Wanting to get a security camera for the home. Wondering what's good and what to avoid.
-Cloud storage option is nice but not necessary. Some of the cloud storage options get $$$.
-Inexpensive is always nice but not at the expense of quality.
-Picture quality needs to be of high enough that you can make out faces; none of that grainy Loch Ness Monster image quality.
-Infrared lighting preferred.
-Hard wired or solar is preferred but a battery powered system would be okay.
Talked to a few of the neighbours about their cameras. The biggest beef seems to be the reaction time of the camera. They showed me some clips and the clip starts with the person or vehicle already in the center of the image. I'd prefer a camera with a fast reaction time so that it starts recording right when the person enters the field of view.
Not sure where you are but some of the independent dealers are pretty good. In Calgary, I used these guys https://justpraise.wixsite.com/justpraise. Good equipment and someone to call and fix things when you have problems. Had very few in 6 years. You buy the hardware outright and videos get recorded on a PVR, no cloud. No subscription fees and runs off an app. I think it was $300/camera installed. Very fast video with none of the delays you mention. If i'm expecting a delivery I can open the camera on my phone and watch them pull in. Always has been real time speed. We have had several prowlers come in at night and check car doors, cameras are very clear but the problem with identifying anyone is all of them wear a ball cap and a hoodie pulled over their face so very seldom you get a clear face shot.
Service providers are already giving home camera data to law enforcement without homeowner consent or warrants.
Do you want your camera to be used against You and your family?
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We've got a Foscam and a D-Link camera, that both connect to our Network-Attached-Storage (NAS) drive at home.
It's a bit involved, and the cameras need Internet Explorer to do the configuring, so it's not for everyone. The important thing to us was keeping stuff out of the cloud - after all, "the cloud" is really "somebody else's computer".
If you're into the technical side of things, I've seen some interesting stuff with Raspberry Pis, and some of the stuff from Costco seems good.
I have a Lorox system the battery cameras run on 12 volts, instead of changing batteries bought some solar panels on Amazon for $25 each been working good for a couple years Camera records 14 days then overwrites.
The reaction time is slow the postie can make it up the walk and halfway back before the camera kicks in I would really like a better option .
The wireless cameras have limited range anywhere within 75 feet works good easy to install.
Watching this thread for better options
I have the Lorex as well with an nvr. My notifications come instantly as soon as there is motion. If you don’t get the nvr it will still record when there’s motion and save it to the sd card in the camera, which you can review later. Really happy with it. Had the Amazon blink and threw it it the garbage.
I was in your spot replacing a wired LOROX system that at times would have gaps in recording plus picture quality was not good. We checked on the Nextdoor app for what people were putting in for wireless systems in our area and settled on a 8 camera SMONET wireless. Power for the cameras is a small transformer with light wire extension.
Good picture quality, faces in the 20- 30 ft range from the camera are good, good colour, good for night. Have the app that we can check from our cell phones, good pick up on sound, cameras are easy to set for alignment. No issues with wireless drivng through the house which was a problem with the old system.
Data is on a hard drive and overwrites every 30 days with 6 cameras recording.
Have recorded a couple of bike folks crusing the ally that do the swoop into the driveway and crash when they realize there are active cameras. Pretty funny to watch.
Looking for home security camera
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