If you’ve been paying attention, I’m sure you’ve noticed that everywhere you go you’re on camera. It seems to me that as video surveillance increases, tooth brightening products are flooding the market like never before. Maybe it’s a coincidence, maybe it isn’t. Either way, it’s almost impossible to go to a place of business and not wind up on camera. Unfortunately, these are the times we now live in. Heck, I’ve installed indoor IP cameras in two churches in the last two weeks due to theft. The reality is that if you want to keep an eye on whom or what is important to you, cameras are the way to go. In the old days, surveillance cameras were incredibly expensive and needed a wired network to operate. As technology has advanced, Wi-Fi cameras have become surprisingly reasonable for the money, and aren’t nearly as difficult to install and operate as they used to be. Today we’ll look at two cameras I’ve personally installed that are perfect for any home or small business: the Amcrest IP2M-841 Pro HD, and the Savvypixel 4mp Wireless Wifi Security Camera.
Before we dive into reviews of these two cameras in particular, let’s discuss what an IP camera actually is and what you’ll need to have in place for one to work in your home or business. We’ll go to our old standby Wikipedia for the “textbook” definition: “An Internet protocol camera, or IP camera, is a type of digital video camera commonly employed for surveillance, and which, unlike analog closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras, can send and receive data via a computer network and the Internet. Although most cameras that do this are webcams, the term ‘IP camera’ or ‘netcam’ is usually applied only to those used for surveillance. An IP camera is typically either centralized (requiring a central network video recorder (NVR) to handle the recording, video and alarm management) or decentralized (no NVR needed, as camera can record to any local or remove storage media).” The cameras we’re exploring today can be set up as either centralized or decentralized cameras. Most do-it-yourselfers opt for the decentralized route and use a combination of an app to access the camera, and SD card (microSD for these cameras) to save video to. In my installations, we stick to decentralized because it’s more simple and cheaper for the end user. Now that we have that out of the way, I have to point out that you must have Internet and a router at the location you’d like to install the camera. While both cameras have an Ethernet port and can therefore be hardwired to the router (or switch), if you want the camera to be wireless you must have a wireless signal present. If your wireless signal is weak or nonexistent where the camera will reside, you’ll need to use a wireless extender or wireless access point. I recently used a NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900 Desktop WiFi Range Extender on a job that needed to place a camera more than three hundred feet from the router. There were several walls and plenty of interference that would stop a wireless signal in it’s tracks. This extender did the job with room to spare! I highly recommend it if you’re in a similar situation and need to get wireless Internet to a remote part of a building. Amazon has it for $108.90 at this link.
The first camera we’ll examine is the Amcrest IP2M-841 Pro HD camera. This camera is available from Amazon for $79.99 and is available in white, silver, or black. The camera offers a ninety degree field of view, shoots video in true 1080P high definition, and automatically switches to night vision mode when conditions dictate. The Amcrest View App is what you’ll use to interact with the camera. The free app is available for iOS devices via the App Store, and Android via Google Play. The easiest way to set the camera up is with the app, and once it’s operating, you may control the panning and tilting of the camera, access a live view to see what’s currently going on, and, if a microSD card has been installed, launch video playback. The largest microSD card the camera accepts is a 64GB card. That card will handle approximately two days of full-time, HD recording, or several days (or weeks) of motion that has been detected. Once the card is full, new video will be recorded over old video. Note that if there is no card present in the camera, you’ll only be able to watch live video. Also, two-way talk can be initiated from the app. While we’ve been focusing on criminal activity, many people also use these cameras to keep track of babies, elder family members, or even pets, so this feature would come in handy. I think it’d be more fun to tell a bad guy to “Step away from the TV though!” I should mention that I had a few issues getting the camera to connect to my Wi-Fi. That was remedied by connecting the supplied Ethernet cable to the router during setup. Once setup was completed, the Ethernet cable was able to be disconnected, making the camera wireless (minus the power cord). The camera served the purpose because the ne’er-do-well who was causing problems was apprehended within a week of installation thanks to a very clear night vision video!
Camera number two is the Savvypixel 4mp Wireless Wifi Security Camera (that’s a mouthful). Priced at $89.99 at Amazon, this camera offers many of the same features as the other with a few exceptions. The Savvypixel camera has a 105 degree field of view, and it accepts a 128GB microSD card. Set up and control of the camera is managed by the free Guarding Vision app, but you’ll have to manually aim the camera as, unlike the Amcrest camera, it cannot be controlled by the app. The most important thing to keep in mind when setting up any IP camera with an app is to make sure that your phone or tablet is connected to the same network as your camera will be. Once the camera is installed, it can be accessed from anywhere in the world. Both apps can be set to send you notifications when motion events occur, and multiple cameras of the same model can be installed in your home or business and monitored through the respective app.
When you’re not around, who’s left minding the store? If the answer is “no one”, it’s time to look into an IP camera. These cameras have never been less expensive or easier to set up. As always, if you’d prefer to leave the installation to the professionals, we can help. With your own cameras in place, you can “Smile for the Camera” for more than just the obvious reason. Enjoy the piece of mind that an IP camera can give!