I've already been successfully providing the Chinese a secret Window to my pets for about 5 years, with another cheapo $68 Foscam knock-off. The Wife Approval Factor (WAF) is through the roof.
In fact, she really wants a secret Chinese window to the back side of our front and back doors now, making this particular two-fer a no-brainer!
While I can't personally attest to the quality of the back door feed to the Chinese government, nor can I confirm or deny the state of our own Government's ability to monitor my animals (and now doors), I can say these Foscam wannabees are generally no harder to protect from average Joes than your $15 router, and the DDNS and port forwarding is as straightforward as any other application for these technologies.
Pro tip: If you are particularly unsavvy with tech, or if you believe Chinese knock offs of any sort ought to be plug-and-play, quality controlled, automagically secured devices, please purchase from a qualified IP camera specialist. This way, you'll have someone to lose a small claims battle with when you discover your cameras are on a website with 73,000 IP cameras still set to default usernames ("admin") and passwords ("").
@dalekjoe is the Chinese govt complaining about the quality of their feed? Or are you getting urgent firmware upgrade notices from the knock-off company? . . . If not, no worries.
@RedOak Not exactly, but my camera does like to "reboot" itself and scan the entirety of my kitchen once in a while. Perhaps my dogs aren't quite interesting enough for one or more interested government party? They do get a good look at my ceiling and the corner behind where the camera is mounted during a scan after all.
@cengland0 cool - who's your service provider? How do they look from a few 100 miles away? Hookup a brother cause FiOS and Verizon don't play well with 1080p cams
@DRCrank3n I use comcast business class at home. Most of the other providers had some sort of bandwidth limit so I had to go business class for unlimited.
Anyway, even before comcast, Bellsouth/AT&T worked fine with HD. Many things like slingbox and DirecTV on Demand, Netflix, and YouTube all work in HD at least 720. Also Plex and my logitech webcam works great in 1080p.
Being an employee, it almost sounds like you're trying to convince us that 640 x 480 is the maximum resolution you can have in a web cam but I assure you that's not true.
@cengland0 Ha, wish I had that kind of power! I wouldn't be waisting it on this! Guess I've been unlucky in HD WiFi video and love! Spoke with many cam manufacturers at the CES and the common theme was "Consumers want HD cams until they have one." Primary issue is limited bandwidth and slow/glitchy video. Based on my experience I fall within that group.
@DRCrank3n The fail could be in the video compression within the camera isn't so good as well the possibility that you have less upload bandwidth than download bandwidth and you're trying to view over the internet. Perhaps the compromise should be to offer at least 720p and then offer a downgrade when you are having bandwidth issues.
As for me, I would rather have fewer frames/second with HD than lower resolution and more frames/second.
@cengland0 agreed with both of your last statements. For security purposes I'd much prefer the ability to recognize the perp vs being able to discern whether they can dance well to my buckshot!(Give me rez before frames per second.)
@RedOak I work as a video editor at a post production facility, and several times a year we have people bring in absolutely worthless SD security camera footage. Even with clear, unobstructed views of the criminals and ther vehicles, we can almost never get anything useful out of the video, except video evidence that something did indeed happen. That's when everyone thinks we can zoom in on the vin number on the front dash of the car and click "Enhance" several times until we get a positive ID, but that's another story. Anyway, long story short, you absolutely want resolution over high frame rates with security cams. That being said, security cams need local recording at full resolution/framerates, and internet access is always a nice-to-have secondary feature. That seems to be the primary feature of these, so they made reasonable trade offs. Who cares if your baby or Dog are in HD? Just don't think you have anything useful if you find a way to record it for evidence. They do make 720P versions BTW, but I haven't seen anything about recording functions.
@sjsilver With all the cameras I have installed, I've had detectives ask me for video alll the time after a bank robbery and break-ins in the neighborhood. I'm currently using analog ones because that's what the DVR requires but I'm considering on upgrading the entire system to IP and POE for enhanced resolution.
I absolutely agree that you cannot see facial features with standard analog cameras which have 500 lines of resolution (a little better than 640 x 480).
Since you're in the business, do you know of a good 16 channel IP Camera DVR that can supply power to the cameras too? I would also like to view them remotely through IP Cam Viewer if possible. I hate those DVRs that only work on IE after you install a plugin. They completely forget about people that don't use IE, are on a MAC, or just prefer to use a different browser like Opera, Firefox, or Chrome.
@DRCrank3n Why don't they increase their camera speed then? I use some old android phone's that record in 1080p for simple in house cameras and they stream over wifi in HD. I then have a program that handles motion detection and recording. It will transcode the videos to an appropriate internet quality if I need to view from a distance. Although every time I stream I am able to get at least 720p and that is with a terrible 3mbps upload. Also must mention I am not even using a gigabit router.
@cengland0 I am in the video post production business, not the security business, so unfortunately I don't know much about the DVR's. I bought one for our company like 6 years ago that supposedly had streaming, but I never set it up because we just use it mainly for live monitoring of our doors for when someone comes in, and secondarily for video recording backup. All our cameras are still analog though, so there's that too. All I know is, I've never to date been brought security cam footage that was ever worth a damn with identifying anyone, but that is selection bias because if they could identify someone, they wouldn't be contacting video editors with their "magic enhance buttons".
