Reddit mentions of Foscam FI8918W Wireless/Wired Pan & Tilt IP/Network Camera with 8 Meter Night Vision and 3.6mm Lens (67° Viewing Angle)

http://www.amazon.com/Foscam-FI8918W-Wireless-Network-Viewing/dp/B0046710G6/ref=br_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3BJFSBYZK0J83&colid=3KL3ZK4M4TSX1

IP camera that you can move around and it also can be controlled via iphone and android apps.

My suggestion, is get a couple of these and sell it as a baby monitor (this is what we use for our son). A little port forwarding and you can view the feed from your phone/computer anywhere. We use a Zoom to monitor it and the app has a DVR feature, anytime you see or hear anything record it. Then confront her about it, ask her who was there, and if she lies, well you have the evidence and like everyone else has said, take it to a lawyer.

Baby Monitor (IP Camera)

These are about as basic as they come for cheap IP cameras.

I'm going to use a Foscam. It's like $60 dollars and as long as you change the administrator account/password it works amazingly.

I babysat my friends 6 month old a lot overnight and he wasn't a very good sleep through the night baby. I would feed him and make sure his diaper was changed, rock him a little to get him sleepy, and then set him in his crib. As soon as he hit the mattress he was cry. The monitor also helped to see if when he let out a small cry, if he was just stirring and would go back to sleep or if he was really awake.

I personally prefer the foscam because then you can get an app that will alert you if the sound level goes above a certain point on your cell phone. So you aren't strapped to a baby monitor and have to rely on it's battery life. It has fantastic low light vision too so when you turn the light off you can still see baby without any issue. It has a zoom/pan feature and you can talk over it as well. You can also record video too!

The foscam also has a feature that even if you aren't at home, you can still check on baby via the monitor on your app or on a website that the camera 'broadcasts' too. Don't worry you need a username/password to access this as well. And as long as you change that stuff to strong passwords, your camera won't get hacked.

If you don't want to use the 'broadcast' feature, the range on it is as long as you are within range of your wifi!

This is the one my friend had. My parents have it as well for home intrusion and I have one now for my nursery.

Edit: Although I've heard great things about the Anglecare Monitor. It's 50 bucks without the breathing pad. I really like the built in 'nightlight' on the baby unit.

Edit 2: The Philips Avent Monitor has great reviews and is just slightly more expensive at $75.

Try Fos Cam. Run about 50 bucks, can be set up on ethernet or wifi, and you can set it to constantly take pictures, stream video, all sorts of settings for whatever suits your needs. It also has an audio feed in and out, so you can hear through it and talk through. Has very good night vision and ridiculously high sensitivity for the motion sense. You don't need a computer constantly running, and can access the feed from anywhere via laptop, computer, or smartphone. I will try and hunt down a link for you.

Edit: here's the link. Looks like the price went up a bit but they really are incredible. I have 3 of them at work.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0046710G6/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

They could probably put the whole thing together for under $500 bucks if they bought a 46" 1080P TV. and a cheap camera.


http://slickdeals.net/f/6330866-now-339-46-inch-led-seiki-1080p-se46fy10-339-at-walmart-plus-free-ship-to-home


http://www.amazon.com/Foscam-FI8918W-Wireless-Network-Viewing/dp/B0046710G6/ref=lp_898406_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1381778493&sr=1-6

Record these incidents. Any smart phone has free "voice memo" apps that will record sound. Alternately, have him get something like this and install it in an inconspicuous place.

Involving the police with no proof on his side will probably be a mistake-- she'll just make some shit up, and get him restraining ordered out of his own apartment.

You really can't go wrong with a couple Foscams. You can record directly to your computer, eliminating the need for a standalone DVR unit. Most bundles that have a DVR + 4 or more cameras will be very cheap quality at the $150 and under price point.

Well... For just a camera you can the cheaper sets like the foscam but requires someone to set it up to your network, not so plug and play. But you can get them cheap and have them everywhere. For monitoring I have a canary paired with their service, which I love so much at the moment.

For your doorbell and outside you have the new Ring pro set.

