Home Surveillance

[Scott R]

Well living in Denver proper I suppose it was bound to happen, my neighbor was burgled on Friday. I was in Woody Creek as I always am on the weekends, and now I'm worried. Is there a semi-commercial system that's good for residential? I would be paying I suppose? For someone to monitor it. I already have an extensive security system, and a gate, but I think after this I need more.

(Dobermans are out, they would probably fight with my dopey Labs.)

The closest I've ever come to this was someone trying to steal a radio out of my plane, but security patrol scared them off.

[GH85Carrera]

I keep looking for a full HD system with good night - infrared vision system. I have yet to find the right system. I will be watching your thread to see what is suggested.

[Arizona_928]

My neighbors have the Costco system with the dvr and cameras. They're okay systems. My neighbor was rear ended at 2 in the morning and while the video was entertaining to watch, it could not make out a plate. He actually has them through out his whole house... Kinda weird thinking back on it.

[Scott R]

Well I just chatted with a rep from my security company, and he was vague. When I asked if they would monitor the video, the said that it depends on local rules and regulations. So they will call me back.

[Cajundaddy]

I prefer layers of protection rather than one magic bullet. We had gremlins pilfering tools, bikes and other valuables from my cars and garage at our last house which was pretty easily done because they were not very secure. My experience with ADT was weak.

This house has:

Gated property
Dogs for early warning
Motion sensor lighting
Motion sensor cameras (cheap big-box but seem to work ok)
Big-azz lock hardware
Bear spray
12GA

10 years now and no one has lifted a twig from my property. Several other homes in the area have been broken into during that time. I work in the area and also come in and out of the house different times of the day. Everything except the fence and gate can be done for less than $1000. My fence and gate were $7k, but my wife feels it is our most effective deterrent as it creates a hardened target for thieves and other bad guys.

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by Scott R

I already have an extensive security system, and a gate, but I think after this I need more.

I would think you have it covered but you're talking about monitored video 24/7? Why not video that get's human eyes once a sensor trips? Trying to protect stuff or are you worried about personal safety?

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by JavaBrewer

I would think you have it covered but you're talking about monitored video 24/7? Why not video that get's human eyes once a sensor trips? Trying to protect stuff or are you worried about personal safety?

I guess it's more personal safety. I'm gone a lot (comes with working for an airplane company) and my family is freaking out over this last incident.

[J P Stein]

Heh, I have a polished aluminum casting like the icon in your avatar.

Were I more paranoid, I would go with a 2 level motion dector....one outside and another inside. A 2 stage siren also......with the inner stage loud as hell.
Video is good for an after-the-fact but the 24/7 monitor is a bit much.

You are armed? If not, why not?

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by J P Stein

Heh, I have a polished aluminum casting like the icon in your avatar.

Were I more paranoid, I would go with a 2 level motion dector....one outside and another inside. A 2 stage siren also......with the inner stage loud as hell.
Video is good for an after-the-fact but the 24/7 monitor is a bit much.

You are armed? If not, why not?

Armed? No. In the event of a home invasion I'm going to offer to help carry my possessions to their van.

[Highway-Star]

Lots of new old junk for sale. Avoid it.

You want
- ip-cameras
- night/day vision
- real time motion monitoring
- real time alerts via SMS
- view over internet, so you can check things out, for example with smart phone when alert comes
- network storage

For outside cameras, Foscam fi9804w is good value for money. Good quality stream, strong casing. Default lens has a decent (wider) angle than fi9805w and many other Foscam's. Also the 9804w does not suffer from night time glare on the lens, like 9805w has more IR-led's and people have trouble with the glare.

Before you buy, check where you would mount the cam(s), how wide view you want. If you have 13 metres distance and you want 10 metres wide picture, you will not cover it with a 27 degree camera angle. Calculate simple trigonometry!

Shooting high is not really worth it, since you can always buy a better cam tomorrow.

To set it up with automated SMS and all requires some skills and diy. But it is well worth it.

[Heel n Toe]

Make sure you spend some money on doors (steel or very strong fiberglass in a steel frame) that can't be kicked in. Consider outward opening doors because the entire perimeter of the door rests against the frame; nearly impossible to kick in.

Also, walk around your house looking at each window, and those that are low enough to be broken and used for quick entry, consider a few aesthetically placed steel bars to discourage an attempt.

We only have two windows low enough to be considered accessible by someone looking for a quickie job. I had a local welding shop make up a frame with 3/8 to 1/2" steel bars which follow the mullions for both of them. I could have had them painted the same color as the trim, but the guy showed up with them in black and they looked fine. They're in fairly obscure areas (one on the side and one behind the garage) and don't detract from the look of the house.