Ahhhhh, looky who breezed in through the door, Twofer Tuesday that dirty temptress. For weeks she used her filthy ways to get me to part with my hard earned moolah. Now though I remain strong and resist her ways for a 3rd consecutive week. Meh, step up your game as your tricks are wearing off....
@shawn I just started mehing and I don't feel very good about it. I wish there was a 'soft meh' button, meaning, "Thank you very much,but this isn't for me although I'm sure it would be fine for someone else."
I bit, but mostly because I was still bitter from missing out on the last IP-cam deal. Assuming this is better because $68 is not an impulse buy for me (but I guess it is, maybe?).
So are these rebranded older-model FI8918W Foscams? (They go for about $45 each on Amazon.) Even Insteon's HD model is $99, just like the Foscam counterpart.
The case I had my best slammers in went missing years ago. Now I just have a metal one with an 8-ball impression and a crappy plastic one with a glittery skull on it. Sadly, I have no butler to interrogate as to its whereabouts.
"weepy-wretched-light" These order numbers are getting more and more foreboding in tone; it's like you guys are actively planting the seed of buyer's remorse before I even get the darn ting! Stop experimenting on my brain. This camera appears to be Identical to the Foscam model F18918; one of their mediocre models to be sure but at this $68 for 2 this looks to be a pretty good deal if you don't need high resolution, which I don't. I finally feel like I'm getting some benefit from my VMP status. 2 purchases within a week.
@ballpark seems like a valid data point. Using Meh's one vs twofer pricing relationship, for example on the JBL Mini speaker docks, the $49 price is about right for one, perhaps just a bit high.
I bought one (2) mostly because I was asking for another of the foscam ones. My QNAP NAS surveillance station app handles 2 cameras for free, and I have to pay a $60 license fee for a 3rd.. But it might be worth it if I have the spare camera laying around. I'm still very happy with my foscam one!
I forget my words, but it was something about trout.. This was the google image search for it, but I'm not opening my email again to find the words.
@ACraigL so do I! Apparently this forum has a pretty meh implementation of Markdown that doesn't allow tables. Workaround: copy the comment text and then paste it into this improved editor/viewer https://stackedit.io/editor.
@mwarren Interesting that the Foscam says it maxes out at 15fps, but through my qnap nas surveillance station I've been able to up it to 20 fps.. It was a noticeable difference between 15fps and 20fps.
I am in market for security cameras. These are good looking cameras at a reasonable price but Meh's return policy makes me to back off. Specially with those Amazon reviews...
If you have three cameras you can do 3D???? So if you have four you can do 4D? And so on? I've always wanted to get into 8D like Buckaroo Banzai, but that would mean I'd have to buy four of these, and I don't have that kind of money....
640 x 480 - when you want to see that someone is stealing / messing with your stuff, but you really don't want anyone to be able to actually identify who it is.
Insteon - bringing you 1988's technology TODAY!!!
The company should be fined for producing this garbage because of the burden it's going to put on landfills everywhere.
@Pufferfishy Here in Texas, when you see someone stealing/messing with your stuff, we shoot them, then ask questions later. If you cant see 'em ya cant shoot 'em.
If you want to run one from linux, here's how. If you want to find out why you shouldn't let one of these in your house and are having trouble getting too much sleep, see here.
@plinth I agree with you on the security hole, but this is just like when WIFI routers started... they all came from the factory without a security key... everyone who had a basic sense of computer usage could basically leech from that unprotected wifi... so what did manufacturers do? send their routers with a preinstalled security key.... same here... Just know how to configure your webcam and avoid being a victim of hacking? and I really dont consider that hacking.... it was some lucky guess for the "hacker"
@macdaddy Right there in the first paragraph, it says, "it's got night vision." That would mean "It is got night vision." Wrong use of it's and should have said "it has night vision." After seeing this one error, I looked no further. I am not the grammar police.
I'm going back and forth on this because I want to avoid making an emotional purchase. Last night, my garage was broken into. All that appears to be taken is the change that was in the center console of both vehicles. Because my car was broken into once, previously, when it sat in my driveway and because my kitchen connects to the garage, I'd like something to alert me or wake me up when I am sleeping if someone breaks into the garage again. I live in a very low-crime area, and I'm pretty sure it's just kids but I want it to stop. What I am reading indicates that it sends an email at motion detection; is that email in real time? I am thinking about attaching it to an email address used just for this purpose and assigning it a very loud alert on my cell phone. But then, if I do get that alert, and someone is out there I don't even know what I'd do. Probably just flick the lights on, open the garage door and scare the crap out of them. After calling the cops of course.
@therealmrsbeny You could pick up a couple cheapy fake ones. But I think if I were you I'd spring for these, but that would be an emotional choice as you stated. I want them but fear they are smarter than me.
@mehdaf I'm thinking a couple of the motion sensors might do nicely. We have a three car garage, the two car side is solid but you have to manually latch the third door, and it looks like we forgot to do that last night. I just can't believe someone would be so brazen to come into the garage and then leave with a few hands-full of change. More diligence on a latch and a motion detector will probably boost my peace of mind.
When will you take this back from my freight forwarding company? I didn't order this and my ffc is charging me some $$$ for keeping eyes on it. What should I do???
