Security Camera?

Q

Q1DM6

Gawd
Joined
Mar 22, 2012
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713
I need a camera of some type to watch a portion of my yard and record video, probably HD. I have some criminal activity ongoing and need to be able to distinguish the person on video. Has to be able to be mounted outside, and it would be great if I could feed it wirelessly(?) to my computer which will have a drive dedicated to record.

Please help, I know nothing about my options with this kind of equipment. I really need to be able to install this myself.
Thanks much.
 
what about a digital trail camera like hunters use that are motion activated? They use them in the woods to see what kind of animal activity they have on their food plots. Most are just stll images I believe, but video may be available.
 
I work for a well-known security company and have dealt with a LOT of cameras. Wireless recording is notoriously unreliable. If you can afford it, get a wireless night vision camera with on-camera recording (ala SD drive or similar). That way it will record and you won't have to have a dedicated (or always on) PC to run it.

Alternatively, get a security sign (e.g. 'this house is monitored by security cameras') and one or more fake cameras. Place the sign prominently in your yard and mount the fake cameras around your house and at the front door. You may be surprised at how well that works.
 
You could always just call a local security company, but like some one was saying when your recording someone over your own god damn paranoia about that person, and your pretty much privacy rapeing him, damn right he can sue.
 
BJH088 said:
You could always just call a local security company, but like some one was saying when your recording someone over your own god damn paranoia about that person, and your pretty much privacy rapeing him, damn right he can sue.
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I don't know exactly what your problem is, but there's no 'paranoia' involved here, nor is there watching of anyone who shouldn't be in my yard anyway. Till you have someone try to kick in your damn door like they tried to kick in mine you should keep it to yourself. I appreciate the comments from the other posters.
 
Q1,

I'm no expert in Surveillance cameras but I have done my fair-share of research... for facial distinction prepare to spend a good chunk of change on a camera. The only benefit I see is you're only looking for one camera so $600+ on one camera isn't so bad - it is, when looking to place multiple throughout the house.

You're definitely going to need an IP camera for any possibility of obtaining an image clear enough to distinguish a person(s)... with that vivotek is a manufacture that comes to mind that offers a great balance of price/feature benefits. By going IP, some munfacturers provide their own proprietary software or you can go with an after market one, but will most likely cost you.

As someone has mentioned, wireless is definitely not something you wanna go with as there are many issues with that, that I wont go in to.

Another obstacle with IP cameras, or all cameras in general, is low light shooting. You're definitely not going to get the same clarity as you would at night with the supplied IR LED's.

Check out CCTVforum.com for more info - those guys can help you out a lot but be prepared to spend lots of money on a system that will provided the qualities you look for.

EDIT:

Also, another thing to consider is... What good is FACIAL clarity/distinction really gonna do for you ? Unless, your local law enforcement agency knows every criminal in a 100 mile radius (and thats hoping the person committing the crime is a KNOWN criminal), a face wont do much. Depending on your street/home layout, I would be more considered with trying to obtain a license plate if the subjects roll up in a vehicle. some decent inexpensive IP cams, like Foscam, will provide a decent usable image without breaking the bank.
 
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jaypeezee, thank you for excellent advice and info. Unfortunately I'm certain this person/s are on foot, so getting a plate is unlikely. I'll look into what you've mentioned and see how much I'm willing to spend vs benefits. Thanks much again.

It would have been easier to let him kick the door in and shoot him.
 
Q1DM6 said:
I don't know exactly what your problem is, but there's no 'paranoia' involved here, nor is there watching of anyone who shouldn't be in my yard anyway. Till you have someone try to kick in your damn door like they tried to kick in mine you should keep it to yourself. I appreciate the comments from the other posters.
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Oh didn't know the situation. I was refering to like husbands who think their wives are cheating and go to crazy lengths to get them on camera or w/e.
 
Logitech 750e, its not the best but it is affordable home consumer system and easy to setup.

It has night vision and the resolution is 960x720, but only at 15fps. It's not wireless but uses internet over power line adapters (actually easier than wireless since wifi cameras need power anyway, these are POE). The software sucks, but there is 3rd party software that has more advanced features. overstock has refurbished master systems for about $200.

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/webca...-security-systems/master-systems/devices/7252
 
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Good wireless is normally pretty expensive. You're looking at $600-1000 for a 1 MP camera. You may want to try out a CCTV camera kit that comes with DVR, a few cameras and cabling, etc. You should be able to get decent enough facial to see the person. If the area is dark when you are checking, make sure they have infrared. You can probably find a kit for about $200. You normally plug in a 1-2 TB hard drive ($100 let's say) and you are good to go for $300 or less, 4 cameras, etc. You put 4 cameras up, even if they aren't on they typically make a good deterrent. People won't mess with you. They'll think you have a gun inside too.
 
