Panoramic cameras and Blue Iris

[MerkMan]

Hi all,
I'm looking for recommendations for an inexpensive 180-degree camera with low light, (no IR) capability that works with BI. Also any info on how dewarping works with BI. Thanks in advance for any help y'all can offer.

[Thixotropic]

I can't offer any help on de-warping, but there are a few wide angle cameras out there that would fit your needs.

I use a couple of these for a composite wide-angle view: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06ZYS1TL8/

They've got decent resolution (1920 x 1080p at 30 FPS with H.264), a nice wide view (150 degrees) and have decent (but not great) night vision. Powered by PoE or 12 adapter, comes with connectors for power, mic, and an RJ45 plug.

The biggest drawback in my opinion is that there's no onboard SD card, but other than that it's a decent little cam for $69.

[MikeBwca]

How does the digital zoom work? Does it allow panning left/right & up/down? Can you control the zoom via BI?
Also, does BI 'Find Inspect' find the camera successfully?

[Thixotropic]

How does the digital zoom work? Does it allow panning left/right & up/down? Can you control the zoom via BI?
Also, does BI 'Find Inspect' find the camera successfully?

1) It's a basic digital zoom that degrades as you push in.
2) I can pan it in BI after zooming in, similar to other fixed-optics cameras.
3) Yes, you can control the zoom in BI.
4) Yes, BI found it with no trouble. I used this connection string: rtsp://admin:<password>@192.168.x.x/11

It's also pretty compact- 70mm dia with a 50mm lens/illuminator.

[MikeBwca]

Thank you. I may get a few to test out.

[Thixotropic]

I'm happier with them than I expected to be. I can put two facing 90° from each other and get a full panoramic image covering everything.

If they just made a model with an SD card slot it would be perfect, but it's okay as-is.

[Matts1984]

Purely curious, and it may be a silly question, but why the desire for an SD card slot? I honestly don't know what I'd be using one for with BI running.

[Thixotropic]

It's a last-chance backup.

The house may catch fire or be burglarized, my NAS may fail, melt into a blob, or get stolen, and even my online storage may somehow get nuked, but the SD card in the camera itself should survive even a major fire (the outside cameras only, I'd guess).

Unless the camera is torn off the house and taken away, there should be some sort of record on the card showing something.

[Matts1984]

Gotcha.... completely makes sense now to use security screws, wrap a hardened cable around it, and configure BI to remotely operate a flame thrower.

Oh install one of these roughly 8' away. Any would-be villain would have a 50-50 chance of removing the right one first.

False Camera - totally legit.jpg (29.37 KiB) Viewed 8303 times