CCTV with intercom for garden office

[dilalio]

morning all. I'm usually found in the plumbing forum so first time here... howdy

I have a largish lodge type building at the end of my garden which my sons use for drumming and gaming and generally keeping out of our way. When I built it several years ago, I ran 4 or 5 strands of Cat5e down there for future proofing. One is used for their internet access straight into a bridge under the stairs.

The missus and I would like to get a camera down there so we can keep an eye on things and would also like to have a comms system so that we can talk to the boys and ask them to come down for tea, homework, family socialising etc

Please can anyone recommend any devices, products that would do this all-in-one or separately at moderate costs? I've had a google but always prefer to ask my peers for suggestions based on experience.

Many thanks,
dialio

 

[OwainDIYer]

Basic intercom is easy
https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/SK952064.html
although you might have more luck sending then twit messages if you want a response. Bear in mind that most intercoms are two-way; you may get 'service calls' requesting tea and toast, or whatever boys eat these days.

Basic CCTV is easy - any standard analogue CCTV camera and use 1 pair of Cat5 for the signal with a video balun; use the other 3 pairs for power if you want. Connect into spare scart input on a telly.

 

[dilalio]

Thanks for the reply.
I suppose I'd be happy to spend about £150-200 if I could get something that we could do via our smart phones (the missus and I) so that we could see up there and converse with them even if not at home! Do you think this would be feasible? It would also be good to be able to view the interior when not occupied and in darkness, for security reasons.
So, for that sort of money, could I get something fairly decent or am I well below par with a budget like that?

Edit: or maybe it's 'over par'

 

[OwainDIYer]

Intercom: you can get VoIP phones quite cheaply now (under £50 on ebay); register it with something like Sipgate and use a VoIP app on your smartphone (own network VoIP calls are usually free).

CCTV: basic IP cameras also cheap now, from under £100 for a brand or under £50 for a chinese cheapy. More advance cameras have connections for audio in/out and alarm triggers and might be configurable as an intercom.

 

[dilalio]

Thanks for that. Do you have any brands or supplying websites you could recommend?

 

[OwainDIYer]

For IP cameras
http://www.networkwebcams.co.uk/

For IP phones Snom and Yealink

 

[dilalio]

Cheers.
I'm tempted to go for something that has the 2-way audio built into the camera itself so would it be best to get a device that does this all-in or with (as you say) input/outputs for auxiliary mic and speaker?
I found this site...
http://topcctvcameras.co.uk/best-indoor-security-camera-2015/
which seemed useful and I quite like the Nest product as I install the learning thermostat in homes as part of central heating overhauls and do like the build of these units.
However, it's wifi based and whilst feasible in my setup (I have a WLAN in the lodge and in the house and they are 'bridged' via the hardwiring that's underground) I'd rather my budget go towards camera quality as it's not a problem for me to have the camera hardwired at the lodge end and then use our phones at the house end, over the wifi!
So, in short, how would you do it?

 

[OwainDIYer]

If the Nest does what you want then go for it, but its a subscription base for the recording and I dislike closed proprietory systems.

The opposite would be open source with a Rasp Pi and a camera board.

 

[dilalio]

I get the gist of what you're saying... it's like IOS vs Android, but unless there's a step by step guide online somewhere on how to set this up then I'd be asking lots of questions and likely investing time I have little of!
I'm intrigued though... going the open source route with the Raspberry and board would be to implement the cloud recording side, yes? It would be useful to have that facility for security. Do I then get a camera with 2-way audio on board or do it all via a Pi?

 

[CChris]

We wanted a camera with 2 way audio to use as a baby monitor as the range wasn't good enough on the usual baby monitor cameras we had.

We went with a Foscam C1. Its cheap enough at around £50, and will work over your current network. We use a spare iPad or phone etc and an app called OWLR to connect to the camera, it has an on screen button to let you talk to the camera.

I have seen there may be the possibility to connect these to a CCTV system using ONVIF. Im about to try with my avigilon server to see if it is indeed possible to do this, Ill report back.

EDIT: Although the camera has ONVIF, it appears that my avigilon server wont use connectto it as a standard ONVIF device, so your mileage may vary depending on what cctv system you are wanting to connect it to.

 

[dilalio]

Cheers Chris.
Just been looking at the Foscam site, seems a mid range product between the Chinese-cheapies and the Hikvision range but they still force you to use their own subscription based cloud recording. I am tempted to just take a punt on one of the eBay imports for @£25 and just see what their like! It's no real loss if it turns out to be poor - like most electronic products, it's hard to evaluate them until you've tinkered around with them!