Suggestions for an IP security camera that I can view on my iPhone?

VirtualRain said:

Anyone have any suggestions for an IP video camera for monitoring your home when you're away that can be viewed on the iPhone?

Ideal features would include:
- iPhone native app for viewing and control is preferred vs a website
- Remote control pan/tilt from the iPhone
- Ability to send you an email or SMS when motion is detected
- Recording ability when motion detected
- Night vision IR LED's

Cheers!

Click to expand...

Dropcam, to me one of the best offerings out there...Even more so now with their upgraded camera which starts to ship in late Jan...

http://Www.snapav.com has them. Best around and priced right. Work great with ios devices.

pdxa4 said:

Dropcam, to me one of the best offerings out there...Even more so now with their upgraded camera which starts to ship in late Jan...

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This would be a good baby monitor when I have a baby.

Izon Camera Monitor with app for iPhone / iPad should be exactly what you're looking for. Reviews are good, I just ordered one.

http://www.steminnovation.com/

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Swann make a range of systems

Izon got bad reviews, I would go for drop cam when it's released.

I have been using the iCam app (the one by SKJM) with my computer and laptops' webcams for over a year now and love it. It has the native app you're looking for, and can record when it detects motion, and can send you an alert when it detects motion. Works great. The only thing I don't think it can do it control the pan/tilt with your iPhone.

so basically you just install the software to your computer, buy the app and your good to go?

al0513 said:

so basically you just install the software to your computer, buy the app and your good to go?

Click to expand...

Yep, setup was literally that easy.

joflo723 said:

I have been using the iCam app (the one by SKJM) with my computer and laptops' webcams for over a year now and love it. It has the native app you're looking for, and can record when it detects motion, and can send you an alert when it detects motion. Works great. The only thing I don't think it can do it control the pan/tilt with your iPhone.

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joflo723 said:

Yep, setup was literally that easy.

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+1 for iCam... I started using it because my girlfriend wanted something to keep an eye on her little puppy (her parents usually watch it but they are away and the little guy has seperation anxiety) Anyways iCam is wonderful, I set up my MBP and my girlfriends Macbook and she can view both cameras on her iphone, one by the door and one in the living room. Cheap and easy solution.

So you would have to keep your laptop open and on to use iCam?

vietalogy said:

So you would have to keep your laptop open and on to use iCam?

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Correct, unless you were to use an external webcam instead of your laptop's built in webcam.

iCam

Was doing some googling and found this thread so thought I would give my 2 cents.

I have been using iCam on and off with my MBP for a while now and it has been easy to setup. I just got in today from amazon a Foscam FI8918W for $83. Setup was super easy since I was already use to iCam. iCam lets me control the IP cameras pan and tilt by swiping on the screen. I would say the only trouble I had was the setup instructions that came with the Foscam camera. They seem to have been written by someone who's first language is not english. If your pretty tech savvy then you should have no problem though. The other thing with iCam is that I use dropbox to record my motion events and not the local hard drive of the MBP since someone could jack that. The Foscam camera also has a web interface that is not designed well but the video is pretty quick to refresh and I am happy with it. It also loaded through safari on my iPhone. When trying to use the camera outside of your own wifi you will have to set up port forwarding which hopefully you are familiar with. If not they have a tutorial on the Foscam website. The only thing that bothers me with iCam is that the stream is horrible (about 3-4 second refresh) when your on 3G and have full service. On the iCam forums they say it is due to the restrictions that Apple has on the apps, so it doesn't seem to be their fault. Hopefully this helps.

What I am looking for now is a way to record video to dropbox when motion is detected since iCam will only record pictures of the movement and you have to stitch them together or press the play button inside the iPhone app to play them as a video.

Still waiting for dropcam to release their updated cam.

Another Option

Orbicule, the developers of Undercover, recently released Witness 2. It turns both built-in and external webcams into motion-detection cameras. You can connect up to three external webcams to a single Mac.

Witness doesn't have every function that you listed, but it has some unique features. For example, your webcams can be automatically enabled when you leave your house if you enable location detection on your iPhone. The system is disabled when you return home.

$39 is good for every Mac that you own. It may not be enough for people who require streaming video and pan-and-tilt control of webcams, but for the rest of us it is an inexpensive and easy to configure option.

http://www.orbicule.com/witness/index.php

Check out Vuezone

http://www.vuezone.com/

Amost everything mentioned is garbage or does not answer what the OP listed. He didn't ask for links to stupid webcam software links.

Get some foscam wireless cameras. Night vision, remote pan and tilt, preset positions. Download the foscam surveillance pro app. No computer required. Just use the web interface built into each camera.

The app can email or FTP photos upon motion (sensitivity options), remote pan and tilt, turn night vision on/off, etc.

The video is fluid over 3g. I watch from across the country with no issues. Can't recommend foscam products enough.

