soarer

Hi

I would like to mount some security cameras around my house and backyard .

I would like them to send me a video when they are activated by the motion detector that is built in the cameras,

they can be wifi , USB or home network with a Cat 5 cable,

And they need to have good enough quality that I can see who is stealing stuff from my yard

Will a regular Webcam do the same thing ?

Any advise or websites would be helpful, I am almost afraid to travel with all the stuff that goes missing when I am away

OHHH and its a small single story wood house in the city......

Thanks for your help

Letitride3c

If you are near a Microcenter retail store, you might want to go over there & see some of the complete DIY kits and options available - popular & major brands include Swann, Night Owl & Q-See are what you will likely find.

Some of the Home Depot stores might have them too, but selection are far more limited - but you will likely need to make a trip to pickup junction boxes, tubes & mounts, drill bits, etc. since it's 1 story and shouldn't be too difficult, depending on your choice & options for mounting them (high & up to minimize tempering, and weatherproof them.)

For future expansion, I would suggest a system kit for up to 8 cameras, this comes with 4 night vision indoor/outdoor cameras with decent specs (45' range is still a bit short, I prefer 60' range - the difference in resolution is often a function of your night vision, stronger/better resolution = longer range)

http://www.microcenter.com/search/se...a&N=4294953128

Almost all of the newest generation security cams have remote function - just a matter of what they'll support - iPhone, Androids, desktop/laptop access, etc. and also email alerts. I have a Q-See system with custom ports behind a firewall and set to a mix of scheduled/always on & motion-based recording + real-time monitoring from the office/den (get to greet FedEx & UPS before they are up the steps to ring the door bell, LOL) and with a good sized HDD, store 6+ months of quad-cam images for playback, especially when we are away.

Webcam aren't as flexible & Wifi signals can be picked up easily by others (insecure) so it's hard-wired, default is 60' run including power supplied to the camera with BNC connectors. Audio is usually optional - you will get a better idea seeing it in person. Outdoor ones are mounted high on junction boxes with wires running thru tubings to minimize chances of being disconnected. A pro-installed system with 4 camers & DVR typically quoted at $1,200 to $1,500 complete.

Or, you can start with a base system, add your own HDD and mix of cameras (dome, wide-angle, outdoor & all weather/long range to suit your needs)

gfunkdave

This is hogwash. Webcams aren't designed for the purpose, but the flexibility is entirely driven by the software you hook the webcams up to, which arguably makes them MORE flexible because you're not locked in to one platform.

Wifi signals can and should be encrypted with WPA2, which is quite secure if you have a good enough passphrase. Besides, anyone close enough to packet sniff unencrypted wifi is probably almost close enough to just look at what the cameras are looking at.

In any event, your other advice is good.

If the OP is technologically inclined, you can hook up as many USB cameras as you like to a box running Ubuntu Linux and install the free and flexible motion package, which turns any webcam into a remote controllable motion-activated security camera.

boberonicus

What threat is posed by an unencrypted video stream coming from a webcam taking pictures of the yard? That your neighbors might watch video when you're having a party? That the messed up dude trying to break into your home would first pull up his laptop to determine the camera's vantage?

Anyway, there's a lot of ways to skin this cat. My approach is to use the free software on my Synology RAID array that's specifically designed to capture / serve a video stream from a surveillance camera. And get a camera that's easily noticed by the bad guys. That might be more important than actually hooking it up.

gfunkdave

The Synology solution is nice (from what I hear - I haven't used it myself) but it only lets you hook up one camera. If you want to add additional cameras, you have to pay Synology for a license code to unlock the number of cameras you want.

If you want to go the "just deter the bad guys" route, you can just get a $10 fake camera with a big flashing red light.

HDQDD

I have a Sharx Security SCNC3605. Highly recommend it. It's about $350. High dollar, but it's an all in one camera that also has a SD card on board. It is IP based (and wifi) and I use it on my wifi network. It has a web interface where you can setup upto 4 motion areas per camera. I have it email me, ftp the file to one of my servers and write the images/video to the SD card. Color during the day, and night vision at night. I have it ported out so I can watch real time streams over the inet.

Also, their support has been top notch. I was an "early adopter" a few years ago and I had some issues. They did a great job with some firmware updates and design changes.

http://sharxsecurity.com/products.html#outdoor

Live demo: http://sharxdemo2.servehttp.com:8152/en/mjpgmain.asp

ohliuw

One of the best bang for the buck - dahua ipc-hfw2100. It's 720p with night vision. Costco US sells it under the "Q-see" brand, I got 2 cameras for $150 each.

ohliuw

Found it -the Q-see model is QCN7001B.

