Home Security

[spazzyfry123]

I'm sure there is likely a thread already dedicated to this, but we're unable to search the OT board...? I must be doing something wrong.

Curious what folks are doing for home security - specifically cameras and their necessary infrastructure/storage.

In my mind, I don't want WiFi, but maybe I'm paranoid. Wired, but able to be brought up on various TVs in the house. Unless someone can offer a "secure" wireless solution. I would run through the attic I suppose. Looking for both interior (keep an eye on the kids) and exterior (keep an eye on the rest). I'm fine with dedicating a space if we went full on with a server rack that could be used to expand into other home functionality as a hub. I have a bedroom closet that will be used for a variety of things with this being one of the planned. Will also be used to bring in future video/security from an ancillary building that will be probably 800+ ft away in a rural area.

This was my initial look:

https://www.lorex.com/products/lorex...42751314395286

What are guys and gals using?

[Rocket455]

I've been on a hardwired Reolink set up for about 4 years: 2TB NVR and 3 cameras (exterior only, PoE). Excellent functionality, features, ease of use, interface. Their desktop and mobile apps work seamlessly too, and I can tap into the NVR remotely in a few seconds. Reolink cloud storage is reliable and easy to access. Customer support is also excellent. Planning on upgrading the entire system with their newer cameras that allow 2-way communication and remote lighting. Very happy with Reolink, I highly recommend them.

[ekaz]

I have Ubiquiti cameras and their NVR all hard wired and local storage. They have some solid wifi cameras as well, but prefer wired connections wherever possible.

[vreihen16]

I have Amcrest wired cameras and their NVR, because it is/was the only CCTV system on the market with H.265 video compression to save bandwidth and disk space.

My video system was the key evidence that sent a punk to jail for 25 years to life for murder and arson of a neighbor's house, so it has passed legal challenges in court.....

[M_Six]

I also have Amcrest PoE cams. I use Synology NAS boxes for storage and for their Surveillance Station software. I also have Eufy wifi cameras for the back of the house where the soffits are 2 stories up. I'm slowly (very slowly) working my way through our nightmare attic so I can run more CAT6 to the corners of the back of the house so I can ditch the Eufy cams and put PoE cams there.

Inside I have some Eufy cams that basically just watch the sunroom and the back door. When we travel, I set up a couple more cams just to check on the cats and the petsitters.

Wired cams with 24/7 recording is the way to go. The 8MP (4K) cams sometimes seem like overkill until you need to use digital zoom to check out something further away. If you're monitoring a tighter space where you'll never have to zoom in, like a garage interior, the 5MP cams are fine. And TBH, the 5MP cams often have better IR image quality.

[zx10guy]

There was a thread I thought was in the computer/gaming sub forum but maybe it was just in off topic where we discussed security cameras. It was a good and pretty lengthy thread.

I use Hikvision currently at my primary home. Been looking to upgrade the system with equipment from LTS Security or maybe even Reolink. LTS Security uses the Hikvision hardware but flash in their own in house software plus LTS is US based.

The advantage with wired connectivity, particularly with Ethernet cabling, is consistency/stability in the data connection and the ability to power the cameras over the same Ethernet cable. This allows a lot more flexibility in placing cameras versus having to depend on a solar panel/rechargeable battery setup or looking for a location with a nearby power outlet. But if wireless provides you the flexibility you need, I wouldn't discount its use due to any security risks. Just use the latest encryption standard (minimum WPA2) with a strong passphrase. If someone has the skills to overcome that then you have bigger things to worry about

[dradernh]

Nothing here. If we were still in San Francisco, we'd certainly have installed something, but where we live now and our two previous homes there's just been no need.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by dradernh

Nothing here. If we were still in San Francisco, we'd certainly have installed something, but where we live now and our two previous homes there's just been no need.

My neighbors are 7,000+ acres of state forest and 450 acres of wooded county parkland, yet I feel the need to have outside eyes. Granted the cameras mostly capture deer and an occasional bear strolling by, and no f-in-weigh would I ever expect to catch a killer walking down our dead end street. Heck, both the Grand Jury and trial defense attorney asked why I "wasted" money on a professional-grade camera system.....

