Subscriber Discussion

Need Advice: Portable Kit Camera / Recorder

JE
Jean-Philippe Encausse
•Aug 17, 2015

Hi,
I have a tricky (for me) question:

I need to setup a portable kit of 5-8 videos cameras at home for 1-2 weeks (then an other home, etc...) to records moments / motions. The cameras should :

  • be installed in 1H max
    • so should be offline or wireless
  • have a small form factor
    • be indoor: in living room, over the cook shove or in the fridge !
  • be wide angle HD camera with sound
  • have a timestamp
  • encode in WebM (or H.264)
  • will record few seconds of motion
    • with a good motion detection (IR or Optical Flow or ...)
  • the kit should be 1000$ max

Mobius (offline)

The 80$ Mobius camera has a very strong/open community.

  • Very good quality video + sound
  • Works offline (so no security issues)
  • Can record 8.8H on a 32Go SD Card in 720P
  • BUT the motion detection trigger too many false positive and fill the SD Card in 3 days

FTP Camera / Synology

I tried 80$ Foscam HD camera with low cost Synology

  • Foscam has a too large form factor
  • Synology can "do more" than a NVR and is cheaper
    • can be a wifi Router / DHCP (no camera setup)
    • can run NodeJS to work on files
  • Why FTP ? Because 5 cameras streaming 24/7 to a NVR would kill the wifi network and require a strong expensive recorder for 1% of recording.
    • SFTP would be better

Cloud Camera and Others

  • Cloud camera are very interesting but
    • Security is a must have. I believe in Google (if I can choose Europeen server) not Chinese cloud
    • DropCam has very bad comments
    • Cloud camera use tooooo much bandwith. Homes do not have fiber !
    • The FLIR is Interesting but no legal info about their cloud, bandwith use, APi, etc...
  • I'm waiting for Blink Camera (PIR / wire free) but only 5.5H of battery life
    • I tried a chinese version (Q21): useless because of it's time to boot
  • Ubiquity seems interesting but more exensive and only RJ45 and proprietary ?

My best bet would be a kind of Mobius buffering on SDCard and uploading to an FTP ?

Thanks for you Advice !

MM
Michael Miller
•Aug 17, 2015

Have a look at Hikvision.  They have WIFI NVRS and wireless cameras. 

All you need is a power outlet at the camera location and a spot to put the NVR.  If you don't want the NVR you could always stick an SD card in the cameras and use the web GUI NVR.  Would be a little more cumbersome but would work. 

Pic is of some of the WIFI cameras and a WIFI NVR

JE
Jean-Philippe Encausse
•Aug 17, 2015

Thanks Michael, very interesting !

So the price of the DS-7104NI-SL/W-2TB is 160$ + HD ? Where can I find an official price list ?

According to the specs it can handle 5Mpx
=> So I assume it's when there is a PIR motion detection ?
=> So I can have 5x DS-2CD2432F-IW (3Mpx) at 130$ not detecting at the same time ?
=> How video alert are uploaded ? in FTP ? If yes what is the value added by this NVR compared to a NAS ? The easy setup ?

Does Hickvision FTP camera works with SFTP ?

Is there wide lens small form factor version ?

I read this WIFI NVR is an Access Point how is performed the configuration ? It's the DHCP for cameras ? Any review on it ? Can I put other manufacturer's camera ?

EDIT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXtKTzWIpXE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcKrxbNJ59s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vAETgHc3W8

Thanks !

Avatar
Ethan Ace
•Aug 17, 2015

Let me try to answer some of your questions here, then I'll contact Hikvision for the others. We actually have a discussion on this NVR from last year with some info.

1. That NVR does work with ONVIF cameras.

2. It acts as an access point and cameras will automatically detect and connect to it.

3. One member in that discussion said it worked well but he hadn't actually deployed it.

4. To answer your question from the other thread, if it's like other Hikvision recorders, you should be able to FTP images from it on event or a schedule.

As far as the FLIR FX: it may work well for what you're after, and the outdoor housing is decent (though IR was weak). They record to SD so they don't use bandwidth until you view live or playback video. They don't have a lot of super bells and whistles like the scripting you're asking about, though.

JE
Jean-Philippe Encausse
•Aug 17, 2015
In reply to Ethan Ace

Thanks Ethan,

About "FLIR FX record to SD so they don't use bandwidth" if I understand they record on SD Card OR on Cloud.

- Mobius are too short on SD Card (too many false positive) even if I set a motion timeout of 5s (stop record avec 5s of innactivity nb. FOSCAM sucks because they cut at 10s seconds even if motion continue.)

- PIR Camera like FLIR should work better on SD Card but I don't know the timeout

- My question was FLIR in cloud mode. Does it upload to the cloud using lots of bandwidth ? Or only motion detection quietly ?

I understand I have 2 options:

1. I go for Cloud with FLIR (if privacy = AWS and bandwidth are OK)

2. I go for Hickvision if I find a small wide angle camera.
- If camera upload motion by FTP may be I can go for a dead simple NAS instead of NVR
- If FTP is SFTP I can upload to my FTP server (on cloud) and use a dead simple router instead of a NAS

Why "Covert" camera are so expensive (500$) where a Mobius + extend cable is at 80$ ? Is it because this market has not been disrupt ?

JE
Jean-Philippe Encausse
•Aug 26, 2015

Hi,

  • Why did HIKVISION Camera cost more than 2x price with international firmware than chinese one ?
  • Can you confirm I can upload motion alert video to an FTP ? It seems many people upload only snapshot

Thanks !

JH
John Honovich
•Aug 26, 2015
IPVM
In reply to Jean-Philippe Encausse

Jean-Philippe,

I believe the price difference is a segmentation issue. People in the West are willing to pay more and get more support than people in China.

Related: Buying Hikvision Chinese Versions Vs USA Ones

JE
Jean-Philippe Encausse
•Aug 26, 2015
In reply to John Honovich

I don't think there is more support :-)

My 2 cents: Europe & US have money just take it :-) (That's a shame in 2015 with a world wide communication)

JH
John Honovich
•Aug 26, 2015
IPVM
In reply to Jean-Philippe Encausse

By more support, I mean if you get the Chinese version, they are likely to tell you go away if you ask for help or warranty replacement!

Certainly, that is related to the Europe and US having more money per customer :)

JE
Jean-Philippe Encausse
•Sep 16, 2015

Okay so ...

1. I've tested the FLIR it seems to work well but I can't have an access to AWS to get all the video. There is only the mobile app... I still waiting an answer from FLIR support. Motion detection do not work if you remove the pod...

2. I've tested the Hikvision ... well it 's the worst firmware I seen. The hardware is ok but the configuration is very buggy and I CAN'T upload a VIDEO in FTP I have to use buggy CIF/NFS. And according to forums I have to create a volume for each camera on the Synology ... non sense...

3. I found the Axis very interesting see here: https://youtu.be/lksLm7lkOvA?t=180 according to the video there is an upload of the video by FTP with pre buffer ! i don't know about the quality/encodig ... (FOSCAM upload raw video)

I'll try to contact Axis to get more info

JE
Jean-Philippe Encausse
•Sep 16, 2015
In reply to Jean-Philippe Encausse

Args it seems in fact AXIS and DLINK only upload "frames" to the FTP not compressed video clips

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