Camera choices for HSTouch

[donstephens]

The IP Camera thing for me has been really frustrating for me. Can someone recommend a Outside POE camera that will allow embedded video in HSTouch?

Thank you.

[jon00]

...alternative...run Blue Iris.

[donstephens]

I've tried ContraCam (something similar) but the memory overhead is too much for my HomeSeer Machine.

[mulu]

I second jon00 opinion. BlueIris is pretty inexpensive, supports A LOT of cameras and gives you A LOT of flexibility when you want cameras to be triggered. It's BY FAR the best way to go. As for cameras, don't buy the cheapy ones. Expect to spend at least $200 per cam. The cheap ones can't read license plates. They can see people's faces if places properly and when you don't use really wide angle. And they fail at everything during night time. All you can see is that something happened but nothing identifiable.

[jmaddox]

I've tried ContraCam (something similar) but the memory overhead is too much for my HomeSeer Machine.

No need to run an NVR on your HS machine unless you're short on hardware. Asking about a POE outdoor cam implies you can set up an NVR on a dedicated box. As a +1 for blue iris I run it and it is very flexible. It's app allows you to view all the feeds and logs in flawlessly remotely and locally. With that said you can easily expose the feeds with URL's to embed in other apps such as HStouch. And you can send json commands to HS to trigger events/set virtual devices.

I've got a mixture of POE cams. I find that I prefer the higher megapixel versions around 4-6MP. You can always stream a lower quality image from the cam to increase framerate but you can't take a low quality image and make it higher quality. Personally I like the hikvision pro series but that's just my 2 cents.

[donstephens]

Thanks for the advice. I'll play with Blue Iris a bit. Appreciate the input.