Do you need it to contact your phone and show the video in real time? I think that's the big value prospect here for many users and why they need the cloud - it

Do you need it to contact your phone and show the video in real time? I think that's the big value prospect here for many users and why they need the cloud - it intermediates between the phone app and the home system. If not, there are some guides on YouTube (unfortunately I can't search right now on this corporate network) that involve buying old laptop cameras on ebay and stringing them up with putty to an old laptop in a closet. I'm pretty sure the man in the video I'm thinking of was from the UK since the prices were in pounds, but there would be others. It all looked fairly simple but I can't recall how sophisticated the software was re: motion detection, offsite contact, etc.