Jump to content

dmills913

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    31

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by dmills913

  3. Posted

    Tom, I appreciate the time you've spent on replying. You talk a great game. You tell me how simple it is. Do local, don't use 3rd party. When I try to follow the very vague advice you give, it doesn't work. The single piece of advice you've given in this whole thread was "Use the standard apps .... Use local. Use that or eyespy app."

     

    I spent two days trying to follow this advice. According to Y-Cam tech support, there ARE NO LOCAL Y-CAM APPS THAT WORK WITH MY CAMERAS. I downloaded 'eyespy', and it didn't work. As I posted earlier in thread asking if you meant this software: https://www.ispyconnect.com/ . You didn't respond to that question either, but I tried it, and no go. So, to recap:

     

    If it's so simple, why can't you give me a single concrete thing I can try? Do you understand how frustrating it is to invest a bunch of money in something, have it suddenly not work, and then have someone on the internet tell you how simple it is without telling you how to do it? Now you're insinuating that I'm lying about trying to get it to work, that I just want to buy an all-new system, and it's so simple that if I really actually wanted to use the cameras that I have, then I'd already be able to? Let me be clear. I don't want to buy a new system if anyone can show me ANY way to get around it with our current cameras. I'm totally open to any advice, will download anything to try, etc. If it's so easy, give me a direction.

  6. Posted

    The cameras I was looking at jumped up $104 each in price, so I'm looking into different cameras now. I came across these on Amazon, and was confused by the cords. It looks like the round one is for ethernet/poe, the power one would be optional if you were using PoE, and I was confused about the audio. Does the audio not go through the ethernet cable? Or is it just an optional output?

     

    http://www.amazon.com/Dahua-IPC-HDBW4421E-AS-Megapixel-Network-SavvyPixel/dp/B01D34TZ82?ie=UTF8&keywords=dahua%20(-as)&qid=1463713669&ref_=sr_1_5&sr=8-5

     

    In the fourth picture down, you can see the cables I'm asking about.

     

    Thanks!

  7. Posted

    Ok, that's great help. I really appreciate it! I'll let you know if any other last minute questions pop up. Hopefully we'll be making a decision sometime in the next few days.

     

    Edit:

     

    One other question that does occur. We were thinking of getting panorama cameras for the office itself. We would never need to show those on the TV (nor would we want to). Is it very easy to administer settings on the NVR via a computer? Is it even possible? I would be wanting to do all of the 'viewing recorded footage' from my office, 70% of the 'viewing live footage' from the local TVs, and 30% from my local computer. We would occasionally view classes remotely from iphone, etc.

     

    I assume when you're talking about bandwidth, you'd be referring to upload bandwidth in this case? Either way, my Download speed is 64.25Mbps and my upload is 84.82Mbps here.

  8. Posted

    Hi Daryl,

    Thanks for the help. I don't think we would ever need to view 4k over the internet, as long as we could view at least a 720 stream from the 4k cameras. The cameras don't actually do 30fps at 4mp anyway, so we'll almost certainly be running them at 3mp or lower. Honestly, for our parents (who would all be viewing locally anyway), we won't need to be running anything more than 720. Anything higher than that would just be for managers and teachers to do training with.

     

    3) Ok, great. The only sticky point to it is that 90% of the time, we want to use our 'main' tv. We only really use the second tv when we have two classes at the same time. So, for example, today being Wednesday, we had a 2:00pm class in Room 1, a 3:00 class in Room 3, a 4:40 in Room 2 and another 4:40 in Room 1. In this example, we would want to show the classes at 2:00, and 3:00, as well as the 4:40 class in Room 2 on our main TV, while showing the other 4:40 class in Room 1 on our second TV. I don't know if that makes sense, but we would want to regularly be changing (as in several times a day) which TV is showing which camera. It'd be WONDERFUL if there was a script we could just have run on a weekday that would just change things automatically. It looked like Blue Iris might support some things like that with scheduling and settings. Would a normal NVR be able to change which camera the TV was showing quickly?

