Apex Webcam

[jackson6745]

Looking for a web cam that can show a very clear image of the tank. I took a look at the dropcam's and their image was pretty poor. Can't see any detail. I appreciate any recommendations.

 

[fredro]

There are a few different dropcam models. My friend has one on his tank. It's not run through an apex, just has its own address and when I look at it from my house, wether on my phone or laptop, the image is always exceptionally clear. I'm not sure which model he has, but knowing him, it's likely the top of the line. The software seems quite user friendly and I'm pretty sure they're integrated into EcoSmart Live now too.

 

[Reefinny]

Rich I have not used it but the drop cam pro is supposed to be very good and HD quality - I was thinking about picking one up.

 

[Weicowireman]

I would just use a IP camera. I plan on buying two, one for the sump and one for the tank so I can always see what's going on.

 

[jackson6745]

Rich I have not used it but the drop cam pro is supposed to be very good and HD quality - I was thinking about picking one up.

That's the one I was looking at. The image looked good if you were using it for a wide security surveillance, but at 3-4x zoom looking at a tank, the image quality was poor. Something like 240p resolution.

 

[Reefinny]

Good to know before I drop $200 on it....

 

[crox99]

Is anyone using a Foscam?

 

[LatinP]

You want something with an optical zoom. Resolution is nice but severely over-hyped especially when when you take a big image and digitally zoom in on a small area. It doesn't look good at all. Another thing to take into consideration is how well the lens preforms in low light AND high light situations, especially during the day when you have your tank lights on.

In my opinion although not cheap I think the cam I linked below blows the dropcam pro out of the water. You can get better but we'd be entering the surveillance camera domain and I'm not sure if it would just be a plug and play setup with the Apex. Oh yeah it also comes with a remote and can be moved around and all the gimmicks that come with that. I look for quality > toys but this has the best of both worlds.

http://www.logitech.com/assets/43296/conference-cam-standard-brochure.ENG.pdf

 

[Jzdad]

Is anyone using a Foscam?

I have been using the Foscam FI8910w ( for over 18 months ) and I've had no problems with it and it's about 2 to 3 feet from tank picture is good enough and it zoom is ok and the price is very good I plan to get a few more

 

[Jlavine]

Foscam was crappy for me. If you have a spare iPhone around, you can try the app Presence for free, but not the best video quality.

 

[jackson6745]

I am leaving for the weekend and wanted to have a camera on the tank. Best buy was limited on the in store selection so I bought a dropcam pro for now. Simple to get running but as expected, image quality is poor. For an overall view where I have to zoom in to see the sump or tank it's not clear at all. If I place it 2ft from the tank then I can see inside the tank fairly clear.... Still no where near "HD" as advertised.
I will likely be returning this after the weekend.

Image from 5ft back
IMG_1491 by rich.colombo, on Flickr

zoomed in from 5ft
IMG_1490 by rich.colombo, on Flickr

tank image only from 2ft back
IMG_1493 by rich.colombo, on Flickr

 

[Reefinny]

Rich I like your tank. I see what you mean on the zoom though. Bummer

 

[Jzdad]

Nice set up, I think it all about how close you place it, when you are close you get clear shots of the tank but unable to see the other stuff (stand, sump) I saw someone that had 2 inexpensive cameras one inside the stand and one outside for the tank so he got clear pictures on both

 

[jackson6745]

Another thing that I discovered is that you are not able to get a live feed on your apex dashboard with the dropcam. It only capable of showing and updated image every time that you log in To view the live feed you must be on drop cams interface.

 

[LatinP]

That's because that's all the Apex has ever been capable of. To get a true progressive stream you'd to stream the video through something like an rmtp or hls server and may even need to re-encode it depending on the webcam you use.

The Apex "stream" is nothing but a few snapshots every second, like the stuff we used back in the 90s for commercial cc video surveillance. They don't have a choice but to use that, otherwise they'd need a hardware encoder for compatibility and a progressive streamer built in, that's not going to happen.

 

[jackson6745]

That's because that's all the Apex has ever been capable of. To get a true progressive stream you'd to stream the video through something like an rmtp or hls server and may even need to re-encode it depending on the webcam you use.

The Apex "stream" is nothing but a few snapshots every second, like the stuff we used back in the 90s for commercial cc video surveillance. They don't have a choice but to use that, otherwise they'd need a hardware encoder for compatibility and a progressive streamer built in, that's not going to happen.

It's a little misleading when you looks at the fusion advertisement with is listed capabilities. Not a big deal though since the image is larger on dropcams site anyway

 

[LatinP]

It's no different than their claims of having a cloud based server, that cloud server doesn't exist, it's actually your network doing all the work. A true cloud server would involve them having dedicated off-site servers with your configuration, firmware revisions and backups on their hardware. They toss as many fancy words around as they can and hope the end user doesn't have a clue what they actually mean. The only true innovation in fusion is that they can push updates directly to the module, that's about it.

 

[Widdy]

Not sure why the limitation is being dumped onto Apex when it's been documented that the limitation of snapshot only is on Dropcam -- https://forum.neptunesystems.com/sh...-a-DropCam-with-APEX-Fusion&p=50285#post50285

I've used the Foscam 8910W and it's motion, albeit crappy quality. Since I have several old unused Android's, I've turned one into webcam with https://play.google.com/store/apps/...lt#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5wYXMud2ViY2FtIl0 and looks pretty darn good at 1280x720. However I lose tilt/pan capabilities.

As for Fusion, the elimination of needing NAT/Port Forwarding by the avg. Joe is a godsend. No more SMTP addresses/SSL ports? Yes please!

 

[ReefBum]

I recently added a new Nest Cam (Drop Cam was the old version of the camera). It is great for monitoring your sump or the tank but I would not use it as a live stream for the public. Extremely easy to setup.....essentially plug and play. You can see my review here.

https://youtu.be/V4axd7Db-ic

 

[DEL]

i have the foscam. i like that it can pan and tilt and rotate. never really focused too much on tank shots though. but i just check to make sure that tank is still running hehehe, as well as no strangers in the house. ive been looking at the NEST cam, which i think is the dropcam with the new name. still not sure if i want to get something better for something simple.