@haydesigner Hey, do you still collect Hot Wheels, Haydesigner? I ask because I got a Sharkruiser in a Woot crapbag recently and don't know what to do with it. (I collect Glow Worms, not Hot Wheels.)
@pepsiwine… sorry, I never saw this when you wrote it, @Pepsiwine! Mea culpa. I'm not really a collector. I just help my little guy with them. A lot more than normal. ;-) Thanks for the offer, but I wouldn't want to put you out. Appreciate it!!
@SteveOOO it's the infrared sensor turning off and on. For a minute I thought someone was spying on me. Turns out aside from the man that sits outside my window with a flower pot in his hand, that isn't so. If I walk past mine, then I'm blocking the light so it clicks on the IR, but as soon as I'm past it the IR clicks off again. Or sometimes you're in that middle grey area where it just keeps clicking off and on and off and on. Still I like it. Works decent as a baby monitor. Works great to spy on the kids and tell them in a robotically foreboding voice "put down the hot pan and climb off the stoooooovvvveee"
@TimePollution With the new firmware you can turn off the IR. If you are willing to give up night vision. Mine kept recording constantly because of the click. IR off, it works great.
@TimePollution I retract my statement about it being a piece of junk. I use mine to yell at my kids to kid dressed, eat your cereal, and get on the bus. All from the comfort of my bed.
@mediobarkre I use D-Link security cameras models DCS-930L and DCS-932L both indoors and outdoors and they work great. Kne of my outdoor ones has been under nothing more than the eave of my roof that overhangs the garage doors. It gets rain, snow, heat, freezing temps and the little bugger does just fine. They pretty cheap, too. I got mine from Amazin for around $30 for the 930 models and roughly $50 apiece for the infrared, day/night models 932. I even have some extra if you want to buy them direct from me. :) Bough a bunch to use as puppy cams and ended up with way more than I need.
@pepsiwine Jeez, sorry for the terrible spelling and grammar in my previous post. I typed it on an iPad and don't have any way to re-read what I've written before I post it to see if there are typing errors because it doesn't let us scroll sideways in the "Say it" text box. I tried to hop on a computer real quick to edit my mistakes, but it was already too late to use the "edit" function. :(
@pepsiwine Reading your unnecessarily verbose apology was 100x worse than figuring out the couple of typos that are expected with online bulliten boards.
@pepsiwine@SSteve agreed, ironically, editing is easier on the smaller iPhone screen because it pops up the window. A couple tricks I use on the iPad: 1) Pinch-zoom the screen larger - gives you more control. 2) "Select All" your text and for whatever reason it seems to give you more scroll control, especially if you want to jump to the end.
How does this compare to Foscam? I have an older one of those, and while it isn't exactly HD quality, it gets the job done. Even though it's an "indoor" camera rated for no less than 40 degrees F, I've had it outside under the eaves for like 5 years now and it's still ticking. When it gets down to 10 below it has trouble panning and tilting, but works fine once it warms up again.
Amazon says they work reliably, but Insteon seems to have its head up its ass. I got the Foscam and haven't taken it out of the box yet, and this is too rich for my blood to make the impulse purchase. However, if I made more money, I'd check 'em out. Especially if you are just using them to see if your cats are alive while you're out of town for the weekend, which was what I wanted the Foscam for.
@brianmc1975 From the manual: Note: When setting up the camera using third-party apps choose Foscam FI8918W or Foscam FI8905W as the camera profile within the app.
I have purchased FOSCAM about a year ago now, was not able to connect to my iphone after so many tries, so many IP apps, some paid and some free. Now I am thinking of making same mistake again of ordering these. If I order these, can I be able to connect all three through an iphone app and monitor these remotely without these being directly connected to a wired Ethernet connection (i.e. through Wi-Fi). If so, any detailed instructions would be highly appreciated. Thanks for the advance.
@bluetide you need to port forward for remote viewing to work. heres a website with all the router and instructions on doing it http://portforward.com/
@bluetide You'll likely also want a Dynamic DNS (DDNS) service, unless you have an fixed IP address from your ISP (uncommon). Otherwise you'll need to update your camera app every time your ISP gives you a new IP address.
But what happens if the camera itself gets knocked over or stolen? How will you know what happened?
This is the line of reasoning that stopped my roommates and I from ordering security cameras online after a prior package had apparently been stolen off our front porch.
I needed these last night. Whenever there is an accumulating snowfall, the neighbor kids think it is funny to ding dong ditch us. I didn't even bother to open the door last night. It must be super boring at their house to make this an annual thing (doesn't snow often here). I wish these were outdoor compatible.
@brianmc1975 yes, we have heard that hanging the neighborhood kid-pests upside down over your porch is an effective deterrent. But it is not recommended to leave them there for more than 2-3 minutes.
Wow, did my post really get deleted? (Zzzzzz....mehmehmeh..., etc) Granted, it wasn't my most witty moment, but I didn't say anything to offend. Heck I didn't even say a swear word.
Yes, and if you login to your default gateway you can have static IP addresses setup for each camera.
Also the Foscam Android app connects to each phone without a problem. well from the internal wifi network. Have not needed to check from outside the house network.
Video Quality is really not that bad. serviceable . but for the price, unbeatable
What was the original 2-for-Tuesday price? I don't care that Amazon has it for $130-something. $20 seems a bit expensive for something I don't need or have a use for. Best I can think of is to somehow set it up in the laundry room so I can monitor the washer and dryer to see if they are done.