     

    6) Thanks for your advice. The NVR does seem more simple in terms of a box that would be easier to keep out of view, and less 'moving parts', as long as it was simple enough to use. I have a lot more experience with keeping computers up to date, so I'm not particularly worried on that front, though simple is nice. One thing we do have extras of is computer systems, so we would be able to have a computer that was dedicated to just being an software NVR box. I'm starting to lean more towards just getting an NVR though.

     

    I really appreciate the help and well update if I have any more questions!

  9. Posted

    After spending the last couple days trying everything I could find, and several different software ideas, I have to conclude that it is impossible to use the cameras in any local manner. I'd love to be proven wrong, but since no one seems to be able to offer a working solution, I need to move in another direction.

     

    That being said, I'm considering these as an option:

     

    Office Camera (One per school): Dahua IPC-EB5400 Fisheye 4mp (Link)

    Classroom Cameras (5 per school): Dahua IPC-HDBW4421F-AS 4mp (Link)

     

    As an NVR, I'm considering the following:

    A) Dahua NVR4208 (8 Channel 4k Recorder) (One per school): (Link)

    or

    B) Blue Iris or some other software based NVR system.

     

    I have a few questions related to the options I'm considering and wondered if anyone has any thoughts.

     

    1) Does it make sense to get 4k cameras and a 4k NVR? The price was hardly any higher and seemed more future-proof, also allowing us to zoom in on recorded footage if we ever needed to.

     

    2) Is it possible to save the 4k footage to the hard drive while sending 720 or 1080 signal to the TVs?

     

    3) I called BHPhoto and Video and they said that the NVR4208 recorder can send a different cameras signal to two different TVs. It has an HDMI and a VGA out. Does this seem wrong? In order for it to be able to send to two different TVs, it would need more than outputs, but also some software side method of sending a certain signal to a certain TV, right?

     

    4) Do NVRs such as this one typically come with a remote control? Are they administered through a 3rd party computer? When we send the signal to the TVs, as much as possible, I'd like to do it quickly and without too much fiddling around in front of the parents. The staff that will be using the system will be very unfamiliar with technology in general, and I need something simple.

     

    5) The classroom cameras are called "Wedge Dome" on the Dahua website, and I'm guessing this means they are made to be put in between wall and ceiling? Would these work wall mounted at about 7 feet up? Would they look weird?

     

    6) Though the Dahua NVR seems fairly cheap, a software package like Blue Iris is still cheaper since we have extra computers at our schools that could run it. What advantages and disadvantages are there with a dedicated NVR box vs a computer running a software NVR? I have some guesses, but wondered if someone could confirm.

     

    Dahua NVR:

    Pros:

    Would definitely work with Dahua cameras

    If it needed to be near the TVs, the NVR box would have a smaller footprint vs a normal computer.

    Less fan noise?

    Wouldn't have to worry about specs not being enough to run the cameras/handle the signal.

     

    Software NVR:

    Seems to have more features?

    More upgradeable due to the larger case (more hard drives, etc)

    Would be more likely to work with various cameras if we later decided to use mixed brand cameras, or a camera broke and we needed to replace it with a cheaper off-brand etc.

    Seems to be more designed for running on one computer, but administering from other computers. Would this mean I could tuck the computer with the software NVR in a closet somewhere, and administer it from other computers? That seems nice.

     

    For a software NVR, would a computer running a total of 6 cameras be under a very heavy load? Even if they were 4k cameras, I wouldn't honestly ever need to view more than 2 at a time on any given screen, and probably never more than 2 screens at once.

     

    Any other thoughts? Any pros I missed? The advice I had received up to now said to use "Blue Iris" or "Milestone", and no one had mentioned an NVR box. On this forum though, I was told to just buy an NVR.

     

    I'll be happy to post this in a new thread if this has become a bit off-topic.

     

    Thanks!

