Camera Security Systems???

[buckeyefarmer]

Bought me another 4M amcrest camera with zoom, and installed another 3M amcrest yesterday. I like the notification feature for when there is motion.

 

[J.Wal]

I just updated to lorex 16 channel NVR, 4 4K billets and 4 4K 4X zoom bullets. Ordering a few 2K cameras and 2 8TB hard drives for plenty of memory.

Very happy with ease of install.

Attached is a 4K 4X zoom camera then using digital zoom. The camera is about 100’ from my house ( ballpark distance)



Here is an example of 1080P vs 4K. Keep in mind, quality is much better on TV than on phone.

 

[ovrszd]

Great comparison pic 1080 versus 4K.

 

[JasperFrank]

I started down the path of looking at using video surveillance. Looked at lots of systems. Using my laptop, I measured out how far my Wifi would work and got serious about designing a system. And I also started bending the ear of the loss-prevention guy we had at work. He use to work for Las Vegas Casinos He must have gotten frustrated with me because at one point he just asked me, "Why do you want a Video Surveillance System?" And I replied, "Cause I don't want people stealing stuff or breaking into my house while I'm gone." His comeback was interesting. "Do you want to prevent that in the first place, or do you want to later catch the perp? Because these are two entirely different things for your situation, living out in the area you live. Figure that out before you ask me any more questions." Really what he was saying was that, what he did, in a commercial setting, in side the city limits, with a City Police Force, made sense to record for both the reasons of Deterrence and Prosecution: In rural areas, County Level, there is no real follow through on property crime. So I did think about it. I really just wanted to prevent someone from stealing stuff or breaking in to my property while we were gone. Following through with finding the "perp" became secondary. We have a dog, -some Vets swear on using geese as early warning-, and we have other measures to deploy, if we are at home. So I invited this Loss-Prevention person to a free lunch if I could pick his brain. What he said in that session was very interesting. He mainly said that all property crimes in my area was due to "Tweakers." Tweakers are people hooked on Meth, and that they have a very short attention span. So you have to tell them they are being watched/recorded with signage postings, and then you have to remind them that they are being watched with more postings. One sign isn't enough. And real time video on your property only, is a waste of money. Tweakers don't care, they will walk right into the camera, cause they are someplace else being high anyway. You warn them, and then remind them as they start their venture, then they get to thinking a little and back off. Its a psychological, two gate system. This is the Prevention part. The Prosecution part, is that most of the fake cheap Wifi cameras, though some of them are real, are backed up with battery powered, hidden Trail-Cams that point to the area of the fake Wifi Cameras. And that is where we have the warning reminder signs. I never wanted to live in a gated community. Yet sometimes..... I get weak. And think of this as a complete solution.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Loads of good information here, I'll have to try reading it all when I get time. Many years ago I installed alarm systems. I'll throw out a few thoughts (realize I have not kept up with modern technology.
I always liked a hardwired loud alarm system for buildings. They're fairly easy to install, very few false alarms, no one is going to steal much with loud sirens going off.
Outdoor cameras I like and use hidden hunter cameras. They're inexpensive and work, seeing who or what's on your property. Self contained, but you have to check batteries.
I like having a friend or neighbor checking at random times also.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Jasper. I for one agree with you and try and make that same point. You write well, but commas and paragraphs would make reading your thoughts easier.

Someone was just telling me about his boss that had some video system with notifications. After the first hundred false alarms, it got turned off.

 

[dragoneggs]

Well I broke down today and bought a new desktop PC with windows from Costco. Now I have plenty of CPU and RAM and will be unboxing and setting up Blue Iris on this machine. I have been only been using laptops for quite awhile and been living with no fixed PC.

I will report more later but my day job and a couple of trips to the dentist have been keeping from the fun stuff.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Something i discovered trying to put a memory card in a dome camera. There was a connector in the way of the slot to put in the card. Looked at the memory slot with magnifier, saw it said open to left, close to right. The metal top slides and opens, lay in the memory, and close it on top. Never saw an SD slot like that before. My other cameras they push in.

