Need Suggestions for New POE Cameras to use with Blue Iris

upstatemike

upstatemike

Senior Member
I have some old 12V Panasonic BB-HCM series pan/tilt cameras that are starting to get flaky and i am looking for a good POE replacement model. I probably can live without the pan and tilt but I am concerned about the IR performance. The Panasonics have no IR but do super low light (with some video noise).
 
I have tried bullet cameras from Foscam and Amcrest and when they are in night mode (IR on) they will sometimes flicker or go black for a second every once in a while. I don't know if this is an artifact from hovering around the transition point between normal and IR mode or if it is something to do with the increased POE draw when the IR LEDs are on? In any case i want to find a model that does not do this.
 
It would also be a bonus if besides working with Blue Iris they were also enabled to work with Alexa so I could view them from an Echo Show on command.
 
Any suggestions for what models I should be looking at?
 
Anybody tried one of these?:
 
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G1U4MVA/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A22E1JQ3DE3K79
 
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0777PNBY4/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A22E1JQ3DE3K79
 
I have no experience with the cams you linked to. That said, 10 of my 12 cams are Hickvision, of various models. They all support POE and have very good if not excellent night vision. I started with the Foscam cameras 10 years ago and found them to be seriously lacking all the way around. The Hicks work great with BlueIris.
 
For inside or outside? For inside, i've used Trendnet. Pretty cheap, pretty decent. 
 
I used the Panasonic PT series of IP cameras way long time ago and liked them.  I did leave one on in the utility room with a view of the sump pump and well today.
 
Today IP HD indoor and outdoor cameras have become smaller, have more features and are much more reasonably priced.
 
Relating to discussions of cameras and features and prices I find that the CCTV forum is chock full of information.
 
The new cameras are finally using standards which work across multiple mfg's of cameras which is a nice thing.
 
Relating to outdoor cameras with IR illumination didn't like the bugs and stuff flying in front of the cameras so went to shutting off the illumination and using day light at night for the cameras based on motion detection and just turning on all outdoor illumination. 
 
That is me though.
 
42etus said:
I have no experience with the cams you linked to. That said, 10 of my 12 cams are Hickvision, of various models. They all support POE and have very good if not excellent night vision. I started with the Foscam cameras 10 years ago and found them to be seriously lacking all the way around. The Hicks work great with BlueIris.
Click to expand...
 
Should also have mentioned i use an older version of Blue Iris. Not sure if that affects anything. Maybe I need to buy the upgrade before getting any new cameras? Any camera available today probably didn't exist when my Blue Iris version was discontinued.
 
pete_c said:
I used the Panasonic PT series of IP cameras way long time ago and liked them.  I did leave one on in the utility room with a view of the sump pump and well today.
 
Today IP HD indoor and outdoor cameras have become smaller, have more features and are much more reasonably priced.
 
Relating to discussions of cameras and features and prices I find that the CCTV forum is chock full of information.
 
The new cameras are finally using standards which work across multiple mfg's of cameras which is a nice thing.
 
Relating to outdoor cameras with IR illumination didn't like the bugs and stuff flying in front of the cameras so went to shutting off the illumination and using day light at night for the cameras based on motion detection and just turning on all outdoor illumination. 
 
That is me though.
Click to expand...
 
I might try that although at the moment I have a problem with exterior lighting close to the camera causing glare on the plastic dome. Maybe a bullet camera with no dome would avoid that?
 
I am tempted to try one of the $40 bullet cameras I listed above to see what happens. If I can get satisfactory results at that price point it would free up funds for some other projects! (Interested in testing out a WeatherFlow weather station when they come out next month)
 
Yeah warranty wise it would be purchasing from a US based retailer versus one overseas. 
 
Relating to purchasing from Amazon it would be an Amazon (Prime) product and not a third party seller.
 
Lately though have opened up a couple of tickets relating to two day delivery and listening to a mickey mouse CS telling me the difference between a real two day delivery and a two day delivery service (which Amazon has some issues with today).
 
Noticed with Ebay that lately I have no issues returning defective items and getting full refunds within an alloted time (not a year though).
 
