IP Cameras

Has anyone got any recommendations on IP camera to be placed externally on the house?

There has been a few breaks in the area as well as car thefts over the past week or 2, going on the local Facebook group and would like to get something setup for peace of mind, but knowing it won't prevent it.

House is quite large and know I will need to get another WiFi AP at the front of the house, so would prefer the cameras to be WiFi based, but then know this brings power / battery issues into it. Another point is an app on the phone to be able to review records and pref without subscription.

I've been looking at the Arlo setup which seems to tick most things, but some of the reviews for this are not that flattering of it.

Anyone got any recommendations or there current setup?

I use a bit of software called ISpy, deals with the recording, motion detection, alerts ect.
I use IP cameras, they do require power running to them but they just seem to work if im honest.

Seeing as you're going to need to run a cable to the camera anyway (for power), why not look at a PoE (Power over Ethernet) camera - it uses the ethernet cable to provide power and you just plug it into the existing router

this would save you having to set up a new WAP

Will keep an eye at the thread, have the same interest, quite large building but not more than four cameras needed, began investigating in the WiFi direction and now have my eye on the IP cameras with power injector (PoE) too. Have some concerns about the camera resolution, what do you consider is the minimum acceptable to cover...say 25m, and still be able to recognise human face for example?

You need a specific router or switch capable of PoE don’t you? Most consumer stuff doesn’t support it so you would need extra power injectors

I’ve also been toying with Arlo or similar. It’s seems arlo works best if you can power them as no battery issues and no delay in cameras starting to record. At least for outside where batteries don’t last as long. You can buy long cables if that would work for you.

I think so, at least the mine doesn’t support it.

I've looked at this for here and it's on my "when I get round to it" list, been there a while though..

My preference is not to use wireless for this (I'd rather not have a camera that people can read the model number of transmitting wirelessly to my network) so also intend to use PoE. I have power and a network socket in the loft so something like this would suffice with just network cables from the switch to somewhere under the eaves. That specific model isn't necessarily a recommendation, just the nearest thing I found to link to.

It's all good and well talking about PoE etc.. but no one has mentioned about brand of cameras I would like something that is fairly simple to setup and maintain. The trouble with the house I'm in is that it isn't my house, but the in-laws, so ideally don't want to be drilling holes to run cables through, hence the Arlo stuff seemed good, but have noticed that there is a 7 second lag from detection to recording if running on batteries.

The setup I would look at would be 4 cameras, one to cover the driveway, one for the front door, one for the side of the house and one for the back garden. The garage is also separate to the house, but does have power, which I was more inclined to go down the WiFi route, as I'm not as paranoid as Wishy

If the garage has power it could have network too with ethernet plugs (inc WIFI I guess)

I will take a look at Arlo stuff too as I would like to leave a little impact on our property as possible.

7 seconds sounds like a long time to start recording - but I suppose it depends from what point e.g. point of movement first detected as if the detector senses something that is at full range it may not be overly visible anyway.

As I said if you put Arlo cameras on power with long cables there is no need for the delay as its a battery life saving option. Makes potitioning a little less flexible though.

One question about PoE options; are there suitable outdoor IP rated options?

I missed that part of your post mybad

Some of the feedback {here} suggests PoE is suitable for a fair few outdoor IP rated cameras

No worries BBR, not tried the Arlo cameras myself but thats what I have seen. I am still toying with the idea of a similar setup to Begbie. We have a few breakins and I personally heard people on our drive try car doors and then walk down the street trying others and then vault over fences. Police did follow up and suspect a few people but no evidence....

Dunno if it would sway anyone but I have seen Arlo are releasing a doorbell button to use in conjuction with a camera so it acts like a Ring doorbell.

I am looking at a similar setup to Begbie.

If you change all the cameras default settings where is no real issue with that.

As Begbie points out , I'm probably just a bit paranoid! I do have the luxury of already having an ethernet socket and power in the loft though. For me, I'd have LAN cables over any form of wireless anyday regardless. We have enough laptops/tablets/phones/iPods using the bandwidth in the house without adding to it if I can avoid it.

I needed to get LAN cables to the garage and my office at the back of the of house and as the run went through the loft anyway I got one put in just in case. Obviously as it's not Begbie's house options for drilling holes etc are limited.

I feel that these cameras which rely on the internet to stream the footage and not an internal hard drive have a significant connectivity risk. In my house the internet cable comes up from the ground and in through a wall in my living room. The cables are exposed.

If I was going to protect my house with cameras I'd also secure these cables behind a steel box making it hard for them to be cut which would cause the cameras to then be useless.

I fitted a Netatmo presence on the front of my house about a year ago. Its designed to wire straight in place of an outdoor floodlight, and as such took me only about half an hour all in to fit and get working.
They are superb for the price. The app is also completely free and without subscription. It connects to your wireless but stores videos to an sd card whilst also backing up to a dropbox account.

That Netatmo Presence looks like a decent bit of kit, I like the options of backing up to SD or dropbox.

This would be the other area where my paranoia would shine through. Certainly the data storage would be a server within the house and I may not even bother with facilities to view from outside world. It would be more for the likes of a deterrent coupled with evidence gathering should anything happen. I see no point in rushing back home with a baseball bat should I get a notification and most thieves would be gone before the police arrived.