ETA: links.

foscam it actually for home security which means you wont pay the rediculous "baby" mark up on it. We have two of them, one for her bedrom and one for the playroom. The videos feeds though an app on our phones and computers. I love it because it has infared/night video on it and sends alerts if there is movement in a room. other thread

I use a Foscam security camera in my son's room. They're cheap on Amazon, and I use a $5 iPhone/iPad app to view the feed. The camera is pretty impressive for the price - it has very nice night vision and pan/tilt controls. To set it up you just power it up connected to your home network and go to the camera's IP address and you get a web page with configuration options (definitely change the default password). I mounted it on the ceiling in the corner of my son's room so we get a great angle down into his crib. My wife and I have been really happy with this set up. http://www.amazon.com/Foscam-FI8918W-Wireless-Network-Viewing/dp/B0046710G6/ref=pd_cp_p_0

After doing a bunch of reading, I just ordered a Foscam.

I keep my dog penned into the kitchen while at work, and I have this IP camera sitting on top of the kitchen cabinets, pointed at the floor. There is a web interface for the camera, but for daily use, I prefer this app on my android phone to view and control the camera. I don't have an iPhone, but this app appears to be an analogue to what I use. I've never cared before, but after testing over the cell network, lag seems to be about three-quarters of a second, and I'm getting maybe 5-10fps. It's not a free solution, but it's been hassle-free for me, and I always intended it to be a permanent camera instead of a just-while-he's-a-puppy camera.

Re: webcam -

My "babycam" is a Foscam wireless IP webcam w/ PTZ (pan/tilt/zoom). There is a newer version of that available now.

I mounted it on the ceiling w/ an eye-hook & some string. The power & ethernet cables (not wifi at the moment) are suspended & go down the wall. Get some cheap plastic sticky-back channel to hide these.

Then just load up the UI on your laptop, phone, tablet, etc. It's incredibly helpful. Check out the "IP Cam Viewer" app - you can move the cam & listen in as well. I put black vinyl tape over all but one of the IR LEDs, so I'm not (invisibly) blinding the kid. Her brain can't tell, but her rods/cones might.

I'll likely have a dozen or so in the new house.

Re: pole -

Slides are cool, but take up a lot of space. Much more than you'd expect, maybe a dozen or more feet horizontally for the bigger ones. Spiral slides are expensive & take up a large area too (though not as long as straight slides). Definitely not an option for me. I imagine an up/down pole would be super-compact, but incredibly fun at the same time. Something like holding onto the ladder from a helicopter, then getting towed up, but safer. Note that I've never heard of one before, so I'm not 100% sure it can be built. But I think it can.

They're foscam ip cameras. I like them alot. I got mine on sale for ~60 a couple years ago. I don't know the exact model number but it is the kind that pans and tilts. Setting up email notifications was a bit of a pain but after setup works perfectly. So yes, after last night I definitely recommend them.

Edit: I found them on amazon.
My model: http://www.amazon.com/Foscam-FI8918W-Wireless-Network-Viewing/dp/B0046710G6/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1345202681&sr=1-3&keywords=ip+camera

The new model: http://www.amazon.com/Foscam-FI8910W-Wireless-Network-Camera/dp/B006ZP8UOW/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1345202681&sr=1-2&keywords=ip+camera

It is very crisp. You can turn the infrared light on and off from the browser or camera app too. Here is the camera I have.

So I'm new to cameras and whatnot . . . I have a timewarner cable wireless modem router at home over which I have no control. I think it's Docsis 3.0. In any case I can't access any controls for it whatsoever - I have to call Timewarner to change anything on it. They don't allow users to just access the controls thru a browser like my old router.

Would I be able to plug an IP camera in and have it connect to my router wirelessly? Say, this cam: http://www.amazon.com/Foscam-FI8918W-Wireless-Network-Viewing/dp/B0046710G6

Would I need to have a computer on 24/7 to use the camera?

I ordered this one. It works great. There is software you can download to see it from your iphone or Android Phone. The daylight colors are off, but the night vision is black and white so its fine. Its a life saver, we can see if our 15 month old is just crying in his sleep or actually up and trying to climb out of his crib!
http://www.amazon.com/Foscam-FI8918W-Wireless-Network-Viewing/dp/B0046710G6/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1369837825&sr=1-2&keywords=foscam

Foscam FI89xx series has done a great job for me. It is wireless/wired, infared, decent quality and has a ton of options.

