Wireless Security Cameras

Hi all,

Anyone have a recommendation for a wireless outdoor security cam. My home
office is in the basement with no window and I would like to be able to see
what is going on outside.

It seems there are a lot of options available. I am using Windows Vista
Premium with Linksys G wireless router.

Thanks

Don Harvey wrote:
> Anyone have a recommendation for a wireless outdoor security cam. My
> home office is in the basement with no window and I would like to be
> able to see what is going on outside.
>
> It seems there are a lot of options available. I am using Windows Vista
> Premium with Linksys G wireless router.

The most important questions are:

What are the dimensions of the field of view you want to watch?

Do you want to observe (detect the presence of someone or something) or
do you need identify (facial recognition)?

With a 1/4" sensor and 3.6 mm lens:

Dimensions of field of view:
60º 47º
Dist. width height
10' 10' 8'
20' 20' 15'
30' 30' 23'
40' 40' 30'
50' 50' 38'
60' 60' 45'
70' 70' 53'
80' 80' 60'
90' 90' 68'
100' 100' 75'



For observation, use 10% of the image.
For identification, use 30% of the image.

Image 10% of 30% of
Dist. height Image Image
10' 8' 1' 2'
20' 15' 2' #5'
30' 23' 2' #7'
40' 30' 3' 10'
50' 38' 4' 12'
60' 45' *5' 15'
70' 53' *5' 17'
80' 60' *6' 20'
90' 68' *7' 22'
100' 75' 8' 25'

From the above chart, to view a normal height person the camera has to
be 60 to 80 feet from the subject (*). To identify the person, the
camera has to be 30 to 40 feet away (#).

Low end consumer cameras have a fixed lens and only one selection of a
lens, so you need to use distance to get what you want.

Higher end cameras have a CS lens mount and you can select from several
lenses. Almost all of them are NTSC and use coax cable, so you'll need a
cable to ethernet converter ($90).

Toshiba had a wireless variant of their IK-WB15 IP networked camera, but
its no longer available. The ethernet version is an excellent camera and
can be used with the Linksys WAP54G Access Point in client mode. It has
5x optical zoom and 180 degree pan and 70 degree tilt.

If you don't need the zoom and pan, consider a OkiUSA SHM-755AII.
http://tinyurl.com/22zub6
Its a true day/night camera with 550 line resolution and vari-focus lens.


Oh....a third question. How much money do you want to spend?

"Don Harvey" <dharvey@kc.rr.com> wrote:

>Anyone have a recommendation for a wireless outdoor security cam. My home
>office is in the basement with no window and I would like to be able to see
>what is going on outside.
>

You won't be happy with any of the consumer gear that sells for a couple of
hundred dollars. The image quality is poor and they are not built to operate
below freezing temps.

>It seems there are a lot of options available. I am using Windows Vista
>Premium with Linksys G wireless router.


The cheapest setup is to avoid TCP cameras and go with a traditional closed
circuit video system. You can buy a control box that will allow access from a
web browser if you want that capability.

Otherwise, if you really want a camera that hosts a web server, something like
this is what you should look at:

http://www.homesecuritystore.com/ezS...productID=1310

Note the weather container option.

--
"Tell me what I should do, Annie."
"Stay. Here. Forever." - Life On Mars

Thanks Rick, DTC, for the info. Looks like to do it correctly will have to
spend a few dollars more.


"Don Harvey" <dharvey@kc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:47484258$0$28889$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
> Hi all,
>
> Anyone have a recommendation for a wireless outdoor security cam. My home
> office is in the basement with no window and I would like to be able to
> see what is going on outside.
>
> It seems there are a lot of options available. I am using Windows Vista
> Premium with Linksys G wireless router.
>
> Thanks
>

On Nov 24, 7:25 am, "Don Harvey" <dhar...@kc.rr.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Anyone have a recommendation for a wireless outdoor security cam. My home
> office is in the basement with no window and I would like to be able to see
> what is going on outside.
>
> It seems there are a lot of options available. I am using Windows Vista
> Premium with Linksys G wireless router.
>
> Thanks

http://www.supercircuits.com
is worth checking out. [I've made a few purchase from them without a
problem.] Unless you are going to "run" the camera, I'm not sure I'd
spring for PTZ. You could set up a few fixed cameras for less than
one PTZ. Conventional TV (basically NTSC using a FM carrier) works
well, and there are plenty of channels in the 2400 band.

You can pump conventional video wireless about a quarter mile without
much work. You may want to use directional antennas to keep the signal
private.

Any chance your town is going to set up a wifi mesh? I've talked to
people that have had trouble with outdoor wifi once the muni system
goes live.