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

My neighbors are 7,000+ acres of state forest and 450 acres of wooded county parkland, yet I feel the need to have outside eyes. Granted the cameras mostly capture deer and an occasional bear strolling by, and no f-in-weigh would I ever expect to catch a killer walking down our dead end street. Heck, both the Grand Jury and trial defense attorney asked why I "wasted" money on a professional-grade camera system.....

I agree that it's a good idea to have some sort of monitoring even if you are in a "safe" area. You just never know and it provides piece of mind. For me, I've used my cameras to monitor deliveries of packages and to verify that my garage door is closed when I have those absent minded moments.

I would also add to this discussion where I avoid anything that is cloud dependent. Don't want my personal info being harvested in the back end with no assurance of controls/gates as to what they may do with it. In addition, I don't want to have equipment that works perfectly fine be forced into obsolescence because the manufacturer chose to force the equipment to no longer function. My Hikvision equipment is not cloud dependent and is still functioning almost ten years later.

[MoeTE87]

At my house, we have Blink Camera's everywhere outside and a few inside. We had ADT but cancelled them a few weeks ago.

[zx10guy]

I still have ADT but don't use their smart home systems to include the video cameras. Just for monitoring. Figure they'll be faster at getting police dispatched than me or when I'm out of pocket where I can't be monitoring ongoings at my house constantly. Also the having them dispatch in the case of fire is also valuable. I have two smoke/heat detectors in my security system situated where there would be a high likely hood of fires: garage and in the mechanical room. So to me there's still value in having this type of service.

[DrVenture]

Comcast recently sent me a missive that they can now use the WiFi signal between the router and devices to detect movement in the home. Both a little scary and very interesting.

Makes good sense, as a person walking between a smart TV, for instance, and the router would degrade the signal momentarily. A simple software program would do it. Some guy had his thinking cap on the day he thought of that!

Add a few well-placed cameras and viola'. I have all regular points of entry covered, but this would help ground floor access through windows, I suppose. I haven't enabled it yet. We live in an ultra low crime area.

I tend to view being off the beaten path or remote as less of a positive than some. I live on a well-travelled suburban street with neighbors close enough to keep watch over things. Regular police patrols and no sidewalks mean few pedestrians. Ninety seconds after calling 911 and I'd have a dozen police on hand. My cameras are set to announce activity via Alexa.

Another neat trick is that I have my Ring doorbells set-up to turn on all outside lights, and some inside lights, if motion or person is detected during certain hours. This only happened once, when a drunk was lost and looking for a different address (mine is hard to see at night). It was announced, the lights all turned on and I asked him via Ring what address he was seeking. It was a block over.

it occurs to me that one could buy a barking dog device that would trigger similarly, lol. I don't have a dog.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

I agree that it's a good idea to have some sort of monitoring even if you are in a "safe" area. You just never know and it provides piece of mind. For me, I've used my cameras to monitor deliveries of packages and to verify that my garage door is closed when I have those absent minded moments.

I would also add to this discussion where I avoid anything that is cloud dependent. Don't want my personal info being harvested in the back end with no assurance of controls/gates as to what they may do with it. In addition, I don't want to have equipment that works perfectly fine be forced into obsolescence because the manufacturer chose to force the equipment to no longer function. My Hikvision equipment is not cloud dependent and is still functioning almost ten years later.

Same here. We're in an area so "safe" that we have neighbors who leave their houses unlocked and keys in their cars. I'm not that trusting. There's always a first time. Plus my camera setup is also my hobby. I'm constantly adding improvements and tweaking things. Keeps me in the IT frame of mind. When I'm done with my planned setup, you won't be able to approach the house without being seen and recorded by at least two cameras, and in some instances, three. Redundant recordings, too. Easy access for the past 10 days and slightly more involved access for the past 30 days. No cloud. Remote access to my cams via VPN.

[2000cs]

We have a few WiFi cameras because I didn’t want to try to run PoE/cat cable to the ideal locations (and don’t have a good way to reach two of them. One camera looks down the lot toward the lake and has two cameras - one wide and one zoomed on our dock/boat. Both have motion sensors so we can tell if we get a dock pirate.

Other cameras watch the garage and driveway and other entry points. Ring for the doorbell and packages.

