Home video security system

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Pghsteel

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I have been looking for about a month and just can't seem to pull the trigger on one specific unit. After reading a ton of reviews, Im even more confused!! I would like one with a DVR and 4 to 5 cameras with night vision.

Any help with pros and cons would be great.

Thank you.

Marcus.
 
There's a lot of mediocre stuff out there. On the cameras since someone will probably need to know... What you want....

Wired or wireless?
If wired, traditional analog video via coax or Ethernet?
Power over Ethernet (or coax), or separate power?
Color or B/W?
IR LED illumination or none?
Any need for pan/tilt/zoom camera or controls?

The questions about the cameras will steer the answers significantly. Then the questions about the recording device start...

Continuous record and rotating FIFO storage or motion detection based recording only?
How much do you want to keep?
"Hollywood squares" style video with multiple cameras on a single screen, or individual camera full resolution recording?
What native resolution and playback resolution desired?
Need server features in the DVR box for transcoding and streaming or just a file server?
Any need for remote mobile device viewing/access?

There's probably others but that's the list I would start with in a spreadsheet before purchasing and only focus on the features I marked as highest priority for me personally.

The PTZ is pretty high on my list for when I finally get around to doing the dream video system. Because that'll mean that the ham radio tower is finally done, and a PTZ camera is definitely going up on it somewhere. But PTZ changes the game on what software and hardware you can use, significantly. Especially if you want web streaming and controls.
 
Thanks for the reply.

That's a lot of good info to think about.
 
These days, ip cameras (rather than analog) are the way to go. Hardwired is by far the best, especially if it's for security.
 
Cameras don't stop a crime or burglary. They make it easier to solve the crime but don't prevent or protect.
 
Rotarywing said:
Cameras don't stop a crime or burglary. They make it easier to solve the crime but don't prevent or protect.
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I bet they do.

I bet even if you don't have a camera but have a sign like this, your house is likely to be skipped over. I read where just having barking dogs reduces the likelihood of a break in significantly

Warning%20This%20Property%20under%2024hr%20Video%20Surv%20Sign-500x500.gif
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I bet they do.

I bet even if you don't have a camera but have a sign like this, your house is likely to be skipped over. I read where just having barking dogs reduces the likelihood of a break in significantly

Warning%20This%20Property%20under%2024hr%20Video%20Surv%20Sign-500x500.gif
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No they don't, I had my home broken into twice, very upscale area, the crooks know the cops aren't going to do anything, it's like pulling teeth for them to even dust for prints (which they won't use), unless you call the cops and the thief is still in the house when they get there, nothing is going to come of it.

The third time someone tried to break into my pool pump room I saw their flashlights going through some of my tinted windows, greeted them with my pistol, they ran like the roaches they were, never came back.

You want to protect your home, get a dog and a shotgun, understand and apply your local laws RE shooting subhuman scum.

It's cool to have cameras, but it's just a man cave toy kinda thing, it won't do jack to prevent or catch anyone.
 
I am in the industry.....IP is the way to go. Analog systems are great for figuring out you have been robbed. IP came will help you ID the *******s who ripped you off.

But,, people are cheap and the demand for analog is still there.
 
Lorex LNR400 series IP camera system is great. It is 1080p high def. I installed 32 cameras at my one business location and 50 cameras at my other location. Like them so much I bought them for my home. Best part I can view, change, take pictures and zoom all from my phone. The cameras are well build. Everything is POE, so all you have to do is run Ethernet cable, cat5 or cat6.
 
I think it depends what you're trying to accomplish. That will help you establish a budget for gear and level of effort for install. Cameras are usually most effective as a visual deterrent to prevent crime in the first place. The problem is once they decide to the risk of breaking in is worth the reward, the first mission is to locate and steal the camera DVR. Cloud storage on the net has somewhat resolved this issue for the more advanced systems - for a monthly fee of course. That leads to the privacy issue of a video feed, potentially from a cam located inside your home, being uploaded to a server in some unknown location. Some IT geek in Bangladesh could be eye humping your teenage daughter.

