How practical is it to connect my parents IP cam from their house to my BI server remotely?

[talisman2208]

So my parents want to get an IP camera, but they want to deal with DVR and setting it up and all that stuff.

In theory, wouldn't it be easy enough to get an IP cam for them and port forward it, then capture the stream on my BI server?

Or does that come with complications?

 

[greg_mitch]

Not sure that is typically done although it may be feasible. You can probably get a BI basic PC for <$150 and then just VPN into it if you need to review footage remotely.

 

[CrazyAsYou]

So my parents want to get an IP camera, but they want to deal with DVR and setting it up and all that stuff.

In theory, wouldn't it be easy enough to get an IP cam for them and port forward it, then capture the stream on my BI server?

Or does that come with complications?

ok so let's assume your parents have the spare upload bandwidth, and you have the spare download bandwidth to support the stream the only thing you want to think about is the transport for the stream, you really don't want to be transferring it without some form of encryption over the internet and need to think about using a VPN to tunnel. Depending on the router and/or computers at each end, you can make a point to point VPN and safely stream the cam from your parents to your home/BlueIris. OpenVPN would be a reasonable choice and is supported on most decent routers and Windows/Linux OS.

 

[Edcfish]

Is it possible? yes.
Is it practical for most situations? not so much.
It would be a 24/7 up from the camera and a 24/7 down to the BI PC and most home networks/connections are not meant for that type of constant use.
If moving forward, a site-to-site VPN (as said above, OpenVPN would be my choice too) would be a must to maintain basic privacy.

 

[wpiman]

I put a PC at my parents vacation house and installed BI on there. You can manage it from your instance...

 

[mat200]

So my parents want to get an IP camera, but they want to deal with DVR and setting it up and all that stuff.

In theory, wouldn't it be easy enough to get an IP cam for them and port forward it, then capture the stream on my BI server?

Or does that come with complications?

Hi @talisman2208

too many issues with that .. Edcfish has a good summary .. and others good info.

In general, while internet connectivity has gotten better .. I would not count on this plan.

Get a cheap PC to run locally as a BI server for your parents ..

Is it possible? yes.
Is it practical for most situations? not so much.
It would be a 24/7 up from the camera and a 24/7 down to the BI PC and most home networks/connections are not meant for that type of constant use.
If moving forward, a site-to-site VPN (as said above, OpenVPN would be my choice too) would be a must to maintain basic privacy.

 

[The Automation Guy]

I do it, but for a camera that overlooks a dock at my parents house. It's the only camera they have and as such I haven't set them up on BI yet. I also have a large SD card in the camera to make sure that video is being captured at the source. I certainly do not want to loose recordings due to an internet connection issue. I also do not expect to ever need to pull footage from this camera either. All of these factors lead me to decide that it was fine to set it up on my BI system.

Actually now that I think about it, I even stopped recording from that camera on my BI system. I just have it displayed in my BI overlay.

I have a full time VPN connection between my house and my parents house. It was set up this way long before the camera was installed. But that is the method I use to securely transfer the data to my house.

 

[wpiman]

I have the exact same setup-- a VPN to my parents house overlooking the dock. Just one camera-- but I have a Blue Iris machine there... I'll probably run more cameras there this summer...

 

[DLONG2]

For locations within 5 miles of your BI server, consider using UniFi LAN radios, for extending your home network over the air.

 

[CrazyAsYou]

View attachment 165308

For locations within 5 miles of your BI server, consider using UniFi LAN radios, for extending your home network over the air.

I've used these a few times, they work well, but you do need line of sight, normally means mounting them pretty high unless the terrain between the two points is flat or one side is already much higher (looking down) that the other