Home surveilance.

I

Ilovemyak47

Moderator
I'm currently moving to another house and am kinda toying with the idea of getting a motion sensing camera or 2 put up around the house and wired so that I could watch the feed through my television(s). This seems like an ok idea considering that the only way up to my new house is through a gate that has to be opened manually and just that it'd be nice to get to see who's coming as well as what's going on around your house. I was also wondering as to the possiblity of perhaps keeping several days worth of footage on somekind of harddrive (in case of burglary or something)

Anyone go off the deepend and do this or am I just the lone nut in the tree?

any recommendations for bundles or particular makers?

btw, this is all with the goal of catching a bad guy who may need to be shot. There, now it's firearm related :D
 
There must be two nuts in that tree. Am planning on building a home and plan on several cameras linked to a harddrive. recording will be tripped by PIR with recording time lasting as long as motion is detected in that area.
As for outside, two cameras and a video combiner to do split screen to a seperate harddrive. This would give me edvidence for cops if it comes down to a break in. Who knows, maybe backup for a self defense shooting.
And I also want to know who has been sneaking around my house when I'm not home.
 
Visit Super Circuits

For some options, visit www.supercircuits.com or give them a call at 800 335-9777 to request a catalog. They offer some attractive packages and appear to have some knowledgeable people to help with advise.

You really should study your options, determine what areas you wish to "protect" and consider color infrared cameras as most likely any important video would take place at night and you need cameras that "see" in very low lux. A DVR with built in multiplexer and at least a 120 Gig HD should provide approx. 6 months of video for four (4) cameras before automatically rewriting over the old data. Properly mounted and installed, the system should just about be self sufficient. If you have a reason to do so, you can record a given timeframe (like a self defense shooting or a break in) onto a disk and pass it on to the police, your lawyer, insurance company, etc.

Draw your house "footprint" on graph paper and then use map pins to select the mount locations (this way you can change your plan on paper easily as you will change your plan as you think about it).

A decent quality, well planned four (4) camera system with YOU doing the installation would be in the $1500 range. Obviously you could spend more!

I have no connection with SuperCircuits or any other commercial video supplier but hope this helps.

John
Charlotte, NC
 
Most everthing you can afford to buy is made in China now. My system wasn't cheap but the monitor failed and it cost as much as a new system to get it fixed. All the stuff at Costco works for about a year then it quits. If you go cheap get alot of replacement parts.

25
 
Wowza $1500?! I was hoping I could manage for under grand.

I just put up some really bright motion detecting floodlights and those things are awesome!! best bang for your buck anyday.

Now, I know that you get what you pay for (especially on ebay) but I was toying around with the idea of getting something along these lines
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5875397829&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1
just more as an experiment and something to play with without having to shell out too much...besides, enough electricians/duct tape makes ANYTHING waterproof!

Or do you guys suppose that $150 would be better spent on bullets and range passes...or both...hmmmmmm
 
Let us know how it works

If you buy the system you mentioned (on E-Bay) please let us know how you like it. My experience with wireless has been less than satisfactory. I don't really want to sit and watch a monitor all day either, so for my money a CCTV system must record so that it can be reviewed if there is a reason to review it.

The prices of decent equipment have come down in the past 5 years or so and the advent of DVR technology (replacing video tapes) has made systems both practical and affordable.

For anyone who is serious about surveillance for their home or small business, you will find the choice of equipment a lot like that of holsters - you can buy cheap or you can buy cheap and then spend the money for something that works - it is, quite obviously, your money and your home.

As with many things, the time you spend researching your options and working up systems on paper will prove to be time well spent. Fortunately there is plenty of information available so you can gain the knowledge without having to become an expert or a professional installer.

Good luck.

John
Charlotte, NC
 
Also try Frey Electronics, last time I was there they had something like 40 different cameras and about 25 different out of the box setups.

If you have a 802.11g network already, you can always get a 802.11g camera. D-Link makes a nice one, and it has a web server built in, so you can get on the web anywhere in the world and control the camera...or put it on "patrol" and it'll move around and let you view stuff automatically.
 
Cctv

I'm in the business. (Alarms/CCTV, etc) John said something that is all too true. You can buy cheap or you can buy cheap and then get it right the next time. You do get what you pay for in this business. A DVR is the way to go as it's fire and forget. You set it up to record continuously (using motion detection in the image frames to save on hard drive space/recording time for a given size hard drive) and it will serve you well IF you have decent cameras that, like John said, are good enough to see when it's dark. Day/Night cameras or IR sensitive cameras with IR illuminators work well here. There are devices that will inject the DVR output into your cable system to display on ANY tv in the house by going to a particular channel. That eliminates having to have dedicated monitors in strategic places and also saves $$$. You can do this yourself IF you are handy with electronics, a little programming savvy, and understand installation techniques. It's not that hard. If not then get a good installer and make sure he includes a good service agreement as video is service heavy (no matter what they tell you). Hope this helps.
 
Before I start on this, I freely admit: I'm a cheapskate :D .

I built my system myself, mostly from scratch, and the whole thing cost me, maybe $250, but then, I didn't go digital.

I bought a board camera, which is nothing more than a lens and a chip on a mini-circuit board, and built a weather proof housing for it. This, I mounted on a cheapie, Radio Shack antenna rotor, which is on the corner of my home, giving me 270 degree coverage. The feed goes to an RF modulator, and thence to a remote control A/B coaxial switch, and finally into my home's cable distribution system, making it easy to click the remote and view the camera from any TV in the house.

I bought a cheapie VCR and a stack of 8 hr. (on SLP) tapes, but I only tape when I'm not there.

There are certainly much better systems out there, but mine does the job and it's been doing so for over 10 years now, without a glitch. Since the back of my house faces an alley coming from a school, I made it a point to "track" a number of kids using the rotor, and made sure they saw it, so the word spread like wildfire. That was half the battle ;) :D .
 
Outside Motion Sensors

I completely understand the idea behind outside motion sensors...but I have to ask:

What if you live in an area that is highly populated by wildlife? Wouldn't they set off the sensors? :confused:

I was thinking...maybe something more of an infared laser system around the perimeter of the window? I've heard of systems like this...but I don't know what good it would do once they reach that point they're all ready in....
 
Ilovemyak47-Please keep the following in mind:

1-Just because your home is gated, doesn't mean that cuts off all avenues of entry. If someone wants into your residence bad enough, they will find an alternate route. Not to mention, the route they'd choose would probably be the one that gives them the least likelyhood of being seen coming or going. I highly doubt they will attempt to come and go through your gate.

2-Home surveillance is just like CC choice, you get what you pay for. After all, what good is a surveillance system if the BG can't be identified due to poor image quality?

This is not intended to provoke or offend those with other views...Just present a different point of view.
 
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