I have a lot of IP cameras. Currently, there are 26 located at two houses with a wireless network connection between the houses.
I started putting camera images on the web with web cameras attached to PCs back in the 90's - using Webcam32 to post a rolling series of still images and a Perl CGI website to select and display them. This actually helped me get a job with Motorola in 1997 when it impressed the hiring manager.
I started on IP cameras with a pair of rather expensive Panasonic cameras in 2008 at the behest of a client who needed to monitor his disabled and aging father.
I still have those cameras, which were returned to me after the father died.
After that, I went crazy putting in inexpensive Foscam cameras at my house in San Jose. Eventually, I had ten of them including indoor PTZ models and outdoor bullets.
I found Javascript code from a guy (the uber overlord) in the Dallas area to allow posting streams from the Foscam cameras into frames on a web page.
After moving back to Texas in 2014, I purchased several Amcrest cameras as the successor to Foscam but they never worked as well and I could never integrate them into frames even though I found never code from the successor to "the uber overlord" (who had apparently died) that was PHP based.
In Texas, I ended up with two properties about 1/3 of a mile apart. At the prompting of a friend, we set up a network link between the two properties using Ubiquiti Nanostation NSM5 radios.
The NSM5 using Power over Ethernet (PoE) and has a pass-through PoE port on the radio that goes up on the tower. The intention is to use a PoE camera from Ubiquiti.
I purchased PoE "bullet" cameras from Amcrest only to discover that their PoE was not compatible with the Ubiquiti PoE. This led to purchasing a set of 3 Ubiquiti "version 1" cameras. Those worked with the PoE but had so many other flaws that Ubiquiti eventually offered a trade-in program giving almost the full purchase price of the generation 1 cameras towards new generation 3 cameras. I took advantage of that to get two "bullet" cameras and one "dome" model.
I attached a Ubiquiti bullet to each NSM5 radio - one at my main house and the other at the other smaller house. Both look out the driveway.
Meanwhile, I also purchased a couple of PoE injectors that worked with the Amcrest bullet cameras and installed one of those cameras at each house.
The NSM5 link worked but was very limited in capacity due to a tree in the line of sight. In October 2018, we moved the antenna mast to the other end of the smaller house and got a much better signal.
As I was using a camera attached to the NSM5, it also moved to the other end of the house and I purchased another Ubiquiti camera to go where the original one was. Unlike the original Ubiquiti equipment this camera could also work on standard 802.3af PoE - now coming from an inexpensive switch with 4 PoE ports and two uplink ports.
I also discovered extremely inexpensive (less than $40) bullet cameras with 1920x1080 from a company called SV3C and bought three of them (for less than the price of one Ubiquiti camera). These were a complete pain to set up but I got them working with both a web interface (Internet Explorer with ActiveX plugin only) and a very minimal "Monitor" application.
I was happy enough with that to buy additional SV3C cameras. Eventually, I ended up with four bullets and two domes.
After getting the first SV3C cameras to work, I realized I had a mess with cameras from four vendors (effectively five since the SV3C domes were completely different from the bullets).
That's when I discovered that Blueiris seemed to be the gold standard for integrating cameras from different vendors.
It was well worth the $65 for the PC version plus another $6 for the iOS client (working on both my iPhone 8 plus and my iPod mini 3).
Now I have all the cameras, dating back to those ancient Panasonics setup with groups to allow me to view each house or all of a given camera vendor.
I can view them in the Blueiris application, via a web browser (both in the LAN and remotely), or using my iPhone or iPad. I can see both live camera views and look at motion triggered recordings.
The next step is to look into alarm integration and camera operation from an "Intelligent Floorplan" system that I have developed with a couple of friends.
2 Panasonic
8 Foscam
3 Amcrest
5 Ubiquiti
8 SV3C
8 Foscam
3 Amcrest
5 Ubiquiti
8 SV3C
I started putting camera images on the web with web cameras attached to PCs back in the 90's - using Webcam32 to post a rolling series of still images and a Perl CGI website to select and display them. This actually helped me get a job with Motorola in 1997 when it impressed the hiring manager.
I started on IP cameras with a pair of rather expensive Panasonic cameras in 2008 at the behest of a client who needed to monitor his disabled and aging father.
I still have those cameras, which were returned to me after the father died.
After that, I went crazy putting in inexpensive Foscam cameras at my house in San Jose. Eventually, I had ten of them including indoor PTZ models and outdoor bullets.
I found Javascript code from a guy (the uber overlord) in the Dallas area to allow posting streams from the Foscam cameras into frames on a web page.
After moving back to Texas in 2014, I purchased several Amcrest cameras as the successor to Foscam but they never worked as well and I could never integrate them into frames even though I found never code from the successor to "the uber overlord" (who had apparently died) that was PHP based.
In Texas, I ended up with two properties about 1/3 of a mile apart. At the prompting of a friend, we set up a network link between the two properties using Ubiquiti Nanostation NSM5 radios.
The NSM5 using Power over Ethernet (PoE) and has a pass-through PoE port on the radio that goes up on the tower. The intention is to use a PoE camera from Ubiquiti.
I purchased PoE "bullet" cameras from Amcrest only to discover that their PoE was not compatible with the Ubiquiti PoE. This led to purchasing a set of 3 Ubiquiti "version 1" cameras. Those worked with the PoE but had so many other flaws that Ubiquiti eventually offered a trade-in program giving almost the full purchase price of the generation 1 cameras towards new generation 3 cameras. I took advantage of that to get two "bullet" cameras and one "dome" model.
I attached a Ubiquiti bullet to each NSM5 radio - one at my main house and the other at the other smaller house. Both look out the driveway.
Meanwhile, I also purchased a couple of PoE injectors that worked with the Amcrest bullet cameras and installed one of those cameras at each house.
The NSM5 link worked but was very limited in capacity due to a tree in the line of sight. In October 2018, we moved the antenna mast to the other end of the smaller house and got a much better signal.
As I was using a camera attached to the NSM5, it also moved to the other end of the house and I purchased another Ubiquiti camera to go where the original one was. Unlike the original Ubiquiti equipment this camera could also work on standard 802.3af PoE - now coming from an inexpensive switch with 4 PoE ports and two uplink ports.
I also discovered extremely inexpensive (less than $40) bullet cameras with 1920x1080 from a company called SV3C and bought three of them (for less than the price of one Ubiquiti camera). These were a complete pain to set up but I got them working with both a web interface (Internet Explorer with ActiveX plugin only) and a very minimal "Monitor" application.
I was happy enough with that to buy additional SV3C cameras. Eventually, I ended up with four bullets and two domes.
After getting the first SV3C cameras to work, I realized I had a mess with cameras from four vendors (effectively five since the SV3C domes were completely different from the bullets).
That's when I discovered that Blueiris seemed to be the gold standard for integrating cameras from different vendors.
It was well worth the $65 for the PC version plus another $6 for the iOS client (working on both my iPhone 8 plus and my iPod mini 3).
Now I have all the cameras, dating back to those ancient Panasonics setup with groups to allow me to view each house or all of a given camera vendor.
I can view them in the Blueiris application, via a web browser (both in the LAN and remotely), or using my iPhone or iPad. I can see both live camera views and look at motion triggered recordings.
The next step is to look into alarm integration and camera operation from an "Intelligent Floorplan" system that I have developed with a couple of friends.
The framerate is maxed out a 10 FPS at 1440 with the IR Lights on, for now - it'll do...