HeneryH wrote: ↑Sun Nov 26, 2023 9:37 pm I'm guessing there are some miscommunications with respect to requiring internet. More likely there require an IP Network and a LAN sans WAN would be OK.

Unfortunately there is no confusion on this point. I am a network engineer with Cisco certifications. Phone app absolutely requires Internet before the app allows progression to configuration of the camera, even requires signup. Then app will talk to the Camera, begin to configure it, join it to the chosen SSID, DHCPs and instructs the camera to phone home but on failure to contact mothership the config reverts and states failure with no other options. The camera cannot be configured UNLESS and UNTIL the camera phones home at least once, which will not be practical for installation OR maintenance.

A bit of curiosity turned up a great thread over on ipct about the Tapo cams with a reference to the Amcrest 841 even thrown in for good measure. Neither require internet access for initial configuration or subsequent operation, including ongoing communication with their respective phone apps in a wi-fi environmment. Very cool. I may order a couple now just because! LOL

A perfect thread for your purpose. Could almost have been started by you...

https://ipcamtalk.com/threads/blue-iris ... ity.66946/

GaryBlanston wrote: ↑Tue Nov 28, 2023 1:46 am

HeneryH wrote: ↑Sun Nov 26, 2023 9:37 pm I'm guessing there are some miscommunications with respect to requiring internet. More likely there require an IP Network and a LAN sans WAN would be OK.

Unfortunately there is no confusion on this point. I am a network engineer with Cisco certifications. Phone app absolutely requires Internet before the app allows progression to configuration of the camera, even requires signup. Then app will talk to the Camera, begin to configure it, join it to the chosen SSID, DHCPs and instructs the camera to phone home but on failure to contact mothership the config reverts and states failure with no other options. The camera cannot be configured UNLESS and UNTIL the camera phones home at least once, which will not be practical for installation OR maintenance.

OK, I would still suggest there is a lot of misunderstanding, maybe not with you specifically. But in your case, I would never buy those cameras. LAN setup and Onvif only for me.

HeneryH wrote: ↑Sun Nov 26, 2023 9:37 pmOK, I would still suggest there is a lot of misunderstanding, maybe not with you specifically. But in your case, I would never buy those cameras. LAN setup and Onvif only for me.

I agree, there's just something not right about having a security camera REQUIRE phoning home for ANYTHING. Optional user <-> Cloud stuff is fine as an option, just shouldn't be required.

Amcrest arrived and decided to test it instead of just sending back. Also ordered 2 other different brand of cameras based on the above advice (and they were so cheap on Cyber Monday), will post results of those as well.

Pogo, thank you for that link, will review. Will be hoarding all this information.

But testing Amcrest and am liking the setup so far. Works great zero Internet.

On a bench, using crossover Ethernet cable and a standalone DHCP server app on the laptop, plugged laptop into camera's Ethernet and powered it on where it immediately DHCP'd from my portable DHCP server and I then immediately was able to browse to the interface and do full configuration. Just how it should be. No app. No cloud communication "required". This laptop is not on the Internet. It appears that I can add the SSID's and other information from that web interface as well, so I should be able to even pre-configure these. Once they ping I'll then work on getting the BI streams going on site.

Also wanted to note that so far 2 of the Foscam cameras were actually not broken, they had bad power supplies. It threw me off because with a bad power supply the Foscam would light just its red light and never POST. I was thinking that a bad power supply would be obvious with no power at all, but in 2 cases right here I have 2 Foscams that sit with a red light on their bad power supplies but work JUST FINE with a known good power supply. Strange.

Still will be testing the cameras though. They're already ordered.

I will get each one running with BI and let you all know how well it worked.

Will post results here, especially since you all were so helpful to me.

Crossover Ethernet cable, not heard or used one of those cables for years

Residual braincell activity from the OSI Model Layer 1 section of a 1998 CCNA course? LOL

(I think I still have the entire series on VHS buried in a closet somewhere..., in case I might need it again someday.)

Go Gary Go !

Just posting to tie up the thread.

Two foscams came back to life with just power supplies, this lowered the urgency and gave me some time to test. ANYONE WITH A FOSCAM WITH A SOLID RED LIGHT, CHECK YOUR POWER SUPPLY as counterintuitive as that sounds.

Have not tested extensively but bench testing results are as follows (bench testing closely resembles on-site testing, no Internet).

1) Found some killer Black Friday deal on the SVBC "HD Camera" list on the 'zon as "SV3C WiFi Camera Outdoor, 1080P ONVIF Conformance Two-Way Audio Security Camera, Motion Detection IP Cameras, Night Vision Surveillance Alarm Cam for Indoor Outdoor, Support Max 128GB SD Card Record", got these for $35 each (bought two). Has pigtails for power/ethernet. Attached Ethernet cable and powered it on and it DHCPd from my test machine, I browsed to it using admin/admin and am able to configure IP and SSID etc. Very happy, no app needed at all. These cameras seem to be metal, solid and heavy. I hope the internal components are as high quality as the outside is, but these are so cheap I guess I won't expect too much.

2) Am also keeping the Amcrest mentioned in previous post, works well. Configured with no Internet or app.

3) The TP-Link Tapo just annoyed me from the start. First, the app is over 260MB apk download. Huge. A quarter of a gig for a camera app? WTF? Second, as soon as I run the app it immediately wants me to set up an account with no option. Now I understand that MAYBE just doing a one-time signup on their app may have allowed me to configure the camera on site without further Internet, that just annoyed me so much that I'm just sending it back because I can use Amcrest and SV3C and not have to deal with an app AT ALL both NOW and in the future. It's also possible that even after signup it may have required the camera go online like others do, not sure. it's going back to Amazon. TP_link, if you're reading this, make your app able to configure the camera WITHOUT needing to sign up for those of us who use these without Internet. Or make the camera have an Ethernet to configure it through.

That's it, thanks for the help all. I likely won't be back unless I need more help unfortunately. Just being honest. I don't work with cameras much and the Blue Iris software seems to be very intuitive and seems to just work well so I don't expect to need help there. Good product.

Have a good holiday.

Have been curious about your endeavor and appreciate the follow up. Good stuff.

Curiosity also got the best of me and I bought a Tapo C110 to play with. I've found the experience quite the opposite from yours. The size of the app being a consideration for the desired end result was of no consequence either way in my situation. The process of obtaining complete autonomous control of the camera with or without the app consisted of simply registering the device with a single connection to the vendor -- presumably to activate what is a very generous two year warranty and not necessarily anything else (if the camera is to be used in a literal CCTV environment) along with the secondary step (and important one) to establish the RTSP login credential of the camera itself as the ONVIF piece for interfacing with third party operations. No internet required and no app necessary to manage the device thereafter...., for twenty bucks a pop and decent Wi-Fi to boot. BTW, the TP-Link app does a lot. It can handle all their stuff including both the Tapo and Kasa product lines. One of the more complete and intuitive efforts out there these days..., especially when it come to simple cheapie cam setups.

I'm keeping mine. Works great as a flu temp monitor for my wood burning furnace and I can control it from any ONVIF managemnt platform including my Amcrest XVRs. Drops right into Blue Iris and looks pretty good at 2K with perfectly acceptable night viewing for the purpose.

Good luck with your project and likewise for the Holiday Wishes.