OK, here we are a year later and my girl is at 280 days. Today is the day I will purchase the camera, etc. DH is convinced that Radio Shack will have something compatible with Marestare. I’d prefer to go with Riverwind since I KNOW their equipment will work. Does anyone have experience with Radio Shack? We will be going with a wired system. Barn is about 200’ from the house. I don’t want to get this thing home and hooked up only to find that it doesn’t “jive” with Marestare. Advice greatly appreciated!!! TIA!
No advice, really - i just wanted to say i love how excited you are. :lol::winkgrin: 
Be sure to get one with infrared (night vision) I made the mistake of not on my 1st and with a light on there were a lot of shadows and I went out for several false alarms (down and making noise, but not labor) but couldn’t really see with the shadows
Or perhaps I need to get a life? :lol:
Thanks for the advice! But where do I even begin? I know nothing about foal cams. Where do I purchase them? What equipment is required?
Go to marestare.com
They used to have video camera information on their forums. It’s fun when the foals start arriving and you can follow each birth all over the world on your computer.
They have some wireless cameras that are quite good but you need to be careful about interference, distance from barn to the computer, metal barn vs. wood, thngs like that.
The wired cameras are usually better but you need to either have a com;puter in the barn or be close enough to run a hard wire from the barn to the house. Doable but you’ll have a wire to bury.
I’m debatng about getting one or sending the mare out to a foaling facility…
[QUOTE=springer;5234915]
Thanks for the advice! But where do I even begin? I know nothing about foal cams. Where do I purchase them? What equipment is required?[/QUOTE]
here we have Horse Expo and we got our latest one from rostech.com They had a great show special going on. Ours has an antenna on the barn and transmits wirlessly to a TV (I use a small portable TV that I can take with me around the house). If you have anything like our expo, there may be folks there that can help you figure out your requirements
Also, if you watch mare stare, you may contact the ones with better pictures and ask what they are using.
You dont have to have a ‘foal’ camera, or pay the prices for a specialized one. We purchased our infared camera from one of the online A/V type supply places, ran the cable as wireless was not an option, and are very happy with it. We added a second this year that is an IP camera (already internet capable), vs the standard type which you would have to plug into an A/V source to view or stream.
Marestare recommends http://www.foalingcamera.com/
I have one of their basic wireless cameras. The reciever is in my garage connected to a video capture unit recommended by them. That goes to an old laptop which is on my wireless network so it then goes to Marestare. I monitor it in the house on another laptop.
I also have a foaling alert which beeps if the mare lies down flat for more than a few seconds. Usual routine is Foal alert beeps at 3 AM, I check the computer and go back to sleep, mare then foals in broad daylight with no one watching
:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:
I did a lot of research on cameras this spring since I was having 2 at a time! Both were due within 4 days (due to breeding dates) but came 2 weeks apart.
I ordered my cameras on Amazon, so much cheaper than the horse watch sites. Just make sure you get one with infrared, to be able to see at night, it makes a huge difference. Also, depending on how far your barn is from your house you need to get the correct range on the receiver. Most are about 300’. The receiver worked great on the tv in my bedroom and I bought one that came with 2 cameras so I could just switch the channel on the receiver remote and watch both stalls. The installation was very easy for the cameras and receiver, just make sure the range of the camera will allow you to see the whole width and length of your stall.
Here is the link to what I got, don’t know if they’re still avaiable, but you should be able to find something similar. Good luck and enjoy - they are so worth the sleepless nights!
I know this is a bit older thread (but not much!) but I figured I dredge it up rather than start a new one
I’m not a total tech idiot, but I’m not close to being proficient either. So bear with me 
Will I be able to set up something with one camera and one laptop? Carol mentioned 2 laptops.
I want wireless, it’s roughly 250’ from the nearest corner of the stall to the nearest corner of the house, straight shot, and our bedroom is on floor 3 above that level, so maybe add another 20-ish total distance. Surely less than another 50’. So, it sounds like I’ll be ok to use wireless.
I like the look of the one shjhorses posted, and according to Amazon it is indeed still available 
Is used worth it? This is 1 mare, probably not another foaling for years, but on this particular (Amazon) camera, I won’t cheap out on $30 for a potentially iffy used buy.
Do I just call up Marestare and have them walk me through hooking up with them?
It will work fine for you, but if you do not need the cam to be broadcast online, you could also maybe same a bit of money by buying a basic camera that has a regular RCA plug type hook up and buy 300’ (measure to be sure) of cable to run directly to the TV in your bedroom.
This is your simplest and most problem-freee arrangement.
If you need to go online, you’d hook it to an inexpensive adapter that plugs into your computer.
And yes, if you need to broadcast marestare will walk you through it and help with any issues you might have.
Thanks Sonesta - will be calling MS today!
Unless you have a Mac.
Things are very different if you have a Mac… <sigh>
I got a $30 b/w infrared security camera from Harbor Tools. It’s got 80’ of wire. That goes to the tack room, where it connects to an igrabber - $20 from Amazon hooked to a laptop (which has wifi to the house). Then you download the free Flash encoder from the marestare site onto the laptop. Then I can watch my own camera via marestare from the house.
But - you need 1 GB on the laptop - which my ibook G4 doesn’t have - so in reality I have to take the Macbook Pro down to the tack room every night and watch marestare from the ibook next to the bed. Tedious, but I’m not buying another Macbook Pro for the two months of foaling!
Thankfully (in this case lol) I have a PC
Another foaling camera question. I have an i phone and am wondering if anyone has knowledge of a camera system that can be viewed on their i phone?
Marestare has at least one thread about the iphone - I didn’t really read them, but I think the answer was no because of Flash.
Thank You Molly , I’ll check it out …I’m a bit frustrated with the flash issue…
dredging this thread up…
