Radio Shack IP Cams for $25

[Moskus]

Interessting! Are these available online? I can't seem to find them...

[raptorsss]

Slow day at work today, so I have been logging on to the home network and testing. I have the streaming working in WebcamXP7, Vitamin D, and Blue Iris. But, not direct into a webpage. Will try HS Touch when I get home. Dont have access to the designer from here.

[Monk]

Interessting! Are these available online? I can't seem to find them...

In store only. I do not imagine they will be around much longer @ 25.00

[Pete]

Moskus,

Yesterday when I called the local Radio Shack store; the manager told me he had two left. I asked if he would hold them for me for 15 minutes and he said it was first come first serve. This is actually the first time I've heard this response. Historically the local stores have not had any issues holding them for me. They are going fast though. There's about 5 stores nearby. I can look for you if you want. RS took the cameras off their websites when they announced the closeout sale.

RaptorSSS,

I have the ZM streams set up with my HSTouch screens. The main security screen is all of the cameras with one large view of one cam in the middle. If I touch any of the cams its goes to another screen full view streaming. Only issue is that streaming "stutters" a bit; where as you see the seconds jump sometimes. I also left a streaming video on one screen by accident such that it ran for over 6 hours; it did lock up my HS box doing this. I haven't tried it again recently though. It may work better now. (test was last year sometime).

For ZM I mostly utilize the mobil view on my phone. Its a very simple interface. Even the collage of 11 cameras work but it's very tiny on the screen. With HSTouch you can resize the video to what works the best.

[lhfarm]

Stopped in the local store and they had them for $59 (1 wired) and $79 (5 or 6 wireless) on "clearance". There was a line so I didn't stop to haggle. I'm in central Indiana. Is the $25 a regional deal? I'd like something to take to the store to show the manager. Suggestions?

Barry

[Monk]

Stopped in the local store and they had them for $59 (1 wired) and $79 (5 or 6 wireless) on "clearance". There was a line so I didn't stop to haggle. I'm in central Indiana. Is the $25 a regional deal? I'd like something to take to the store to show the manager. Suggestions?

Barry

The store manager @ my local told me that the "Company stores" (of which he was one) would all have them at the same price. He mentioned that there were also "franchise stores" that could have different pricing. The reason I was asking him was that at some point, I mistakenly thought I had read "$15.00" for the cameras. I was asking him why his were $24.99 - heh heh .

A user here "Dafunktyfunk" mentioned that he was able to get the higher priced wireless cams for the same price as the wired - so who knows? Maybe you and he both went to a franchise store?

[Pete]

I think that $25 is a national deal but it might be up to individual store managers or the store manager decided he would rather put them on sale for $59; there is also a $10 off coupon out there for a purpose of $50 or more.

Try another store - I have about 5 in the vicinity here S/W of Chicago. Around here the busiest stores are the ones in the malls where as the slowest ones are the ones in small strip stores (where there are 3-4 stores). The ones in the malls seem to only sell cell phone services and not much else; so electronics are plentiful.

[Moskus]

Yesterday when I called the local Radio Shack store; the manager told me he had two left. I asked if he would hold them for me for 15 minutes and he said it was first come first serve. This is actually the first time I've heard this response. Historically the local stores have not had any issues holding them for me. They are going fast though. There's about 5 stores nearby. I can look for you if you want. RS took the cameras off their websites when they announced the closeout sale.

It's not a must, but I would be very grateful if you did.

Stopping by the nearest Radio Shack would be difficult as it is some thousand miles away...

[jlrichar]

1 - Connect the included cable to the IPCam, then insert a paperclip into the reset hole on the side of the unit.

Where do you connect the other end of the cable? I connected it to a small switch I have, then connected an old XP laptop I have to the same switch, set the NIC in the laptop to 192.168.0.3, and could not connect to the camera. No DHCP on switch. Do I need to just connect the camera to my network (with DHCP) and then do the flash?

[Pete]

Moskus

I am out today and will have a look see.

[Pete]

jlrichar

Where do you connect the other end of the cable? I connected it to a small switch I have, then connected an old XP laptop I have to the same switch, set the NIC in the laptop to 192.168.0.3, and could not connect to the camera. No DHCP on switch. Do I need to just connect the camera to my network (with DHCP) and then do the flash?

You connect the other end of the cable to your network. DO this before powering up the camera. While pressing the reset with a paperclip; plug in the power supply; hold it about 3-5 seconds. Let go of the paperclip. The camera is then in Firmware upgrade mode waiting for you to send a new firmware to it. It doesn't do DHCP but a kind of TFTP looking for you sofware running on your PC. The whole process of the update takes about 5 minutes. Let it complete; then it will reboot and do DHCP. No need to make any changes to your network. If you want configure the camera for a static IP address.

[jlrichar]

You connect the other end of the cable to your network.

What confuses me is that I created a small network without a dhcp server, by giving my laptop a static IP and connecting both it and the camera to a switch. Why was the utility unable to find the camera I wonder?

While pressing the reset with a paperclip; plug in the power supply; hold it about 3-5 seconds. Let go of the paperclip. The camera is then in Firmware upgrade mode waiting for you to send a new firmware to it.

I did this. I think one light blinks and the other is on.

And yet the upgrade utility could not find it. Makes me think that I am being too clever with my simple network.

I will try tonight on my main network.

Thanks for you help.

[Pete]

Yes its easier to just connect to your network.

The software found the camera right away. I think the software is looking for the TFTP or just the MAC address of the camera.

I just set one up to point to an outside window and setting it up with Zoneminder as I write.

I am getting 14.61 FPS pointed outside in the dark. On the Trendnet point to the outside I am getting 17.06 (much darker picture though)

The RS camera is behind a screen. I'll do a daylight picture tomorrow and post it.

BTW - Monk - In ZM if you don't put a frame rate then its streaming to ZM at whatever ZM could handle. - Here its 14.61 FPS which is not as good as the Trendnet but better than the Foscam.

[Stuart]

I was able to find 2 of these cams. They were up and running in short time. Not too bad for the money.
Stuart

[Pete]

I had to back off on the 4th IP cam add to ZM. I disabled the Trendnet test cam this morning as I was hitting 99% CPU utilization with the 12 cams (4 IP cams). I just put the RS IP Cam in another window to test. It running OK this morning. Framerates are similiar to the Trendnet (~14-15 FPS).