I had a rental property in a rough neighborhood that was vacant for a while. People would break in and the neighbors were no help. The police were worthless. I bought a basic $300 system with 4 cameras from Amazon. I mounted the cameras on the house 12 feet high on PVC pipe screwed into the brick exterior. The PVC pipe protected the cables from being cut and allowed the cams to be well out of reach. The house looked like a prison but it was never broken into again!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
James331 said:
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It's cool to have cameras, but it's just a man cave toy kinda thing, it won't do jack to prevent or catch anyone.
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This.

Cameras are generally toys. Buy insurance first. Cameras second. Cops don't investigate property crimes anymore.

You could hand them glossy 8 x 10s of the bad guys, and they'd say thanks, here is the form for your insurance company.

And head to the next paperwork stop.

I'll be putting a nice weather station on the tower before the cameras. Way more interesting and useful.
 
denverpilot said:
Cameras are generally toys. Buy insurance first. Cameras second. Cops don't investigate property crimes anymore.
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There was a Seinfeld episode (20+ years ago) where someone broke into Jerry's apartment and stole his television. He called the police, who came to write a report. The officer said, "We'll call you if we find anything," to which Jerry asked if they ever find anything. The answer was, "No."

Signs and cameras may be somewhat effective against the amateur criminal, but they don't offer any type of personal protection. Guns and [the right kind of] dogs do that.


JKG
 
Cameras are great for when you get a letter in the mail from a lawyer, saying someone slipped and fell on your property. Now they are disabled to work. You go really, when and what time did this happen. Then you go back to the recording and find out none of which happened at all. It does have advantages. Also we had someone break into my race car trailer. He covered his face and came up to knock the camera down so it would not record him, but he forgot he pulled his box truck up to the back of the trailer. Well not only did we get the license plate, we got the lettering on the side of the truck with the company, address and phone number of where he worked. Got everything back that he stole too.
 
Banks have cameras, doesn't seem to stop bank robbers :hairraise:
 
Have you looked into dropcam? I have a few at the house with the 30 day storage cloud plan for the year. No cables other than a plug.
 
I have Hikvision 2032 IP cameras all around the outside of my townhouse. They're 3mp HD and I hardwired PoE to run them. I Blue Iris on a server in my basement to store the video. It works great. I have fake alarm stickers and alarms signs outside the house too. Basically, my neighbor's house looks much more appetizing than mine.
 
Pedals2Paddles said:
I have Hikvision 2032 IP cameras all around the outside of my townhouse. They're 3mp HD and I hardwired PoE to run them. I Blue Iris on a server in my basement to store the video. It works great. I have fake alarm stickers and alarms signs outside the house too. Basically, my neighbor's house looks much more appetizing than mine.
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Or in some neighborhoods you look like you have something worth protecting and they don't. Heh. It works both ways.

Want a nice big screen TV and lots of cool easy to sell electronic gadgets? Hit the house where the guy paid too much for IP cameras outside. Follow the wires and make sure to take the recording server with you on the way out.

:)
 
I thought of all that already. I don't have signs advertising video surveillance. That would be foolish. Just that there is an alarm. The cameras are tucked away and not obvious. The *******s would walk right past them and smile. And the recording server is hidden. If someone was determined to find it, by the time they did, the alert video and still images would already be uploaded to the cloud and emailed.

If they are professional enough to cut the internet and look for the video server, there is nothing I can do to stop them. Those aren't the ones I'm trying to deter since you can't deter them. I'm aiming to deter the random idiots looking for a quick pawn take.
 
JGoodish said:
. Guns and [the right kind of] dogs do that.


JKG
Click to expand...

Somewhat, shotgun and knowing how and more importantly, when to use it.

As for the dogs, just a dog that barks at the right time and not just all the time, heck even my little min pin works well in that regard.


Most crack heads and other such subhuman scum know each other, or know someone who knows someone, once you bear down on one of them with a shotgun, word gets around, you're much less likely to get return customers.
 
Pghsteel said:
I have been looking for about a month and just can't seem to pull the trigger on one specific unit. After reading a ton of reviews, Im even more confused!! I would like one with a DVR and 4 to 5 cameras with night vision.

Any help with pros and cons would be great.

Thank you.

Marcus.
Click to expand...
Q-see QT718-880-2
East to access remotely on any windows based computer you own so long as dvr is connected to your router. Good quality picture can read a license plate or identify an individual.
Needs two 2 or 3 tb hard drives for average week storage duration.
 
Costco has some good Systems. Often on sale. I have the Avantex POE it works well.
 
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