CCTV recommendations

[Dazz150]

So we had the dreaded attempted burglary last night, nothing was taken fortunately but some of the neighbours were less fortunate. Im going to install CCTV, does anyone have any recommendations?

The generic Amazon products are full of good reviews, anyone on here with experience in the area?

[Blatman]

What's the budget?

Will the camera's be wired, wireless, indoor, outdoor? How much footage do you want to save bearing in mind that you will probably want 1080p images as a minimum.

There's a bunch of other stuff to consider once these are out the way. I'm not a security expert but I "do" networks that host large CCTV deployments so I have some insight. I'm hoping ManOnTheClaphamOmnibus shows up in short order...

And whilst on the subject I had the opportunity to speak to a SOCO officer who said that most burglars expect there to be CCTV so they wear masks. Burglar alarms are more of a deterrent. This was a SOCO based in London for whatever that is worth.

[Dazz150]

Budget is low, for the very reason I dont expect it to be a huge deterent. But something is better than nothing. Therefore max budget of £300, minimum of 2 cameras, max of 3.

Ive done some research, id love wireless cameras but wifi connectivity gets some bad press. Our wifi supply is known to go down at points, Im unsure if the whole cctv system then will then auto reboot or will I need to get involved. No good if it goes down at 1am in the morning without me knowing.

So I accept the wired option might well be best. They will be solely outdoor cameras, and I see no need to record more than 7days of footage? Not 7 days straight, solely motion detected in 7 day blocks. 

[TAFKARM]

I use one of these combined with a gravel drive. Nothing gets close without him being on high alert.

Of course if they get in, they get licked to death. 

Other models are available. 

[Dazz150]

So for me that would involve dropping a couple of tonnes bags of gravel on the street. 

The wife is also alergic to dogs, perhaps I could chain her up outside?

Cant see this one working....

[TAFKARM]

How loud can she shout? It could work. 

[Dazz150]

She has this wonderful ability of mumbling when it matters,  and shouting when it doesn't.

[TableLeg]

Maybe have a read of this post....

 

 

[Stuart]

I'm delighted with my Netgear Arlo Pro wireless motion detector cameras. I did have Y-cam and they were pretty good but now charge subscriptions

[Dazz150]

20 minutes ago, Stuart said:

I'm delighted with my Netgear Arlo Pro wireless motion detector cameras. I did have Y-cam and they were pretty good but now charge subscriptions

What happens when you loose wifi. Do they automatically resume to BAU?

[tc3nitro]

I have this system :

[Updated 1920*1080p] Sannce 4CH 1080P sPoE NVR HD Video CCTV System Kit w/ 4 1080P 2.0 Megapixels Indoor/ Outdoor Night Vision Security Camera+ 1TB 3.5 Professional HDD (Power Over Ethernet, e-Cloud, Motion Detect, Email Alert, Smartphone Scan QR Code Quick Remote Access) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01F4PQQYE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_xNZyCbNN1WTEG

 

I have also fitted it for some family and they have both been great.

with it been POE it only uses one cable for each camera just cat5 so I bought some plugs a crimping tool and a tester. All cheap.

The system has a good mobile app that can be added to a few smartphones and also has alerts for times and areas with notifications via email.

 

[Stuart]

1 hour ago, Dazz150 said:

What happens when you loose wifi. Do they automatically resume to BAU?

If you mean when you lose your Internet connection then, yes, they automatically reconnect when it comes back up . They have a base station ethernet cabled to your router - and you can also plug a USB drive into the base station & it will record to that.

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

10 hours ago, tc3nitro said:

I have this system :

[Updated 1920*1080p] Sannce 4CH 1080P sPoE NVR HD Video CCTV System Kit w/ 4 1080P 2.0 Megapixels Indoor/ Outdoor Night Vision Security Camera+ 1TB 3.5 Professional HDD (Power Over Ethernet, e-Cloud, Motion Detect, Email Alert, Smartphone Scan QR Code Quick Remote Access) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01F4PQQYE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_xNZyCbNN1WTEG

 

I have also fitted it for some family and they have both been great.

with it been POE it only uses one cable for each camera just cat5 so I bought some plugs a crimping tool and a tester. All cheap.

The system has a good mobile app that can be added to a few smartphones and also has alerts for times and areas with notifications via email.

 

What-Ho Blatters! Here's my pennyworth.

Mine is Annke/Sannce too also from Amazon. The precise system I have seems to be obsolete but I suspect it's the old change the designation a bit and confuse the enemy. here's a few screen shots:

 

The last one shows you the main problem with night views and motion detection!

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

How does this one compare? https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01I9L76RG/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B01I9L76RG&pd_rd_w=upj8N&pf_rd_p=454d2892-a6d1-488a-b5c1-57058b38bc92&pd_rd_wg=IfYNS&pf_rd_r=CJNZD2E76AZKSEN6VSP4&pd_rd_r=46e9d598-2f66-11e9-a552-7b28b0389da6

 

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

Mine is described thus: 

Quote

[1980*1080P HD Video] Annke® 4CH 1080P PoE NVR HD Home Security System w/ 4 Indoor/ Outdoor 100ft Night Vision 1080P Security Camera System 

Don't bother to click the link as it is now absent, but the main difference apart from the camera style, is mine is POE (power over ethernet) which means only a single cable per camera. Wireless is tempting but you still have to run a power cable so there's less of a benefit than you'd think and wireless can be unreliable due to local interference.

This is probably similar to mine

Forget video motion detection connected to any form of alarm or email notification because at night creatures such as moths and spiders are drawn to the light source. If you can disable the LED IR illuminators and fit separate IR illuminators away from the cameras you might be better off. I still use the motion detection to 'mark' the recordings but to see any night time events in recordings you need to trawl through the videos around any 'markers' on the record.

This is a daytime clip, and this a night time one both showing my unruly neighbours. I have set the frame rate to 10fps to extend the time over which recordings are kept before the hard drive over-writes them - about two weeks. 

One interesting nugget is that the snow scene dated December 2017 was screen grabbed on my Tesco Hudl2 while is was in Wollombi NSW at my son's wedding. Remote access is excellent if you have decent wifi or data quality where you are.