Well, I, too, prefer to pay the cables once and avoid wireless issues, and probably a digital recorder will be the only solution. While the SD card is a likeable manner to have the motion pictures stored in my case will be very difficult to apply as the cameras have to be installed at 6m height approximately, and that exactly is the origen of my concerns about the camera resolution.

I have spent a considerable (!!) amount of time looking into this. I want cover for the side of my house and I have a place where I can mount the camera and run a power lead straight through the wall to a 3 pin socket. Simple you might think. Well issues uncovered fall in to 2 camps:

1) Camera

- Plenty of good cameras around for under £100.

- Go for hard wired power as batteries are not up to it, especially in colder weather

- Weatherpoofing to IP66 standard seem readily available

- Go for camera that operates by PIR motion, not pixel distubance, otherwise blowing leaves etc can set it off

- All pictures show neat installation and no wires; reality is most require a hole about of about 2cm (!) to take all cables through such as ethernet connections etc. Solution is to fit a waterproof junction box externally and then run a narrow power cable through. I found only one camera that actually provides purpose designed accessory

- Wifi reception is often weaker than your mobile, a few cameras have a double antenna to help, but I assuming and will budget for a signal booster in the house

- Can't comment on camera range, direction and adjustment but most seem workable

- I want a camera with an internal micro SD card that can store a few days/weeks footage as I don't want to pay a cloud storage subscription (note, allowing for the possibility that the camera will be stolen or the card with evidence removed, I also want free emails with some still pictures, ideally plus mobile phone alerts)

- Micro-SD card needs to be reasonably accssible once you are up at the camera location, many seem to need fiddly extraction

- Instructions for set up are frequently just hopeless, so look for cameras that come with good customer support, there are a few around, the way to find out is read lots of the Amazon feedback reviews etc.

2) Mobile App.

- This is where many good options fall down :-(

- Note I have not considered expensive options like NEST and HIVE as I am not going there

- Commonly listed concern is that all mobile "alert apps" are based around a Chinese manufacture's server and the fact that they are connected into your router, so some kind of security risk ... unfortunately there seems to be no way round this, I don't mind them watching my back yard, but need to prevent them gaining access to network and banking etc.

- Some apps are just crap and do what they claim, or they bombard you with alerts, or drain you phone battery and can't be stopped even with foreced closure etc.

- Some camera + mobile apps allow two way communication via a speaker on the camera, one (ring) actually allows you to tap a button on the App and set off a built-in alarm siren on the camera.


After hours trying to find what I wanted I managed to find a UK supplier that I could talk to and a camera + app package that looked like it should be okay.

I purchased this camera from a company called Domar.

Zxtech CloudMini

It is sitting in a box and I have yet to start the set up process (which requires MS Explorer, not Edge or Chrome by the way).
I plan to do the set up and then get professional electrician to put the camera up. Fingers crossed it all works, but at least I feel confident that I can "phone a friend" at Domar.

I hope this this helps you guys, must have spent 4-5 hours on research and this is my distilled "wisdom". Easy to buy the wrong product on this one.

If you want the bottom line then wait a few weeks until I have done the full install and app thing and can refine my comments based on my user experience rather than what I have just read.

Great post Mark, certainly a lot of info there I'll be curious to hear the outcome of this camera once you get it installed.

Hoped it would help you, as on this topic, every time you come across a product that seems to tick the boxes, you discover another fatal negative.

Currently half way through a problematic android phone swap. One I have a stable mobile platform for the app I will get started on it.

Agreed looking forward to the review once it’s up and running. Great write up!

For the 3rd time in 8 years someone has hit one of our cars which were parked outside our street, so a camera is now on the cards!

I have just seen the Amazon Blink XT range. Quite tempted, 2yr battery life and free cloud hosting. at £150 it's not too bad and it all works with Alexa.

That is impressive battery life from 2 AA's! Perked my interest there thanks John.

Well it did for me too, but the reviews are terrible. The camera goes into sleep mode and only wakes on motion, but te wake process seems to take so long that whatever caused the motion detector to go of has long since gone out of frame.
The search continues

Ah needs refinement then!

When I last upgraded our home CCTV I went for 8x Reolink Cameras, the price is good, the Resolution is 5MP (2560x1920), they also can record audio and support POE. I also have a couple of their PTZ (Pan Tilt Zoom) cameras which also work well.
The iOS App is a breeze to setup and I use a QNAP TS453 NAS drive to store the footage/audio. Amazon link to cameras for POE switches, we have a complete Unifi setup (USG Pro, Various switches and Wifi Access Points) but I have used these before and they will do the job. Amazon link to Switches
Make sure to use external Ethernet cable (Cat5 will suffice as they are only transmitting approx 10Mbps).
The cameras get frequent firmware updates (So hopefully security is good).

Reolink also make a recorder with 8xinputs and a 2TB drive. Amazon Link to recorder

If you plan the routing of the cables you can run them with minimal issues.
Personally I wouldn't use Wifi Cameras, as they tended to drop out quite a lot when I tested them, every with us having 4xWifi access points. Your mileage may vary.

New player in the market. Euphy. Reviews look good, local or cloud storage options and battery life 1 year. Compare favourably to Netgear Argo but cheaper and fewer issues.