Lots of reviews here:

http://www.networkcameracritic.com

Some footage:

day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgttU18zWwY

night:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eQzTFRLiZM

ScottC

The Logitech Alert line of cameras is my favorite;

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/video-security-systems

ohliuw

$270 for 720p camera? Pricey IMHO. I paid $300 for my both Q-See 720p cameras

ScottC

Are your Q-See cameras Powerline equipped with nightvision, active IR filter and MicroSD storage in the camera and PC? There is a reason these cameras are the bestselling on Amazon.

Also, these are entirely stand-alone cameras AND the outdoor one is IP55 waterproof.

TravelerMSY

Lots of solutions for camera systems like this. Yes, you can use consumer webcams, like the Panasonic line, but they are made for hobbyist use. The main issue is getting power to them. If you're putting them inside and they're near AC outlets then it's easy.

The ones specifically made for security applications are either analog cameras cabled with security camera wire (a special combo coax/dc power cabling) that go back to a central power source and DVR, or IP cameras that are connected via POE (power over ethernet) and are viewed/recorded on a computer. Powered ethernet switches doesn't come cheap, but it's much cheaper than it used to be. There are also IP cameras that use AC power and have wifi if you don't want to run data cabling.

Honestly for a home application, it doesn't matter much either way, as the modern analog camera/dvr solutions all have remote monitoring now. I've seen bundles as cheap as $300 for a setup with 4 cams. If you're putting them outside, make sure they're waterproof. I had an indoor Panasonic camera mounted outside and it lasted less than a month.

ohliuw

MicroSD storage? Seriously, if you are not offloading footage offsite (e.g. FTP to another location), you are better off with a coax camera. The point of having IP camera is to be able to store your footage offsite.

For $250, I'd buy a dahua 1080p - coming from a company doing security cameras, not webcams.

Model DH-IPC-HFW2100P DH-IPC-HFW2100N
Camera
Image Sensor 1/3” 1.3Megapixel Aptina CMOS
Effective Pixels 1280(H)x960(V)
Scanning System Progressive
Electronic Shutter Speed Auto/Manual, 1/3~1/10000s Auto/Manual, 1/4~1/10000s
Min. Illumination Color: 0. 1LUX/F1.2, B/W: 0.005LUX/F1.2; 0LUX/F1.2(IR on)
S/N Ratio >50dB
Camera Features
Max. IR LEDs Length 20m
Day/Night Auto(ICR) / Color / B/W
Backlight Compensation BLC
White Balance Auto
Gain Control Auto/Manual
Noise Reduction 2D
Privacy Masking Up to 4 areas
Lens
Focal Length 6mm (3.6mm,8mm optional)
Max Aperture F1.8
Angle of View H: 46°(70°/35°)
Mount Type Board-in Type
Video
Compression H.264 / MJPEG
Resolution 1.3M(1280×960) /
720P(1280×720) /
D1(704×576) / CIF(352×288)
1.3M(1280×960) /
720P(1280×720) / D1(704×480)
/ CIF(352×240)
Frame Rate Main Stream 1.3M(1~15fps)/720P(1 ~ 25/30fps)
Sub Stream D1/CIF(1 ~ 25/30fps)
Bit Rate H.264: 32K ~ 8192Kbps, MJPEG: 32K ~ 12288Kbps
Network
Ethernet RJ-45 (10/100Base-T)
Protocol IPv4/IPv6, HTTP, HTTPS, SSL, TCP/IP, UDP, UPnP, ICMP, IGMP, SNMP,
RTSP, RTP, SMTP, NTP, DHCP, DNS, PPPOE, DDNS, FTP, IP Filter, QoS,
Bonjour
ONVIF ONVIF Ver. 2.0
Max. User Access 10 users
Smart Phone iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone
General
Power Supply DC12V, PoE(802.3af)
Power Consumption <6W
Working Environment -10°C~+60°C, 10%~90%DH-IPC-HFW2100
Ingress Protection IP66
Dimensions Φ64.43mm×145.02mm
Weight 370g

PS
I'd be curious to see such a detailed spec sheet from Logitech

ROFLMAO, the Logitech is only 15 fps. I will buy it as a toy for my newborn

soarer

Thanks for your ideas ,

How good are IP based cameras and built in motion sensors ?

will it go off and on when the sun goes behind a cloud , or the wind blows the trees ?

and just to add another idea , what about the pressure sensitive mats like when you walk into a shop and the bell goes off ?
could I set something up that when they are stepped on a camera starts and maybe stays on 5 minutes ?

soarer

Hi

will checking around for information about security cams that can email me pictures I found these Trail cams that are used by hunters etc to photograph deer etc , they are motion activated, battery powered and SD card for storage.

Has anyone here used them ? How is the quality ? anything to look for when buying them ?

Also is there another camera that does the same thing, basically using the same guts as the Trail cams but just in a plain box , maybe like a nanny cam idea !

here is the link ,
http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/brows...3BBRprd1322269

Walmart also has one on-line for $50