  10. Posted

    It occurs to me that you might have been referring to this software? https://www.ispyconnect.com/

     

    I downloaded it and tried it out, but it wants a login/password for each camera. As far as I know, the HomeMonitor line doesn't have a login/password for the camera. I looked through the original documentation, and it says to add them through the web interface to your account. I looked for default login/pw and it says admin/1234, but it also says that that is for their bullet line. This blog entry (http://ycamoldblog.wpengine.com/homemonitor-answer-to-ip-camera-hacking/) for the Home Monitor line says that there isn't a default login and password, but that you create the password for your account, and then your individual cameras are inside that. Just for kicks, I tried the login/pw to the account, but it didn't work.

     

    The ispyconnect software does see the cameras on the network, but when it scans for valid urls, it finds zero.

     

    Edit:

    I found this page on the ispyconnect site:

    https://www.ispyconnect.com/man.aspx?n=Y-cam#

     

    I tried all the URLs, but the part holding me back is the login/password.

  11. Posted

    I downloaded the Eyespy app, but when I enter the URL for the camera, it just says "Unable to connect." There's no login or password for the cameras that I have (or if there is, I don't know what it is). The only way I've ever managed the cameras were logging into their web interface and changing settings there (it has all the cameras that are on my account together).

  12. Posted

    The App is the "Eyespy" app that you talked about?

     

    I can put the URL of the camera into a browser, and it says "Click to Update the cameras firmware". There's no login or anything. I don't mind trying to update it, but it asks me to upload the file to upgrade the firmware, and I don't have an upgrade file.

     

    When searching for the firmware, I found this forum post with someone asking about compatibility with (what I believe is) another NVR software package:

    https://forum.synology.com/enu/viewtopic.php?t=108559

     

    The reason I keep saying "Home Monitor" is because that's actually the name of the camera.

    288836_1.jpg

  15. Posted

    I actually did look into an NVR option related to Y-Cam cameras after you mentioned it was possible. Unfortunately, the only ones I could find are compatible solely with Y-Cams IP camera line (the Bullet Line or the Cube line). Do you know of an NVR I can look at that would support the Home Monitor line of cameras?

     

    If it helps, I'll attach photos of the front and back of one of the cameras. I appreciate the assistance!

     

    Pictures of the Camera with model number:

    http://imgur.com/XTYfbNu

    http://imgur.com/6s5CKZN

     

    Thanks!

  18. Posted

    Another one of Y-Cam's big issues, unfortunately, is their marketing speak. They claim that you can watch as much as you want, 365 days a year. Technically... this is true. BUT, you are limited to watching for 15 minutes maximum at a time. At that point, the system cuts out, and you're more than welcome to start it right back up. I had a long discussion with Chris at Y-Cam about this exact point. At the time, they actually only had 2-3 employees working there, and I was on a first name basis with them through tech support.

     

    There is, unfortunately, no way to view the Y-cam cameras that I have for more than 15 minutes at a time. Y-Cam does make other cameras in their ip line that don't have this limitation, and aren't a part of their cloud service.

     

    Edit:

    This article on their support page (poorly) describes what I'm talking about:

    http://support.y-cam.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1661650-can-i-use-a-y-cam-ip-camera-with-homemonitor-

  19. Posted · Edited by Guest

    We have 5 cameras in each location (1 died in one of the schools just after the warranty period ended) so we have a total of 9 active cameras. I had long discussions with Y cam about their plus package. Ultimately, it didn't add anything that we were interested in. It was primarily a "we'll hold on to your footage longer" thing.

     

    The email I received said that their Roku service was ending completely, so I doubt they're holding onto it for their plus package. They are always a little slow to update their website I've noticed.

     

    I think I understand the confusion. Y-cam has a line of IP cameras (I believe they are called cube). Those work exactly as you're describing, and have no limitations, and work locally. They are unrelated to any subscription service.

