Surveillance Camera

[masoncgy]

Any recommendations for a good surveillance camera, small in size, that I can mount discreetly on the front of my house? Not too familiar with this kind of stuff, but I assume they make battery operated/wireless type units that record on motion, have night vision and operate on a wifi signal?

Neighborhood has been quite sketchy lately and I am not feeling comfortable.

Thanks!

[Thaco]

anything from hikvision wont disappoint. Just needs a 12v power supply or POE wire.. if you need wireless just make sure there is a W in the product code, you likely also want an I (infrared for night)

example is my most recent one, it's a 2cd2532f-IWS the IWS means it's for infrared, wiresless, and sound.

this is a link to the one i bought.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Origi...278619325.html

it's a little spendy, but a great product, i also have this one that i have been using for about a year, it's also a great camera, a lot cheaper, but less features.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2013-...397052584.html

[The_Penguin]

+1 for Hikvision. I would not go wireless unless you have to, wired is always more reliable.

[The_Penguin]

Originally posted by Thaco
i also have this one that i have been using for about a year, it's also a great camera, a lot cheaper, but less features.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2013-...397052584.html

I have 5 of these, great cameras.

3 are currently being used for mouse detection.

[TL911]

What program are you guys running for the Hikvision? Blue Iris?
I've bought 2 camera's from aliexpress and downloaded the hikvision software online. But the hikvision program isn't the best..it doesn't record contineously and isn't very user friendly.

[Thaco]

Originally posted by TL911
What program are you guys running for the Hikvision? Blue Iris?
I've bought 2 camera's from aliexpress and downloaded the hikvision software online. But the hikvision program isn't the best..it doesn't record contineously and isn't very user friendly.

i use blue iris, once you get it set up it's pretty self sufficient, i like it because it sends me instant alerts pushed to my phone via their android app.

[The_Penguin]

Yes, Blue Iris. If you tune it right (direct to disk recording etc.) and don't go crazy with 30fps and 1080p it performs very well.

I have 5 Hiks, and 3 other misc cameras most are 720 P 10fps and my i7 sits at about 14% utilization.

[blairtruck]

I got 5 hikvisions with the blue iris to run them. Love it. Great price. Works great in -30

[TL911]

thanks Beyonders! i think ill be buying Blue Iris

[syscal]

I just started using Ivideon last night. Not bad, and free if you don't store in the cloud.

I had a couple spare mac-mini's in the house so hooked one of those up as the vid server. I would do blue-iris, but the only computer I really have to run it reliably on would get stolen, lol. Don't feel like making a hardware purchase so I'll see how Ivideon works.

EDIT ::

Apparently was tired when I looked this up.

I have two Hikvision outdoor cameras, which work fine with it. But I also have three TrendNET indoor cameras. To hook up all five I'd have to pay $1.99/mth each camera. Soooo, I think I'll have to explore other avenues.

[revelations]

Originally posted by masoncgy
Any recommendations for a good surveillance camera, small in size, that I can mount discreetly on the front of my house? Not too familiar with this kind of stuff, but I assume they make battery operated/wireless type units that record on motion, have night vision and operate on a wifi signal?

Neighborhood has been quite sketchy lately and I am not feeling comfortable.

Thanks!

Are you close to the High School in Ladysmith by chance?

[masoncgy]

No, I live in the north end... there's just a been a rash of thefts from people's properties in the area... figure I might as well do what I need to do.

[civic_stylez]

Im looking to install wired cameras as I have heard of nightmares with Wifi connections. Has anyone installed these to a detached garage? Im assuming a wire needs to be run from the house all the way to the garage? (im obviously bad with wiring..) Does anyone use IP with NVR cameras?

[revelations]

I have found more success with using a WIFI bridge and then hard-wiring the camera to the bridge.

For eg. wifi bridge in the garage and then camera through Cat5 in the garage.

Not always possible though, but I always try to use a dedicated device for each function. Camera for video, and WIFI bridge to handle networking. My experience shows the performance is usually better.

[blairtruck]

Originally posted by civic_stylez
Im looking to install wired cameras as I have heard of nightmares with Wifi connections. Has anyone installed these to a detached garage? Im assuming a wire needs to be run from the house all the way to the garage? (im obviously bad with wiring..) Does anyone use IP with NVR cameras?

i ran 2 cameras to my garage with an overhead wire. its called a messenger wire. was like 20$ at home depot i think. you can even get cat6 with the messenger wire already built in.


» Click image for larger version

here is my blue iris screen when the camera in my kids room needed to be reset. 5 cameras and only had one that needed a reset in about 2 year.

» Click image for larger version

[The_Penguin]

Blue Iris motion detection, cranked up pretty high will occasionally trigger on dust catching the IR light, but picked up this tiny mouse no problem:

[ZeroGravity]

Kind of off topic... but looking to install a dome camera on the soffit just above the garage door.

Knowing that the soffit are just thin pieces of aluminum. Any suggestions to how to make the mount / installation a bit more sturdy?

[The_Penguin]

Can you pick a spot where the soffit is stapled to part of the wood framing for 1 screw to go into?
Then at least one screw will go into the wood, and the other 2 (assuming 3) will go into the soffit aluminum. Should be reasonably sturdy then.

[ZeroGravity]

Originally posted by The_Penguin
Can you pick a spot where the soffit is stapled to part of the wood framing for 1 screw to go into?
Then at least one screw will go into the wood, and the other 2 (assuming 3) will go into the soffit aluminum. Should be reasonably sturdy then.

Thanks for the tip. Will have to see if this is possible.

[TL911]

Originally posted by ZeroGravity
Kind of off topic... but looking to install a dome camera on the soffit just above the garage door.

Knowing that the soffit are just thin pieces of aluminum. Any suggestions to how to make the mount / installation a bit more sturdy?

How we did this was drill a hole smaller than the mounting plate size (just enough to get your hand in there). Drill smaller holes for the screws. and then used a screw/bolt system to mount the plate onto the soffit....it worked perfect and the camera isn't flimzy at all....it's been rougly 4 months without a problem.