Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Any non-clouded Webcams? 5
simpz writes: Does anyone know of a fairly inexpensive webcam that doesn't depend on a cloud service?
A few years ago you could buy a cheap webcam (with the usual pan/tilt and IR), for about $50, that was fully manageable from a web browser. Nowadays the web interfaces are limited in functionality (or non-existent) or you need a phone app that doesn't work well (maybe only working through a cloud service). I've even seen a few cheap ones that still need ActiveX to view the video in a web browser, really people!
I'd like to avoid a cloud service for privacy, and to allow this to operate on the LAN with no Internet connection present. Even a webcam where you can disable the cloud connection outbound would be fine and allow you to use it fully locally.
I guess the issue is this has become a niche thing that the ease of a cloud service connection probably wins for most people, other considerations don't really matter to them.
Also had a brief look at a Raspberry Pi solution, but didn't see anything like a small webcam form factor (with pan/tilt etc).
Or are there any third party firmwares for a commercial webcams (sort of a OpenWRT,DD-WRT,LineageOS style project for webcams), that could provide direct local access only via web browser (and things like RTSP) ?
A few years ago you could buy a cheap webcam (with the usual pan/tilt and IR), for about $50, that was fully manageable from a web browser. Nowadays the web interfaces are limited in functionality (or non-existent) or you need a phone app that doesn't work well (maybe only working through a cloud service). I've even seen a few cheap ones that still need ActiveX to view the video in a web browser, really people!
I'd like to avoid a cloud service for privacy, and to allow this to operate on the LAN with no Internet connection present. Even a webcam where you can disable the cloud connection outbound would be fine and allow you to use it fully locally.
I guess the issue is this has become a niche thing that the ease of a cloud service connection probably wins for most people, other considerations don't really matter to them.
Also had a brief look at a Raspberry Pi solution, but didn't see anything like a small webcam form factor (with pan/tilt etc).
Or are there any third party firmwares for a commercial webcams (sort of a OpenWRT,DD-WRT,LineageOS style project for webcams), that could provide direct local access only via web browser (and things like RTSP) ?
Recommendation for cheap reliability (Score:2)
These were old-ish cameras, 640x480, 30fps and tolerable low light performance. Unfortunately don't support h.264, so they won't work with the Axis phone app.
I haven't used any of their newer cameras, but I previously investigated Axis M1011 to replace the a
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No ActiveX rubbish
Web interface for configuration
The older ones don't even have any cloudy stuff built-in
Biggest downsides I see:
Works best with their "Axis Camera Station" which is expensive for > 1 camera.
Configuring ZoneMinder is somewhat involved; perhaps other free DVR software is better, but I haven't looked.
Used hardware is somewhat of a gamble, but I've found Axis quality to be consistently high.
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