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jdecosta said:

Check out Vuezone

http://www.vuezone.com/

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Avoid this. Very expensive cameras that eat through lithium batteries, monthly subscription, privacy concerns with the company knowing your cam info, etc.

Terrible.

iamthekiller said:

Amost everything mentioned is garbage or does not answer what the OP listed. He didn't ask for links to stupid webcam software links.

Get some foscam wireless cameras. Night vision, remote pan and tilt, preset positions. Download the foscam surveillance pro app. No computer required. Just use the web interface built into each camera.

The app can email or FTP photos upon motion (sensitivity options), remote pan and tilt, turn night vision on/off, etc.

The video is fluid over 3g. I watch from across the country with no issues. Can't recommend foscam products enough.

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Avoid this. Very expensive cameras that eat through lithium batteries, monthly subscription, privacy concerns with the company knowing your cam info, etc.

Terrible.

Click to expand...

Do any foscam mobile app offer notification from movements incase if I use it as a baby monitor?

"dietwater5
macrumors newbie

Join Date: Jun 2007
iCam
Was doing some googling and found this thread so thought I would give my 2 cents.

I have been using iCam on and off with my MBP for a while now and it has been easy to setup. I just got in today from amazon a Foscam FI8918W for $83. Setup was super easy since I was already use to iCam. iCam lets me control the IP cameras pan and tilt by swiping on the screen. I would say the only trouble I had was the setup instructions that came with the Foscam camera. They seem to have been written by someone who's first language is not english. If your pretty tech savvy then you should have no problem though. The other thing with iCam is that I use dropbox to record my motion events and not the local hard drive of the MBP since someone could jack that. The Foscam camera also has a web interface that is not designed well but the video is pretty quick to refresh and I am happy with it. It also loaded through safari on my iPhone. When trying to use the camera outside of your own wifi you will have to set up port forwarding which hopefully you are familiar with. If not they have a tutorial on the Foscam website. The only thing that bothers me with iCam is that the stream is horrible (about 3-4 second refresh) when your on 3G and have full service. On the iCam forums they say it is due to the restrictions that Apple has on the apps, so it doesn't seem to be their fault. Hopefully this helps.

What I am looking for now is a way to record video to dropbox when motion is detected since iCam will only record pictures of the movement and you have to stitch them together or press the play button inside the iPhone app to play them as a video."

I just recently set up this very senario as youtube disabled automatic uploads from ipcameras.


Running FTP on an older mac with OSx 10.5.8. (newer macs require a terminal command to enable FTP)

*The Astak Mole (camera) using Yoics (online client) doesn't have any FTP directory path settings to edit, so the files are just dumped under your user account.

Installed Dropbox and set up the Dropbox folder to be installed under the main HD or computer. (by default it puts the Dropbox folder under your user account.)

Installed CarbonCopyClone (back up utility). This allows me to select a local source and destination for back ups. My source is my user and my destination is my Dropbox folder. (if you didnt put the Dropbox folder under the HD as mentioned it may not allow the transfer as the destination will be in the source.) You can then select files and folders to be ignored by the back up to minimise size.


The only draw back to this is I can only schedule automatic back ups once an hour (not bad though). I can also manually do the sync but I have to be at the computer for this. My solution for mobile access is a VNC program. I use iTeleport Connect.


I now have my videos stored online which I can view on my iphone. (Gplayer app can play ASF files)

I don't know if your still looking.. judging by the post date probably not, BUT maybe you've used something and aren't happy with it and are looking for another one? haha maybe. In either case if anyone else is looking for security cameras like this place Alpha Security Systems would probably do the trick.

They have a little blog on exactly what your talking about to with the iPhone app Access Control Vancouver

VirtualRain said:

Anyone have any suggestions for an IP video camera for monitoring your home when you're away that can be viewed on the iPhone?

Ideal features would include:
- iPhone native app for viewing and control is preferred vs a website
- Remote control pan/tilt from the iPhone
- Ability to send you an email or SMS when motion is detected
- Recording ability when motion detected
- Night vision IR LED's

Cheers!

Click to expand...

question

i see Xfinity has an alarm system that they say you can see what is going on at home via laptop and i think phone anyone have info on that?

Foscam/IOS App Always Open

My wife is insistent that we keep a baby cam on our precious little life sucking creature 24/7. I think I've settled on the Foscam, but I have a question:

We like the ability of having access to the Foscam through our phones, but we don't like the fact that we would have to unlock our phones and then go to that particular app. Were we to buy a refurb iPod Touch, would we be able to have the camera on and the app open 24/7? In other words, if we were in a different room from the beast with the Touch, would we simply be able to glance at it to see our precious bundle of bile spewing, diaper filling joy, or would we need to unlock the Touch and go to the app if we left the Touch unattended for some time?

Thanks for any insight.

-anthony