One of my favorite things is it's motion sensor ability. When it detects movement it can record video to an SD card an/or email you still images at a set interval. I highly recommend it.

a couple of these:
http://www.amazon.com/Foscam-FI8918W-Wireless-Network-Viewing/dp/B0046710G6/

then pick a software:

http://cocoontech.com/forums/page/security-webcam-camera-surveillance-software?sort_col=record_updated&sort_order=desc&per_page=25&filters[195][win8]=0

Your only monthly cost is electricity to power the PC you left on.

Last year I was at MacMall and they had IP cameras on clearance for $60 so I bought one. It was branded generic but looks exactly like the same model Foscam, and this was confirmed when I was able to flash the camera with the latest Foscam firmware.

(https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0046710G6/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=do09b-20&camp=0 is the equivalent Foscam model, now that price and sometimes even cheaper).

I wasn't expecting too much, but now I'm looking to buy 4-10 more when budget allows. They make outdoor models too.

They have built-in motion detection, and you can configure them to trigger an upload upon detection (e-mail with pictures, ftp them, or it can request http -- or you can use ALL of these options). All I did for a simple setup to start was create a blank gmail account and have it e-mail upon motion detection to that blank gmail account. It's marvelous and frankly for $50 money well spent. The only caveat I'd offer is 'in saved format' it's e-mailing me each frame of the video as opposed to an actual video file. This is model-dependent, too, they have different models that do either MJPEG or H.264. If I'm truly going through video history though it's a lot quicker to look at 100 thumbnail files and see there's a person there than scroll through a minute or 5 minutes of video. The camera also has IR so it has night vision.

They do have an iPhone app but I do not use it. I also have a MiCasa Vera that integrates various home automation items together... there are Foscam "apps" for it so you can control it all via the MiCasa interface (and via this interface, it's MiCasa's security and doesn't rely on port forwarding to access). The real bread and butter I'm hoping to embark upon is using the http alert from the motion on the camera as the equivalent of an infrared motion sensor. I'm not sure why everyone isn't on this same bandwagon given these cameras are now as cheap or even cheaper than a networked (z-wave etc) infrared motion sensor. Since you can configure the camera to alert an http address upon motion detection, the mi casa has listeners that will allow virtual devices to be activated on/off, thus the Foscam tells MiCasa that the sensor was tripped and from there any number of other events can occur, including turning on the lights in the area or even the entire house, capturing the camera for xyz period, sounding an alarm, whatever you wanted.

I'm rehabbing said house so I haven't had time to fully get that working but in theory the pieces are all there just waiting to be put together.

I wasn't sure of this "Foscam" I've never heard of but after browsing their support forums, they have a very active following. Someone also wrote a PowerShell script that will detect motion on this camera by downloading the images and comparing frame by frame, and then actually send commands to the camera to follow the motion so that it's 'tracking' whatever motion in real time. The sky is the limit!

$60 pan-tilt wireless: http://www.amazon.com/Foscam-FI8918W-Wireless-Network-Viewing/dp/B0046710G6

$85 pan-tilt wireless HD: http://www.amazon.com/Foscam-FI9821W-Megapixel-Wireless-Camera/dp/B00F3KWZW8/

Foscam IP cams can do this. I have this one and it does FTP and email.

I've had it for just over 4 years and have had no problems with it. I'm sure there are newer versions with better resolution and features.

Get an ip camera like this one https://www.amazon.com/Foscam-FI8918W-Wireless-Network-Viewing/dp/B0046710G6, then you can watch your cats all day.

A few questions.

a.) Are the steps outside or inside?
b.) Are you wanting to record and keep record?
c.) What type of network do you have? Wired or wireless?
d.) What kind of quality are you looking for?
e.) Budget??

For the most basic setup you will one two cameras, and a dvr of some sort. This dvr can be a computer or a dvr unit depending on the camera.

I use these bad boys for all my computer labs. They are great, PTZ ability and free recording software. I repurposed an old Dell Optiplex 755 computer slapped in a 2nd 2TB HDD for storage and Bob's your uncle. But they are a little expensive ($500 a piece).

I have also used Foscams on a few consulting jobs when money was slightly tight. AGain, has some free software for recording.

This looks pretty sweet. I have this one and while I do like it, the dropcam looks neat. I'm going to try it.