IP cameras

U've_been_framed

I've been thinking of getting a couple of wireless IP cameras (possibly nestcams) and positioning them so that they look out of windows at my front and rear gardens.
Assuming that it is not raining on the window how feasible is this? How good an image can you get through a double glazed window? One window faces north, the other east.

stator

Your main problem will be the sun, if it glares the image or not you might not see anything, partial reflections from the glass etc. But that might not be a problem.
I have a USB webcam pointing out of a window at the moment, the image quality is fine.
Night-vision would not work through a window.

bengalknights

If your going for IP cameras i would definitly recommend then Hikvision range they are really good in the dark and for anti glare.

Strider590

Windows are a bad idea, if you want to see outside, you need a camera outside.

Double glazing is especially bad for giving a reflection of what's going on inside the room behind the camera.
All windows are going to mist up during the colder months, especially after you use the shower (even in a different room).
If the camera has infrared it'll reflect off the window and blind the camera at night.
Spiders are also attracted to IR light (they know the light attracts food), so you'll get webs all up the outside of the window, which in many cases will be very hard to clean yourself and if you use any motion sensing, the webs will set this off all night long.

Pound

Having a camera facing out of a window can be a good idea. Many people put cameras high up in the air and all they record is the top of someone's head, a camera lower down in a window has more chance of recording identifying features.

You should be ok facing it out of the window. Things to be aware of is at night you can't use infrared and any reflections will be more prominent than what's going on outside.

kwikbreaks

I produced this page some years ago discussing the sort of problems you get using cameras through windows. Mostly they have already been covered but you might want to take a note of the first image which shows the effect of the net curtains being reflected.

http://www.digitalham.co.uk/foscam-fi8918w/

If it is at all possible I'd recommend you use external cameras.