Need advice on a new system. Our current method won't work..

[dmills913 0]

EDIT:

I've gotten some advice from a family member that has set this kind of thing up before. He recommended I set up a computer in each location running blue iris and use the cat6 cables I already ran and buy poe network cameras.

 

Assuming you agree with this advice, does anyone have any thoughts on which cameras to look at? I looked through the Axis and Dahua product selectors and it's difficult to find anything that supports audio at all. The best option I saw was the M1054 camera from Axis, but they are $350 each, and a bit outside our budget probably :/ I'm hoping to find cameras for about $200 each.

 

 

Original Message:

 

 

I run an English School in Japan, and I have a bit of an unusual system requirements (at least for where I live).

 

We have two locations, with 6 classrooms and an office area in each location. What we've used until now is Y-Cam Home Monitor cameras. For those of you that don't know, these work by detecting motion, and then sending all of the data to their head offices in the UK. You can view the feed via the internet (streamed from their servers at a bit of a lag time).

 

We use the cameras primarily for two things:

 

1. We have parents sitting in our lounge area drinking coffee, chatting, and watches the classes live on two different TVs. We have accomplished this by using the Roku App that is run by Y-Cam to connect the stream to each TV. The largest problem with these cameras in general is that they won't allow us to stream anything from the servers to either our computers or to the Roku app for any more than 5-15 minutes. This naturally presents a problem as the classes are 40-60 minutes, and we need to go back out to the menu over and over during classes so that parents can continue to watch. Our second

 

2. Because the cameras record on motion, we were able to set up the detection fields so that in general, entire classes can be recorded, and then downloaded to the computers. This allows teachers to do self-evaluations, management to give advice when teachers struggle with things, etc.

 

Generally, we're unhappy with the system because of the 5-15 minute limits on streaming to the TVs. Y-Cam tech support is terrible, and basically strung us along just long enough for the system to be out of warranty, so I'm not at all interested in continuing to use them.

 

Here's our immediate problem:

 

Last night, I received an email from Y-Cam saying that they were ending service on the Roku app. This is the only way that our parents can watch the classes live, and so this is a big problem for us. The real kicker is that they said the service would end on May 16th. So... for an important service that we invested about $2,500 in over two schools, they give us 3 days cancellation notice. There's not really anything we can do as the cancellation of the roku service doesn't really 'break' the cameras in general, just for our specific needs.

 

I wired both schools for ethernet 2 years ago when we installed these Y-Cam systems, and I'm fairly handy technology wise, but I'd like some advice on a new system that won't be so reliant on 3rd party apps.

 

We're looking for two different systems with a minimum of 4 cameras, and a preference of 6-7. One system per school, and our budget has a max of about $3,000 total.

 

Our Top Needs:

A) Reliable way for parents sitting in the same building to view classes live (or nearly live) with Audio. The signal should be at least 720p so the parents don't see a degradation in quality.

B) A method for management to give digital copies of classes (about a 1 hour block) to teachers. We'd like it to record everything that the cameras see, and then have a fairly easy way (preferably by computer) to log into the system, and get digital files to send to teachers.

C) A way to view the classes live from a computer/phone/tablet that was NOT in the building, or maybe even in another country. We would also strongly prefer to be able to view recorded files from the hard drive (For example, last week's 3:00 class)

D) A minimum of 4 cameras, with a preference for 6-7. (Per school)

E) The cameras need to have a fairly wide FOV (Since the rooms here in Japan are fairly small. Our current cameras have an 87 degree fov, and we'd like to get somewhat near that. They also need to be wall mountable, as room mounted gives us a less than desirable viewing angle on the classroom. Parents want to see their kids faces having fun.

 

 

Our pie in the sky hopes:

A) A way to get a live feed URL of each single camera that we could incorporate into our private website login so that if a student is sick, they would still be able to watch the class live in an iframe, etc on the website. This would help us to cut down on the number of make-up lessons, etc.

 

I'm willing to run BNC cord, or whatever other standard cord there is. While we don't need to have a solution in place this week, I would definitely like to make significant progress on a system in the next 3 weeks.

 

There's not nearly the options here that there may be in the states, but we do have a Costco nearby, and so I have seen the Q See systems. I also have seen Lorex. They SEEM to do most of what we want to do, but I'm sure they are bottom of the barrel in terms of quality. Our situation seems fairly unique, and none of people I've talked to here have been able to help us, but the internet is a wide place, and this seems like a very knowledgeable group of people. Does anyone have any advice on systems that I can take a look at? (Or systems to flat out avoid?) Thank you in advance!

