Home security cameras, waste of money?

[GilaMinumBeer]

Have had a few occurrences over the years that got me thinking about getting one of these systems. Namely, have had packages taken off my porch and have had my truck gone through on days I've forgotten to lock it.

I consider myself lucky in that whomever went through the truck did not think to use the garage door opener. At any rate, I've since taken to the habit of shutting power off to the GDO at night (it's on a light switch).

Fast forward to this week and my neighbor reports that someone went through his mail and took some checks out of some outgoing envelopes. And then, yesterday morning, my wife finds her garage door opener in her seat instead of on the sun visor where it has lived for years.

She forgot to lock her car she thinks. And it's possible the vagrant got in and tried the door. I can be sure about that but, I am annoyed.

Thinking about getting a camera system to monitor the front door and the cars but do not want to waste money on a system that records a grainy, at best, silhouette at night.

The two locations I am thinking about placing cameras would be about 10 to 20 feet from the point of interest. And i have no dissolution of being able to record a license plate number either by night or by day.

But I would find great satisfaction in being able to see a face when possible and make flyers to plaster the neighborhood in hopes a parent recognizes their child being an idiot. Which is what I assume is taking place.

So, anyone have recommendations on a system to consider or to avoid?

I am currently looking at an Amcrest 720p 4 cam dvr system or a couple Nest dropcams.

 

[iijakii]

Conversely if you have a computer with decent HDD space you leave on look into just any IP cams that match your budget and get Bluiris. Comes out a lot cheaper than packaged systems. There's a trial you can test out. I have it and love it. I got it to spy on my dog, but going to do security cams soon. I have Bluiris web server setup so it streams constantly, and then I also have it set to record on motion detection for 20 sec. I then did one of the free DNS services (no-ip I think?) so I can just punch in a domain name to get on the Bluiris stream.

Bluiris is $60 license and then you'll need the computer obviously, and there's a wide range of cams you can get. The go-to cheap ones are just various Foscam models, but I can't really comment too much on them. You can get any IP cam or even USB webcam (although webcam wouldnt be good for your outside sec setup of course)

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

Check out Blue Iris for affordable software. You can get some good quality night cams for a reasonable price. I'd try to get something with 1080p.

I don't think it's a waste of money. I've lived in the city and in the suburbs and thieves are mostly lazy. Sometimes they're also dumb and are caught on cam. Put it this way: when I lived in the city it was clockwork that a known gang would walk down the street the exact same time testing the doors on cars locked on a city street. If they were locked they just moved to the next car. On the rare occasion they saw something sitting on the front seat they'd break the windows. The police were absolutely no help. In fact they brought one of the gang members to my house at 2am in the morning to identify. Which I took as a "stop making us do our job or pay us". This was in the time and location of a dude called Whitey being a neighbor. I'd call them as the kids would start their trek down the street and say if you get here within 40 minutes you can catch them. Yea. I ended up moving.

Anyways, I think a visible deterrent is the best prevention. If enough of the neighbors make a visible effort to show a presence they'll just move to a more inviting neighborhood. You can easily setup a system for well under $500. Piece of mind is a good thing too. Then again I now know two of my neighbor's dogs really like my lawn :-/

 

[agrazela]

As Lebowski said, criminals are opportunistic and look for the easy mark. Just some motion-sensor lights might be enough to send them away. Or that and some fake cameras and/or a phony security sign in your yard.

 

[thekraken]

I had a good laugh at the thought of getting a nice HD security camera setup and someone stealing the cameras

Anyway, sub'ing because the wife and I have been thinking about this too.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I had a good laugh at the thought of getting a nice HD security camera setup and some stealing the cameras

Anyway, sub'ing because the wife and I have been thinking about this too.

I've had that thought too. But at least you are guaranteed a face shot, right?

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I've had that thought too. But at least you are guaranteed a face shot, right?

Unless they paintball it first.

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

I've had that thought too. But at least you are guaranteed a face shot, right?

Chaulk it up to peace of mind. You'll sleep better at night and hopefully you'll never need it. I know it's probably worth the money you spent if you needed to replace a wallet, driver licenses, credit card and identity theft.

 

[Kharnynb]

with camera's, especially at night, don't look just at the resolution it claims to display, you have to look at the size of the actual sensor, bigger the better, then lens quality.

I don't know the US market well enough, but over here we sell mostly axis and foscam in the higher end of consumer goods.

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

I'm using foscam and I'm happy. I think you also want to make sure how large your field of vision covers. Some look like your looking thru a port hole. I also like the dome cameras so no one can see where the cam is pointing.

 

[KPBrews]

I'm a fan of Hikvision's cameras. As long as you can mount them somewhere secure, many models have a place for a small SD memory chip so you can record directly to the chip, and pull up footage in a phone/tablet app or web browser. They can connect via Wifi but you still need to run a power line to them so I prefer to run a network cable to them and power them via POE (a $14 adapter and you're all set) so there is a hard line to my router and no wifi vagaries. (and doesn't slow down my wifi for everything else)

Here's a night shot from my Hikvision DS-2CD2532F-IS (with the porch light on), from the iPad app:

And a shot from the iPhone app during the day:

(This was before I changed the settings to improve the harsh contrast during the day)

I don't have any night shots handy where the porch light is off.

Mind you, this was primarily set up to monitor people coming to my front door and porch, not the cars, but it gives you an idea. This is not a "bullet cam" which are the long models that have longer zoom lenses to see from farther away.

Because it's recorded locally, I have no monthly fees, just the one time cost of buying the camera. There is no other equipment needed, doesn't tie up a computer, etc.

 

[whoaru99]

As Lebowski said, criminals are opportunistic and look for the easy mark. Just some motion-sensor lights might be enough to send them away. Or that and some fake cameras and/or a phony security sign in your yard.

Motion sensor lights weren't any consideration for the little punk who smashed out the window of my neighbors SUV.

I feel bad I saw it happen but just wasn't fast enough...

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Scribbbbeded.

Recently got a Synology NAS and am looking for a decent IP camera (or five).

 

[user 4295]

We were getting some mischievous activity on our property last summer from some local kids. I looked into getting a full blown security system, with cameras, dedicated HDD system to record it all. The cost of the system I wanted was pretty high. I then stumbled across some fake security cameras that looked extremely real. They have bright flashing red LED's on them that make them quite conspicuous to anyone coming onto the property. I installed one on each corner of my house. The total cost was $60. We have not had a single problem since. Apparently, perception is reality really works!

 

[millstone]

This stuff is very interesting, been thinking of adding some type of camera security to my home. Kind of the same problems others are having. Is there a forum for this kind of interest? Did a quick search but most of it looks more like sales.

thanks
tom

 

[iijakii]

Still recommend Blue Iris + a spare PC (I use my main one, but just turn it off when playing vidya games... it's a resource hog.) and whatever cameras you can/want to afford.