Has anyone setup surveillance cameras around their home?

Bailey · 07-26-2005, 09:02 PM

My car was vandalized this past weekend. The person who did it may be coming back. I'm honestly not sure who they are. I'm interested in setting up cameras to monitor the front of my home, my driveway, and the parking spots I use. 2 should do it. I was thinking of hooking them up to my WiFi network. They have to be for outdoor use. Anyone have anything similar?

OoNikFraleyoO · 07-26-2005, 09:20 PM

I have x10 cameras. 6 of 'em. 3 with pivoting mounts so I can pan them from inside. A friend of mine that works in security got me a great deal and set it all up for me. It has a "brain" that is kinda like a TiVo. It records something like 48 hours worth of footage in a split screen format. No, I'm not paranoid, I got it almost free, but I don't think I would ever want to be without it again. You could get one or two of the x10 cameras and a security VCR on ebay for a descent price.

Shelbrain · 07-26-2005, 09:23 PM

Also check a website called www.smarthome.com. They have good home automation stuff. Personally I also plan to put cameras around my home too, but I want to install one in mailbox post so when a vehicle pulls in my driveway I can record the tag number. Smarthome also has some concealed cameras to check out too. I can't speak of X10 cameras, but I get spam from some company every day with deals on X10 cameras.

Bailey · 07-26-2005, 10:04 PM

I was looking for a way to connect them to my PC so I can watch things from my desk. Not that I'm paranoid or anything (yes, maybe I am) but since I'm going through the trouble of setting it up I may want the luxury.

But, if it can't work out like that.. no problem. What model has the TiVo type thing?

techeros · 07-26-2005, 10:18 PM

Hey checkout access control software here on the forums. I THINK the plan was for audio and video recording. I am not sure if video recording has been added yet.

OoNikFraleyoO · 07-26-2005, 10:27 PM

It's made by Optiview, I can't find a model number anywhere and to be quite honest I don't much about it other than how to operate it.

wizardPC · 07-26-2005, 11:32 PM

www.supercircuits.com

I just got their new catalog, and it's got some really good stuff in it. I think what you want is some IR cameras and a DVR with motion sensing. Using a computer to capture surveillance isnt the best idea because video without compression takes a lot of disk space, and video with compression takes a lot of processing power. You could build a computer specifically for this purpose, but honestly it would be cheaper to just buy a minidvr. Get black and white cameras with high resolution (~600 lines would be great) because you want good definition. Color cameras are okay, but they just don't have the definition required to make a positive ID, especially at a distance.

I used to be in the Security industry, so feel free to IM me for some more exact specs on what you might need.

wizardPC · 07-26-2005, 11:39 PM

I have no idea on the quality, but for the price you can't beat this one
http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/dvr150.html
takes SD cards up to 1GB, records only when there is motion, and it's $200. To use more than one camera, you'd also need a video multiplexor

Bailey · 07-27-2005, 12:02 AM

Damn, good advice. That SD card one is nice looking but I need a weatherproof one.

0l33l · 07-27-2005, 01:44 AM

So... what happened to your car?

Bailey · 07-27-2005, 10:03 AM

4 flat tires, total of 15 stab wounds, no idea who did it... I asked everybody. No one heard of anybody talking. It's been almost a week.

KB5WID · 07-27-2005, 11:06 AM

If you need to use more then one camera get Active WebCam. It will record from quite a few cameras and only record when it sees motion. I use it from time to time at my home.
http://www.pysoft.com/ActiveWebCamMainpage.htm

shotgunefx · 07-27-2005, 11:18 AM

I went with a security vcr off of ebay for cheap coupled with a $70-ish lorex outdoor camera. The vcr friggin rocks. 40hours on one tape and it still plays smooth. I got the vcr for around $30+shipping, normally they go for hundreds. It's even got RS-485 and RS232 jacks

I got two, the other one is going to end up in my trunk with a quad processor so I have a video record in case of accidents. I can hook my alarm input into the vcr's alarm input so it will mark on the tape any alarms.

As long as you notice damage within 40 hours, your golden.