Security camera solutions - what do you guys use?

[halik]

I'm looking for an 802.11 set up - moving to a condo with first floor access, so burgling is a possibility.

 

[halik]

no one, really?

 

[highland145]

Search OT for alarm system. There are several recent threads. Alk mentioned one with 802.11

 

[halik]

I think I saw that whole back - I'm not really interested in an alarm system that i need to arm/disarm, but rather just external security cameras.

 

[Oyeve]

Cisco WVC210 cameras. I have set up a few dozen of these at my boss' mansion. I have them all monitored and recorded back at the office using a Viostor NVR system. Pretty good stuff for relatively dirt cheap.

 

[skyking]

I use whatever will work with zoneminder.
http://www.zoneminder.com/
Then again I'm a linux diehard. Plenty of nice appliances out there too.

 

[Doppel]

I've been reading up on these recently. The low-end IP cameras are useless toys that are certain to disappoint (as evidenced by the inability to find any that are uniformly well reviewed). The picture quality of the entry level ones is many times inferior to a webcam of half the price. A megapixel IP camera starts around $300 (e.g. Vivotek 8332) and is worth using.


If you're able to run the cable, a quality USB webcam can give HD pictures and video for $60 (Logitech c910 or Microsoft Lifecam Studio current best pics from what I can tell). Newer webcams have half decent night-vision, but it will certainly be inferior to a good IP camera. Of course, it needs a PC to monitor this, but all the IP cameras other than Mobotix ($700+ I think) do as well; they may have web servers on them but no ability to autonomously respond to events anyway. If you want remote access you may want an IP cam or could run a web server on your managing PC.


If you have CAT already run, you can use a USB camera over CAT5/5e/6, but only at USB 1.1 speeds with a $15-30 USB-over-ethernet extender. If you want USB 2.0, the cheapest I've found is about $300, which is insane. There are people running high-end webcams over USB 1.1 but obviously not with HD video and I have no idea what sacrifices have been met as I've not come across many yet who do it.


I think you want to go wired. Wireless can be flaky and just adds another failure point that isn't likely to occur with wired.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

Two Rotweilers

 

[DesiPower]

If you knew that you were moving to a unsecure place you should have included a professional installation in your budget. DIY is worthless, what will you do with all the feed? Oh! look I caught the burgler on cam!! yeiipiieee!!!. Then what? You think the cops will catch them?

Buy ADT sign and stickers from ebay, you will be better off.

 

[corwin]

The Cisco WVC80N or Dlink DCS-932L are both inexpensive and good quality options for what you're looking for, they can email you video clips when triggered by motion, I don't know as much about the Cisco but a co-worker has the Dlink and it works great, you can even store video on a NAS..I'm planning to get a couple of them

 

[Drako]

Check out Drop Cam.

https://www.dropcam.com/

They are coming out with a new camera in a few months with IR capability as well, so you might want to wait for that.

 

[corwin]

Check out Drop Cam.

https://www.dropcam.com/

They are coming out with a new camera in a few months with IR capability as well, so you might want to wait for that.

They're significantly more expensive and don't offer local recording capability, you have to pay monthly for their cloud DVR service...I've heard they are super easy to setup though for technically challenged and have great phone support so might be worth it if those are desired

 

[Jeffg010]

If you knew that you were moving to a unsecure place you should have included a professional installation in your budget. DIY is worthless, what will you do with all the feed? Oh! look I caught the burgler on cam!! yeiipiieee!!!. Then what? You think the cops will catch them?

Buy ADT sign and stickers from ebay, you will be better off.

I installed a camera for my home and caught a neighbor dumping trash by my garage. He even started to throw shit on the roof of my garage. Once I saw who was doing it I paid him a visit and he shit his pants. The very next day when I was at work I saw him on cam climbing on my roof and taking all the trash off it. Since then I had no trouble. This was some old fucker in he 60's and I really think this guy was going senile.

So ya this is good for shitty neighbors.

 

[highland145]

I installed a camera for my home and caught a neighbor dumping trash by my garage. He even started to throw shit on the roof of my garage. Once I saw who was doing it I paid him a visit and he shit his pants. The very next day when I was at work I saw him on cam climbing on my roof and taking all the trash off it. Since then I had no trouble. This was some old fucker in he 60's and I really think this guy was going senile.

So ya this is good for shitty neighbors.

Hey now. Watch your mouth. We've got elderly here.

 

[Jeffg010]

Hey now. Watch your mouth. We've got elderly here.

LOL I have not problems with old people as long as they don't throw crap on my roof.

 

[Doppel]

Check out Drop Cam.

https://www.dropcam.com/

They are coming out with a new camera in a few months with IR capability as well, so you might want to wait for that.

$200 for 320x240 resolution are they serious or is this website from 1997? That is AMAZINGLY poor quality. The stand alone idea is good though.

 

[RossMAN]

The Cisco WVC80N or Dlink DCS-932L are both inexpensive and good quality options for what you're looking for, they can email you video clips when triggered by motion, I don't know as much about the Cisco but a co-worker has the Dlink and it works great, you can even store video on a NAS..I'm planning to get a couple of them

I've seen the latter on sale every now and then for $69 at Fry's B&M if the OP has one near them.

http://www.foscam.com/prd_view.aspx?id=24 is also worth considering.

 

[alkemyst]

I've been reading up on these recently. The low-end IP cameras are useless toys that are certain to disappoint (as evidenced by the inability to find any that are uniformly well reviewed). The picture quality of the entry level ones is many times inferior to a webcam of half the price. A megapixel IP camera starts around $300 (e.g. Vivotek 8332) and is worth using.