 

[goeduck]

Here is an example of 1080P vs 4K. Keep in mind, quality is much better on TV than on phone. View attachment 581431

Is there any reason why a person could not drop the frame rate on a 4K camera to the point the CPU can keep up compared to 1080P? It would seem a frame rate of 5 or 7 per second would be adequate, even less. We are not talking evidentiary video. I would rather see clearly what I am looking at vs smooth motion.

 

[J.Wal]

Is there any reason why a person could not drop the frame rate on a 4K camera to the point the CPU can keep up compared to 1080P? It would seem a frame rate of 5 or 7 per second would be adequate, even less. We are not talking evidentiary video. I would rather see clearly what I am looking at vs smooth motion.

Yea, wouldn’t be a problem.

 

[Macinnis]

Been following this closely. The wife and I just bought 50 acres, with the intent of building a house at some point and retiring there. Was going to put up a barn next year, with a small ‘apartment’ in it for weekend stays.

The place is an hour from my house...what can I possibly do (other than call the police) if I were to pickup a breakin on camera? My architect friend says ‘that’s what insurance is for’...and while I get that, it sure would be nice to keep an eye on the place at anytime from my phone.

I agree about the tweekers being the primary concern...but at the same time...they are so messed up they couldn’t care less about a camera.

Anyway..love reading about the options...please keep them coming.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Been following this closely. The wife and I just bought 50 acres, with the intent of building a house at some point and retiring there. Was going to put up a barn next year, with a small ‘apartment’ in it for weekend stays.

The place is an hour from my house...what can I possibly do (other than call the police) if I were to pickup a breakin on camera? My architect friend says ‘that’s what insurance is for’...and while I get that, it sure would be nice to keep an eye on the place at anytime from my phone.

I agree about the tweekers being the primary concern...but at the same time...they are so messed up they couldn’t care less about a camera.

Anyway..love reading about the options...please keep them coming.

Just lay boards around with sharpened nails in them...leaves scattered on top.
Watch the fun!
(Construction materials)

 

[DieselBound]

Just lay boards around with sharpened nails in them...leaves scattered on top.
Watch the fun!
(Construction materials)

Ha ha!

Joshua Slocum (sailor, wrote Sailing Alone the World, back in the late 1800s) would put nails/tacks on the deck of his sailboat while he slept to keep from being attacked by natives (other parts of the world). Natives were barefoot.

 

[dragoneggs]

I committed to Blue Iris today... broke down and bought the $59 software. Lots of great videos on Youtube to guide me with more functionality that I will put into practice. I have a couple cameras temporarily hooked up and been playing with the software. One is a 4x optimal zoom and the other a simple 4K bullet. In total, I have six bullets and two zooms to install permanently. I have the locations pegged from a previous system so routing should be less painful.

One of my Bains, was the false alarms with my old system. I think the Blue Iris motion trigger and zone definition area functions will come in very handy so my bushes/trees don't trigger in the wind. Spider webs I am sure will be a thorn.

I wish it was warmer and dryer climate wise... I am getting lazy and don't want to be fishing lines and mounting cameras in the winter. But... I think I better just pace myself and get the cameras done one at a time.

So... I think I have my camera surveillance scheme figured out except for the details of motion trigger sensitivity and recording length. I have the positions of the cameras laid out for the most part.... but NOW beginning research on the deterrent part of the system and how to integrate if that is best?

I want intruder alarms (audible and transmitting) on doors and selected windows. This opens up another whole can of worms!

 

[newbury]

<snip>
I like having a friend or neighbor checking at random times also.

One of the best security systems I've ever had was when I leased land to a hunt club.

