Advice needed - CCTV monitoring
 

We're going to need to set up some sort of CCTV with sound (ideally 2 way and wireless) to monitor our youngest when he's in his room alone in order to ensure he's safe at all times. Earlier I tried setting up a small wireless camera I bought ages ago for some birdwatching but discovered that as soon as I turned it all on we lost all our Wi-Fi due presumably to interference.

The camera setup is quite a few years old so is this likely to be a problem with more modern equipment or will we need to find a wired setup? I can't imagine that stuff like wireless baby monitors would sell in any numbers if they routinely knocked out their owner's Wi-Fi networks so I'm hoping that the problem is just related to the age/type of camera I tried and not a universal problem with wireless kit.

Re: Advice needed - CCTV monitoring
 

Or just the bad luck of being on the same channel, when there's a dozen others you could use. Nonetheless, WiFi cameras (or even old Android phones with a WiFi camera app on it) are your best bet these days. They're guaranteed to not break your wireless network since they have to work on it

Re: Advice needed - CCTV monitoring
 

Thanks never thought about monitoring via a pc or tablet for example, was sort of locked into the notion of viewing via a TV or separate monitor in the old fashioned way. Guess I must be an old fashioned sort of guy... ;)

Will have a look on the internet and see what I can find.

Re: Advice needed - CCTV monitoring
 

My cousin got a small remote wireless camera that linked via a webpage on the PC (internal viewing only) or via an app on phone/tablet and it works fine for him in same purpose. Think it was from somewhere like Maplin.

Re: Advice needed - CCTV monitoring
 

I'd still think why it's needed, any special needs to require such monitoring and not simply leaving the door open. OK it doesn't answer the question but others more able are doing that but we have 2 children that we've always been happy to leave alone.
(The OP may have a real need for his case that could be in his history, I've not checked.)

Re: Advice needed - CCTV monitoring
 

I don't want to go into too much personal detail but amongst other problems he has a medical condition which requires him to be observed frequently. Believe me we'd be delighted to be able to leave him alone in his room and do all the things kids his age do on their own but we don't have that luxury sadly.

Re: Advice needed - CCTV monitoring
 

If health and safety are a critical issue I'd look at a more robust professional solution, but if it's just for casual monitoring, as I say, any old Android phone can work as a remote IP camera, which can be linked into any network security system or just viewed on another phone/computer/laptop.

Re: Advice needed - CCTV monitoring
 

It's somewhere in between actually. The wireless route would be better since we could then monitor as required from anywhere in the house. If I wire in the camera to say our TV or another monitor that'll obviously only be viewable when we're in that room.

The requirement isn't for constant viewing/listening, just to be able to check how he is periodically if we can't otherwise see or hear that he's OK. Most of the time sound alone would be sufficient. Currently every time he goes quiet and doesn't respond to a shout, someone has to stop what they're doing and go to find out if he's OK.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Re: Advice needed - CCTV monitoring
 

Hi Osem, I've recently been using UCam247 cameras and they have been great. You can view the camera via a smart phone and the app is free to download. It can be used wirelessly or wired and can also send footage, record footage, and send alerts on movement. http://www.ucam247.com/

They are easy to set up and connect to your router.

Re: Advice needed - CCTV monitoring
 

IP cam's in Aldi, £39.99 - not sure when they came in, but my local one has some

Re: Advice needed - CCTV monitoring
 

Thanks guys, sorry didn't see these replies. Will check out your suggestions. TVM

Incidentally I was recommended this in Maplin the other day:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/sentient-4...r-camera-n93lk

It's the complexity of wireless set up I'm most concerned about, quite a lot of reviews of these things on Amazon highlight issues with poor instructions and issues getting the Wi-Fi connection to work.

Re: Advice needed - CCTV monitoring
 

The problem you get with some cameras is that they require ports opening on your router or port forwarding settings to be played with. The ones I have mentioned (UCam247) did not need any of that and worked more or less straight away. You simply join it to your wireless router. And make sure you turn on some good security settings/passwords, all easily done from within the cameras control panel. The only thing I did do which I would recommend is setting up a static IP address which requires you to log into your router and give your camera a fixed address. Works out better in the long run, especially if you have numerous devices or your router gets powered up/down regularly.

You then want to create an email account that can be used to send messages from the camera which again is fairly easy to do, just get the pop/imap settings from the Email provider and you can then get the cameras to send you alerts.

Re: Advice needed - CCTV monitoring
 

TVM for that. :tu: