Home security camera systems
I am looking for a camera system, preferable wireless. i I want to beef up my existing alarm system with a system which I can check the house out when away. Has anyone got one, if so what is your experience of them.
peedee
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PD. Used this company in the past for their wildlife cameras and very pleased with them.
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We have CCTV on our house - long story as to why - but it is very useful. We have a 4 camera set up which covers 99% of the exterior and shows as 4 squares on the monitor. You can also log on to it remotely but it is a wired system as we felt at the time
they were better. Things may well have changed in the last 10 years though so I will be watching this thread to see if anyone has a wireless. When we move house it will be an essential install on the new property as we have found it really well worth its
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Sounds like yours (BMB) is a hard drive based system
I don't think you can log into it remotely if the phone line has been compromised. Or have I got that wrong?
It's being able to see the rooms inside the house on the smartphone that appeals. That and being able to remotely detonate the strategically placed M18 Claymore of course
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My phone line is buried, not overhead so would be difficult to locate. The reason I want to beef my system up is because the police will not attend alarms unless you can identify genuine intruders. This year while away my system triggered at 4 am in the
morning and had me worried until it was attended to later and no sign of any disturbance was found. It either looks like a sensor was triggered by heat or spiders getting into the detector. I suffer from a plague of the latter in the house.peedee
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Yes we have had an unexplained alarm activation that we put down to a spider. Not good when next door rings you at 04.00am (same as you!) and you are on a campsite in Fleury down the Rhone Valley!
It would be great to have been able to just look through an IP camera to see what was going on.
I am afraid thanks to BT fibre broadbands engineers its very easy to see the phone line's entry to the house.
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PD. Used this company in the past for their wildlife cameras and very pleased with them.
I'm after a system but not to expensive will have a look at spycameracctv
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I have found >this system< using google it seems to fit the bill as far as I am concerned.
peedee
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We have a Swann DVR8-4400 8 Channel Digital Video Recorder + 4 x Pro-A850 Cameras it cost £300 and can be accessed by smart phone when we are away. It was easy to self fit and does the business. We also have a monitored alarm system with police response that does not require ID of genuine intruders, although the police will only respond to 2x false alarms before that requirement would kick in.
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You need to make sure the resolution is correct else wont be accepted in court, thus cheap low res systems wont be accepted in a court of law. Thats my understanding. A good false copy type unit is as much as a put off. If they see a camera, they'll only walk past and return with their hoodie up n over
So forms no use at all 0 -
Thanks SJT but that is not what I want it for . The prime use is to provide additional information about what is going on in my house. Whether it can be used to identify a thief or used in court is irrelevent.
I am presently studying the user manual of the Arlo system which you can download from their web site.
peedee
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I've just had a system installed at home. I bought the hardware from a company called HDCCTV and they were very helpful. If you want the very best of quality picture then IP cameras are the way to go - but at a price. I used analogue HD cameras which
are cheaper and still give an HD quality picture which is more than adequate under most circumstances - and also extremely good at night. The recorder is connected to the internet by wifi and I can view either live pictures or recordings, remotely on my phone
or iPad. Wired systems are far more reliable than wireless and I decided to pay a professional installer £200 to fit 4 cameras and thought that was well worth it because I am no good up ladders anymore. All the wiring runs in the roof space and drops down
to my study in the corner of the room and is a very neat installation.0 -
I have found
>this system< using google it seems to fit the bill as far as I am concerned.peedee,Does the 'base station' run off a transformer/12v ?? No power at the boatyard ,but plenty of batteries plus solar panels . !!
Write your comments here...
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Triky, you need a power adapter to run the base station from 230volts but nowhere in any of the literature that I have managed to read does it say anything about the spec of this adapter. I doubt is 230v to 12volts. If I buy one I will let you know.
peedee
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Triky, you need a power adapter to run the base station from 230volts but nowhere in any of the literature that I have managed to read does it say anything about the spec of this adapter. I doubt is 230v to 12volts. If I buy one I will let you know.
peedee
Triky, I bought a two camera set up from PC World, £30 cheaper than list price and same price as on Amazon. Yes the power adapter is 230v to 12volt.
I am still playing with the system but so far it appears a very flexible system, easy to install and the basic system is simple to use either using a PC or the available App on a smart phone. I will probably buy a third camera after a suceesful trial period. My only gripe is the App wants far too much access to other info on my phone, most of which seems totally unecessary for the sucessful operation of the Arlo App
peedee
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Keep us informed please peedee as I am getting closer to choosing a system.
I wonder if you are using android 6? If so, you might be able to block some of the permissions your Arlo app is demanding.
Discovered that Swann are one of the manufacturers selling into the uk that use a common Chinese chipset that has been compromised by hackers data trawling. I was going for one when I found out on the internet so back to doing research!
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Seems to work fine Fysherman. I used the App to log in this morning and switched on the kitchen camera towatch my other half preparing lunch and then switched the camera back into privacy mode (off) again. Of course if we were leaving the house empty you
can switch the camera/s on putting with the motion detectors and infra red on left on and setting up an alert function.peedee
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Fysherman, just been away for a few days on a THS, really enjoyed the site and hoping it will be available next year. The phone service wasn't very good there but I did manage to log into my cameras on a couple of occasions and it worked fine. On the last day although I could get on line I got a message to say my cameras were not on line. A bit worrying but when I got home I found my broadband connection down. I reset it and all was fine again. This highlights a couple of flaws with the system.
1. you do need a mobile phone signal especially to receive alerts.
2. If your broadband connections goes down your screwed.
I guess both the above would apply to any system which allows you remote access?
peedee
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Thanks for the update..
I realised that all the bad guy needed to do was to nip the phone line and any IP based system would go down.
Perhaps the answer is not to let on your house is covered by cameras of this type then by the time they realise that they are looking at an IP camera it's too late, the images are in the cloud. Possibly a conventional CCTV outside and an IP camera inside? Not yet come to any conclusion.
I am going to give it over this winter to find my ideal system. The idea of a look at the rooms in the house whilst away really appeals to me but the system must be robust enough not to fail when you most need it.
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Generally my broadband connection is pretty reliable. In the past it has been most unusal for it to go down but it only needs a power failure somewhere in the chain for this to happen. What is needed are modems which automatically synchronise rather than
have to be manually started up again to go through a handshake procedure.peedee
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Mine's BT Hub 5 and I think it just re-connects. I think so anyway.
We do get several power outages each winter where we live, not usually for long but as you know just on/off and it goes through it's handshaking. Not noticed it with this modem but the clock in the bedroom always flashes to indicate the power has been off.
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Another problem that I've discovered, having installed my system about 6 weeks ago...........spiders!!
I noticed on the night-time recordings, the images are obscured by what are clearly spider's webs. They don't show up in daylight - just at night.
I mentioned it to my installer and he tells me it happens with all systems because, apparently, the infra red light attracts spiders and other insects - hence the spiders building their webs there. Things should improve in the winter!!
So- I've bought a Ken Dodd style tickling stick attached to a long pole and now have to go round on a regular basis, clearing the pesky webs out of the way.
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Spiders are a real problem at this time of year. I didn't know infra red attracted them. We will have to do the same and make sure their webs are removed. It is almost impossible to keep them out of the house.
I remain happy with the two camera Arlo system I bought and was checking the price of buying a third camera from my local PC World/Currys. Dam me if they do not have an offer on for a three camera system with a £60 reduction making it only a few pounds more
than the two camera system I bought. At the same time they have put up the price of single cameras by £10.....grrrr.peedee
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