Just wondering, would a wireless webcam work directly with the wireless router i.e. without the computer being on? If so how would you connect to it remotely?

I am not a techie but have six cameras at this house. They aren't wireless though. They are connected via cat 5 cable which was installed when the place was built in 01 to a Linux digital recorder with a one tig HD. This runs through my desktop machine which runs 24/7 while I'm in AZ. I can access the cameras live and the recordings whenever and wherever I want, on any device, using a program called CMS. In order to have constant access I also go through some sort of IP proxy. This has something to do with my provider changing IP addresses but I have no technical knowledge. All I know is that it has worked like a charm for three years now.

I have 1, it came with directions on how to set it up wireless, took about 10 mins to do following the on screen directions one step at a time.

I access it remotely through the Dlink's website.

I can't tell you how its all set up, I just did what the directions told me to do, and poof it worked...

I have read stories of peoples home web cams being hacked so others can view through them, just a heads up !

I know I lack imagination but I can't see wanting to look at what's happening in my house when no one's there, nevermind looking in someone else's house to see what's happening when I'm not there either.

I suppose it'd be good if you had one of those web enabled garage doors and wanted to watch it open and close while you were in Australia but I don't.

Totally agree but there are some odd people out there lol AND what if you got frisky and forgot about the cams and that appeared on the internet lol

We use it to spy on the hamster. It's wired, though, as the whole house came with Ethernet installed.

At one point, we thought the hamster was on his last legs, as he didn't seem to be getting up, but the next day we found the motion-detection had recorded video of him running in the wheel for a couple of hours, and he was just being an ass and not getting up when we were around.

What you need is an IP Camera. No PC required other than to access their internal web page to set them up.

Avoid VGA ones. 720P or 1080P are the only ones that will pick up useable detail. If you want night vision outside, the camera needs IR LEDS and it needs to be outside, otherwise you will only see a reflection of your window.

PTZ (Pan Tilt Zoom) ones are the most versatile.

I've successfully used indoor ones under eaves, porches and balconies without them suffering any water damage/weather damage.

They are quite easy to set up, however setting up remote viewing can be tricky depending on your Router and ISP.

You can set them up to send you emails when movement is detected - usually with a sequence of 4-6 photos attached.

The ones that are hacked are only hacked because the users don't change the username and password, which are of course the same for every camera usually (admin and password). Change the username and password and hacking is no more likely than anything else being hacked.

This sounds right. I will look into them.

Thanks all.

We have ours to try and figure out how the dog gets out of her crate, but of course since its been there she hasn't done it, she is a little Houdini so I want to catch her in the act to see how she does it, so I can fix it so she cant.

If you want to record you will need a NVR for digital, or a DVD for analogue. (yes you can save memory on to a memery card on Web cams and Ip cams but why would you want to ). Despite what you might here there is nothing wrong with analogue cameras just avoid the low end ones.

To view externally,( not on your Lan) you would have to forward the correct ports on your router. I think you would have to set up a ddns account (which is free) for phone apps and such.

Are you getting ready to make some "educational" home movies ?

Ha. Just the driveway, actually.