Very safe area, can leave our house unlocked and do unless going out of town overnight. Cameras provide alerts; not defense. That comes by other means.

I had a NVR and PoE cameras at the prior two houses and while I was fine with them my wife struggled to use them. Whatever electronics we have need to be user friendly enough for both of us. So we use a SD cards in each camera for storage and the app to “rewind” and see several days worth of video if needed. I hate putting anything personal or identifying on the Cloud.

[spazzyfry123]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

My neighbors are 7,000+ acres of state forest and 450 acres of wooded county parkland, yet I feel the need to have outside eyes. Granted the cameras mostly capture deer and an occasional bear strolling by, and no f-in-weigh would I ever expect to catch a killer walking down our dead end street. Heck, both the Grand Jury and trial defense attorney asked why I "wasted" money on a professional-grade camera system.....

We are not that rural, but it would be very atypical that anyone would be down our road. Dead end dirt road that leads only to our compound and a private equestrian farm. We have some toys out at the property, and I've started to notice a few of the package delivery guys having some wandering eyes.

I'm hoping for rolling surveillance that will "auto" purge after a certain period of time unless I intervene to save. Is that a week? A day? Dunno.

Also want cameras that will turn on motion lights if movement is detected. I've read of some that have human detection so as to not go nuts for the frequent deer or turkey or bear.

Originally Posted by zx10guy

...
I would also add to this discussion where I avoid anything that is cloud dependent. Don't want my personal info being harvested in the back end with no assurance of controls/gates as to what they may do with it. In addition, I don't want to have equipment that works perfectly fine be forced into obsolescence because the manufacturer chose to force the equipment to no longer function. My Hikvision equipment is not cloud dependent and is still functioning almost ten years later.

This is more the reason for not wanting WiFi, so I think I misspoke. It's not that I'm against WiFi cameras and someone "hacking" into it (although I would sleep easier knowing some perv isn't hacking into my daughter's room), I really just do not want to be reliant on someone else's servers, the "cloud", and being forced into a perpetual monthly obligation for something I can just manage locally. A WiFi base may even be preferred so that I can easily send it to TV(s) in the house, but I still think I'd rather have wired cameras.

I've seen a few repeat manufacturer names in the thread. Any reason to go for one over the other for a "kit" to get things going with the option to expand to more cameras at a later date? Maybe something that comes with 4-6 cameras, but option to bump up to 10+.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by DrVenture

Comcast recently sent me a missive that they can now use the WiFi signal between the router and devices to detect movement in the home. Both a little scary and very interesting.

Makes good sense, as a person walking between a smart TV, for instance, and the router would degrade the signal momentarily. A simple software program would do it. Some guy had his thinking cap on the day he thought of that!

Add a few well-placed cameras and viola'. I have all regular points of entry covered, but this would help ground floor access through windows, I suppose. I haven't enabled it yet. We live in an ultra low crime area.

I tend to view being off the beaten path or remote as less of a positive than some. I live on a well-travelled suburban street with neighbors close enough to keep watch over things. Regular police patrols and no sidewalks mean few pedestrians. Ninety seconds after calling 911 and I'd have a dozen police on hand. My cameras are set to announce activity via Alexa.

Another neat trick is that I have my Ring doorbells set-up to turn on all outside lights, and some inside lights, if motion or person is detected during certain hours. This only happened once, when a drunk was lost and looking for a different address (mine is hard to see at night). It was announced, the lights all turned on and I asked him via Ring what address he was seeking. It was a block over.

it occurs to me that one could buy a barking dog device that would trigger similarly, lol. I don't have a dog.

Here is a link discussing Comcast's WiFi-Motion:

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/wifi-motion

They were adamant about this feature not being relied upon as a security system feature as they said variances in WiFi signal and environmental factors will affect ultimate performance. It's a neat concept but I wouldn't use it other than having it as a novelty.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

We are not that rural, but it would be very atypical that anyone would be down our road. Dead end dirt road that leads only to our compound and a private equestrian farm. We have some toys out at the property, and I've started to notice a few of the package delivery guys having some wandering eyes.

I'm hoping for rolling surveillance that will "auto" purge after a certain period of time unless I intervene to save. Is that a week? A day? Dunno.