[Daryl733 0]

Last night, I received an email from Y-Cam saying that they were ending service on the Roku app. This is the only way that our parents can watch the classes live, and so this is a big problem for us. The real kicker is that they said the service would end on May 16th. So... for an important service that we invested about $2,500 in over two schools, they give us 3 days cancellation notice. There's not really anything we can do as the cancellation of the roku service doesn't really 'break' the cameras in general, just for our specific needs.

 

THIS is precisely the problem that I discourage people from using services that only runs off Manufacturer's own server and doesn't support direct connection. Mostly they are known as P2P or cloud services. If the manufacturer decide to stop the services anytime, you basically have useless equipment if it doesn't support any other kinda connection.

 

Branded equipment doesn't mean anything. My Sony's Smart TV can't playback youtube video now coz Sony/Google decided to stop compatibility few years down the road after the product was launched.

 

Now, back to your requirement.

You can consider this type of cameras. They do have audio mic integrated.

http://overseas.hikvision.com/en/products_161.html

http://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/ipc-c15-1442.html

http://shop.us.dlink.com/shop/shop-security/camera/d-link-dcs-935l-hd-wi-fi-camera.html

 

Streaming on TV can be done vie either the PC app or get a NVR or the hybrid DVR (depending on the number of cameras you want to see on the TV).

The NVR will do the recording as well, or you can just record it on the SD Card on the camera (limited recording coz max sd card is only 128GB, some models only support up to 32GB recording).

 

Some models can support RTSP streaming as well, so if your smart tv support those, you can use those. I would go for NVR. There's no menu to configure. Once you on and switch the tv to the correct input, it'll display.

[tomcctv 190]

Hi. Your system has nothing to do with p2p and Roku tv has nothing to do with your system. It's a streaming service and not controlled at all by y-cam.

 

As far as your existing system that is fine if it is working the way you want.

 

But as you know anyone who had access to your system via roku would have also needed a roku tv box.

 

With your existing setup you can still access via smart devices... Android iPad iPhone Windows.

 

And if your views wanted to view via a tv then they could use a android tv box or Apple TV

And going that option you might find it's quicker than going with a 3rd party like roku

[dmills913 0]

Hi Tom,

I appreciate your position, but I think I must not have explained the system very well. The Roku TV channel, an app run and paid for by Y-Cam, and the primary reason we bought the Y-Cam cameras, and the Rokus, (the only method that I know of to display the feed from the cameras to a TV), is the thing that is being cancelled. This has everything to do with Y-Cam, as they are the ones 'renting' the channel from Roku. Roku hasn't cancelled anything, and the cancellation email that I received was from Y-Cam.

 

Our system is no longer fine because we cannot accomplish the primary need for our systems: displaying camera feed to our TVs. As this was THE primary point behind our buying the cameras and the roku's in the first place, it's hard for me to see how the existing system is 'fine'.

 

I suppose it may be possible to use an android TV box or apple TV (but we'd need to purchase one for each of our 4 TVs, at our cost), but frankly, I'm not interested in a system where, on a whim, they can cancel our primary usage method. Who's to say that they won't kill whatever android tv channel or apple tv channel they lease? Besides that, I see nothing on Y-Cam's website that suggests they even support this as an option. As far as I know, this will always be an issue because for the Y-Cam cameras we have, the system goes from our camera -> Y-Cam -> the internet.

 

 

Hi Daryl,

I really appreciate your answer. That's exactly what I'm looking for. I hadn't seen those Hikvision cameras, and am really happy to find an option that looks like it will work for under $200 per camera. On the advice of my family member, I'm looking at running a computer with Blue Iris in each school to manage that school's cameras. I like this option because it seems to be an extendable option in the future, and won't have the limitations of our current system. Thanks again!

[Daryl733 0]

Sorry, thought y-cam and roku are equipment and services from the same company.

TomCCTV may be right.

 

Most likely you are setup for Cloud Services now using Y-Cam cloud services, which they had tied up with Roku services to stream the video through them.

That's also why you get laggy video even through some of the stream are internal through lan.

 

You'll have to check if y-cam supports direct connection through direct ip instead of going through their server.

