Ubiquiti AirCam / AirVision

L

ltickett

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jul 27, 2000
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As suggested by ciggwin i've started a separate thread to collate all the info, samples, experience etc with the Ubiquiti line of IP cameras: AirCam, AirCam Dome and AirCam Mini.

I'll start off with a summary of the three blog posts i've made:


AirCam in the back garden:





AirCam Dome on the garage





Software enhancements





A few video clips:

Garage AirDome: http://tickett.net/downloads/Garage.20120308.073306.mp4
Front of House AirCam:http://tickett.net/downloads/FrontGarden.20120308.115240.mp4
Back Garden AirCam: http://tickett.net/downloads/BackGarden.20120305.093949.mp4

A few things i've learnt:

AirCam Dome is not meant to be used outdoor- woops :)
Latest software should always be used available as a stick post at the top of the official forum: http://forum.ubnt.com/forumdisplay.php?f=70
All Ubiquiti hardware (not limited to the AirCams) use a bespoke POE not 802.3af compatible (special 802.3af adapters are available)
The AirVision software eats quite a lot of resources (in windows at least)- i've yet to try the linux flavour

Let me know if you want me to add anything to this first post or if you have any questions.

L
 
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You can build a case for that AirCam Dome to keep it mounted like that.

I never understood why people built cages around normal AirCams to protect from vandalism. Just build a Dome into a box and put a bigger plexiglass/acrylic dome to shield the camera.
 
That aircam dome is going to fail. It looks like it's installed in the UK, I'm guessing here. Anyway, it's going to get snow and water between the camera and the wall. When it freezes and thaws, that will force water into the camera body and destroy it. Even cameras that are made for exterior installation require careful installation with proper sealant. Installing cameras against brick is always tough because of how uneven the surface is.

The fact that they don't do standard 802.3af POE is frankly baffling.
 
Yes- it's in the UK. I'm going to attempt to "self-weatherproof" it. I don't really have any interest in mounting cameras inside.
 
Thanks for posting this. By the way, your neighbor is cute. I've been looking at some cameras for the house I plan to buy soon, and you've really shed some light on these Ubiquiti products.
 
I have having real heartburn with the NVR and AirVision software right now. The memory leak issue appears to have been fixed in the NVR 1.1.0 (beta 5) release but AirVision is still flaky.
 
ltickett: Could you share some video to us/me (PM works). Also, what is the price for the AirCam? They dont have prices on their site.
 
NotSoSimple said:
ltickett: Could you share some video to us/me (PM works). Also, what is the price for the AirCam? They dont have prices on their site.
Click to expand...

You don't buy direct. Google shopping has a ton of listings.
 
I'm not sure to be honest. I think it's because i've set mine to record at 15 fps and the video is running at 30 fps. Not something i'm too fussed about at the moment.

The latest beta8 has brought stability to the system which is what i've been most looking forward to :) There have been a number of new features but i like to see it stable first then start to introduce new features.

Also a warning to anyone looking at purchasing the AirCam- i would hold back at the moment as i think the mounting bracket is being redesigned (pretty useless under strong winds and the adjustment "notches" are far too disparate) and also the housing (some have had issues where it has cracked possible due to temperature changes? and several others have experienced issues with water getting in). I get the impression a v2 might be in the pipeline...
 
I was just looking at an AirCam (3 of them to be exact) If you hear any further update on a V2 please let us know... also thanks for the feedback on the software... does it work only with their devices or can other genric cameras be added to the mix?
 
dr.diesel
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kaleb
Interesting results. I was thinking of using a quad-core i7 Mac Mini server and striping across the hard drives for this pilot. I'd love to put up 75 or so cams total, I hope there's a new hardware revision in the pipeline that will allow for that..

There is, NVR2 will be out in a few months and is supposed to help with performance.
 
Panzer: Can you post or PM some sample clips?

I still cant decide.. I finally found some more day/night shots with the AirCam. One looks great, the other looks completely grainy. Almost wondering if I should just buy a decent 720p webcam and make a housing for it.
 
what are some good ip cams that are outdoor ones? im looking to get some good ones work well in low light and night time and in the day and would id a thief if they brake in again
 
jjeff1 said:
That aircam dome is going to fail. It looks like it's installed in the UK, I'm guessing here. Anyway, it's going to get snow and water between the camera and the wall. When it freezes and thaws, that will force water into the camera body and destroy it. Even cameras that are made for exterior installation require careful installation with proper sealant. Installing cameras against brick is always tough because of how uneven the surface is.

The fact that they don't do standard 802.3af POE is frankly baffling.
Click to expand...

So these wont work with say a Dell 3524P switch then.... mm i was considering buying these for our office since i already have PoE switches for our PBX system
 
jjeff1 said:
That aircam dome is going to fail. It looks like it's installed in the UK, I'm guessing here. Anyway, it's going to get snow and water between the camera and the wall. When it freezes and thaws, that will force water into the camera body and destroy it. Even cameras that are made for exterior installation require careful installation with proper sealant. Installing cameras against brick is always tough because of how uneven the surface is.