For cheap decent stuff, take a look at brands like zmodo, cctv leader, trendnet, or sumas.
 
i can speak a bit on this I have a cheap Chinese Foscam night vision wireless IP camera


so then on to my point...blah blah blah ...you get what you pay for .... I can tell someone is on camera but in court the image would never be sufficient to prove who.


I got mine cause someone was stealing gas from my old car..... amusingly the resolution had nothing to do with the God D*** camera...

I happened to go outside about 11pm one night and as I came around the corner of my house realized the culprit was right there with his siphon hose in my f***ing gas tank. He apparently wasn't the most observant of criminal cause I had to open my front door and front gate ...not expecting to need to sneak up on anyone neither i opened all that stealthily ;)

Regardless after debating for a second (and sort of wishing I was in the habit of wearing my .45 when i stepped out front) I yelled at this idiot... he turned and then looked scarred as f*** (thank goodness I am 6' 2" and 200~ish lbs) he abandoned his gas can and siphon hose and started retreating ...then he fell down and twisted his ankle...LOL ...even better he made it to the street before falling over (can't sue me now b*tch) anyways.... this turd was on the ground cowering begging not to be hit (had no idea i was so terrifying :eek:). I told this person that I wasn't going to hurt them this time..but if they came back i was going to set them on fucking fire with the gas they where stealing from me.... I then demanded he give me his wallet (got his name and address....) he had $40 in the wallet

I told him it was his choice he could give me the $40 and get the fuck away from my house or I could call the police... he gave me the $40 and limped off (then I called the police ;);););))


anyways if you want a camera that is going to get high res ... you are going to need something more than $100 Chinese crap cams sadly.

on the upside despite the low res I can pull my cameras up on my smrt phone from anywhere and check out what is going on by my house and see if my wife is home yet say :)
 
Anyone ever tried to use an old camcorder instead of the tiny units? Wouldn't work all that good outside but in a covered area maybe.

sony%20mini%20dv.jpg
 
You really don't want any security camera that records to anything internally or in your home or business. That is the first thing that will get destroyed. What you want is a way to catch any illegal activity that is not dependent on local storage. This means you want IP based solutions and also the newer cloud based solutions. You can monitor these cams from any web browser or iPhone/iPad app too which you want. It can send alerts any time motion is detected too. Your video can be set to loop for a specific amount of time or you can save stills on their remote servers. That way, not only do you have pictures and video of any activity, it can't be destroyed on site since it's in the cloud and your mobile devices.
 
TechJeff said:
You really don't want any security camera that records to anything internally or in your home or business. That is the first thing that will get destroyed. What you want is a way to catch any illegal activity that is not dependent on local storage. This means you want IP based solutions and also the newer cloud based solutions.
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My brother has a cheapo costco Q-see unit at his retail business. His old Q-see DVR recorder unit broke and has a newer style. I'm going to hide the new unit and place the old unit out so if anyone where to grab it, they would grab the old one with nothing on it. Going to hook up some wires to it to make it look legit :D
 
I just installed a Logitech Alert system at my place a couple days ago and I really like it.
http://www.logitech.com/en-us/webcam-communications/video-security-systems/master-systems

Here is a Youtube review that has some sample footage (including night vision).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdN0_l82co8

The quality seems quite good compared to other security systems I've seen.

The cameras record to SD cards locally and then offload the video to a PC (as long as it's on, if it's on, the video gets transferred within a few seconds). Since it just dumps video to a folder, you could opt for some sort of a cloud storage option if you wanted (dropbox?).

You can access the live video feed via Android, iOS, Blackberry, PC for free. There is an optional subscription based service if you want full control (view recordings, configure cameras etc.) remotely but so far I haven't found that to be necessary.

There are configurable motion activated alerts which can send you either an e-mail or text message, optionally with a snap shot of the activity. Motion detection zones can be configured as well to exclude areas like the street (passing cars) from causing the camera to continually record/send you alerts.

Night vision on these cameras is excellent in my opinion, much better than I was expecting.

Ok and to cover off how they get connected... They use power line networking, so you plug a little box into an outlet near your router/switch and plug that box in. Then you plug a box in near the camera and run the supplied cat5 cable to that box, that's it. No wireless issues to worry about.

The outdoor camera is weatherproof and feels very well built and solid.

Anyhow, so far so good, I figured I'd chime in on your thread since this sounds like exactly what you are looking for...
 
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