Recommendation for security cameras

[bryan267]

I have two system's, a 6 year old swan and a few reolinks recording to a qnap NAS. I find that any external camera with in built infra red will soon attract spider webs which reflect the infra red back blocking any night view, they need regular cleaning and any burglar just needs to look out for the red lights to steel the cameras. If they are local record then not much good if their gone. If you can find a system that can see in the dark but instal wired infrared lights then night time picture quality can be much better. I am unable to switch off the infrarad lights on my swan cameras.
i have some ok videos of my dog going to the gate to collect the post from the postman, but if the postman was a burglar my camera footage would be pretty useless in identifying the purp. At 1080p people are identifiable at about 6 meters or nearer. a hoodie or baseball cap and its even less and that depends on the height of the camera.
however using a nas to record has its advantages, you can hide the nas anywhere on the network and the nas can send its recordings to a remote destination. Amazon S3 is cheap but would require high internet bandwidth, you can get 4g contracts with great upload for about £18 per month on unlimited data plans. Good luck. Post back your experience with what ever you go with please.

 

[bansobaby]

I'm afraid that Ring, Arlo, Nest etc all fail the local recording requirement. Our upload bandwidth is way, way too low.

You can record locally with Arlo.....

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The geese up there ^ was serious. The best security systems I've ever had has been geese or ducks.

The very best early warning system is geese and guinea fowl. The slightest hint of a noise wakes the guinea fowl, they then wake the geese.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

. Amazon S3 is cheap but would require high internet bandwidth ...

Curiosity - what do you call high?

 

[Spectric]

Hardwired is the best solution, and incorporate into an alarm system so as to detect any tampering, ie wires cut. Using local secure storage is also the way to go but also have it mirrored to remote storage, this way it records real time but backs up at what ever speed it wants. Rather than IR cameras just make sure you have good PIR lighting which is a good deterent in it's own right, making an area daylight is not what a scumbag wants. Geese are great, but also gravel.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The very best early warning system is geese and guinea fowl. The slightest hint of a noise wakes the guinea fowl, they then wake the geese.

Actually, at the time I had an even better system - the guinea fowl woke the geese, the geese woke the dobermann and the English mastiff.

 

[jcassidy]

I would be interested in knowing the purpose of the cameras.

I've said this before in this forum; cameras are a detective control, they are not preventative or corrective. Not preventative; they won't stop thieves (as suggested, the thieves may well steal the cameras!). Not corrective; they won't make your stuff unsellable or easy to track or compensate you for the loss.

I would invest first in deterrant controls such as fencing, lighting, visibly secure doors and windows, monitored alarms, limiting the visibility of stuff-worth-stealing. I would then invest invest in corrective controls like smart tags & liquids, along with the relevant highly-visible warning notices (assuming it's a workshop we're talking about here), as well as insurance.

I'm not sure what the value of having off-site access to video feeds is, unless you intend to detect that a break-in is happening in real time and then go to the site to confront the intruders - said action being unwise in the extreme.

CCTV is really great for theft loss prevention in a workplace where you can identify who is taking the cash out of the till - less useful to identify hooded & balaclaved professional thieves late at night.

 

[TRITON]

What about this. Scare the utter bejesus out of any would-be intruder

I think if they were any closer than 20 feet they'd end up with 3rd degree sunburn

 

[Spectric]

All you have to think about when it comes to security is that it is layers of protection, you will never stop someone who is really determined but don't make their lives easy. You need to try and get into their head, think like them and what might put you off or deter you, cameras have there place but not a first line of defence but along with good lighting can be a deterent like gravel drives, geese and alarms. The alarm system wants to be triggered before they break into your outbuildings, so make sure you have triggers inside and out. Maybe a simple warning that someone has opened a side gate for example so you are now cautious. Don't have the contents on show through windows because that is just giving them motivation, use chemical markers on everything and make sure you have the notices showing to that effect. Look at your property boundaries, can they get in and out without using the normal access routes and if so block them with fencing and plants. Dark areas are not good but can be if you have some good trip hazzards there along with something not so nice to fall onto.

 

[woodieallen]

I would be interested in knowing the purpose of the cameras.

I've said this before in this forum; cameras are a detective control, they are not preventative or corrective. Not preventative; they won't stop thieves (as suggested, the thieves may well steal the cameras!). Not corrective; they won't make your stuff unsellable or easy to track or compensate you for the loss.

I would invest first in deterrant controls such as fencing, lighting, visibly secure doors and windows, monitored alarms, limiting the visibility of stuff-worth-stealing. I would then invest invest in corrective controls like smart tags & liquids, along with the relevant highly-visible warning notices (assuming it's a workshop we're talking about here), as well as insurance.

I'm not sure what the value of having off-site access to video feeds is, unless you intend to detect that a break-in is happening in real time and then go to the site to confront the intruders - said action being unwise in the extreme.