Whatever the description of a new product states I alway mention to vendor if they want a defective product back they have to pay for the shipping.  Some do and some do not.  Those that do not typically just refund me and I toss the defective item.
 
Testing el cheapo outdoor cameras a few years back the cameras screws and mounts would all rust.  Dome cameras would fade (well the Speco domes I purchased did fade).
 
I have a mixture of dome and bullet.  I cannot really state which one's I prefer as they both work fine.  The new bullet cameras are shorty and sort larger in diameter (squatty?).  My initial lens pick for outdoor cameras was 28mm lenses which in the beginning were more expensive or difficult to find.  Today you can purchase fish eye (180 degrees) lenses for many of the cameras.  Preference for outdoor cams are 28mm lenses.  Relating to the digital features in many or most cameras they do not really work well with a CCTV DVR as you typically leave the settings alone for recording stuff.  That said post recording high definition you can digitally zoom say on a license plate or face depending on how high the resolution is.
 
Blue Iris appears to be the go to Windows DVR for CCTV choice.  Here utilize zone minder which runs in Linux and I can do anything with it.  (and it is free).
 
upstatemike said:
I might try that although at the moment I have a problem with exterior lighting close to the camera causing glare on the plastic dome. Maybe a bullet camera with no dome would avoid that?
 
I am tempted to try one of the $40 bullet cameras I listed above to see what happens. If I can get satisfactory results at that price point it would free up funds for some other projects! (Interested in testing out a WeatherFlow weather station when they come out next month)
Click to expand...
 
.
 
I went with (https://www.amazon.com/CMVision-IR130-198-Outdoor-300-400ft-Illuminator/dp/B004F9LF7E) to illuminate externally away my amcrest cameras because of the "bugs at night" issue plus the illuminator has lower power consumption compared to running my floodlights at night. I have a very large area that I am lighting up with this unit so it fit my needs but if you have a smaller area you can probably find a smaller/cheaper version or this item. 
 
It's been a while since I installed the illuminators but if I remember right you want to pay attention to the wave length of the LEDs for best results. I think the wave length needs to match the LEDs built in to the camera.
 
To the original question I have 8 (https://www.amazon.com/Amcrest-UltraHD-Outdoor-4-Megapixel-Security/dp/B073V5T4SY) amcrest cameras and have been happy with them and BlueIris. The oldest cam is around 12 months old. I always wait for these to go on sale w/discount code before buying. (I think you get on the mailing list for the amazon discount codes at the amcrest website)
 
 
 
One other thing I had to add to my camera runs was this poe over coax device. The house I purchase had coax ran to all the perfect locations but wanted PoE  cams and needed cat5/6 Ethernet on either end. So far these (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CKY6KEO) are magic and working perfectly. The oldest one is about 9mo old. 
 
I think I found the what is causing the flakiness in my Panasonic BB-HCM 331A cameras. Whenever I enable the JowiHue plugin in Homeseer all four of these cameras crash. None of my POE cameras (including Panasonic models) are affected. I don't see any settings in the camera configuration I can adjust to fix this. Any ideas what might be causing it?
 
I also asked on the Homeseer forum but will take advice from any source. If I can't find a solution I will have to go ahead and replace the cameras as planned.
 
upstatemike said:
Looking on Amazon seems like this brand has a lot of models that are not officially supported/no warranty (Chinese knockoffs?) 
Click to expand...
 
Yes, not buying from an official seller does keep you from getting a warranty... but...if you read the theads on ipcamtalk you'll see there's a certain seller that most everyone is buying from.
He provides excellent support, even giving a small discount to the board members.  He tests the cameras before sending.  Even if there is a failure, a savings of 20% allows for 1/5 failure an stlll be even.
And these are NOT chinese knockoffs.  They're actual Dahuas which are often sold in the US under other names.  Also, buying this way allows for getting models that aren't sold in the US.
 
I went high end and got Axis cameras to use with blue iris, I have been very happy with them. So far 2 years and no problems. I have a range of them.
 
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