Home security camera systems

skwerl

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Now that my fleet of trucks is growing (two bucket trucks and a chip truck) and my inventory of tools and equipment on those trucks has grown as well, I'm finally considering buying some sort of security camera setup. I have come to accept the fact that while I understand and comprehend the basics of technology, I quickly reach the point where my mind just shuts off and I cannot grasp the more technical stuff without great effort and difficulty. Heck, I won't even buy a smart phone and my computer is hard wired, no wireless anything in my house.

I'm interested in a basic 4 camera system with the ability to record and save video on a hard drive, viewable on my computer. Much more interested in video quality than all the silly bells and whistles such as remote access or alerts sent to your smart phone. I also refuse to buy anything with cloud storage requiring a monthly fee to view or access. I want to own it, not rent it for the rest of my life.

After spending an hour on Amazon and reading lots of reviews on their most popular (and cheap) offerings I found this one.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077D3NW3L/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I18FJF01EGFWXD&colid=214H46Q9EL9XL&psc=1

I know there are lots of technical geeks here with a lot more experience in this area than me. Any opinions or suggestions before I pull the trigger?
 

ksack

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I just installed this one in my place about a month ago and have been happy with it so far. With 4 cameras at 10fps and full resolution, I get about 2 weeks of video storage so gives me peace of mind when I'm out of town if I need to look back on footage. I personally have a few of the cameras set up with motion detection and it is a little finicky with the sensitivity, but it doesn't bother me. It is power over ethernet so you just run the supplied ethernet cable through the attic to the box. I just followed my fiber line down the wall and to my box. Things I would consider with yours. Those are only 2MP, mine are 4MP and you can't get much detail beyond 2x zoom so any distance identification might be hard. You also have to plug them in to an outlet. You're going to have to run extension cords or installed new boxes for each camera.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y1DNBSY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 

skwerl

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It looks good but then I read some reviews. Here's one of the more detailed reviews.
Daylight pictures are good. The new 3.x App works and you can see things with IR at night. Beyond that it the stars drop off quickly.

1) The first thing you will notice with this is that the fan is really loud and runs all of the time. You can NOT have this in the same room as the TV or bedroom.
2) Much larger that depicted in the picture, make sure you measure where it is going to go. 15" wide, 15" deep (13" + 2" for cables), 2" high.
3) The App, Web service and physical system are not interchangeable. Using the web interface requires an 32bit (older) browser and download a plug-in. (I had to UNINSTALL Firefox and install an older version)
4) Motion detection is very basic and really only good for daytime use. (Think, UPS, kids home from school, and package thieves)
5) It is also complicated to set up, because you must set the area you want to monitor on the console at the camera system. (This can not be done online) Then to set up the alerts you must go online or to the app.
6) Even with the sensitivity turned down, at night I receive hundreds of alerts per camera about car lights in the yard, insects, and bats.
7) Video review is cumbersome. There is no Fast Forward or Rewind.
 

tjm73

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10fps is about 1/3 what smooth video needs.

I have been thinking about a system for my house and one for my barn. I will follow this to learn a little
 

skwerl

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10fps is about 1/3 what smooth video needs.

I have been thinking about a system for my house and one for my barn. I will follow this to learn a little
Where are you getting the 10 fps number? And just how important is a smooth video for security purposes? IMO as long as you can capture a specific frame with a clear picture of the perp then I'm not sure how the video of him breaking into your house being a little jerky is going to affect matters.

Andrew, that company looks fantastic but they are a bit out of my price range. Their prices start at about 4x the price of the system I'm looking at and go up quickly from there.
 

tjm73

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Where are you getting the 10 fps number? And just how important is a smooth video for security purposes? IMO as long as you can capture a specific frame with a clear picture of the perp then I'm not sure how the video of him breaking into your house being a little jerky is going to affect matters.

Andrew, that company looks fantastic but they are a bit out of my price range. Their prices start at about 4x the price of the system I'm looking at and go up quickly from there.

ksack posted the 10fps info. It was just an observation.
 

ksack

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10 fps gives me enough to see what motion is happening, get a good single frame, and have a decent length of storage before it overwrites. All the points are valid in the review. You can hear the fan when the TV is off but once you have other noise, you can't hear it. I personally use the app daily as it creates a bookmark about 10 seconds before the motion was detected then plays for 2 minutes. The video scrolling is only if you are viewing it straight from the box. The excessive motion alerts like he said are what I was alluding to, but I'm ok with that. People want the $1000 quality and widgets out of a $400 system so they complain about it. I'm perfectly happy with my purchase and it does what I need it to do....record HD video and let me view it remotely.
 

skwerl

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The system I posted in the first post just dropped in price from $290 to $230. I think I'm going to go for it.
 

redfirepearlgt

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Installed a Swan system on my house 5 years ago. Hard wires system. I've replaced one camera since the install only because the night vision gave out. I would recommend a 1080P system since the prices have come down for today. 1080P was only available in the industrial series 5 years ago. Pulling he wire and deciding where to mount the cameras is the toughest part of the whole setup process including setting up your email alert and mobile anywhere access via internet.
 

Marble

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Skwerl, what are you trying to avoid or prevent the most? Employee theft, bad behavior, auto theft, theft?

A few suggestions when installing a camera system..