CCTV is really great for theft loss prevention in a workplace where you can identify who is taking the cash out of the till - less useful to identify hooded & balaclaved professional thieves late at night.

We unfortunately have a neighbour and a more vindictive, lying, mean-spirited cretin you would be hard to find. Had the police out to him three times for harassment but might just as well have p****d in the wind the fat lot of good that they were. So if we go away on holiday we want to be alerted to him doing something we'd prefer him not to, then I'd ring up my mates in the village who would go round very quickly, very quietly and persuade him that what he was doing was not a good idea. As I said, police are a fat lot of good.

 

[jcassidy]

I'd ring up my mates in the village who would go round very quickly, very quietly and persuade him that what he was doing was not a good idea. As I said, police are a fat lot of good.

Well then that'll do; do you think cameras will be effective deterrant? I wonder if a barring or anti-harrassment order from a judge is a better investment for your money. (Ignoring Police is largely consequence-free, ignoring a judge's order to stay away from you isn't).

 

[woodieallen]

Well then that'll do; do you think cameras will be effective deterrant? I wonder if a barring or anti-harrassment order from a judge is a better investment for your money. (Ignoring Police is largely consequence-free, ignoring a judge's order to stay away from you isn't).

No, they won't act as a deterrent nor do we expect them to. He is too thick and stupid to be honest. We just want to (a) have further recorded evidence and/or (b) 'encourage' him not to do it.

This is only the tip of the iceberg and there are ongoing legal actions in play. You are right in that a court injunction is a powerful tool as breaching that is a criminal offence. Oh...slapped wrists, Michael...who are you kidding? Even if he does breach the court injunction, the police will do Sweet F A. Which is why we prefer option (b) above.

 

[Fergie 307]

We have had a couple of successes in our village in recent years. Interestingly in both cases the footage from the house attacked was essentially useless. They clearly knew there were cameras and covered up. What screwed them was in each case someone else's camera picked up the registration of their car. On the second occasion they were arrested and the stolen property recovered within a couple of hours. So maybe useful to make sure you install a camera with a view of the road outside, although you might have to get agreement from the neighbours if it views their properties.

 

[Something catchy]

Hi

I’m new here , I’ve got 2 Arlo cams , there very small and discrete , battery powered and infared , the app is very good . Worth a look and not to expensive

 

[Something catchy]

I'm afraid that Ring, Arlo, Nest etc all fail the local recording requirement. Our upload bandwidth is way, way too low.

You can get 4g mobile dongles with unlimited internet for £10.00 a month

 

[woodieallen]

Hi

I’m new here , I’ve got 2 Arlo cams , there very small and discrete , battery powered and infared , the app is very good . Worth a look and not to expensive

I don't call £320 for a camera inexpensive !

Re dongles. What's 4G ? I can but dream living where we do. Lucky to get 3G.

 

[clogs]

We had similar probs
we just sold up and moved on….couldnt stand the continus worry /stress.
ever since lived away from neighbours at least 1/2 mile…
plus 3nosey Border Collies on the loose..
we never leave our place empty or just a few hours….
holidays we have house sitters for all the animals…
sorry not much use…

 

[littleplop]

I have a fairly extensive hardwired setup using a QNAP NAS and the built in QVR Pro software and I've added further licences for more cameras.

The exterior grade Hikvision turret cameras are all powered using Power over Ethernet using shielded exterior grade CAT 6 cabling which I have found to be spot on for my setup as we've got cameras spread over quite an area.

I've got several different types of the Hikvisions deployed - some wider angle lenses and some narrower to suit exactly what I need to cover. Night vision quality is I think very good and I've had them up about four years. Remote access via mobile appa is good and secure and can view any and all cameras very easily.

Bandwidth for access might be a bit painful though?

Certainly a decent amount of storage is required if you want to be able to cover multiple cameras while you might be away on holiday for 2 weeks perhaps so consider how much data you will produce and how long you need to retain it.

I use multiple NAS systems working from home and have about 40 Terabytes for back up etc so no problem but it does begin to ratchet up cost.

If nothing else though, it has been great seeing some of the wildlife that wanders through the garden at various points!

 

[Fergie 307]

We had similar probs
we just sold up and moved on….couldnt stand the continus worry /stress.
ever since lived away from neighbours at least 1/2 mile…
plus 3nosey Border Collies on the loose..
we never leave our place empty or just a few hours….
holidays we have house sitters for all the animals…
sorry not much use…

I am very fortunate that my experience with the neighbours is very positive. They are mostly retired, and some very nosy, but very little escapes their notice.

 

[DrPhill]

Sorry, late to the discussion
I have a reolink go. Solar powered, runs on a 4g dongle (4gbp/pcm from vodaphone). Been working for 3, 4? years with only a few blips when the sd card failed. Has stopped working now because I forgot to top up the account. I could easy get it working by phoning vodaphone, but the problem has moved house.
I have left the device up because it might deter scrotes. Plus it should still be recording, just not telling me by text message.