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The last two weeks I decided to upgrade my cheap DVD/camera package system into a POE (power over the rent) multi camera system with a dedicated PC. Eventually I will do a write up here giving some lessons learned since I know there are people that would like some cameras but are not sure where to start. Since I'm posting from my phone I'm not going to elaborate right now but hopefully by the weekend I can post some info on what I did to save people some time if you plan on self installing a system.

I'll be watching - been looking at POE cameras and systems too.

That would be awesome. I would like to install cameras around my home as well. Look forward to your write-up.

We installed a POE system about a year ago and it has worked wonderfully. Having only one cable per camera is great.

Same here -- I've been running a household system with external POE cameras and a dedicated server for about year. Having the single cable run to each camera makes the installation efficient and clean. Everything has worked flawlessly 24/7 since the install. I picked up a relatively inexpensive POE switch and it's been rock-solid.

I've been maintaining (and heavily revamping) a commercial analog + POE system for a client for the last 18 months or so. 6 DVRs and ~130 cameras so far, with a mix of coax, Ethernet, point to point WiFi bridges, and fiber.

Also have 7 POE cameras so far @ my house running against a PC hosting Milestone XProtect. This is all commercial grade stuff, not the $299 Costco special, so can't speak to which is the better $39 camera; but if anyone needs help understanding networking, commercial grade WiFi as a possible solution to areas difficult to run Ethernet cable to, etc, I'll help as best I can.

The Geovision cameras I'm using run $350-500 each. Until you've experienced what a difference super low light sensors and WDR (wide dynamic range) can make in image quality, it's hard to know what you're missing out on!

I'll be watching this thread also. I'm about to do an install for a friend, and while my networking and tech background is up to the task, my knowledge of which camera systems are worth bothering with, and the compatibility between the hardware and software is lacking.

I setup a simple system at my house using Wifi 720P cameras that only require 12V power.

POE is a good choice as are wireless cameras if you have good wireless access points, and power near them.

I used Netcam Studio for my 2 camera setup and it has a pretty nice phone app.

I thought only drug dealers had video cameras on residential properties. What if the DEA shows up with a no-knock warrant and throws a flashbang on your toddler?

One of the things I've learned about WiFi and IP cameras is that there's a big difference between consumer grade wifi routers and commercial APs and point-to-point bridges.

I have both Engenius ENH500 and Ubiquiti Nanobeams that stream 8 to 45 megabits/second 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without a hiccup or reboot required. IMX, attempting that over a consumer wifi router tends to bog down the router requiring regular reboots to clear its head.

Surprisingly, the ENH500 and Nanobeams aren't that expensive - $85-95 each (you'd use them in pairs).

My elderly mother in law may be moving in with us soon, and if that happens we will definitely be looking to upgrade our camera system. The current one (through Xfinity) covers the main living areas and the driveway, but not the porch, kitchen, and dining rooms.

A small bit of thread drift - I was running a consumer grade Linksys wireless router for WiFi, range was terrible and signal strength horrible, connection reliability worse than horrible, rebooting all the time. we had our new house wired for multiple Ethernet ports and a WAP in the center of the house on the ceiling. I installed a Ubiquiti Unifi AP AC LR access point that is PoE (comes with a one port injector) and now able to use the full 30 MBPS our internet provider has and so far no down time for 2 weeks. Cost was maybe a little more than a consumer grade, but worth it to me and she who must be obeyed. found on amazon for a really good price (at least I thought it was <$200).

Old Linksys is now a non-wireless switch providing the DHCP server - it is too big for my cabinet so maybe a new configurable switch will be in my future.

back to the normal conversation -

Certainly interested in the content of this thread but I'll definitively be looking for the low cost/best value route. Thanks.

RHenriksen wrote:I've been maintaining (and heavily revamping) a commercial analog + POE system for a client for the last 18 months or so. 6 DVRs and ~130 cameras so far, with a mix of coax, Ethernet, point to point WiFi bridges, and fiber.

Also have 7 POE cameras so far @ my house running against a PC hosting Milestone XProtect. This is all commercial grade stuff, not the $299 Costco special, so can't speak to which is the better $39 camera; but if anyone needs help understanding networking, commercial grade WiFi as a possible solution to areas difficult to run Ethernet cable to, etc, I'll help as best I can.

The Geovision cameras I'm using run $350-500 each. Until you've experienced what a difference super low light sensors and WDR (wide dynamic range) can make in image quality, it's hard to know what you're missing out on!

Nothing better than a good old Milestone system. I use it as my system at work. My Axis cameras run just a bit more however...

GeekwithaGun wrote:A small bit of thread drift - I was running a consumer grade Linksys wireless router for WiFi, range was terrible and signal strength horrible, connection reliability worse than horrible, rebooting all the time. we had our new house wired for multiple Ethernet ports and a WAP in the center of the house on the ceiling. I installed a Ubiquiti Unifi AP AC LR access point that is PoE (comes with a one port injector) and now able to use the full 30 MBPS our internet provider has and so far no down time for 2 weeks. Cost was maybe a little more than a consumer grade, but worth it to me and she who must be obeyed. found on amazon for a really good price (at least I thought it was <$200).

Old Linksys is now a non-wireless switch providing the DHCP server - it is too big for my cabinet so maybe a new configurable switch will be in my future.

back to the normal conversation -

Ubiquiti Unifi AP AC LR - Berry Nice!! Ubiquiti has released (or announced, anyway - maybe not shipping quite yet?) a new generation of the AC version at a significantly reduced price.