If you're able to run the cable, a quality USB webcam can give HD pictures and video for $60 (Logitech c910 or Microsoft Lifecam Studio current best pics from what I can tell). Newer webcams have half decent night-vision, but it will certainly be inferior to a good IP camera. Of course, it needs a PC to monitor this, but all the IP cameras other than Mobotix ($700+ I think) do as well; they may have web servers on them but no ability to autonomously respond to events anyway. If you want remote access you may want an IP cam or could run a web server on your managing PC.

If you have CAT already run, you can use a USB camera over CAT5/5e/6, but only at USB 1.1 speeds with a $15-30 USB-over-ethernet extender. If you want USB 2.0, the cheapest I've found is about $300, which is insane. There are people running high-end webcams over USB 1.1 but obviously not with HD video and I have no idea what sacrifices have been met as I've not come across many yet who do it.


I think you want to go wired. Wireless can be flaky and just adds another failure point that isn't likely to occur with wired.

I am using a pair of Foscams that I picked up for $159 and a Trendnet IP422W that was $159 by itself. I can audio monitor and do two-way audio. Pan-tilt-zoom. They just sit on my G wireless network and need no PC.

To get much better you are entering cameras that are $300+ and need a server.

CCTVCameraPros.com have the NUUO system which is an excellent system.

IMHO cameras and a smart phone is a good first choice, I have snapshots emailed every 15 mins and I have motion detection framed to my doors.

A security system should be the first level...alarmsystemstore.com could probably have you set up with at least your doors and a motion detector for under $500 and monitoring is only $8.95 a month.

I spent about $2000 in gear (not counting my cameras) and have GSM and landline monitoring as well as IP communications. I was burglarized. I'd recommend being proactive.

HD video is not needed for general monitoring. If you have special needs like license plate capture and facial recognition, then things like the NUUO can offer it.

Id call either of those companies for a consultation.

also many of the random reviews for DIY security gear come from those that get pissed they couldn't figure it out.

This is 640x480

 

[corwin]

FWIW I just bought a DCS-942L and will be setting it up in the next couple of weeks, if you want a personal review of how it goes I can let you know...

 

[alkemyst]

Any particular reason you went with the DCS-942L?

 

[corwin]

Any particular reason you went with the DCS-942L?

I had been looking mostly at the DCS-932L, 942L, IP422WN and WVC80N...what swayed me was color (will blend better mounting on the ceiling, WVC80N is black), direct NAS recording (I have a NAS in my fire-proof gun safe), mpeg4 file format (the 932L just does mjpeg) and having a little exposure/experience with Dlink already since I have helped a co-worker with his and I've seen the video captures he gets on his phone and they're more than good enough for security purposes. I doubt I'll be using the remote monitoring much, if at all, but it's there if I need it. Once I make sure it all works as I need I'm planning to add 2-3 more...also got one for $110 which is really reasonable. The only real "bad" reviews I've seen on it are from people who can't figure out how to set them up. The IP422WN had all that too but I really didn't need the tilt/pan since it will be just monitoring my front door so I couldn't justify the extra cost and size

 

[Doppel]

I tried one of those $90 Foscams and rated it very poorly in a review on Amazon. Its picture quality was really poor. Its night vision was actually pretty good and for indoors with its IR would do fine, but wirelessly it would hang from time to time, even next to my router. I also found its website would become unresponsive. I just couldn't trust that it wouldn't let me down.

I'm really close to pulling the trigger on a $60 web cam with the iogear USB extender for about $30 and see how those work.

 

[corwin]

I tried one of those $90 Foscams and rated it very poorly in a review on Amazon. Its picture quality was really poor. Its night vision was actually pretty good and for indoors with its IR would do fine, but wirelessly it would hang from time to time, even next to my router. I also found its website would become unresponsive. I just couldn't trust that it wouldn't let me down. I'm really close to pulling the trigger on a $60 web cam with the iogear USB extender for about $30 and see how those work.

I'm guessing that setup wouldn't have the motion sensing/email video function of the IP based cameras or is there some option for that I don't know about? Of course that would also require an always on computer too I guess...you can get the 932L for just over $90 and I know the image quality on those are good plus you get the other options

 

[alkemyst]

I tried one of those $90 Foscams and rated it very poorly in a review on Amazon. Its picture quality was really poor. Its night vision was actually pretty good and for indoors with its IR would do fine, but wirelessly it would hang from time to time, even next to my router. I also found its website would become unresponsive. I just couldn't trust that it wouldn't let me down.

I'm really close to pulling the trigger on a $60 web cam with the iogear USB extender for about $30 and see how those work.

ok, wow. You are one of those I was mentioning that review products poorly that they do not understand.

 

[skyking]

What I like about zoneminder is the ability to use many different cameras and integrate them into one package, with many features for sending texts, etc. What I don't like is the time it takes to set it up. Debian does have a package but you'll be a couple of versions back if you go that route.
I have analog cams, web cams of several flavors, it will even control the PTZ of several different cams.
The biggest system I have running is a mix of 15 analog cams and 10 webcams, on a core2duo with 500 GB raid array. It has 200,000 motion events stored, for about 6 weeks of coverage. You can easily search out events using the timeline view.
I have a couple of smaller systems going with 5 analog and 2 webcams.
I have not tried messing with them in a smartphone or tablet. It works nicer with firefox.