Looking at the specs and a quick glance through their support site doesn't seems to indicate they do. Most likely it only stream through cloud.

 

You'll then either need to use an android app with a android tv box or an apple tv box connected to the tv and have a ipad/iphone to run the app and cast it to the apple tv box.

 

Everyday when you start classes, you'll need to have someone to run the app, and start all these thing to stream to the tv. You can configure it to start automatically, but it'll take a bit of tinkering on your android tv box (the y-cam app have to support auto camera connection when started).

Equipment needed would be an android TV box. Some cheap one are available

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/android-tv-boxes-what-are-they-and-what-can-they-do/

But getting the app installed and them running might not be a sure thing. You'll have to check and see if it's doable. The cheap one might have slow processor and you might not get the streaming videos running smoothly.

 

For apple tv, it's a lot more complicated. Start the apple TV, run the app on the iOS devices, cast it to the tv.

You'll need an Apple TV box, and an iOS device (ipad, iphone, etc). I don't think apple tv box support the direct installation of the app now.

 

For that kinda price, you might as well get a cheap laptop and run the pc version and hook it up to the tv with a hdmi/vga cable.

If y-cam is onvif, you might consider using an NVR to do that. But it doesn't seems to support ONVIF and all streams seems to go through their server.

 

If that's really the case (no direct connection available for the equipment), I'd stay away from such equipment. The equipment will not work if the company folded.

7 Days of rolling recording are too short to be of useful (they provided it for free), and 30 days of recording required subscription @ USD$4.99 per camera.

http://support.y-cam.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2088753-how-much-does-it-cost-to-add-homemonitor-plus-

 

Also, all footage are stored and transmitted through

the company server. Are you absolutely 100% certain that no one could ever view any of the footage stored on a server that's out of your control ?

I can't find any privacy policies regarding the storage and access of the recording in the website.

http://support.y-cam.com/

https://www.y-cam.com/legal/

 

These type of systems are easy to install and designed for people who want to DIY and have limited technical skill to configure the normal systems.

However, I normally would advice against such systems (If they really don't support any other form of connection except through their cloud services) as you are paying for something that's potentially junked if the company goes out of businesses, and also there's no control over your equipment and recording.

For subscription services such as these, they are vendors that I know who just collect a refundable deposit for the equipment and refund the deposit for the equipment when they are returned upon the termination of the subscription. This is a fairer model for the consumer as the equipment are basically junk without the company backend services and support.

 

For me, I would still goes the way of using IP Cameras with NVR. Preferably from the same brand for all equipment to reduce compatibility issues.

If you need 24x7 recording, just leave the camera and nvr on. Otherwise, just switch them off and on them for lesson next day.

All you need to do on a daily basis is to switch on power, monitor and the image would appear. Dun need anyone to click app, click connect, or cast to apple tv to get the image to stream.

[dmills913 0]

I appreciate all the time and effort put into your reply Daryl. Ultimately though, it just means spending more money on our end for a system that we've been unhappy with from very early on.

 

The main limitation is that they will only allow a max of 15 minutes streaming at any time. It is sometimes as short as 1-2 minutes, and usually around 8-10 minutes before the signal cuts out. I have spent hours on the phone with Y-Cam, and they say that it's a hardware limitation of the cameras. This max of streaming time is in effect whether viewing the cameras from my iPad, Computer or through their Roku app. I'm sure that we could jury-rig some system to allow a laptop to send the feed over to the TV (though I'm not sure how we could send two cameras with two different audio signals to the TVs without a solution per TV). Ultimately, I feel that this is a situation where we can continue throwing money at a solution that wasn't really viable from day 1, or cut bait and invest in a better system. I'm interested in the latter.

 

Edit: I have nothing against the Y-Cam cameras when used for the situation that they were designed and marketed for. I realize that our use-case is non-standard. With our budget and knowledge at the time, the Y-Cam system was the best that we could do. I am of course frustrated with Y-Cam support, as they basically promised us (Through the course of several months of back and forth emails) that they would remove the 15 minute limit in a patch for almost a year, and then decided that it was a hardware issue right after our 1 year warranty ended.

[tomcctv 190]

Our system is no longer fine because we cannot accomplish the primary need for our systems: displaying camera feed to our TVs. As this was THE primary point behind our buying the cameras and the roku's in the first p

 

Rokus is just a stream service ... Nothing to do with y-cam except it runs a all from y-cam

 

You could do exactly the same with your existing system but steam in another method.

