Looking for a simple consumer CCTV solution - view Room A from Room B
May 4, 2017 10:14 PM   Subscribe

I run a small 60-seat theatre, with a separate bar/lobby/reception area. I'd like a way to show a single camera feed of what's happening on stage, live (or with a minimal delay) to the television we have mounted in the lobby. This is not for security purposes, just to enhance our customer and front of house employee experience. Snowflake details inside.

Among other things it'd help our Front of House staff know when it's a good time in the show to let latecomers in to take their seats. The television has standard modern inputs, HDMI, etc.

We already have a multi-camera Dropcam (now Nest) security solution that sends wide angle shots of each room to the cloud, which I can view on my phone or computer.

Unfortunately none of the angles we're currently taping are appropriate for this new project, so with any solution I'll need a new camera and angle - Ideally I'd mount a single new non-cloud camera somewhere with a view of the stage but not the audience.

Non-cloud as I'd prefer a solution that doesn't involve uploading the footage to a remote server on the internet and then immediately downloading it, as our bandwidth is limited enough with our current multi-camera Dropcam setup. I just want the video transmitted between two rooms inside of the venue. No backup of that footage required.

A single camera is all I need, I see lots of 4-8 camera packs that aren't going to be of use.

I'd prefer a wireless solution to a wired one. Something that makes use of our internal wifi network or generates it's own network between the cameras and receiver is desired.

There's no requirement that the footage is backed up, although I notice many consumer options have cameras sending wifi signals to boxes with built-in DVRs, that have HDMI outputs. As long as these allow for live viewing I can simply ignore or disable the DVR functionality.

Does anyone have any reasonably-priced recommendations? I'm a bit overwhelmed by all of the options when I search, especially as most of the options seem overkill with the security features.

Thanks!
posted by adamk to Technology (2 answers total)
 
I've seen discussions about this on MeFi, mostly centering on baby monitoring. There have been security issues with some of the cameras, especially Foscam. Maybe they've been fixed; I don't know.

I think the general category is called "IP Cam (or Camera)" . You would need a separate computer and monitor on the viewing end. The computer doesn't have to be at all powerful.

An issue that I foresee is that most of the cameras you will find are pretty wide-angle to get coverage in a living room or bedroom situation. From the back of a theater, the stage would be vanishingly small.
posted by SemiSalt at 8:36 AM on May 5, 2017


You don't mention what you consider reasonably-priced, but this: http://www.nyrius.com/wireless-hd-video-transmitter-receiver

Plus this: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1170324-REG/xiaomi_yi_sport_camera_with.html

Are under $250 and should get you exactly what you need.
posted by jferg at 8:55 AM on May 5, 2017


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