Sounds more like an ingenious marketing scheme. Send customers a product you want to get rid of that they didn't ask for, then ask them to mail it back or you'll charge their credit card. Meh marketing department FTW!
@sjk3 I believe it was $35 plus $5 shipping for 2 cameras on 2-for-Tuesday. I honestly believe Meh made an honest mistake sending cameras instead of lanterns to people. I don't think it was how you think it was. It probably makes a very nice present for new parents with a baby. They can use the camera as a baby cam.
oh fuck this noise. I'm going to bed.
Thought I might be able to use this for the baby, but then realized the wife could then spy on me lol. So I think the kiddo says it best.
@march5th00 Hope you don't mind that I fixed the formatting of your post.
@JonT lol not at all. I'm pretty bad at these things. Also if the photo is too big / too distracting feel free to delete. I won't be offended.
@march5th00 Put it in the kids bedroom and don't do anything stupid in there, lol.
@march5th00 ... That's too precious.. Whatta sweet grin.
@march5th00 why is his appendix saying "meh"?
@dgarozzo I'm not quite sure. I guess as a vestigial organ it has little to do other than bitch and poo-poo all day.
Can I tape them together and get like 1280 x 640 resolution?
@mehmeyousweet Tape them lens-to-lens and you'll see the future!
I've already been successfully providing the Chinese a secret Window to my pets for about 5 years, with another cheapo $68 Foscam knock-off. The Wife Approval Factor (WAF) is through the roof.
In fact, she really wants a secret Chinese window to the back side of our front and back doors now, making this particular two-fer a no-brainer!
While I can't personally attest to the quality of the back door feed to the Chinese government, nor can I confirm or deny the state of our own Government's ability to monitor my animals (and now doors), I can say these Foscam wannabees are generally no harder to protect from average Joes than your $15 router, and the DDNS and port forwarding is as straightforward as any other application for these technologies.
Pro tip: If you are particularly unsavvy with tech, or if you believe Chinese knock offs of any sort ought to be plug-and-play, quality controlled, automagically secured devices, please purchase from a qualified IP camera specialist. This way, you'll have someone to lose a small claims battle with when you discover your cameras are on a website with 73,000 IP cameras still set to default usernames ("admin") and passwords ("").
@dalekjoe is the Chinese govt complaining about the quality of their feed? Or are you getting urgent firmware upgrade notices from the knock-off company? . . . If not, no worries.
@RedOak Not exactly, but my camera does like to "reboot" itself and scan the entirety of my kitchen once in a while. Perhaps my dogs aren't quite interesting enough for one or more interested government party? They do get a good look at my ceiling and the corner behind where the camera is mounted during a scan after all.
Was interested until I saw the 640 x 480. Bummer.
@cengland0 Even that might not have been so bad if it wasn't for the 15fps number after it.
@cengland0 I concur. I'm holding out to buy this type of thing until it's in HD.
@cengland0 Bandwidth and speed will cure you of wanting HD.
@DRCrank3n I disagree. I have several video streaming items around the house that runs in HD and they all work perfectly fine.
@cengland0 cool - who's your service provider? How do they look from a few 100 miles away? Hookup a brother cause FiOS and Verizon don't play well with 1080p cams
@DRCrank3n I use comcast business class at home. Most of the other providers had some sort of bandwidth limit so I had to go business class for unlimited.
Anyway, even before comcast, Bellsouth/AT&T worked fine with HD. Many things like slingbox and DirecTV on Demand, Netflix, and YouTube all work in HD at least 720. Also Plex and my logitech webcam works great in 1080p.
Being an employee, it almost sounds like you're trying to convince us that 640 x 480 is the maximum resolution you can have in a web cam but I assure you that's not true.
@cengland0 Ha, wish I had that kind of power! I wouldn't be waisting it on this! Guess I've been unlucky in HD WiFi video and love! Spoke with many cam manufacturers at the CES and the common theme was "Consumers want HD cams until they have one." Primary issue is limited bandwidth and slow/glitchy video. Based on my experience I fall within that group.
@DRCrank3n The fail could be in the video compression within the camera isn't so good as well the possibility that you have less upload bandwidth than download bandwidth and you're trying to view over the internet. Perhaps the compromise should be to offer at least 720p and then offer a downgrade when you are having bandwidth issues.
As for me, I would rather have fewer frames/second with HD than lower resolution and more frames/second.
@DRCrank3n Have you ever used Skype with a 1080p camera?
@cengland0 agreed with both of your last statements. For security purposes I'd much prefer the ability to recognize the perp vs being able to discern whether they can dance well to my buckshot! (Give me rez before frames per second.)
@RedOak I work as a video editor at a post production facility, and several times a year we have people bring in absolutely worthless SD security camera footage. Even with clear, unobstructed views of the criminals and ther vehicles, we can almost never get anything useful out of the video, except video evidence that something did indeed happen. That's when everyone thinks we can zoom in on the vin number on the front dash of the car and click "Enhance" several times until we get a positive ID, but that's another story. Anyway, long story short, you absolutely want resolution over high frame rates with security cams. That being said, security cams need local recording at full resolution/framerates, and internet access is always a nice-to-have secondary feature. That seems to be the primary feature of these, so they made reasonable trade offs. Who cares if your baby or Dog are in HD? Just don't think you have anything useful if you find a way to record it for evidence. They do make 720P versions BTW, but I haven't seen anything about recording functions.