     

    Unfortunately, those aren't the cameras I have. Their home monitor line gives 7 days free recording on their servers for free. There is no way at all to use the cameras locally, nor even view them locally. The only way I can view footage on my cameras is camera->y-cam servers->me. The pay service is an add on to this. I am not paying for it. It adds 30 days free recording rather than 7, and probably a few other minor features.

  20. Posted

    You got this problem since 2014 ?

     

    Yes, between Early June and late October 2014, I was in regular contact with their tech support.

     

    At the time, they were planning on expanding their pay portion of the cameras (where you pay $4.99 per camera per month) and they would remove the 15 minute time limit and also give a URL where you could share the camera without requiring the end viewer to have a log/pw (it would be a url controlled through their login panel) they updated me on progress several times and ultimately said that they were scrapping the idea. Unfortunately, this was around the time our window to return the cameras would end.

  23. Posted

    Y-Cam Home Monitor cameras was the old name, they've rebranded them and are calling them "Indoor HDS" now.

     

    Here's a link to them:

    https://www.y-cam.com/product/indoor-hd-wireless-security-camera/

     

     

    As for Blue Iris, it was recommended by a family member as an affordable and powerful software system that can manage the cameras and do what we need. I'd certainly be open to Dahua software or an NVR. I'm just in the gathering information stage at the moment, and so I'm trying to consolidate all the recommendations I've received. The main thing that we'd need is for it to be simple for all the staff in the school to be able to switch which of our two TVs is showing which classroom so that the parents can watch. If it can do that, record backups for the teachers, and be viewable from outside the school via an ios app, that's really all we need.

  24. Posted

    Could you unpack that "first generation fw 1.98. Will not work with most NVRs" statement? I don't understand.

     

    I've spent a lot of time looking at cameras and systems, and what I'm consider now would be running a computer with Blue Isis in each of our two schools, and using these cameras:

    Dahua IPC-HDBW4421F (http://www.dahuasecurity.com/products/ipc-hdbw4421f-as-1001.html)

     

    If you have an idea for something I can try with the Y-Cam cameras we have, I'd love to try that though. If there's anything at all I can do to exceed 15 minutes streaming at a time, that'd be the ideal situation.

  25. Posted

    Hi Tom, I appreciate the dialog. The truth is, yes, We have been unhappy with the system for a long time, and have been looking for replacements. The roku service shutting down moved the timeline up about 6 months, as we were limping along (both from the problems with the system and with the financial sting of having purchased it for so much money 2 years ago).

     

    I know that Y-cam does have IP cameras. What we have is called Home Monitor. According to Y-cam, the 15 minute streaming limit is built into the system. There's no way around it. I have talked with them on the phone about it several times, and they just said "if you want more than 15 minutes, you need to upgrade to our IP camera line". The frustrating thing about the whole thing is that nowhere on their website do they mention a 15 minute limit. Honestly, I think for the average user, the 15 minute stream at a time is not a big problem. If you're sitting around watching the cameras for more than 15 minutes at once, most people probably don't mind it cutting out. The way that Daryl described it is likely correct. It's likely that they disconnect users after 15 minutes to cut down on concurrent users. I don't know about why they do it (though I'm sure money is the answer). The truth of it is that according to Y-Cam, the 15 minute is a hard limit for these cameras.

     

    I understand what you mean by 3rd party, but I feel that it's a bit disingenuous to say that a piece of software that Y-Cam wrote is '3rd party' just because they wrote it to interface with someone elses system (ios, roku, etc). By that definition, the only method to view a y-cam home monitor camera is through their proprietary web interface. They won't allow a connection to a NVR, nor will they allow any 3rd party software to manage the cameras. The Home Monitor line is sort of their 'bare bones' plug it in and it works system. When logging into the cameras, the settings allow you to set motion rules, and a schedule. There's literally nothing else you can do with the cameras.

     

    If I could change the stream method and get the cameras to overcome the 15 minute barrier, I would keep our current system in a heartbeat. According to Y-Cam, it's impossible with their Home Monitor line.

×