Using my computer to monitor

[lostsoul65]

I want to put a camera in my backyard and record 7/24 on my computer. What do I need besides the camera? A hub, recorder, or do I need anything else because I have A Lot of Hard Drive space. Also I don't want to take the ethernet wire from my computer to the camera and string wire all though the house. What ring camera would you recommend? I think I need a static IP address for the camera? I'm just try to learn as much as I can.

[pandy]

Lot of modern cameras offer fixed bitrate or fixed quantizer H.264 encoding and as such required storage space seem to be way lower issue.

[TreeTops]

I have not found a really good wifi exterior camera. They will require a power source, batteries or solar panels or live power. Then there is the issue of the wi fi range from the camera to your home receiver. Take a look at the ones offered on Amazon. Maybe someone here that uses one will respond. But good ones are not cheap. Most are designed to be attached somewhere on your house so that you can you use your local wi fi. That is not what I wanted. I need one at the gate about a half block from the house.

[Cornucopia]

I'm sure it's something you don't want to hear, but WIRE IT. You'll have better quality, more reliable, less headaches. Get a IP cam that supports PoE (and a router/switch that provides it) and then you'll only need the 1 ethernet cable.

Scott

[johnmeyer]

+1 Cornucopia. You definitely want PoE, not wireless. For the small price of the Cat5/6 and the time to pull it, you solve pretty much every issue (providing power; distance; unreliable connections; etc.).

I have returned two cameras, made by Samsung and another major manufacturer because the picture quality was so bad. Make sure you do a LOT of research on that. The market is so hot that EVERYONE is selling something, but most of it is made with low-res sensors which are up-res'd in the camera so they can claim "HD 1920x1080 resolution," when in fact it is not much more than VGA, upscaled.

[pandy]

Yes, some from me, wire is better but depends on camera location and some other factors it may be better to use fibre-optic than twisted pair connection, nowadays there is plenty of cheap 100Mbps optical transceivers - your benefits is long distance possibility (even few km if required) and galvanic isolation - important in outdoor (lightings!) - of course no PoE thus you need separate cable to provide power but still this is safer to you and your equipment in worse case scenario.

[Cornucopia]

+1 what pandy said. Max normal 1000baset ethernet run is 328 feet.
BTW, check out the Sony, Panny, and Axis 4k IP cams. Not sure what your budget is but if you want very good remote cam quality, it costs more.

Scott