I've used an Axis 2120 (now the Axis 211) network camera for a few years now with great results. These are available on eBay for about $500. They have an internal computer and attach directly to broadband ethernet and can be viewed and controlled online via a web browser control panel. One hint for remote usage is to put the cable modem on a basic mechanical 24 hour timer which shuts it off for 15 min each night. This forces a nightly reboot. Before I used the timer, the modem tended to crash every couple of months (no good when 100 miles away).

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