I’ve been reading posts on camera recommendations but my requirements are a little different to other people’s requests.
My little home office is at the back of the house, but I need to watch for deliveries to the front door. Hence I don’t need any recording functionality. Just something to display a live view to a full screen card.
There is USB power available easily, but not PoE. I need something which can sit up about 6.5" or about 16cm up off a window sill and look down at the street below, with about 120 degree coverage so I can see delivery vans parking up. I don’t have a 3D printer so I can’t print cases for ESP32 CAM modules or the like. Moderate low-light abilities would be a bonus.
Grateful for any recommendations please.
EDIT TO ADD - Thank you all. For the cost I’m initially going to try the TP link Tapo c-110 as it’s only £19 on amazon right now. After reading the manual I’ll probably have to ask a friend to use their phone to set it up… after which I should be good to go. It will be a relatively simple and cheap way to get my toes in to running cameras on HA and hopefully solve the problem without breaking the bank. Thank you all for the help and advice.
Your requirements are a little weak. Are you looking for an indoor or an outdoor camera? Is the only power available USB 5V or is there a normal plug available? Are you looking for a Wifi or cat 5 network camera? I can tell you I’ve had good luck with armcrest camera’s. The one’s I’ve had all support RTSP, which is support by HA. They don’t require any extra software to set them up, just a web browser. They aren’t the best for night view, but nothing really is without spending a lot of money. You should look at frigate, which integrates with HA to get object detection. I use frigate so I can get notifications when the postal truck goes by the house. It might be useful for your need.
Thanks for the heads up.
I’m looking for indoor. I could have mains available at a push if needed. Wifi only as there’s no network nearby. I’ll take a look at armcrest.
EDIT - I’m in the UK
EDIT 2 - I use Linux, so anything which requires an exe for plugins to be able to control via web… I can’t use them.
I have a mishmash of cameras, mostly wired poe, but I have one TP link Tapo c-110 in my garage that has been very solid the last 2 years. In fact, in the 2 years I’ve had it set up, I dont recall ever having to reset it or have to get it back online. It just works!
I cannot say that for any of the wired cams (Dahua, Reolink and Hikvision). Each one of those I have had to reboot at some point to resolve an issue.
Thank you all. For the cost I’m initially going to try the TP link Tapo c-110 as it’s only £19 on amazon right now. After reading the manual I’ll probably have to ask a friend to use their phone to set it up… after which I should be good to go. It will be a relatively simple and cheap way to get my toes in to running cameras on HA and hopefully solve the problem without breaking the bank.
Thank you all for the help and advice.
