahua will lock you out of the camera for like 30 minutes if you enter the password wrong 3 times.

 

As for shutting it all off while you are home, most have recording schedules so you can say don't record certain cameras during certain hours/days. Also, all the cameras would feed into one PoE switch, just turn the switch off and all cameras are off. I have indoor cameras, not in bedroom or bathroom areas where privacy would be expected, mostly near key entrances to capture an intruder entering the home.

[voip-ninja 0]

The problem that i have with dropcam and similar services (comcast) are the monthly fees. You pay $20-40 a month and after a while you could have bought a better solution for the expense.

[buellwinkle 0]

You can justify the fees, but my big issue is they are optimized for bandwidth, so the image quality is compromised due to higher compression but even so, having multiple camera using your upload bandwidth has to cost. For example, I have a 1.5MP upload from u-verse, how many cameras will that support before I start losing frames, events and such. So if I had say 3-4 cameras, would I need to increase my service to a higher level, and what does that to the cost? Probably more than what Dropcam is charging, or as the OP posted, $100 for the first cam, $50 for subsequent cams, so about $21/mo for 4 cameras, but I may have to up my internet service by $20/mo to support it without impacting my normal internet workload.

 

Then you have the issue of very limited camera choices, just one, indoor only, day only. What if you want a driveway cam, a front door cam.

 

I've seen other cloud solutions at ISC West that were more robust and you can have a wide selection of cameras. Basically they record to a device in your home that's like an NVR but really more like a staging area for the cameras to record to until there's bandwidth available to push the video to the cloud. Seems more realistic in approach.

[spork947 0]

Actually the Dropcams do have night vision. Not sure about the original model. We work nights so most of our viewing is in night mode. The quality isn't as good at night but it does the job. We thought our new dog eventually relaxed and slept in the crate but she freaked out and tries chewing the crate all night. She is doing better with the other dogs so we let her stay out. She runs back and forth all night howling with her eyes glowing in the cam but isn't causing much trouble otherwise. No wonder she can sleep all day. There is constant action from my event list.

 

Blue Iris isn't clear if they use a secure connection. Ispy claims they have secure remote access but its 7.95/month for 1 viewer only plus whatever it costs to run a server. My Wife and I can view the dropcam stream at the same time. We could on the dlink as well and I believe they had free dvr software but again I feel a little better with the security on dropcam. I think I've pretty much made up my mind to stay with their system. The cam has a nice wide view as well so I can get a lot of coverage from 1. I can schedule them as well to save bandwidth or switch less active cams to sd. I was reading the feature request forum and things like local recording and outdoor cams are being looked into. I also found a article about a 1080p model coming out.

 

I'm still curious about this setup but other y-cams seem to be poorly reviewed. pcmag gave it high marks along with other amazon reviews. Maybe these would be ok for my less active cams. With free cloud dvr service and encryption.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Y-cam-HomeMonitor-Indoor-Monitoring-Recording/dp/B008QN6V9W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377106031&sr=8-1&keywords=homemonitor+cam

 

http://www.homemonitor.me/

[CamB 0]

If Dropcam works for you, I would just stick with that. Just note that if you go over 4 dropcam's that are recording to the cloud continuously, it will severely impact your bandwidth.

 

I have Dropcams too and are happy with them. No security issues.

[spork947 0]

If Dropcam works for you, I would just stick with that. Just note that if you go over 4 dropcam's that are recording to the cloud continuously, it will severely impact your bandwidth.

 

I have Dropcams too and are happy with them. No security issues.

 

I already have a addiction and now I want outdoor cams! Maybe I would be better to have a traditional setup for outside and dropcam for indoors so I can check on the dogs remotely. As you mentioned I don't want to hog that much bandwidth. Maybe I could run ispy along with a few BW IPC-HFW2100 (i think they are dahua). I like the idea of using a single ethernet cable to power the cam.

 

Or I could keep hoping dropcam releases a outdoor model and offers a record only on motion option. I really want a complete setup now and still weighing all options. I'm going to experiment with pointing dropcam out my front window without the IR since it has a good viewing angle from there.

[buellwinkle 0]

The Dahua IPC-HFW2100 are good, the Hikvision ds-2cd2032-i are much better, but you can't go wrong with either other than support. Going a little higher end like an ACTi D32 would give you better service, support since this is sort of new for you and they have pretty good NVR software for free. You'll want real outdoor cameras, where the illuminators light up the area at night. Also, Milestone XProtect Go is commercial grade software, free for 8 cameras and has very good smartphone apps and a decent web interface or remote access that works with most browsers.

 

Once the surveillance camera bug bites, you'll have a half dozen cameras before you know it, a front door cam, a driveway cam, a backyard cam, it's just a fun hobby.

[spork947 0]

So I now have 2 Hikvision ds-2cd2032-i and 2 Acti d32 cameras. I only have 2 of them up so far but the static ip's are set and the firmware on the d32's are updated so it should go smoother than the first 2. I had glitchy video on the d32's until I updated the firmware and now it requires quicktime for the browser plugin.

 

Ispy seems to be working for me after the firmware updates on the d32's. I will dump the recording folder into dropbox for my remote access. I also plan to have a dedicated box. Fwir with ispy connect you can manage the setup over lan for free. I feel like I have a good plan. They were a little tough to install. Nothing solid under the fascia on my house to drill into so we made a L bracket out of wood behind it. I found some flush mounts for vinyl siding that I used on the other cam. It really sucked fishing a wire through the attic so the rest are going through the basement.

 

Here is a quick pic. I found that the problem with the door cam where I have it is that if it faces out I can't see if someone is standing at the front door but it gives me a great view of the mailbox, yard, and the path leading up to the door. I'm thinking of pointing the other cam more towards the door simply so I can see if someone is there and I should still have good coverage of the driveway. Then I can rely on the cam mounted by the door for mailbox coverage and to get a good ID of someone approaching.

 

thanks again for the help on choosing the cams. Now I just need to find a way to deal with the bugs setting off motion ... actually I'm not even sure if I can adjust the cams anymore as a spider webbed them in place.