Security cameras at home

[DisneyBeagle]

We are thinking about adding to our existing security system by adding cameras. Do any of you have security cameras in your home? We are trying to decide if we're better off to have them installed by our alarm company, hiring an outside contractor, or doing them ourselves.

I would appreciate any insight you can provide.

 

[LiLIrishChick63]

INSIDE your house, or outside??

i don't think i'd be comfortable with cameras inside my house, all over the place. outside i wouldn't mind, but inside kind of creeps me out...

 

[DisneyBeagle]

INSIDE your house, or outside??

i don't think i'd be comfortable with cameras inside my house, all over the place. outside i wouldn't mind, but inside kind of creeps me out...

That's a good question. I am thinking about outside cameras that record all the time and perhaps an inside camera that we can turn on when we leave.

 

[JessicaR]

My husband recently installed both inside and outside cameras. They use a DVR recorder and tapes in a loop. The size of the hard drive determines how many days is stored. He said he wouldnt go with less than 500GB. Also depends on how many cameras you would use. Its a good idea to have extra channels available on the DVR for future add on.

I asked him your question and he said it depends on your ability. The quality of camera vary so greatly that if you buy the system and dont like it your basically stuck. A person that installs this all the time will know what your looking for and will be able to pick the right equipment.

You want a good amount of infrared illumination for nighttime to get a good quality picture and distance. Its a hard decision to make to use the right equipment as a layman.

If you want to look around check out http://www.specotechnologies.com/
They wont sell to the public but they make a good product.

Get prices from all sources and do some research on the info they give you. Get references too.

If you have any questions - just ask.

 

[DisneyBeagle]

My husband recently installed both inside and outside cameras. They use a DVR recorder and tapes in a loop. The size of the hard drive determines how many days is stored. He said he wouldnt go with less than 500GB. Also depends on how many cameras you would use. Its a good idea to have extra channels available on the DVR for future add on.

I asked him your question and he said it depends on your ability. The quality of camera vary so greatly that if you buy the system and dont like it your basically stuck. A person that installs this all the time will know what your looking for and will be able to pick the right equipment.

You want a good amount of infrared illumination for nighttime to get a good quality picture and distance. Its a hard decision to make to use the right equipment as a layman.

If you want to look around check out http://www.specotechnologies.com/
They wont sell to the public but they make a good product.

Get prices from all sources and do some research on the info they give you. Get references too.

If you have any questions - just ask.

Thank you so much for all of the information. That definitely gives me a place to start. Are your cameras wireless or is there a cable that runs from the camera to the DVR?

 

[JessicaR]

Thank you so much for all of the information. That definitely gives me a place to start. Are your cameras wireless or is there a cable that runs from the camera to the DVR?

You are very welcome.
We have a cable that runs from the camera to the DVR. He said that wireless isn't truly wireless because it needs a power supply. He also said that he has no preference between the two except the quality can generally be better with the cable.

 

[kimmar067]

....we seriously thought about getting a camera for the outside of our home, after what happened to my car....

 

[JessicaR]

....we seriously thought about getting a camera for the outside of our home, after what happened to my car....

That would be a LOGICAL reason to install cameras. I won't share my husbands reasoning.

 

[Jockaroo]

We are thinking about adding to our existing security system by adding cameras. Do any of you have security cameras in your home? We are trying to decide if we're better off to have them installed by our alarm company, hiring an outside contractor, or doing them ourselves.

I would appreciate any insight you can provide.

We did our installation ourselves. My husband is a computer genius, so it wasn't difficult for him to set up. We have outdoor security cameras and each camera is designed for a specific job. We began installing these last year when there were several incidence of vandalism in our neighborhood (the vandals have been caught and we had no damage).

For outdoor cameras, you want to consider lighting conditions and how far the camera can "see" in the dark. Also, you need to consider the degree of vision and camera resolution. Since most criminal activity happens at night, we selected good quality night vision cameras. Our system is a hodge-podge, but we have cameras that cover the majority of our outside property. The most complicated thing was getting all the cameras angled correctly to have maximum coverage. My husband had no problems installing these. We went with wired cameras and hooked the system through an old desktop PC with a large hard drive. Fortunately, the only bandit we've caught has been a raccoon in the driveway. I believe our system allows up to 8 cameras. We don't have that many, but add one every few months as the budget allows. We do not have to pay any monitoring fees and we own our equipment. Our system actually can be set up to record 24/7, or if motion is detected. We can also have alerts sent to our email or cell phones.

This can be something you can install yourself with a little research and patience. We chose not to get any kits, but customize our system using a variety of cameras with different functions. Personally, I don't want indoor cameras.

Good info here:
http://www.vfmstore.com/faq.htm

 

[PghLybrt]

We did our by ourselves because we needed something right away.

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/w...deo_security_systems/master_systems/&cl=us,en

These were super easy. They are not the greatest but do well enough depending on what you need them for. You can also watch them live from work. I have all of mine out doors execpt for 2. One,I have with the puppies all day ( the stuff it catches!! so funny) and then another that films the front door from inside.

As quick and easy as these are they are the opposite in great quality video. They did in a pinch. This summer we are having our alarm company install new ones.

If you are doing it yourself know your local ordinances and the laws regarding what you can and cannot film.

 

[LindaG4458]

We had a secuity system with exterior cameras installed professionally after having significant vandalism. We wanted to be able to identify the perpetrators in case of future damages.

We have the recording loop as described above. It is possible to segregate and store portions of the recording. We do not see any neighbor's property from our cameras but we do see a segment of the road in front of our home. That has been useful in identifying/ruling out unfamiliar cars when others have had incidents at their homes. We also have a lovely film of a neighbor standing next to my car looking around to find out if anybody could see him. When DH waved out the upstairs window he left without doing any damage. This neighbor was implicated in our prior vandalism and we think he was going to key my car.

We will be adding another camera to our system when our new shed is installed in May. We have other alarms and sensors also, but most people do not know about them or where thay are.

We will be adding another camera after our shed is installed this spring.

 

[DisneyBeagle]

We had a secuity system with exterior cameras installed professionally after having significant vandalism. We wanted to be able to identify the perpetrators in case of future damages.

We have the recording loop as described above. It is possible to segregate and store portions of the recording. We do not see any neighbor's property from our cameras but we do see a segment of the road in front of our home. That has been useful in identifying/ruling out unfamiliar cars when others have had incidents at their homes. We also have a lovely film of a neighbor standing next to my car looking around to find out if anybody could see him. When DH waved out the upstairs window he left without doing any damage. This neighbor was implicated in our prior vandalism and we think he was going to key my car.

We will be adding another camera to our system when our new shed is installed in May. We have other alarms and sensors also, but most people do not know about them or where thay are.

We will be adding another camera after our shed is installed this spring.

Do you only view the images from the cameras if you have discovered something wrong (ie vandalism) or do you view them periodically on a monitor in your home? I would love the cameras just for the ability of being able to see who is ringing our doorbell before I answer it.

 

[LindaG4458]

Do you only view the images from the cameras if you have discovered something wrong (ie vandalism) or do you view them periodically on a monitor in your home? I would love the cameras just for the ability of being able to see who is ringing our doorbell before I answer it.

We mainly look at them if we have had a problem. However, our system monitor is upstairs in our office. If I am home alone and in that room I will turn the system monitor on to see who is there if someone comes to the door. It saves a lot of unnecessary trips downstairs to say "No, thank you " to a solicitor.

 

[DisneyBeagle]

We mainly look at them if we have had a problem. However, our system monitor is upstairs in our office. If I am home alone and in that room I will turn the system monitor on to see who is there if someone comes to the door. It saves a lot of unnecessary trips downstairs to say "No, thank you " to a solicitor.

Are your cameras black and white or color?

 

[LindaG4458]

Are your cameras black and white or color?

Color and very sensitive. We can see detail in the dark at night (although that looks like black and white).