The way I figure it, many times all you may get out of a good, HD surveillance system is good, HD video of some guy wearing a hoodie and sunglasses who's gone with the loot before you or the police can get there.

Make as much of the house as impenetrable as you can and the crooks will go elsewhere. And you and your family will be much safer in the middle of the night, too.

[VINMAN]

Whatever you get, spend the $$ on high quality cameras. the ones my system came with initially weren't that great. Not sure of the specs, on the new ones, but at night, its like daytime and clear as a bell. I have certain ones set to record 24/7, the others are motion detected. They are all very visible but have a few in "stealth mode" I can access the system anytime from a remote comp or my phone. The alerts do get annoying at times though...

Between those and the three dogs. Its made me feel a lot safer.



.

[SoCal911T]

A few weeks ago I picked up a couple of $100 WiFi cameras from Amazon made by Fujikam.
They can be controlled from any computer, smart phone or tablet. I’m still playing around with the sensitivity adjustment on the motion sensor to cut down on false alerts on my phone.
The one labeled ‘Front yard’ is actually aimed at the front door and porch because I get a lot of crap delivered during the day when no is home. The one labeled ‘kitchen’ is is placed in the one spot where I can pan to see the front door, the back door and the door to the garage.
The first screen cap is from a PC and the other two are from the smart phone app.

In daylight the picture is great.





In low light you lose some resolution.




In pitch black darkness it’s infrared black & white.

[aigel]

Dogs and "beware of dog" signs help a lot, even if you and the dogs are not home. Most crooks know your house and if there are dogs or not.

The next thing that helps is to NOT hire any help. Gardeners, cleaning service, handyman, dog walker - all recipe for their cousin coming back later for whatever was scouted out.

If someone strange comes to the house, my dogs always answer the door and I pull them back. Word gets out. If I can't avoid having hired help, I always make a point telling them the dogs are vicious, especially when I am not around ...

G

[Baz]

My system....

Ready for Def Con One.....24 -7!

Woof!

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by aigel

Dogs and "beware of dog" signs help a lot, even if you and the dogs are not home. Most crooks know your house and if there are dogs or not.

The next thing that helps is to NOT hire any help. Gardeners, cleaning service, handyman, dog walker - all recipe for their cousin coming back later for whatever was scouted out.

If someone strange comes to the house, my dogs always answer the door and I pull them back. Word gets out. If I can't avoid having hired help, I always make a point telling them the dogs are vicious, especially when I am not around ...

G

Yeah a lot of it is just common sense, you'd think.

Took me years to get my wife out of the habit of giving everyone our entire life story while scheduling things over the phone, "....no, that's not a good day / time for us, we have soccer from 9:00-10:30 and then will be gone from 2:00 till 8:00......."

Or when people did show up she would tell them the dog was harmless.

[Creve]

SoCal911T,

Which model did you get from amazon? I notice there are several versions. :-)

Thanks!

[bleucamaro]

From my cop neighbor: home security systems aren’t worth it. By the time the home system alarms and goes to the security company and they call the police (after calling you) the police can take a while to respond, and by then the burglars are long gone.

As for home surveillance, say you load your home up with internet connected 4k cameras that are the best money can buy, and someone breaks in… then what? You call the police, and the police take a while to respond, and the burglars are gone, but you have a picture. They might catch them, might not.

In my opinion, the best bet is to have good home owner’s insurance, with a good inventory of your stuff, and a back-up of that inventory kept somewhere off-site. One of the recommended inventory methods I’ve seen is to just walk through your home with a video recording while you narrate each item, its make/model/serial(if available)/value.

But then there’s the old saying, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so make your place look undesirable to burglars, so maybe a bunch of cameras (real or not) on the outside of your house IS the answer.

[SoCal911T]

Originally Posted by Creve

SoCal911T,

Which model did you get from amazon? I notice there are several versions. :-)

Thanks!

I forgot to mention the cameras have speakers and microphones so in theory, you could talk to the burglars and ask them politely to not steal your stuff.

Amazon.com : Vimtag (Fujikam) 361 HD, IP/Network, Wireless, Video Monitoring, Surveillance, security camera, plug/play, Pan/Tilt with Two-Way Audio and Night Vision : Camera & Photo

[GH85Carrera]

A good security system should have a nice loud siren that makes lots of noise, and alerts the police in short order. My system sends me a text message and a email and withing seconds the company that monitors it calls me. The police do respond and it will prevent someone from cleaning the place out. They will not have too much time before they best be gone. The neighbors will know something is going on with all the racket

One of my friends went to a local college football game. Someone must have been casing the place and saw they loaded up the SUV with a cooler and stuff to tailgate and spend the day at the game. They came back home to a EMPTY house. They even emptied the food from the pantry.

My system even monitors the garage. I feel it is worth the money.