Ask HN: Best Home Surveillance Cam?

by subbz on 3/31/2014, 1:01 PM with 12 comments

What's the best Home Surveillance Cam available? It has to work outdoors, stream to FTP or whatever, have IR night mode, have decent quality, not call home to China or wherever.

Any recommendations?

  • by linux_hobbyist on 3/31/2014, 3:54 PM

    I'm in the process of setting up a DVR for my family and I've observed that very few (if any) support GNU\Linux. They all advertise to have "web clients", but all these require ActiveX controls. They do "support" Firefox through IE Tab and Mac through plugins, but that's it.

    So 1) use caution if you're a non-Windows user, and 2) I'd be interested to hear of a good system that does support GNU\Linux.

  • by lightstalker on 3/31/2014, 3:36 PM

    Would also be interested in responses in this. Local electronics store sells some KGuard combo packs such as http://www.kguardsecurity.com/us/p/ns801-4cw214h/, but it would be great to hear from the experiences of others.

  • by runjake on 3/31/2014, 5:20 PM

    Depending on your timeline, the AirVision stuff from ubnt.com might eventually meet your goals. Their line currently doesn't do night vision, but it's supposedly on the way Any Day Now(tm).

    It's pretty flexible, good software, good motion detection, etc.

  • by dm2 on 3/31/2014, 4:31 PM
  • by nimajalali on 3/31/2014, 4:02 PM

    Mobotix makes great cameras. Not the cheapest but their cameras have an onboard computer which allows them to operate independently. Send emails, upload to ftp, etc...

  • by nakedrobot2 on 3/31/2014, 3:09 PM

    what kind of lens? should it zoom? should it be pannable and zoomable over the internet?

    what resolution? VGA? full HD? 2.5K?

    motion detection?

    microphone?

    two-way microphone? (i.e. you can yell at the intruder in your kitchen from the comfort of your office)

  • by zomg on 3/31/2014, 7:50 PM

    i'm ponying up for a couple of axis cameras...