 

Or you can change all for hikvision but you are still stuck as if hikvision or your existing Y-cam you still need to find a stream to work on a tv.

 

Use y-cam app on smart device which belongs to y-cam and use a $25 android box.

 

 

Are you talking about local TVs ( we're cameras are located) if so you can now stream any IP camera to a tv with a IP cambox

[Daryl733 0]

From technical point of view, I would guess that rather than a hardware issues, it's more likely a deliberate system design.

 

Unlike normal CCTV system where the streams are from your camera directly to your client (mobile app/browser/software), cloud services like y-cam stream the video through their cloud server, i.e. your cameras send the images to their server, their server send it to your mobile app.

 

All servers have limited concurrent connections, be it hardware or bandwidth.

To be able to scale the concurrent connections up for all their clients, it would mean huge investment on their backend servers.

This is not economical feasible.

 

So what most company does is they time limit each session, in case of y-cam, 15 mins. So they'll disconnect the session after 15 mins, and to continue viewing, you'll need to reconnect. This would limit concurrent connection on their server, discourage users from hogging the connection sessions (like in your case where you go frustrated after constant clicking to reconnect), and also disconnect inactive users to free up resources.

 

Y-Cam is not the only one with such design.

This, again, is another reason why I totally advice my clients against using system with such design.

[dmills913 0]

This is the crux of the problem though. To my understanding, and the way y-cam explained to me, these are not ip cameras.

[tomcctv 190]

This is the crux of the problem though. To my understanding, and the way y-cam explained to me, these are not ip cameras.

 

 

Again your limit is done via a 3rd party don't use the roku app . It has nothing at all to do with y-cam.

 

Swap to y-cams. App and you have no limitations

[dmills913 0]

I could be wrong, but I'm assuming when you're talking about 'switching to y-cam's app', you mean use their web-interface? It's possible that our wires are crossed, and we're never going to agree on what constitutes 'fixed' in our situation, but I do want to stress that the Roku was not my idea. I didn't buy 4 Roku's for our schools and try to shoe-horn them into their system. The Roku was their Official method of connecting cameras to a TV. It was on their website as a sales point two years ago when the system was purchased. When I called Y-Cam to go over details of their system before we invested in buying 10 cameras and 4 rokus 2 years ago at $2,329.94, this WAS their 'app', and the 'right way' to do it. I understand that Roku is not a Y-Cam brand, and is '3rd party'. This is true in the EXACT same way that ios is 3rd party. If we were to trash the Roku's, buy 4 apple tv's under the idea that using their ios app, and connecting to 4 tablets/iphones/etc was our way forward, they could just as easily end development on their ios app as they did on their roku one, or their web interface for that matter. Just because they have multiple options doesn't mean that every option is created equal, or that every option isn't just as vulnerable to an 'end of development cycle'.

 

I have used their web interface and ios apps for years, and so I can say with every confidence that in this area, I am knowledgeable. There would be a significant drop in usability for our needs as a school to use their web interface, or stream their ios app over to the TV. The Roku app was dead simple in that you clicked the app, clicked the tv and you were done. The entire login process was done when setting up the app at the beginning, and you never needed to enter it again.

 

Their web interface is a nasty mess. It involves a ton of clicking to navigate, and suffers from the same 5-15 minute at a time problem. For the Rokus, this means that the office managers have a roku remote near their desk that (in 5-10 seconds can bring the cameras back up on the TVs). Switching to a web interface pushed to the TVs by laptops, we wouldn't be able to get away with tucking a laptop into a corner of the office like we could with a software DVR. We would have to have two laptops front and center under the tv's while office managers dig through the menus trying to get the camera to display live. Security wise, this would mean needing to have our password accessible to the staff because they would need to be either a) saved on the computers browser (security flag) or b) given to the staff to type in when they had to log back in (time waster).

 

Again, it's possible that we'll never see eye to eye on this, and I'm willing to accept the lions share of the blame on this. I'm more worried about some future person that may be looking for help and considering Y-Cam as an option for something similar to what we're doing. The web interface and ios apps are great for what they're intended for. They should not, under any circumstances, be seriously considered for a system where the cameras would need to be viewed regularly (up to 5-6 hours a day). The bottom line is that this system wasn't designed for our uses. Y-Cam technical support told me before purchase that the Roku app that they developed was their official way to get content to TVs, their ios app that they developed was their official way to get content to ios devices, and their web interface was for computers. I honestly don't understand why you keep insisting Roku is some '3rd party thing' and 'it's obvious that it wouldn't work because that's not 'their app'.' Roku was equally official to their ios/web options until 2 days ago.