@sjsilver With all the cameras I have installed, I've had detectives ask me for video alll the time after a bank robbery and break-ins in the neighborhood. I'm currently using analog ones because that's what the DVR requires but I'm considering on upgrading the entire system to IP and POE for enhanced resolution.
I absolutely agree that you cannot see facial features with standard analog cameras which have 500 lines of resolution (a little better than 640 x 480).
Since you're in the business, do you know of a good 16 channel IP Camera DVR that can supply power to the cameras too? I would also like to view them remotely through IP Cam Viewer if possible. I hate those DVRs that only work on IE after you install a plugin. They completely forget about people that don't use IE, are on a MAC, or just prefer to use a different browser like Opera, Firefox, or Chrome.
@DRCrank3n Why don't they increase their camera speed then? I use some old android phone's that record in 1080p for simple in house cameras and they stream over wifi in HD. I then have a program that handles motion detection and recording. It will transcode the videos to an appropriate internet quality if I need to view from a distance. Although every time I stream I am able to get at least 720p and that is with a terrible 3mbps upload. Also must mention I am not even using a gigabit router.
@Skylord123 Wow, my goal was to hang it and forget it. All I know now is I need to give Verizon hell!
@cengland0 I am in the video post production business, not the security business, so unfortunately I don't know much about the DVR's. I bought one for our company like 6 years ago that supposedly had streaming, but I never set it up because we just use it mainly for live monitoring of our doors for when someone comes in, and secondarily for video recording backup. All our cameras are still analog though, so there's that too. All I know is, I've never to date been brought security cam footage that was ever worth a damn with identifying anyone, but that is selection bias because if they could identify someone, they wouldn't be contacting video editors with their "magic enhance buttons".
Ahhhhh, looky who breezed in through the door, Twofer Tuesday that dirty temptress. For weeks she used her filthy ways to get me to part with my hard earned moolah. Now though I remain strong and resist her ways for a 3rd consecutive week. Meh, step up your game as your tricks are wearing off....
@studerc The bloom is off the rose. Bad case of the 7 month itch maybe?
Here's a link to the manual, and firmware update. Hoping any security issues are patched with this since it was just posted on January 5th:
http://www.insteon.com/documentation-store/?tag=75790WH
@ACraigL The first page of the quick start guide is kinda cool.. I've never seen any other company put something quite like it..
Site is still running slow. I think the re-introduction of the meh faces is slowing down the servers.
@cengland0 yep
@shawn I just started mehing and I don't feel very good about it. I wish there was a 'soft meh' button, meaning, "Thank you very much,but this isn't for me although I'm sure it would be fine for someone else."
@wew Wait, you mean I'm not just supposed to meh everything?
@cengland0 At midnight get ready for sponges.
The debate around ghosts is no more after IR cams were introduced. wow technology is making the world a boring place.
Flying dog!
I bit, but mostly because I was still bitter from missing out on the last IP-cam deal. Assuming this is better because $68 is not an impulse buy for me (but I guess it is, maybe?).
dejected-prudent-suit
Looks like something you'd kill from Portal. Meh.
@Portlis that makes me want it a little
@Portlis is anyone there?
Some scary Amazon reviews. Insteon system hacked? Hard pass on this one.
So are these rebranded older-model FI8918W Foscams? (They go for about $45 each on Amazon.) Even Insteon's HD model is $99, just like the Foscam counterpart.
@matthewjfazio they look exactly like 'em
I KNEW my dog was pulling some shit like this while I was at work.
The case I had my best slammers in went missing years ago. Now I just have a metal one with an 8-ball impression and a crappy plastic one with a glittery skull on it. Sadly, I have no butler to interrogate as to its whereabouts.
"weepy-wretched-light" These order numbers are getting more and more foreboding in tone; it's like you guys are actively planting the seed of buyer's remorse before I even get the darn ting! Stop experimenting on my brain. This camera appears to be Identical to the Foscam model F18918; one of their mediocre models to be sure but at this $68 for 2 this looks to be a pretty good deal if you don't need high resolution, which I don't. I finally feel like I'm getting some benefit from my VMP status. 2 purchases within a week.
@dungoyle You're in Guinea. http://map.what3words.com/weepy-wretched-light
NO More Rack
Here is the camera on another deal a day site... $49 each
@ballpark why?
@dpcross data point? why not?
@ballpark seems like a valid data point. Using Meh's one vs twofer pricing relationship, for example on the JBL Mini speaker docks, the $49 price is about right for one, perhaps just a bit high.
I bought one (2) mostly because I was asking for another of the foscam ones. My QNAP NAS surveillance station app handles 2 cameras for free, and I have to pay a $60 license fee for a 3rd.. But it might be worth it if I have the spare camera laying around. I'm still very happy with my foscam one!
I forget my words, but it was something about trout.. This was the google image search for it, but I'm not opening my email again to find the words.
@kadagan it would be funny if it was greenbean-trout-muffin
@mwarren I wish this wrapped properly
@ACraigL so do I! Apparently this forum has a pretty meh implementation of Markdown that doesn't allow tables. Workaround: copy the comment text and then paste it into this improved editor/viewer https://stackedit.io/editor.
