I'm looking into a camera system for my house, maybe putting a camera in the front, rear, and in a few interior rooms... I like the idea of day/night cameras so I can see what's going on at all times. I also want to be able to watch real time, rather than having to alway review the recording after the fact. (ie. turn on the tv/monitor and see what's going on right now...) I really don't know much at all, so even the most basic information would be helpful.

What would you suggest?

 

Check out Costco. If no store near you got to costco online, they have systems with numerous camera's at good prices.

 

Costco has $600 bucks off their 16 channel DVR making it $800 bucks. It comes with 16 cameras!! Too many for me but its a good price. Supposed to be able to hook it up to the internet if you have a router.

 

ya i have installed a bunch of the dvrs they work reall good... all u haft to do is to log onto a website and typed in password and u can view it anywhere u have internet connection. Plus they have huge harddrives that u can record the cameras. Also u can transfer them to a flash drive if u want to as well..

 

OK guys, just my .02 cents. You get what you pay for. You go cheap, you get cheap. What I did was get a system that was meant for commercial use. Yes, it cost more, but I have a much better system, and it does all the same things as mentioned in the previous posts, but it will last. Sam's Club, Costco, and some others are ok, but you can do much better, and with a little research, not a huge lot more in cost. Just don't make the mistake of putting your DVR or whatever you record with out in the open. Have it hid or locked up because if someone breaks in and steals that, your cameras don't mean a thing. I also utilize a motion sensor that sets off an alarm in my bedroom if someone enters my driveway. Nice to have at night when I can't watch my driveway. Since I have had my system for about a year, I've had no problems. But several times my neighbors have asked me to review my DVR to check for incidents that have happened at their houses, which some of my cameras happen to overlap on coverage past my property. Look for quality systems you can afford, not cheap systems that won't work after a couple of years.

 

Oddly enough .... Harbor Freight has some small cameras that work pretty well for that purpose. I installed one in the cafeteria at work to keep an eye on the mystery sammich thief .... decent focus and clarity. I think one model is even I.R. for low light viewing and at the low price .... even if they only work for a year or two ... you can easily afford to replace them.

I will be picking up a few for my new place ...


Cheers,
PISTOL

 

Did you get the fridge burglar?

 

Another thing I think might be a good idea, is have your cameras and any wiring mounted up high or out of sight. It's great for the crook to be able to see it, but not reach it! Camera systems work well for most people, and I think are a good deterent.

 

i went with Closed-circuit television (CCTV)it is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, in that the signal is not openly transmitted, though it may employ point to point wireless links ie.dvr, router.
the better the image your camera can capture the easier it is to make an id if required. i also installed motion lights targeting the pathes i monitor with cctv, that way if i have to review the previous night because my truck is gone i just ffwrd till i see lights come on



if you look up security in your local yellow pages most urban centers have several cctv devoted shops.

 

During a time when we had a family(nest?) of really bad renters across the side street from us, I was researching a system to do just what you are looking at doing. (THANKFULLY they were evicted before I ordered the rest of the components for my system)
The ordinary low/medium res lowlight/IR lit cameras are ok to see WHAT they are doing on your property, but you'll need at least ONE really good hi-res, wide dynamic range camera to ID a person's features in the dark or capture a dirty license plate on the front of a car through the glare of its headlights.
THose kind ain't cheap, but it'll mean the difference between getting a vid of something the local PD can run with or an almost useless video of a featureless dark hooded sweatshirt breaking into your vehicles.
If the perp is seen on 5 cameras that can't quite ID him as he rips your property off, but just happens to briefly walk in the field of fiew of the hi-res camera that also reads the Lic Plate #, you've got something that the PD can run with.
I was dismayed to see just how hard it was to read a lic plate off a car parked next to my house from a single low light,IR illuminated camera mounted on our chimney
.
They've got em' that'll do it, but they aren't in any of those consumer grade video systems out there.

Check out the commercial boys (like PELCO, etc) for the really good hardware...
One really good pendant mounted, steerable, high end camera can make the difference. ( I am exposed to the high end stuff installed at work and I've seen what they can do)

The lower res stuff is important too, to build your case as to what he did and what he touched ( latent prints, etc.).

 

Good stuff. Been a lot of bad guys caught after the break in due to CC tv. I like the idea of the low lives knowing that they are being monitored so they go away (to try somebody else unfortunatly). Wish the M18A1 Claymore could tell the bad guys from the good. That would be the ultimate home security system.

 

What SoTexRattler said is right. My cameras are high resoultion and have that great pic during the day, and then a great pic at night, but only a lot closer. Then neghibors too this day ask me to teview my dvr for loser bu''

 

Well .... that's the thing. My boss chose the location where HE wanted to put the camera .... which was 30 feet across the room and showing nothing but the backs of everyone who goes to the fridge !! Not hooked to a DVR ... TV monitor in his office and he only works half days ... with his back to the monitor .... Totally useless set up if you want to "catch" a thief ...

But .... it did get people's attention though. Their lunch hours started sticking to an hour ... and we hadn't heard anyone complain about their PB & J coming up MIA.

Just a deterrent .. no teeth.

Cheers,
PISTOL