Is there a "best of breed" camera yet, or at least a top 3?

[sc2k2]

I know that pretty much the whole market has champagne tastes and a beer budget, but I wanted to see if there was a good camera capable of doing infrared, remote recording, motion detection, preferably not requiring a power cable/network cable (although it would be nice if some models could).

The big "8 cameras in a box" items I see in Costco and at Amazon seem to get routinely panned. I'm happy to start small by buying one or two cameras but I'd like to start by buying something I'll be happy with when I ultimately expand them around, under, and on top of the house.

I dove into the HA research and eventually sorted out the advantages/disadvantages/prejudices of UPB, Z-Wave, Insteon, X10, etc, but I'm having a tough time with the cameras.

While I know it's subjective I know better cameras come out every two months and I was hoping there was some consensus for someone in my situation (sort of like "just start deploying some UPB or Z-Wave switches") as a way to get my feet wet.

I eventually want an Elk M1, CQC machine, etc, but for now I'm starting small... and would love an expandable camera to play with.

Thanks. ray:

 

[Del91574]

Depends on what the technology you're looking at is, IP or analog and what sort of infrastructure is present and going to be involved.

I'm partial to Axis, Verint, Mobotix and Speco.

I hate AD hardware.

 

[sc2k2]

I don't have any kind of existing infrastructure - so I'm hoping to build one and do it right the first time. I'll check out those brands.

What do you mean by "AD" hardware?

 

[Desert_AIP]

I decided early on on IP and PoE cameras. The install is way too easy.
I'm interested almost exclusively in outdoor cameras, which are a bit more expensive.
I also wanted a minimum of 1MP per camera (you can zoom in to a smaller scene, but it's hard to zoom out if you don't have the pixels.)
I don't think you're going to get much for under $300 per camera. So I buy them one at a time.

The non IP cameras are less expensive, but generally lower resolution too.

After looking around and considering my budget, I bought my first camera, a Vivotek IP7361.
I also have a Vivotek dome (the huge FD 8361) and the little HAI IP camera.

I really like 7361. The mount is great and it has plenty of features.

One thing I had not initially factored, but became readily apparent after installing the 7361, is camera Field of View. The 7361 sits on the eave of my second story and, with its 68° vertical FOV, can see from the end of my driveway (600' down to the road) to my garage door. Some of the smaller cameras have narrower FOVs.

I haven't played with any other cameras, so this is a bit skewed.
The Vivoteks have impressive, to me, capabilities.
One of the things I really like is that the push record to a NAS or other network disk (PC hard drive).
So there doesn't need to be any application running on a PC or other machine, the camera compresses and pushes the stream to the disk all by itself.

The HAI doesn't do this (or I haven't figured out how to make it do it), which prompted me to look at the Vivotek FD8134v as a replacement with similar specs and similar price.

Same thing with motion detection. I like it on the camera. Onboard SD card storage is nice too as a backup to the NAS feed.

One thing with IP cameras is managing bandwidth.
You have to fit the streams to their particular task.
The Vivoteks push 4 streams each. Each can be a different resolution, frame rate and compression method.
So for my 5.7e touch screens I have a relative low resolution, slow frame rate, MJPEG stream.
I use a higher resolution, higher frame rate feed for web viewing (which is infrequent and so a limited bandwidth draw).
And my stream sent to the NAS is max resolution, max (adaptive) frame rate MPEG-4 or H.264 if available.

 

[gatchel]

I don't have any kind of existing infrastructure - so I'm hoping to build one and do it right the first time. I'll check out those brands.

What do you mean by "AD" hardware?

American Dynamics

I also have to agree with Axis and Verint. Most of the newer Verint 5000 series is rebranded axis hardware anyway. I would use Panasonic I-Pro products if it were me with an unlimited budget.

Just remember, you really do get what you pay for when it comes to cameras. You'll have to decide where your limit is.

 

[tmbrown97]

I'm partial to Axis, Verint, Mobotix and Speco.

Way to name the cheap ones! Those are some of the most expensive options.

 

[treo650]

Go with cnb Mona lisas

 

[electron]

Way to name the cheap ones! Those are some of the most expensive options.

Problem is that the cheap ones just suck at motion detection, night vision , etc. Same deal in the analog world, but the IP aspect makes it even more expensive.

 

[Del91574]

Way to name the cheap ones! Those are some of the most expensive options.

You get what you pay for. I prefer longevity and reliability over having to set up a ladder and replace cameras multiple times or provide excuses as far as performance and reliability are concerned. The manufacturer's warranties tend to reflect quality IMHO, and a company like Speco offers a 5 year one, Axis prorates and honestly, I've never had to warranty a Mobotix unit.

It's like asking someone for a vehicle that is capable of going over 150 MPH, but then asking for the same vehicle to get 40+ MPG and cost less than $30K.

In the OP's post, without knowing infrastructure, assuming analog, I'd go with something like Speco, Everfocus, Digital Watchdog, Honeywell or Bosch cameras. I tend to like Speco because they have a better warranty than others as far as analog units go.

Irregardless, the prudent thing to recommend, as long as construction allows it, would be to pull a siamese video and a Category cable to each camera location.