@mwarren Interesting that the Foscam says it maxes out at 15fps, but through my qnap nas surveillance station I've been able to up it to 20 fps.. It was a noticeable difference between 15fps and 20fps.
happy now?
I just paid for a shitty camera that I never ordered. Thanks, Meh!
Maybe I can attach them to my meh choppers and make some drones.
compatible with ip cam viewer pro. says to list it as foscam FI9805W.
I am in market for security cameras. These are good looking cameras at a reasonable price but Meh's return policy makes me to back off. Specially with those Amazon reviews...
If you have three cameras you can do 3D???? So if you have four you can do 4D? And so on? I've always wanted to get into 8D like Buckaroo Banzai, but that would mean I'd have to buy four of these, and I don't have that kind of money....
... He knows he's being recorded, that's why he's doing it.. No! Wait, a cat would do that.. Never mind.
640 x 480 - when you want to see that someone is stealing / messing with your stuff, but you really don't want anyone to be able to actually identify who it is.
Insteon - bringing you 1988's technology TODAY!!!
The company should be fined for producing this garbage because of the burden it's going to put on landfills everywhere.
@Pufferfishy Here in Texas, when you see someone stealing/messing with your stuff, we shoot them, then ask questions later. If you cant see 'em ya cant shoot 'em.
Yup, cheap camera. Yup, big ol' security hole.
If you want to run one from linux, here's how.
If you want to find out why you shouldn't let one of these in your house and are having trouble getting too much sleep, see here.
@plinth I agree with you on the security hole, but this is just like when WIFI routers started... they all came from the factory without a security key... everyone who had a basic sense of computer usage could basically leech from that unprotected wifi... so what did manufacturers do? send their routers with a preinstalled security key.... same here... Just know how to configure your webcam and avoid being a victim of hacking? and I really dont consider that hacking.... it was some lucky guess for the "hacker"
@jareza Or some lucky script.
No Georgia Red. . . for that alone, meh.
Kudos to whomever wrote the writeup for today's product. No spelling, grammar nor punctuation errors. Way to write good Englishly!
@macdaddy Right there in the first paragraph, it says, "it's got night vision." That would mean "It is got night vision." Wrong use of it's and should have said "it has night vision." After seeing this one error, I looked no further. I am not the grammar police.
@cengland0
@editorkid Then it could still be wrong. Wrong: "It has got night vision" versus Right: "It has night vision."
@cengland0
I'm going back and forth on this because I want to avoid making an emotional purchase. Last night, my garage was broken into. All that appears to be taken is the change that was in the center console of both vehicles. Because my car was broken into once, previously, when it sat in my driveway and because my kitchen connects to the garage, I'd like something to alert me or wake me up when I am sleeping if someone breaks into the garage again. I live in a very low-crime area, and I'm pretty sure it's just kids but I want it to stop. What I am reading indicates that it sends an email at motion detection; is that email in real time? I am thinking about attaching it to an email address used just for this purpose and assigning it a very loud alert on my cell phone. But then, if I do get that alert, and someone is out there I don't even know what I'd do. Probably just flick the lights on, open the garage door and scare the crap out of them. After calling the cops of course.
@therealmrsbeny You could pick up a couple cheapy fake ones. But I think if I were you I'd spring for these, but that would be an emotional choice as you stated. I want them but fear they are smarter than me.
@therealmrsbeny Are they opening the garage door, or the man door into the garage? A simple garage door monitor or a $19 motion sensor might meet your needs. http://www.amazon.com/Bunker-Hill-Security-69590-Driveway/dp/B004U772GE/
@mehdaf I'm thinking a couple of the motion sensors might do nicely. We have a three car garage, the two car side is solid but you have to manually latch the third door, and it looks like we forgot to do that last night. I just can't believe someone would be so brazen to come into the garage and then leave with a few hands-full of change. More diligence on a latch and a motion detector will probably boost my peace of mind.
What if you put the camera across from a mirror
@legendornothing my mind is blown that they haven't sold out.
I just got one of these in the mail when I ordered 2 camp lights.
Hey, a little free VMP action added in would be awesome for those who buy the Oops-Cam! Hint, Hint!
i haven't missed the how to send it back email yet have i?
@vampje Nope.
@vampje @barnabee @DavidLee we're hoping to have the details worked out and that email sent later today.
@JonT thanks! just makig sure i dind't miss something in my spam folder. don't want to be a deadbeat.
@JonT How about now? Have i missed how to send it back now? I got the "You can buy it" email...with the "how to send it back" portion TBD
When will you take this back from my freight forwarding company? I didn't order this and my ffc is charging me some $$$ for keeping eyes on it. What should I do???
@DavidLee can't you just refuse it and they return to sender?
Specs
Condition: New
Warranty: 90 Day Insteon
Estimated Delivery: 3/2 - 3/4
Shipping: $5 or free with VMP
What’s in the Box?
2x Wireless security camera
2x 5V DC power adapter
2x Wall mount and hardware
2x Antenna
2x Ethernet cable
Pictures
Two cameras!
Retail boxes
Everything in the box
Back of the cameras
Side view
What is that damn dog doing now
Price Check
$159.98 List, $137.98 at Amazon
Warranty
90 days
마지막 사진
웬일로 정상이지? 싶었는데..
