I've always wanted a camera just so I can see what's going outside,,, bears, deer, that kind of thing. It's distracting while cloistered away in the studio to think you just heard something. I have very few windows as that would have required dormers, So I have to go downstairs to investigate. A camera is on my wish list, but I want to mount it on the peak of the roof. 
  
Dogs do keep people away. It's sad that city people would have large dogs locked up in a house just for this purpose.   
. Anyhow consider this over picking up dog crap and $50 a month for food and vet bills. . 
http://www.x10.com/products/pk9000_deal.htm 
This retailer seems to have a lot of cameras too. Prices seem good. 

Bitflipper: I clicked on the camera picture but my malware program blocked it. I am very interested in getting some cameras as well. Years ago I bought 3 Toshiba (pan, zoom, tilt) wireless B ip cameras which could also record audio....never could get the audio to work properly and despite the fact that Toshiba claimed a 30 frame per second rate, I only got around 8 per second.......the videos would be choppy (as opposed to recording someone on a regular video camera) and the cameras were around $600 a piece.........I could check the surveillance from a separate pc (these cameras were way before smart phones, ipads, etc.)

I'd love some info on what cameras are popular today

i'm looking at you right now, thru that camera.

Well, uh, what's the link?
 
Might save a whole lot of Q and A if we noob's could just watch while you work  We'll need audio too though.
 
A win-win...hey, I think we may be on to something here....
 
(Just kidding of course.)

The camera supports two-way audio, but I haven't hooked up that part yet. Suspiciously, it's my wife that keeps bugging me to do so. I think she wants to be able to nag me on her lunch break at work.

Here's another link, to Amazon's page.

Well, I did find a weakness in the product. It does not automatically turn on the infrared light, as evidenced by the fascinating collection of black squares accumulating on my ftp server. You have to explicitly enable the IR, but there is no indicator to tell whether it's on or off. 

They really ought to add an option to turn the IR on automatically before taking motion-initiated pictures. The good news is that the camera's software is updateable, so if the product is still being actively developed there is a chance that new features could be added.

This was snapped this morning, unbeknownst to me until I saw it on my ftp server.

These cams are available on AMAZON. Search Foscam F1982 and you can find them..... 

I just ordered one to play with. If it works well, I'll be selling the Honeywell cam I currently have,  on Ebay and shutting down the monthly service.... 

BTW: the phone app is free...and for android it's called Camviewer.  I learned more about this from a Youtube video than I did from the Foscam company web site.  In the video I saw, I thought they said the IR came on automatically in the dark but that it was manually controllable as well...and it is accessed through the software on computer and phone. 

Thanks Dave for the info on this. 

I was mistaken about my earlier complaint about the infrared light source. 

It actually turns itself on automatically in low light - if it's enabled. Turns itself off in bright light. But turning it off manually turns it off completely, making the camera useless in the dark. I now have the IR enabled all the time, but have verified that it turns itself off when not needed. RTFM! 
 
BTW, even though the IR is not visible to the eye, it does show up in the viewer of a digital camera or cellphone camera. That's how you can check to see if it's on or not.

bitflipper



BTW, even though the IR is not visible to the eye, it does show up in the viewer of a digital camera or cellphone camera. That's how you can check to see if it's on or not.

I use my cell phone camera to check the TV remote if I suspect it is not working properly. Handy tip to remember. 

Anyone have outside cameras? I think these Foscams are okay for inside but I think it's also prudent to have cameras around the perimiter of the house, building, etc.
Would love to get some feedback on this. I inquired about ADT cameras (since I'm an alarm customer) but they're really expensive.