Would you like to write up a review of Blue Iris for our blog?
If so, send it to me and be sure to write up a byline to include that explains who you are, and who you are with and contact info, website, etc.

I checked out your company’s site and it seems we are in the same line of business, separated by a state!

First, I assume WiFi is available locally where the cams are installed and share the same network. This isn’t always the case, but for my example below let’s assume a few cams were added to a small office data network and it’s a simple basic install.

Use IP CAM VIEWER’s “Group” feature.

In my example, I use it to define the same cameras twice – one way if I’m at the location where the cams are installed – and the other if I’m NOT at the location where the cams are installed. In my scenario, 2 “Groups” are setup – which I can “Recall” either the group named “Local” or the other named “Off-site”.

The same 6 cams are configured in each group, the local group uses the direct local IP scheme for each cam such as 10.10.10.XXX – and the off-site group uses the internet address port assignments configured in our firewall – such as webcams.networksupport.net:8085 for example (bogus, but for example only). In this example port 8085 might point to local IP Cam 10.10.10.235, port 8086 might point to the cam at 10.10.10.236, and so forth.

If I am at the office using my iPhone and it’s attached to our wifi, I become part of our 10.10.10.XXX network – and select “Recall Group” “Local” – I then get fairly high quality video/audio due to the increased bandwidth and reduced latency.

When I leave the office, I select “Recall Group” “Offsite” – and although I’m no longer on my local 10.10.10.XXX network, I can see my cams from anywhere. If I can attach to wifi such as the home the speed/quality obviously improves.

You could use the group feature several ways, but using wifi helps this app produce better quality.

Now the beauty of Blue Iris and its app, is that these double entries are unnecessary because you only need to define the cams once to your Blue Iris “server” and then that server broadcasts the video/data directly to the Blue Iris phone apps or to the internet via its internal web server – and it’s done with a level or two of security. There are another hundred great things the Blue Iris system does too…

While IP CAM Viewer and the Blue Iris APP are similar, they are also unique enough to warrant having both available. I use both regularly, and perhaps after Ken @ BI makes additional changes I’ll only use Blue Iris – but having both can be beneficial, especially when troubleshooting these systems, and these are cheap apps.

ALSO – ONLY buy the Blue Iris app if you have the full blown Blue Iris system – without it you’ve got nothing so don’t do that.

As this whole page is really about Robert Chou’s IP CAM Viewer, get it – you’ll use it, appreciate it. Blue Iris is awesome too – but it’s a comprehensive system where the other is a basic viewer.

One last thing… watch all those little buttons on IP CAM Viewer. You can easily turn on/off things like infrared with an accidental touch – which may affect the cam output going into the Blue Iris system.

You have helped put Ken’s product offering back on my list to check out… May drop him a line via Facebook (I kinda stalk him on there) just to let him know you are out fighting the good fight for him.

We reviewed several packages over the period of about a month before selecting Blue Iris – and at that point the selection was very easy… Blue Iris blew away any competitor – and the cost is extremely reasonable. Cost was not a factor during our evals, but was a pleasant surprise at purchase – roughly $50, and the phone apps are roughly $10 each.

We are fairly technical as you might expect a computer networking technical service firm should be, and as such we felt Ken was owed some direct feedback from us after we did our install. He appreciated getting positive feedback.

These developers spend all day answering questions and often deal with people who are a bit in over their heads. He was very appreciative of us providing a brief synopsis of how our installation went. We have also provided some unsolicited input as far as minor things we would like to see, and he responded quickly that those were already in the works.

So, in a nutshell – Ken responds to his emails in a timely manner, his software is a “steal”, and his software is very comprehensive. He also listens for what people want, and implements those ideas.

As I mentioned before, for a quick IP Cam phone app that is very reasonably priced and probably does more than you need, Robert Chou’s IP Cam Viewer is worth upgrading from the Lite to Pro version.

If you seek that complete solution that integrates the cams with secure internet web access from anywhere, DVR type recording of cameras with virtually any schedule of trip method AND portable hand held controls (Phone Apps) – then Blue Iris without a second thought.

Thanks for your comments!

We also user Blue Iris software as the hub of our in-house surveillance system and that is simply awesome. They are working on the listen/talk feature but other than that it has an Phone app too that gives the user virtually total control over their fleet of IP cams. We can access the cams or video clips via the web interface from any pc, or the phone apps, or the actual console (pc dedicated to running Blue Iris as a service).

We encourage serious IP cam surveillance shoppers (in SW Florida) to stop in and look for yourselves. http://www.networksupport.net

We did a lot of research and tested numerous systems, and the combo of IP CAM VIEWER and BLUE IRIS are the best choices at this point in time.

Thank you Robert Chou! – and also Ken at Blue Iris! Excellent solutions for IP cam video.

It says it is by “NibblesnBits”, but if you read the description, you will see “Written by Robert Chou”.

I’m very surprised you cannot search the app store for “Robert Chou” and find it. But, none the less, the above should get you there. Good luck!

Seems a lot of people must be interested in remotely monitoring their homes and businesses because this post has had 37,212 view since it was originally published.

Not many replies, but lots of views.

The page with the next highest number of views (29,727) is totally unrelated. It’s about The Rocky Horror Show (a musical).

#3 is about hard drive prices with 28,885 views.
#4 Cisco product review with 28,122
#5 An Apple virus, trojan, worm post with 28,091
#6 Another video surveillance post with 27,478

So, I wonder, since two of the most popular items relate to video security, should I blog about more video surveillance related topics? Hrmmm

Comments?

If you can possibly afford it, aim for IP cameras over CCTV, otherwise, get what you can afford.

Zmodo and their offshoots are as reliable as they come for inexpensive import camera systems available at Costco. And they work great with the IP Cam Viewer.

BTW: I don’t think I am aware of any camera system that is not somewhat compatible now. The author continues to add drivers and support so just about anything you get will work.

A tip to anyone who has an off-brand camera system that doesn’t have drivers or support in IP Cam Viewer – Try to find out who actually made the camera system. Most of the cheaper systems are made by a handful of manufacturers and just rebranded, so you can use the Zmodo drivers on a NightOwl, etc.

Good luck!

Unfortunately, I don’t think Robert follows this thread. I’m not the author of the app, just a big fan myself!
We use it at our office, for our home, and many of our clients use it too. It is the absolute best app on iPad or Android that I have been able to find.

For the PC< I have something that might work for you!

A friend of mine, Ken Pletzer, has a PC application that could do what you want, and you can find it here:

http://blueirissoftware.com/