 

You mention the limitation being 3rd party? This is clearly not true. I can only view the cameras on their web interface for between 2-15 minutes before the connection cuts out and it needs to be reconnected. The same is true for their ios app. It doesn't allow continuous connectivity. Y-Cam has 0 options for connectivity to their home monitor cameras for longer than 15 minutes at a time (max). When I called to ask them about this, they kindly suggested that I look into their ip camera line for a future purchase.

 

Finally, you say that the roku app has nothing to do with y-cam. This is patently false. The Roku "Home Monitor" app is a Y-Cam app. This is true in the exact same way that their "Home Monitor" app on ios is also a Y-cam app. Y-Cam paid for the development of the app, and apparently needs to pay Roku for its continued presence in the Roku environment. The email that Y-Cam sent me said that unfortunately, not enough users were using the app, and so it didn't make sense financially. This problem actually doesn't have anything to do with Roku. It's a decision by Y-Cam to end service on ONE of their methods of accessing their video feed. Again, to say it in a different way, Roku hasn't cancelled anything. Y-Cam has cancelled their official roku app. If they did the same thing to their ios app, and it suddenly wouldn't send their camera feed to the ios app, this would be identical to what they did to their roku one. We wouldn't be blaming apple for being '3rd party' if they decided to cancel service to their ios app. Why would we do the same thing for Roku?

[dmills913 0]

Hi Daryl,

You recommended an NVR. I hadn't heard about those before. I looked over the Dahua NVR5208, and it certainly seems to offer a solution in terms of simplicity. I might have misunderstood the video I saw on their homepage, but it looked like the cameras were powered by poe as well. The only thing that was a little confusing to me was that it looked like for that unit at least, the cameras needed to be plugged directly into the NVR. Is this true? If so, is this true for most systems? I would need to do fairly significant rewiring to plug cameras directly into an NVR unit. Other than from a simplicity point of view, is there anything an NVR offers that a software solution like Blue Iris might not?

 

On another note, do NVRs generally come with a remote control? I haven't seen anything mentioning a remote control on any of the Dahua pages I've looked at.

 

Thanks again!

[tomcctv 190]

if your having 15-20 shut down on a app then if it happends on the tv box and the other y-cam apps then you have a setup problem and could be your network .

 

Try another app see if you get the same lock out.

 

Let me explain 3rd party again for you

Using the roku app ... You need to understand they as the third party are streaming over Internet ...... It's not from y-cam it's not local connection ... It's 3rd party.

 

Another question for you .... If roku had not stopped there service would you of still come on the forum ?

 

As far as I can make out on your first post is you have a stream problem

 

Just change your stream method.

 

But if you want to go a NVR method first before you change anything first generation fw 1.98 . Will not work with most NVRs

[dmills913 0]

Hi Tom, I appreciate the dialog. The truth is, yes, We have been unhappy with the system for a long time, and have been looking for replacements. The roku service shutting down moved the timeline up about 6 months, as we were limping along (both from the problems with the system and with the financial sting of having purchased it for so much money 2 years ago).

 

I know that Y-cam does have IP cameras. What we have is called Home Monitor. According to Y-cam, the 15 minute streaming limit is built into the system. There's no way around it. I have talked with them on the phone about it several times, and they just said "if you want more than 15 minutes, you need to upgrade to our IP camera line". The frustrating thing about the whole thing is that nowhere on their website do they mention a 15 minute limit. Honestly, I think for the average user, the 15 minute stream at a time is not a big problem. If you're sitting around watching the cameras for more than 15 minutes at once, most people probably don't mind it cutting out. The way that Daryl described it is likely correct. It's likely that they disconnect users after 15 minutes to cut down on concurrent users. I don't know about why they do it (though I'm sure money is the answer). The truth of it is that according to Y-Cam, the 15 minute is a hard limit for these cameras.