<snip>

Now what I really came to this thread for was to write that I rec'd my Reolink Argus 2's. About 20:30 so I'll do the real "playing around" tomorrow.
First look -
Instructions were more than adequate, but then I've worked with computers since IBM put 3 transistors on a chip about 1972.
Very easy to set up, my biggest problem was typing in my password. I'm not a "phone typist". Process was plug battery into camera, plug a micro SD card in, scan QR code on instructions to get software, log in to Google Play and download the software. Scan QR code on camera, it linked to my house router easily, then have camera "scan" phone and it was all set up.
BUT -
Wireless reception is weak, dropped signal about 45 feet and 3 walls from the router where my signal app on the phone showed a signal strength of -70dBm.

/edit - I just realized this is my second experience with an Argus camera, I think I still have a 1960's Argus C3 35mm inherited from my Father. It too was wireless, even batteryless.

Update and sample pics

Played around with one a fair bit. I've been using IP cameras off and on since about 2008 so the software with no FM was a discovery process.
Hooking it up to the Mobley and back to my home router was not REAL easy but maybe I was just too impatient. But it worked fine with the Mobley in a test, both inside with the "home" router present and outside with no other router present.

The software is kludgy and reportedly it will NOT work with blue iris because BI requires some feature the camera lacks (edit -battery operated cam only).

It works as well or better than the netgear pre Arlo offering.

It's easy to pick up and move, runs fine off USB battery charging, has a sharp image. I charged up the battery to 100% on 26 Nov and it's now down to 62% after significant fiddling around, recording videos, taking a lot of snapshots, and I've got the alarm on so every time I walk by it talks to me (no more ads though).

I hung it outside (2 screws in the base to my soffit) so I can see when the Amazon deliverers are coming. That was a 3 minute process.

It seems the PIR range is about 25 feet as I've got it set.

Sample pics:
Daylight
View attachment 580885

Dark
View attachment 580886

/edit - where the pictures were taken is the same place it dropped signal when I took it out before. Don't know what changed.

/edit 2
Added the second camera - should have been simple but
1. would not "link" the scan of the upc code on the base of the 2nd unit, even after turning off the 1st unit. Has an annoying voice and the camera is shaped like something one would throw through a window when frustrated. Entered the code manually.

2. Then when the camera "scans" the generated upc code it would not acknowledge that until I doubled the size of the code (by tapping on my phone screen).

More updates -
One of the main reasons I bought them was for monitoring "stuff" wherever I wanted to using my Mobley, android phone and the camera.
Cameras have been doing fine. I performed an unscheduled drop test on one from about 5 feet onto blacktop pavement. It hit and rolled about 5 feet. Seems to work fine.
I wanted to use it as a "hitch camera".
I fixed a small piece of plywood on a decent sized magnet, and attached the "ball mount" to the plywood.
I then stick the camera on the ball mount and the magnet on my truck, my trailer, my FEL, whatever.
Here it is on my truck (upper right hand corner):

I attached some sample views and a pic of my Mobley set up.

With the Mobley I get pretty good wifi wherever I've tried it.

 

[EddieWalker]

Following to see what everyone is using and learn as much as possible.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I will never forget a small job I did for a guy in Hamilton, living in a Tiny war time house. His neighbor, a lady wasn't six feet away from his back door, a constant fixture in her window. He was fixing to make something to eat, but didn't have the appropriate pan, and went shopping for a rather short time.

He came back to find his house totally striped of electronics and valuables. The lady, saw nothing!

I have to think of that case, whenever I hear about someone saying that a neighbor is keeping an eye on their place. And BTW, as I recall, the lady felt terrible.

 

[ovrszd]

Following to see what everyone is using and learn as much as possible.

Me too Eddie,,, me too.

 

[dragoneggs]

Me too Eddie,,, me too.

You better be, you OP you. :laughing:

 

[dnw64]

Just a word of warning.

As previously noted, I purchased a Lorex system. I very foolishly set the output resolution to one that my monitor does not support. Unlike a stupid/underdeveloped/bloated Windows system, it does not check to make sure it is visible. So far, I have sent a support request to Lorex (over a week ago) with no response as to how to fix this. The only solutions I have so far are A) buy a new NVR or B) Buy a 4k monitor.