security camera internet viewing

[entgunguy]

i am in the process of installing some outdoor cameras around the house which will be routed to a central box in the house. it will be connected to a samsungc264-8se dvr system. my dsl router is downstairs so i was planning on using a wireless bridge to connect the dvr to the internet.

my question is regarding remote viewing either from a computer or iphone/android phone. will i be able to view remotely with my dsl provider using a dynamic ip address or do i need to create a dynamic dns account/website?

when reading the dvr set up manual it does state to enable dhcp on the dvr and router but i am not sure is that enough for viewing from my phone.

thanks

[five.five-six]

you will need a DDNS and probably enable port forwarding. also, DSL, <ADSL> is an acronym, for asynchronous digital subscriber link.... the asynchronous part is what may give you problems with remote picture quality. I highly recommend a hardwire connection from your DVR to your switch/router

[entgunguy]

this is probably a stupid question but do i need to keep a laptop running 24 hours to update the ddns regarding IP address changes or will the dvr automatically do that?

[ke6guj]

this is probably a stupid question but do i need to keep a laptop running 24 hours to update the ddns regarding IP address changes or will the dvr automatically do that?

it depends on what equipment you have. Can you install a DDNS client on the DVR? or, depending on your router, it might have a DDNS client built in that can update DDNS as needed. Otherwise, for DDNS to always be accurate, you'd need to have thelaptop running 24/7 to continually update. but since your dynamic IP address shouldn't change all the time, if your laptop was turned off in the evenings, it probably wouldn't be a big deal. there just could be times where your DDNS wouldn't be updated.

[Zachs300zx]

I've used this service for the dynamic DNS. It was free before, looks like they may charge a little now. But it works well. Still cheaper than a static IP in most cases.

http://dyn.com/dns/

LiveCams app for the iPhone works great for most common cameras.

Good luck

[ke6guj]

my DDNS setup is a little complicated. I own my own domain name ($10/year) and use zoneedit.com as my DNS service (free for 2 domains). I then use DirectUpdate ($25 one-time fee) to run on my PC to dynamically update zoneedit with my current IP address.

[ExtremeX]

I also have my own domain name and a static IP at home so it works out really well.

DDNS isn't a hard service to use, and its free. Some firewalls have a DDNS option to update DynDNS w/o running an updater locally on a system.

If your home firewall has a VPN option, even if its PPTP, IPSec is better, than use it, its a lot better than poking holes in your firewall for port forwarding. It also allows you access to other resources on your network like remote desktop in a little more secure fashion.

All of my network services and IP cameras are only accessible via various types of VPNs. IPSec and SSL to be specific.

[NiMiK]

You can install teamviewer on one of your home computers and do a remote log in that way. Its free and doesnt require any forwarding on your router. If you dont have a system to do this then DDNS is also good.

[entgunguy]

got the system installed. used a netgear powerline ethernet adapter which runs the signal through the power lines. used no-ip.com which offers free service for dynamic dns hosting. the website offers a download onto my laptop which will update my IP address.
now the only problem is waiting for my area to get fios since my slow dsl upload is making remote viewing away from home impossible.

[entgunguy]

got the system installed. used a netgear powerline ethernet adapter which runs the signal through the power lines. used no-ip.com which offers free service for dynamic dns hosting. the website offers a download onto my laptop which will update my IP address.
now the only problem is waiting for my area to get fios since my slow dsl upload is making remote viewing away from home impossible.