The fact that they don't do standard 802.3af POE is frankly baffling.
Click to expand...

I agree, why would anyone build a new POE piece of equipment that does not support 802.3af? If they need more power than 15W I can understand but these do not. Having to purchase and use an injector defeats a lot of there reason to have POE. Besides cabling having a single managed POE source reduces cabling and is more efficient that several POE injectors.

Doesn't the same company do this with there WIFI APs?
 
m1abram said:
I agree, why would anyone build a new POE piece of equipment that does not support 802.3af? If they need more power than 15W I can understand but these do not. Having to purchase and use an injector defeats a lot of there reason to have POE. Besides cabling having a single managed POE source reduces cabling and is more efficient that several POE injectors.

Doesn't the same company do this with there WIFI APs?
Click to expand...

Yes - I think they are finally moving over to 802.3af.

I have a few Nanostations, RocketM's and a pair of NanoBridges, they all require that stupid brick. The ONLY reason I can 'tolerate' this is because the products are so good and so cheap on all other planes.
 
they make a poe adapter its like 20 bucks and sits inline with teh poe swithc. still fraction of hte price of anything else.
 
marley1 said:
they make a poe adapter its like 20 bucks and sits inline with teh poe swithc. still fraction of hte price of anything else.
Click to expand...

Yet the market they are going for is businesses with lots of POE devices, having to use a dongle is generally a no-go. Price is not really the issue, its management costs and inventory costs and just the PITA part of dealing with several dozen $20 parts.
 
The aircam domes feature an sd card interface. Anyone solely use this method to locally store the video feed or as a backup in addition to over ether? I have some environments where there is no network and would appreciate these cams if they operated with the least amount of management and input. If I mounted a cam with an sd card would it require manual configuring to start recording to sd card? What about after a power outage, restart, or replacing the sd card? Anyone successfully review the stored video from sd card on a pc thru a card reader without using ubnt software?

Thanks
 
Those cameras look as if they are really high quality. I hope the high resolution will scare armed criminals away from your government disarmed home in the UK.

Now dont those come with PoE injectors of some kind so you dont need a PoE switch?
 
marley1 said:
they make a poe adapter its like 20 bucks and sits inline with teh poe swithc. still fraction of hte price of anything else.
Click to expand...

m1abram said:
Yet the market they are going for is businesses with lots of POE devices, having to use a dongle is generally a no-go. Price is not really the issue, its management costs and inventory costs and just the PITA part of dealing with several dozen $20 parts.
Click to expand...

yup, exactly, you now introduce one more piece into the puzzle for no real reason, i was about to buy 11 of these camera's, but not any more when there are other options for PoE camera's that work with my $700 Dell PoE switches.
 
MrGuvernment said:
yup, exactly, you now introduce one more piece into the puzzle for no real reason, i was about to buy 11 of these camera's, but not any more when there are other options for PoE camera's that work with my $700 Dell PoE switches.
Click to expand...

Interesting. What did you buy?
 
klank said:
Holy resurrecting a dead thread!
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LOL... exactly. I was ready to drop money on 3 Ubiquiti aircams, but started reading this thread and I held off. I am curious about the new cam software (up to version 1.3) and whether they fixed the memory leak issues. Also-- since it has been 5+ months more use, there may be some new perspectives on this. Time is cool like that.

The gripes about the PoE.... I get it, but for most home users or light-business use, I don't think dealing with a couple of dongles will make much difference. If it works and is reliable, then why would you ever mess with it again? From my POV, I can buy a cheaper non PoE switch to use with this equipment since they include the injectors for each cam.
 
I have one of these cams on the back of my house. It sucks, all pixelated at decent screen size
 
wow, i was exactly looking for some cam suggestions and reviews on these AirCam... anyone else had some pictures ? Looking for some night/low light shots pictures...

Thanks !
 
AirCam-Test-111012.jpg


 
klank-- that looks quite a bit worse than the cam examples from the original post. It makes me wonder if there is something in your setup that needs to be tweaked perhaps?
 
sdkidx said:
klank-- that looks quite a bit worse than the cam examples from the original post. It makes me wonder if there is something in your setup that needs to be tweaked perhaps?
Click to expand...

If there is I haven't found it.
 
frankly their cam systems seem like.. well pure crap... low quality cams or parts or something, their AP's are awesome, i think they should stick to that buisness.
 
MrGuvernment said:
frankly their cam systems seem like.. well pure crap... low quality cams or parts or something, their AP's are awesome, i think they should stick to that buisness.
Click to expand...

What are some decent alternatives for the same price point?
 
Oddly enough I found DLink Camera's to be pretty good considering the money. However their software and dvr nas sucks!
 
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