혹시나 했더니 역시나 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
아놔 겁나싸네 ㅜㅜ
@exart7 I dunno… I'll have to ask for some solid proof on that claim. I mean, pudding? Seriously?
@haydesigner it's porrige, not pudding. but i think the frog is optional.
@exart7 웟?
@haydesigner Hey, do you still collect Hot Wheels, Haydesigner? I ask because I got a Sharkruiser in a Woot crapbag recently and don't know what to do with it. (I collect Glow Worms, not Hot Wheels.)
@pepsiwine… sorry, I never saw this when you wrote it, @Pepsiwine! Mea culpa. I'm not really a collector. I just help my little guy with them. A lot more than normal. ;-) Thanks for the offer, but I wouldn't want to put you out. Appreciate it!!
@haydesigner Ha! I'm surprised you ever even saw this at all! I just assumed it got lost in the Meh forums.
Well, thanks for the reply. I'm sure I'll find a loving home for the Hot Wheels Sharkruiser eventually.
Thanks again for the reply! Take care! :)
Isn't today Monday?
@sar5w Depends on where you are.
@sar5w facepalm
@sar5w No that was yesterday.
@sar5w Meh's on Eastern time, so it's Tuesday.
@sar5w can't trust that day
Looks similar to that Foscam piece of junk I bought here before. Freaking thing just sits there and clicks all of the time.
@SteveOOO mine too! No solution? It cam is sitting there unplugged right now because that's super annoying.
@DaveInSoCal I kept thinking someone was spying on me. Then I realized it's a known issue.
@SteveOOO Strange, my Foscam works awesome. It DOES click whe the lights go on and off though, but it's changing its filter or something so it cool.
@Stallion That makes sense. It seems to do it when the light in my living room is off and the light in the other room is on. Thanks for the help.
@SteveOOO it's the infrared sensor turning off and on. For a minute I thought someone was spying on me. Turns out aside from the man that sits outside my window with a flower pot in his hand, that isn't so. If I walk past mine, then I'm blocking the light so it clicks on the IR, but as soon as I'm past it the IR clicks off again. Or sometimes you're in that middle grey area where it just keeps clicking off and on and off and on. Still I like it. Works decent as a baby monitor. Works great to spy on the kids and tell them in a robotically foreboding voice "put down the hot pan and climb off the stoooooovvvveee"
@TimePollution With the new firmware you can turn off the IR. If you are willing to give up night vision. Mine kept recording constantly because of the click. IR off, it works great.
@TimePollution I retract my statement about it being a piece of junk. I use mine to yell at my kids to kid dressed, eat your cereal, and get on the bus. All from the comfort of my bed.
@SteveOOO ew, you spy on your naked kids.
@marklog Shhhhhh......
I've been wanting to take the IP Camera plunge, but I'm looking for an outdoor model. Wish these were outdoor....
@mediobarkre Just put a ziplock bag over it.
@mediobarkre I use D-Link security cameras models DCS-930L and DCS-932L both indoors and outdoors and they work great. Kne of my outdoor ones has been under nothing more than the eave of my roof that overhangs the garage doors. It gets rain, snow, heat, freezing temps and the little bugger does just fine. They pretty cheap, too. I got mine from Amazin for around $30 for the 930 models and roughly $50 apiece for the infrared, day/night models 932. I even have some extra if you want to buy them direct from me. :) Bough a bunch to use as puppy cams and ended up with way more than I need.
@pepsiwine Jeez, sorry for the terrible spelling and grammar in my previous post. I typed it on an iPad and don't have any way to re-read what I've written before I post it to see if there are typing errors because it doesn't let us scroll sideways in the "Say it" text box. I tried to hop on a computer real quick to edit my mistakes, but it was already too late to use the "edit" function. :(
@pepsiwine When I write a long reply on the iPad, I write it in Byword first then copy and paste into the Reply box.
@SSteve Yeah, I could do that, too; but I never think that far ahead. I'm more of a "fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants" kinda gal.
@pepsiwine Reading your unnecessarily verbose apology was 100x worse than figuring out the couple of typos that are expected with online bulliten boards.
@TimePollution Gosh, then if reading is really that torturous for you, then you should be more careful about what you choose to read.
@SSteve Thank goodness my tablet supports full web page mode. I can edit right from Chrome. I'm not going to say "Android FTW" out loud though.
@pepsiwine @SSteve agreed, ironically, editing is easier on the smaller iPhone screen because it pops up the window. A couple tricks I use on the iPad: 1) Pinch-zoom the screen larger - gives you more control. 2) "Select All" your text and for whatever reason it seems to give you more scroll control, especially if you want to jump to the end.
I wonder if they support ONVIF, PSIA, or even just universal RTSP? Or are we stuck with proprietary software?
@ParadigmShyft Pretty sure its weak specs only support BYOB.
Well, they can operate on 220 volts. So there's that.
How does this compare to Foscam? I have an older one of those, and while it isn't exactly HD quality, it gets the job done. Even though it's an "indoor" camera rated for no less than 40 degrees F, I've had it outside under the eaves for like 5 years now and it's still ticking. When it gets down to 10 below it has trouble panning and tilting, but works fine once it warms up again.
@tsfisch Does it stay dry under there, or does it get wet? I really need one for the driveway and garage. There are no windows there.