Using conventional wireless video doesn't preclude putting in on the
PC. Fry's sells a card that can digitize 4 video sources. I don't
recall the brand, but there are all sorts of multichannel video
capture cards.

http://www.zoneminder.com/
is one open source solution for the PC end, though you would need
another PC. Setting up a linux PC for such a task isn't all that
unusual since MS OS can get buggy if you don't reboot occasionally,
while linux can run for months and stay stable.

I haven't done this myself, but some people use PAL cameras. The
resolution is better, and there is a smaller "user base" for PAL,
i.e. less people can intercept the video.I am told PAL is used for
casino security, but have no way to verify that.

"Don Harvey" <dharvey@kc.rr.com> hath wroth:

>Anyone have a recommendation for a wireless outdoor security cam. My home
>office is in the basement with no window and I would like to be able to see
>what is going on outside.

When I worked in a concete tilt-up building and ended up facing a
blank wall, I spent much of my spare time painting a large piece of
butcher paper hanging on the wall, of what it would look like if there
were a large picture window installed. My artistic abilities are
rather limited, so it was mostly done by projecting a slide of a
photograph taken outside.

>It seems there are a lot of options available. I am using Windows Vista
>Premium with Linksys G wireless router.

I don't see why it needs to be wireless. It will be installed in the
same building where you're located. Running cables through a vent is
not particularly difficult. It would only need to be a video cable.
However, if you planning to try to create a wireless link going
through ground level dirt, it isn't going to work. The additional
attenuation of the foundation wall, floor, and outside wall, will
insure that the path will be useless. I strongly suggest you borrow a
wireless access router and wireless equipped laptop, and do a site
survey for signal strength and thruput. It takes a rather strong
signal to cram high frame rate video through a wireless link.

This site:
<http://www.networkcamerareviews.com>
seems to have a wide variety of wired and wireless camera reviews. I
have my favorites, but you won't like the price. The problem is that
the commodity wireless web cameras seem to have lousy imagers. For
low light, I like CCD imagers. For a decent picture, I like large
imagers with high resolution. Add a PTZ pedestal and a camera server
and price is rather high.

I recently setup a wireless camera using:
<http://www.stardot.com/netcamxl/index.html>
and a:
<http://www.buffalotech.com/products/wireless/wireless-g-mimo-performance/wireless-g-mimo-performance-ethernet-converter/>
for the wireless link. Figure on $400 (used) for the 640x480 camera
and lens, plus $70 for the wireless bridge. The quality of the images
are really good, especially in low light. Note that the 3 Megapixel
imager is CMOS, while the others are CCD. Samples:
<http://www.stardot.com/netcamxl/samples.html>

Anyway, my point is that you don't really need an all in one unit. You
can use a commodity NTSC video camera, feed that to a video server,
and link it with either ethernet or wireless using a wireless bridge.
If have a digital camera with an NTSC video output, that can also be
used.

Nail down a price limit, and I can possibly offer more specific
suggestions.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Nov 25, 1:25 am, "Don Harvey" <dhar...@kc.rr.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Anyone have a recommendation for a wireless outdoor security cam. My home
> office is in the basement with no window and I would like to be able to see
> what is going on outside.
>
> It seems there are a lot of options available. I am using Windows Vista
> Premium with Linksys G wireless router.
>
> Thanks

I suggest you reconsider wireless , hard cable is easy to install and
offers several major advantages including power supply, you can buy
quite inexpensive cams on ebay at 1/3 the price of a reasonable
wireless unit , locally I cant help with suppliers for you but I
suggest you purchase a cheap p3 and a $30.00 dvr card from ebay on xp
or win 2k as a minimum , .The major point with wireless cams is you
must spend much more to get even a reasonable resolution (say above
720 which is normally the wireless maximum) which can be achieved
for a lessor investment on hard-wired cam with a Sony capsule ,
anything else you might like to know and good luck .

Thanks Jeff, atec and everyone. The ideas and links are really appreciated.

Thinking about everyone's comments on wireless vs cable I must agree.
Running a cable from this office is extremely easy and gives a much better
opportunity for better cameras.

Like Jeff facing the concrete wall I feel like I am in a bunker down here,
don't know if it is raining, or snowing, or the sun is shining, which is the
main reason for the cam rather than any security problem.

Jeff, good idea about projecting a slide - better than a concrete wall.

Going to check this stuff out this week.

"Don Harvey" <dharvey@kc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:47484258$0$28889$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
> Hi all,
>
> Anyone have a recommendation for a wireless outdoor security cam. My home
> office is in the basement with no window and I would like to be able to
> see what is going on outside.
>
> It seems there are a lot of options available. I am using Windows Vista
> Premium with Linksys G wireless router.
>
> Thanks
>