 

I understand what you mean by 3rd party, but I feel that it's a bit disingenuous to say that a piece of software that Y-Cam wrote is '3rd party' just because they wrote it to interface with someone elses system (ios, roku, etc). By that definition, the only method to view a y-cam home monitor camera is through their proprietary web interface. They won't allow a connection to a NVR, nor will they allow any 3rd party software to manage the cameras. The Home Monitor line is sort of their 'bare bones' plug it in and it works system. When logging into the cameras, the settings allow you to set motion rules, and a schedule. There's literally nothing else you can do with the cameras.

 

If I could change the stream method and get the cameras to overcome the 15 minute barrier, I would keep our current system in a heartbeat. According to Y-Cam, it's impossible with their Home Monitor line.

[dmills913 0]

Could you unpack that "first generation fw 1.98. Will not work with most NVRs" statement? I don't understand.

 

I've spent a lot of time looking at cameras and systems, and what I'm consider now would be running a computer with Blue Isis in each of our two schools, and using these cameras:

Dahua IPC-HDBW4421F (http://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/ipc-hdbw4421f-as-1001.html)

 

If you have an idea for something I can try with the Y-Cam cameras we have, I'd love to try that though. If there's anything at all I can do to exceed 15 minutes streaming at a time, that'd be the ideal situation.

[tomcctv 190]

Could you unpack that "first generation fw 1.98. Will not work with most NVRs" statement? I don't understand.

 

I've spent a lot of time looking at cameras and systems, and what I'm consider now would be running a computer with Blue Isis in each of our two schools, and using these cameras:

Dahua IPC-HDBW4421F (http://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/ipc-hdbw4421f-as-1001.html)

 

If you have an idea for something I can try with the Y-Cam cameras we have, I'd love to try that though. If there's anything at all I can do to exceed 15 minutes streaming at a time, that'd be the ideal situation.

 

 

Why are you looking at blue iris ..... Your going back to a 3rd party with more cost.

If your looking at dahua use dahua software which comes with cameras or use a NVR

 

Which y-cams do you have?

[dmills913 0]

Y-Cam Home Monitor cameras was the old name, they've rebranded them and are calling them "Indoor HDS" now.

 

Here's a link to them:

https://www.y-cam.com/product/indoor-hd-wireless-security-camera/

 

 

As for Blue Iris, it was recommended by a family member as an affordable and powerful software system that can manage the cameras and do what we need. I'd certainly be open to Dahua software or an NVR. I'm just in the gathering information stage at the moment, and so I'm trying to consolidate all the recommendations I've received. The main thing that we'd need is for it to be simple for all the staff in the school to be able to switch which of our two TVs is showing which classroom so that the parents can watch. If it can do that, record backups for the teachers, and be viewable from outside the school via an ios app, that's really all we need.

[Daryl733 0]

if your having 15-20 shut down on a app then if it happends on the tv box and the other y-cam apps then you have a setup problem and could be your network .

 

I guess you had been working with standard CCTV equipment all the while and didn't encounter these type of equipment and services before.

Unlike normal CCTV equipment where the video stream is direct from the NVR/Camera to the viewing client, these type (Y-cam or similar) stream the video to the their server (y-cam server). The app connect to their server. And the server stream the video down to you. There's no direct connection from the equipment to the app/web browser.

 

As mentioned in my previous post, their server (ycam server in this case) cannot handle all the equipment they ever sold to have simultaneous streaming at the same time. To prevent the hogging of any users on their server connection, they limit each session to 15 mins (in this case) and cut it off and required users to reconnect.

It's the same as POT (plain old telephone) setup. Where an exchange may serve 5,000 telephone lines, but is only able to provide 500 concurrent connection at the same time.

 

In this case, whether using Roku apps, Y-Cam apps, Web browser, etc is not going to solve dmills913 issues as there is no way he can establish a direct connection to his camera. All cameras connection are to y-cam servers which will disconnect any connection after 15 mins of connection.

 

Now, for Standard CCTV equipment.

Yes, the Camera can be powered by the NVR Poe port if they are cabled to the NVR directly. But if they don't need to be.

You can place an NVR in Location A and have the camera in Location B which are then link up by a suitable internet connection and have the camera footage record on the NVR and display to a TV monitor connected vie HDMI/VGA/Video In (Depending on which type of output the NVR have).

As the equipment is meant for this purpose, switching on the power will allow them to start their routine automatically and establish a connection to view the camera on the TV. You don't have to click click click click to start the process to view. Just on the power, it should start (depending on your internet connection, it may be fast or take a while for connection to be established).

