What Kind Of Camera Do I Need For This?

Jandrews · 07-01-2011, 07:16 PM

My kids are at an age where they are good enough with technology, i.e. computers, Xbox, Youtube, TV Apps, Netflix, etc... that they can access a lot of content with very little effort. We have a large-ish house, with TV's and Internet in almost every room (not their bedrooms). During the day in the summer, they are down in the finished basement a lot, playing video games, watching TV, etc... With the Xbox, there is internet connection, which means video chat with "friends", access to Youtube and other sites that have content that is not appropriate for 10 year olds.

So, we set expectations frequently about what kind of viewing is acceptable, and for the most part, they seem to be following. However, kids are curious, and it is easy to accidentally search for the wrong thing on Youtube and get something completely different than what you initially searched for, which then contains links to other videos, etc...

So, my wife and I were discussing putting a video monitoring camera down there, basically pointed at the TV. When she is upstairs, she would be able to see what they are watching at any time. No, this is not a substitute for parenting, but just another tool to manage our expectations with our kids in a connected world.

We have 2 laptops in eyeshot at any given time on the main floor, so any camera downstairs could be viewed in seconds at will from the main floor. Do we just need a "webcam"? How about one of those surveillance systems from costco with multiple cameras and a dvr? We don't think we really need to actually record any activity, but if that is easy, maybe it would be worthwhile.

Any thoughts or guidance or other ideas for what we are considering here?

Thanks,

JA

stomachmonkey · 07-01-2011, 07:24 PM

Visual alone won't be enough. I have kids that also watch youtube videos, mostly pokemon related. Some of the videos have objectionable audio/language.

Sadly monitoring kids online activities is something that needs to be done 100% of the time that the kids are online.

My kids are only allowed to go online in the family room with us present.

If they don't like that then they just don't get to go online at all. Thems the rules, non negotiable.

Jandrews · 07-01-2011, 07:30 PM

Thanks Monkey. And I pretty much agree with everything you said. When you say "online", are your rules limited to "browsing"? What about Xbox internet access to friends, games, YouTube and other "Apps".

I am willing to re-think our approach, so any ideas here are good ideas.

Thanks,

JA

Radioactive · 07-01-2011, 07:52 PM

Agree with Monkey

I also use opendns.com , filtering dns request's is a good safe guard from accidental or intentional link's to restricted content at our home.

Jandrews · 07-01-2011, 08:00 PM

Thanks Radio....how does OpenDNS work? I looked at their site, but it wasn't clear how it worked and what was required to use it.

JA

campbellcj · 07-01-2011, 08:19 PM

I agree that some judicious filtering is a good idea, and then maybe you could forget about the webcam for now. I use the Windows Family Safety filters. I also use OpenDNS but haven't used the filtering available there, yet, and haven't found the need. You would need something network-based like that (or in your router) to work across various devices i.e. XBox, PS3, iPad's, etc.

madmmac · madmmac's Garage

At pretty much any age, time should be limited and monitored.

During the day during the summer they should be OUTSIDE.

You wear them out during the day, they don't even care about surfing/playing at night.

Radioactive · 07-01-2011, 09:01 PM

I will try to do my best to describe it.

Web sites on the internet all have a numerical address, when you type in the name of a web site your computer goes to a server that returns the numerical address of that name so your computer can get there. You configure your computer to use opendns to resolve all names. After you sign up and install the service to keep track of your computer. You tell opendns what type of content is allowed. Opendns keeps track of content and services on the internet.

I have it on my router so all internet at my house is restricted so laptops and ipods are covered.

You can restrict a lot of stuff that other devices can't. No porn, no violence, no web based email, no social networking, the list is long

When my kids get smart enough to know how dns works and how to circumvent it, I probably won't need it anymore.

It is one of the best free things on the internet especially for business.

mikester · 07-01-2011, 09:09 PM

My 6 year old is getting good at doing stuff...I'm concerned about this sort of thing as well.

The internet is full of bad stuff. I don't want him on it at this age basically at all.

I'm considering locking down my out bound traffic on my router and requiring authentication for anything other than things like Wikipedia and PBS KIDS: Educational Games, Videos and Activities For Kids! just in case.

When they get older and I have to allow them to more I would probably put some sort of logging in place so that I know exactly what they are searching and where they are going. ZERO unsupervised Internet access. ZERO.

So the only thing I would be going after in the logs is stuff they weren't supposed to be doing.

My kids are going to hate that I am a Network and Systems Security junkie.

Muahhahahahahahahahahaha!

stevej37 · 07-02-2011, 03:02 AM

I use a Linksys wireless camera that works well with my Linksys router. The resolution is 640x480, color, and built in mic. I can access the camera anywhere that has wifi. The cost was around $150 on Amazon. To hook it up, you need to hard wire it to the router for setup, then disconnect it and you're done. To access the pic, just enter the numerical address from anywhere.

Jandrews · 07-02-2011, 07:38 AM

That's what I'm looking for stevej. Thanks. Which model do you have? How is the picture quality?

Thanks!

JA

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jandrews

Thanks Monkey. And I pretty much agree with everything you said. When you say "online", are your rules limited to "browsing"? What about Xbox internet access to friends, games, YouTube and other "Apps".

I am willing to re-think our approach, so any ideas here are good ideas.

Thanks,

JA

My son is now 14. Here are the rules. There is ONE television in the living room. None anywhere else in the home. He has a laptop that he uses for homework and gaming. It is ONLY allowed in the living room, not in his room.

I don't believe in having TVs in every room, especially the bedroom. If he wants to use his computer he can use it in a common space in the house. When he gets his own place he use the computer and put the TV wherever he wants.

campbellcj · 07-02-2011, 03:50 PM

^ Same here - all TV / computer / iPad use takes place in the common family area. No screens in the kids' bedrooms.

In addition to the content filtering, I also have time-limits turned on for my 10 YO son's account. On school days I manually unlock the computer for him only after he's done with homework and extracurriculars. Otherwise the kid would be on there every waking moment...

stevej37 · 07-02-2011, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jandrews

That's what I'm looking for stevej. Thanks. Which model do you have? How is the picture quality?

Thanks!

JA

The camera is a Linksys WVC80N and it has built in mic and you can even set it up to record with a built in motion detector. The pic quality is good for what it does..not near the resolution of a megapixel camera.