Cameras need to be placed where it takes a photo of the persons face. This can be difficult to achieve but doable. The problem with this is that generally means placing one or more cameras about the height of a person is what you have to do. This can lead to cameras being avoided, damaged, covered, disabled etc. Yes it's interesting to see the actions take place, but it is more important to get evidence needed to find the person responsible.

Learn how to operate your system and know how to place video onto another media device so when the video is needed by insurance or law enforcement, you aren't struggling to figure it out.

Make sure the time and date are correct.

If you are worried about auto theft, hard wired GPS trackers will be your best answer. You can track them however you like and if your trucks get stolen they will be recovered almost immediately.

Lojack is also another option but it gets pretty expensive.
 

skwerl

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I've never been super worried about theft but I know it is always a possibility. My biggest defense is limiting the number of people who know my shit is back here in my back yard. 95% of small business thefts are by employees or ex employees (or somebody else familiar with the property). But the longer I live here the more people know I'm here.

Stealing one of my bucket trucks would be difficult at best, but a punk could easily grab a few thousand dollars worth of chainsaws and other equipment without making a lot of noise.

I have my camera positions picked out already. Two will give me an overview of the driveway entrance and my driveway from my garage door to where my trucks are parked. Third will be in a tree much closer to the trucks and the fourth will be over my front door. I just want to be aware of anybody snooping around mostly.
 

Marble

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I've never been super worried about theft but I know it is always a possibility. My biggest defense is limiting the number of people who know my shit is back here in my back yard. 95% of small business thefts are by employees or ex employees (or somebody else familiar with the property). But the longer I live here the more people know I'm here.

Stealing one of my bucket trucks would be difficult at best, but a punk could easily grab a few thousand dollars worth of chainsaws and other equipment without making a lot of noise.

I have my camera positions picked out already. Two will give me an overview of the driveway entrance and my driveway from my garage door to where my trucks are parked. Third will be in a tree much closer to the trucks and the fourth will be over my front door. I just want to be aware of anybody snooping around mostly.

That all sounds reasonable. If you have a friend that is in law enforcement ask them to stop by and look at your yard. Go over your security protocols with them and get their opinion.

When I tour places where employers get ripped off its usually due to a combination of issues making it easier for thieves to get in.

If you make it dificult to get in to your yard and even more difficult to get anything of value than that is half the battle. Shop owners and home owners do not see all of the possibilities thieves do, and cops/detectives see how they break in over and over again. I always do a little site assessment for the victim to help prevent another theft in the future.

Eliminate opportunity, make it difficult and have an active security system.

Not only could you save you money from theft but it can really relieve some stress from not worrying about it. Not saying you do but I have dealt with some business owners that literally were ripped off so much it put a few out of business and caused others to move.
 

skwerl

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No need to do all that. I used to be a teenager, I remember what to look for.

Plugged in the box today and got one camera hung. Waiting on power extensions for the other three cameras before I can mount them, but I plugged them in to test them and I'm impressed so far. This system is as close to plug and play as you can get, I think. Images are pretty good considering they are 720 instead of 1080 (which accounted for the price difference). Already spotted a cat pissing in my yard a while ago.
 

skwerl

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IMG_0179.JPG

Got everything set up today. Lots of fun pulling lines through the attic. Yeah, you don't need to run wires to the base unit but you still need to run power to the cameras. I'm happy with it.
 

Shaggy

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Was it a pain to wire up the cameras?
 

redfirepearlgt

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View attachment 66293

Got everything set up today. Lots of fun pulling lines through the attic. Yeah, you don't need to run wires to the base unit but you still need to run power to the cameras. I'm happy with it.

That's why the term "wireless camera" cracks me up. They still need a 12vdc power source to operate. They are great for stand alone building applications on the property in a location different than the DVR base if the building has power run.

There are some newer systems that have wireless cameras that operate on battery power. But there again a person has to get up there and change the dead batteries on regular intervals from what I have read.
 

skwerl

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I picked up a fish tape off Amazon for only $12 and that made it much easier to pull the power lines. I also had to buy three 20' DC power extension cords because I wasn't going to install outlets in the eaves. I installed two outlets in the center of the attic and ran the cords to those. That also gave me the ability to hang a couple shop lights so no more flashlights while working in the attic.
 

06StangGT

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Bringing this back from the dead...
I've been looking into security systems and I know how fast technology advances. I see the one that ksack originally posted is no longer available. I spend an hour or so each day looking on amazon and the choices and vast differences in reviews have deterred me from pulling the trigger.

After spending an hour on Amazon and reading lots of reviews on their most popular (and cheap) offerings I found this one.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077D3NW3L/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I18FJF01EGFWXD&colid=214H46Q9EL9XL&psc=1

How has this Camview system worked out for you? Would you buy it again? I'm looking at their 4mp 4ch system but it doesn't come with the HDD and I'm not sure I understand how NVR works. Does this mean that it doesn't store data and I can only view live-feed from my phone?

I've seen a few others like Arlo that look nice and have instant alerts to your phone but they are a little out of my price range.

I planned on mounting one right over a motion-activated floodlight over the driveway but I'm reading that the light may trigger the motion on the camera and I don't want that. I don't really have another mounting location to cover the driveway and mandoor entrance.
 

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