Hi everyone,
I’m fairly new to the whole IP camera thing. I’ve been running a three pack of Netgear Arlo around my house exterior mainly to spy on my dogs during the day while I’m at work or out and also have a Ring video doorbell at the front door I was using for doorbell and motion detection.
I’m wanting to get rid of the Arlo and move to something a little better that doesn’t require me to change batteries often.
So far I have been testing the waters with a Foscam FI9901 4MP PoE attached to the front of the house replacing the motion detecting duties of the Ring. It’s being controlled by my Synology NAS and surveillance station.
I’m pleasantly surprised how will it works. The Synology software was a bit janky and I ended up having to buy a domain and get a letsencypt certificate so I could log in remotely with https and have video actually play but now I’m over that hurdle and the system has been solid as a rock for a few weeks I think I’m ready to move on to drilling holes in my house!
My backyard and side gate area is fairly small and currently I can see all of it with the use of 3x Arlo cams. However, I’d like to replace them with a single PTZ cam (to minimise number of holes to drill! and also because they seem pretty cool) and one fixed cam looking at the side gate. See pic for dimensions and proposed locations.
I’m kinda thinking of another Foscam FI9901 for the side gate side and a Foscam FI9928P on the other (patio) side set so that I can either look down the other side of the house, the patio, or the backyard proper.
Basically I wanna see all the green shaded bits.
Given my lack of experience I have a few questions for you guys:
1. Are the better alternatives for the cameras? Particularly the PTZ one. In Australia from a local reseller it costs $400AU so if there’s a suitable alternative I’m open to options.
I specc’ed it originally due to the zoom and the IR illumination. I’m in suburbia so there’s a lot of light at night normally but even with the IR illum on the Arlos they see very little when I don’t leave the floodlight on over the yard. I’d like the option to leave the floodlight off for the neighbours sake.
2. I see a lot of talk about other NVR software that’s not the Synology one. It’s convenient because my NAS runs all the time anyway and I’m only up for one camera license (~$70AU) to run the three cams. Am open to alternatives, particularly if their iOS apps are better than DS Cam.
3. Any other tips etc I should be aware of? Or should I go a completely different direction to what I’m proposing?
I’m in a lowish crime area and I suspect the crime that does occur is opportunistic and pretty low tech. The cameras are all going to be mounted at a height easily reached by a standing dwarf (maybe not that low lol) which isn’t idea for stopping people hitting them off the walls but it’s good for seeing the doggies. Also I reckon the cams would have already recorded decent intruder footage before they get close enough to the cams to damage them. So they’d have done their job more or less in that regard. Primarily these are for dog watching so that’s a pretty low concern anyway.
Thanks in advance for your advise!
I’m fairly new to the whole IP camera thing. I’ve been running a three pack of Netgear Arlo around my house exterior mainly to spy on my dogs during the day while I’m at work or out and also have a Ring video doorbell at the front door I was using for doorbell and motion detection.
I’m wanting to get rid of the Arlo and move to something a little better that doesn’t require me to change batteries often.
So far I have been testing the waters with a Foscam FI9901 4MP PoE attached to the front of the house replacing the motion detecting duties of the Ring. It’s being controlled by my Synology NAS and surveillance station.
I’m pleasantly surprised how will it works. The Synology software was a bit janky and I ended up having to buy a domain and get a letsencypt certificate so I could log in remotely with https and have video actually play but now I’m over that hurdle and the system has been solid as a rock for a few weeks I think I’m ready to move on to drilling holes in my house!
My backyard and side gate area is fairly small and currently I can see all of it with the use of 3x Arlo cams. However, I’d like to replace them with a single PTZ cam (to minimise number of holes to drill! and also because they seem pretty cool) and one fixed cam looking at the side gate. See pic for dimensions and proposed locations.
I’m kinda thinking of another Foscam FI9901 for the side gate side and a Foscam FI9928P on the other (patio) side set so that I can either look down the other side of the house, the patio, or the backyard proper.
Basically I wanna see all the green shaded bits.
Given my lack of experience I have a few questions for you guys:
1. Are the better alternatives for the cameras? Particularly the PTZ one. In Australia from a local reseller it costs $400AU so if there’s a suitable alternative I’m open to options.
I specc’ed it originally due to the zoom and the IR illumination. I’m in suburbia so there’s a lot of light at night normally but even with the IR illum on the Arlos they see very little when I don’t leave the floodlight on over the yard. I’d like the option to leave the floodlight off for the neighbours sake.
2. I see a lot of talk about other NVR software that’s not the Synology one. It’s convenient because my NAS runs all the time anyway and I’m only up for one camera license (~$70AU) to run the three cams. Am open to alternatives, particularly if their iOS apps are better than DS Cam.
3. Any other tips etc I should be aware of? Or should I go a completely different direction to what I’m proposing?
I’m in a lowish crime area and I suspect the crime that does occur is opportunistic and pretty low tech. The cameras are all going to be mounted at a height easily reached by a standing dwarf (maybe not that low lol) which isn’t idea for stopping people hitting them off the walls but it’s good for seeing the doggies. Also I reckon the cams would have already recorded decent intruder footage before they get close enough to the cams to damage them. So they’d have done their job more or less in that regard. Primarily these are for dog watching so that’s a pretty low concern anyway.
Thanks in advance for your advise!