Also want cameras that will turn on motion lights if movement is detected. I've read of some that have human detection so as to not go nuts for the frequent deer or turkey or bear.



This is more the reason for not wanting WiFi, so I think I misspoke. It's not that I'm against WiFi cameras and someone "hacking" into it (although I would sleep easier knowing some perv isn't hacking into my daughter's room), I really just do not want to be reliant on someone else's servers, the "cloud", and being forced into a perpetual monthly obligation for something I can just manage locally. A WiFi base may even be preferred so that I can easily send it to TV(s) in the house, but I still think I'd rather have wired cameras.

I've seen a few repeat manufacturer names in the thread. Any reason to go for one over the other for a "kit" to get things going with the option to expand to more cameras at a later date? Maybe something that comes with 4-6 cameras, but option to bump up to 10+.

The good systems/cameras will support universal encoding protocols where you can integrate the camera into other systems. You may not get unified management where you can configure everything under one GUI. But you'll be able to send all video output to a central storage location. I opted to stay with Hikvisioin for everything including an NVR. Found it just nice to be able to manage everything from the NVR. I know there are others here that use a software called Blue IRIS which can run on a NAS. I've been meaning to try it out but haven't gotten around to do it. Been told the ability for human/facial recognition is very good with this software allowing you to pinpoint relevant situations to trigger alerts and begin recording.

Going WiFi doesn't automatically mean the device is cloud managed. I have a couple of the Hikvision "Cube" indoor cameras that can run wired or wireless that are not cloud managed.

[zx10guy]

I've seen some mention wanting to have the cameras trigger certain events to happen at their home. Don't know what's currently available that's not IoT. But my old Hikvision cameras (particularly the Cube ones) have a wiring block on them to allow signal triggers from the camera to a home security system and I think it's also compatible with X10 Home Automation.

[floridaorange]

I was looking into this: https://simplisafe.com/home-security-shop-packages

But sub'ing to this thread because I would like to hear what the best options are as well. I currently have a camera hooked up to solar - that is great, but I'd like 24/7 recorded instead.

[DrVenture]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

Here is a link discussing Comcast's WiFi-Motion:

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/wifi-motion

They were adamant about this feature not being relied upon as a security system feature as they said variances in WiFi signal and environmental factors will affect ultimate performance. It's a neat concept but I wouldn't use it other than having it as a novelty.

No doubt! But, as a free feature added to my other existing cameras, it sounds fun to test out.

If you have serious security concerns, that is a whole other ball game. I don't. My cameras are for avoiding solicitors by not being seen! lol

[DrVenture]

Originally Posted by floridaorange

I was looking into this: https://simplisafe.com/home-security-shop-packages

But sub'ing to this thread because I would like to he been very reliable and ar what the best options are as well. I currently have a camera hooked up to solar - that is great, but I'd like 24/7 recorded instead.

My backyard camera is a Feit floodlight and camera (hardwired) that for under $100 has an incredible picture and stores everything to an on-board SD card. It has been very reliable and works with Alexa too. I already use the Feit app for many smart bulbs around the house, so no extra overhead there.

I get a lot of squirrel videos - might have to adjust sensitivity a bit!

I am not overly serious about the whole security camera thing. Just dabbling with the gadgets. I have considered the inexpensive Ring control panel kit, but mainly to add water sensors in a few places, like by the sump pump and basement ejector pit.

My side yard has a solar Ring stick-up arrangement that notifies of driveway activity. My garage door notifies when opened. And one of my garage door openers has a camera as well for the garage.

[2000cs]

Our cameras allow us (via the app) to set up detection zones and sensitivities for vehicles, people and animals. That really helps prevent the wildlife alerts.

They do “cycle” the SD card memory (we put in the largest capacity they support); we seem to have about a month’s worth of storage given the number of recording triggers - if we lived on a busy street with people in range walking along the sidewalk, it might only be a few days - but we don’t need any more than that.

Our cameras also each have a solar panel to keep them charged (and come with a battery for night/cloudy). We’ve never had one go dark. All we have to keep alive in the house is the router to view the camera images, but even if we have a power outage the cameras are still able to fully function and record to the SD cards.