Amazon says they work reliably, but Insteon seems to have its head up its ass. I got the Foscam and haven't taken it out of the box yet, and this is too rich for my blood to make the impulse purchase. However, if I made more money, I'd check 'em out. Especially if you are just using them to see if your cats are alive while you're out of town for the weekend, which was what I wanted the Foscam for.
@esjacobs I would check that Foscam. Mine as well as other's was DOA (see original thread for details). I'm still waiting for the replacement.
@esjacobs
@iggy71 Uh oh. I guess I'll take it out and see if it can give me proof of cat life. Thanks for the heads up.
This is a mediocre item.
@JazzyJosh
Do you need the Insteon Hub to make these work?
@Gaijin according to the insteon customer service, to have them work outside your home network, yes. :/ Or mess with port forwarding.
Damn you VMP!
caring-remarkable-edge
@brianmc1975
@brianmc1975
I like purple.
These appear to be rebranded foscam, I missed em last go around so 2 for Tuesday sounds good.
@brianmc1975 From the manual: Note: When setting up the camera using third-party apps choose Foscam FI8918W or Foscam FI8905W as the camera profile within the app.
I have purchased FOSCAM about a year ago now, was not able to connect to my iphone after so many tries, so many IP apps, some paid and some free. Now I am thinking of making same mistake again of ordering these. If I order these, can I be able to connect all three through an iphone app and monitor these remotely without these being directly connected to a wired Ethernet connection (i.e. through Wi-Fi). If so, any detailed instructions would be highly appreciated. Thanks for the advance.
@bluetide you need to port forward for remote viewing to work. heres a website with all the router and instructions on doing it http://portforward.com/
@bluetide You'll likely also want a Dynamic DNS (DDNS) service, unless you have an fixed IP address from your ISP (uncommon). Otherwise you'll need to update your camera app every time your ISP gives you a new IP address.
This is the line of reasoning that stopped my roommates and I from ordering security cameras online after a prior package had apparently been stolen off our front porch.
I needed these last night. Whenever there is an accumulating snowfall, the neighbor kids think it is funny to ding dong ditch us. I didn't even bother to open the door last night. It must be super boring at their house to make this an annual thing (doesn't snow often here). I wish these were outdoor compatible.
@Pamtha If you hang them upside down under an eave it should work fine. @Pepsiwine said they have it outside.
@brianmc1975 yes, we have heard that hanging the neighborhood kid-pests upside down over your porch is an effective deterrent. But it is not recommended to leave them there for more than 2-3 minutes.
@RedOak LMFAO!!! HAHAHAHAHA Good one!
Wow, did my post really get deleted? (Zzzzzz....mehmehmeh..., etc)
Granted, it wasn't my most witty moment, but I didn't say anything to offend. Heck I didn't even say a swear word.
Well fuck that! ;-)
I took the plunge and bought 4 of these... hope I dont regret purchasing these down the road...
acrid-naughty-seat
This may be useful to some of you out there Insteon 75790 video recording and & CGI API
worst 2 for Tuesday ever.
Got mine yesterday, might start fuku'ing around with them tonight. Has anyone done any configuring or have any pitfalls that I should know about?
@ACraigL Got it today. You don't need that win/mac app if you know what DHCP address it gets. Web straight to the IP. It has a fair amount of options.
@stupidrobot good advice, thanks. Got it up and running right away.
Yes, and if you login to your default gateway you can have static IP addresses setup for each camera.
Also the Foscam Android app connects to each phone without a problem. well from the internal wifi network. Have not needed to check from outside the house network.
Video Quality is really not that bad. serviceable . but for the price, unbeatable
Hmmm. Ordered some camp lamps, and apparently Meh sent me these cameras in error. Not sure what to do now.
Ahh, I just bought the silly thing. Now my wife can maybe watch the cats when we're travelling.
insteon itself doesn't have an Android app, right? need to use 3rd party?
What was the original 2-for-Tuesday price? I don't care that Amazon has it for $130-something. $20 seems a bit expensive for something I don't need or have a use for. Best I can think of is to somehow set it up in the laundry room so I can monitor the washer and dryer to see if they are done.
Sounds more like an ingenious marketing scheme. Send customers a product you want to get rid of that they didn't ask for, then ask them to mail it back or you'll charge their credit card. Meh marketing department FTW!
@sjk3 I believe it was $35 plus $5 shipping for 2 cameras on 2-for-Tuesday. I honestly believe Meh made an honest mistake sending cameras instead of lanterns to people. I don't think it was how you think it was. It probably makes a very nice present for new parents with a baby. They can use the camera as a baby cam.
@sjk3 $68 for 2. Trust me, it wasn't intentional...but I'm glad the solution we came up with seems crazy enough to be some kind of marketing scheme.
This is my favorite mediocre "fix" to a problem so far.
@Thumperchick Even better than the fix to a wrong color speaker?
after some asking around, I found a home for my orphaned camera.
Ps: I'm glad my lanterns are coming. I'd hate to have to surf the web by candlelight.
The instructions don't work. I gave up and called.
Still haven't seen my return label.
I still don't have the email with return label.
NO baby. NO pet. NO need to watch my furniture.
And now, NO return info. meh~~~...
@brulim I've given up. If and when they decide to send me a label, they know where to find me.