Home Security Cameras

[arctictom]

Thanks for the info gentlemen , this is my next project.

[HTRN]

Your budget may be a little low, decent security cameras are shockingly expensive. There was a thread on Arfcom about a year ago? or so, about security cameras and systems.. I'll see if I can find it.

Hmm, lots in the archives I can't really access, but I did come across this and this

After doing a bit of reading I come to fhe following conclusions:
1)Stay away from Wifi cameras if at all possible outside, and absolutely inside(for reasons stated by others in this thread).
2)Avoid those systems sold in Costco in Sam's club - they're mostly cheap crap.
3)Panasonic 1/3rd CCD cameras and Vivotek have good reputations, and shockingly high prices - Vivotek cameras range from just under 200 to just under 2000 bucks.
4)Seperate IR illuminators, especially motion activated ones, at particular choke points to light up the area like daytime are a particularly good idea.

<EDIT>: Something else to consider - alot of the IP based(not wireless!) cameras can also take a memory card. This is important, because a thief brazen enough to rob a place with cameras, will also be probably be smart enough to go looking through the house for the recorder. Another option is offsite storage - instead of merely going to a DVR/computer, the footage is uploaded to a online web storage provide via the internet. This is not cheap, but it's popular with places that deal in big money goods who are traditionally a target of thieves.

[rightisright]

For exterior cameras, fake plastic ones are just as effective as real ones.

For this coming job, I purchased 4 of these: http://www.amazon.com/OUTDOOR-DUMMY-SEC ... 613&sr=8-6

The wife informed me they are going to have a security system installed, but it won't be operational until our work there is complete.

[Rich]

I'm still looking at the d-link wi-fi as most suitable to my needs.

I live in a apartment, with maid service.

Indoor, front door coverage is all I need, so a single camera is all I need. And really, all I want to do is see who might enter while I'm absent.

Most crime in my area seems to be opportunistic, not planned out, so I doubt I need to defend against master criminals.

Wi-fi is a plus, enabling me to have remote access via any computer. In-home storage can be done, but the perpetrator seeing the camera, might think of grabbing any and all hard drives.

Plus, have I mentioned that I'm cheap?

Of course, YMMV.

[Denis]

I ordered one of these CAT5 wired outdoor security cameras from Deal Extreme for testing purposes.

If it's any good, I'll get a full set. I'll post some impressions / results when I get the thing.

[Rich Jordan]

For indoor use I've picked up three Panasonic "Petcams"; one fixed and two pan-tilt, as gold box Amazon specials at very good prices. All have visual motion detection and the two pan-tilts also have thermal sensors (and the newest has alarm inputs also). One is wifi/wired, the other two wired only. I bought the first one to watch over my ailing dogs (since departed) while at work, and also used them whenever we traveled, monitoring different parts of the house.

If you think you can count on power the wired units work great with powerline ethernet adapters. In my case I have the cameras sending one pic every 30 minutes on schedule via FTP to my server, and on sensor or motion detect they send 4 buffered "pre" detect images and 2 post detect as emails to a Gmail account.

If you can't count on power (since you cannot use the powerline adapters with a UPS) then you have to use wired or wifi with UPS's. The newer cameras will do WPA2 security which is still pretty good.

Until I lost my newer firewall from a power event I had my iPhone VPN'd in so I could also look at any of the camera's web interfaces while traveling; I had to fall back to an older firewall that doesn't support that.

If you really want good backup you can get a firewall that uses 3G/4G cellular as a backup internet link in case cable/dsl is cut, but you're getting pricey.

I don't have an outdoor camera yet but suspect I'm going to need one. Neighborhood issues with nearby 'displaced urban utes' that are using our development as a passthru to a nearby park are escalating.

I'm not quite sure yet what I'm going to do for those outside cameras...