 

There are a lot of brand in the market, i won't push for any brand. You'll have to do your own research. Yes, some brand/model does comes with remote. Most support mouse, and some have front panel buttons to push.

Avoid mixing brand though if you are doing it "clean". Less problem.

[Daryl733 0]

Btw,

 

http://support.y-cam.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1661697-viewing-your-camera-live

If you have more than one camera, you will also need to select which cameras you want to view at any given time. You can do this by re-arranging the tick boxes at the bottom left of the camera, and then clicking ‘Update Live View’. You can view up to two cameras simultaneously and for a maximum of fifteen minutes.

 

It's specified in their FAQ. It's a deliberate system design. Doesn't matter how you view it.

[dmills913 0]

I'm glad they finally updated their FAQ. They told me that they would after I complained to them about it heh.

 

They are still advertising their Roku app for TV connectivity though I notice :/

[Daryl733 0]

Btw, although i won't push for any brand, I would recommend you going for the more established and well known brand.

 

You want something that you can get updates bug fix for.

[dmills913 0]

Due to my complete lack of experience, I'm not sure how to read that advice hehe. Is Dahua a well established and known brand?

[Daryl733 0]

I'm glad they finally updated their FAQ. They told me that they would after I complained to them about it heh.

 

They are still advertising their Roku app for TV connectivity though I notice :/

Viewing your camera live

Last Updated: Nov 05, 2014 06:03PM GMT

 

You got this problem since 2014 ?

 

 

I listed Dahua, HIKVISION, DLINK in my previous post. There are also a lot of others brand around.

Look for one that have the whole range of product, i.e. NVR + IP Camera. Not those brand that just have IP Camera.

Like what you mentioned in a previous post that you had look at Axis. They are one of the very well known brand in the IP surveillance market. One of the market leaders as well. But their equipment are a lot more costly compared to the rest. DLINK used to OEM their IP Surveillance Range of Equipment (i.e. they stamp their brand on someone else equipment). Not too sure if they still do now. But at least they promised 24x7 hours technical hotline in their website.

 

I'll stay away from Samsung though. Not too sure of their direction and got into huge problems with their range of equipment few years back and stayed off them since.

e.g. Software not compatible across their range of products, newer software doesn't support older equipment, h.264 dvr that only have a single stream for both recording and online streaming (means you want high quality recording, you'll need high bandwidth, otherwise you can't even view online), and lousy mobile apps that can't do basic things that even other cheaper range of equipment could, e.g. 16 channels system can only view 4 cameras at 1 shot, no playback, etc.

 

But that was a few years back. Then again, once bitten...

Same goes for another Taiwanese brand. Batches of lousy QC equipments that failed after 1 year plus after the warranty period, e.g. cameras losing colors, IR LED failed, DVR power regulator boards burnt, etc. It was also pretty popular in this forum, nowadays you don't see much questions posted on that brand anymore.

[tomcctv 190]

I guess you had been working with standard CCTV equipment all the while and didn't encounter these type of equipment and services before.

 

Daryl733. This is the 3rd time you have surgested in a post that am not familiar with some types of CCTV. With over 33 years I think I do and another y-cam was a big seller in the uk so yes I have come across a few in my life time.

 

Y-cam will work just like any other IP camera ...we have them on avermedia dahua and hik systems when people wanted upgrades.

[Daryl733 0]

I guess you had been working with standard CCTV equipment all the while and didn't encounter these type of equipment and services before.

 

Daryl733. This is the 3rd time you have surgested in a post that am not familiar with some types of CCTV. With over 33 years I think I do and another y-cam was a big seller in the uk so yes I have come across a few in my life time.

 

Y-cam will work just like any other IP camera ...we have them on avermedia dahua and hik systems when people wanted upgrades.

 

Maybe it will. We don't have them over here.

Maybe you are more familiar with them than I do.

 

What I know is only through their website and what dmills913 described.

 

And coming from a software development perspective, there are systems designed in such a way. And those are the limitation imposed deliberately for some reason.

 

As mentioned in their website, they don't support > 15 mins of viewing at a time.

http://support.y-cam.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1661697-viewing-your-camera-live

 

You just mentioned using y-cam apps or web version to view instead of using the 3rd party rokus app, which contradict what y-cam mentioned on their website.

Maybe what you can do is to have a detail guide for dmills913 on what he should do to get it up and working, completed with some screenshots.

I could learn something from your 33 years of experience as well.