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Thread: School me on modern home security cameras please.

  1. #1
    Homestar's Avatar
    Homestar is offline Super Moderator & CA manager Gold Subscriber
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    School me on modern home security cameras please.

    One for the collective to assist me with please - I have a camera system on the front of the house already - 5 cameras in total, 3 x HD and 2 older standard low res crap. The base is just one of those cheap systems with a 1TB hard drive in it and a connection to the internet to allow remote viewing from a crappy app.

    While the cameras work ok, there are a few things I don’t like that I’m wanting to fix - this could entail a completely new system, and I’m fine with that. The current systems interface is clunky, and the app to view the cameras from my phone is very hit and miss and can take ages to load. I’m sure there are better things out there. All of this has been around for years and I’m looking for a more modern solution.

    My list of requirements are as follows:-

    - Easy to use App for remote viewing and alarms that is reliable and preferably quite fast - my home internet connection is very good so there’s no limiting factor there.

    - Automatic cloud storage for the video - happy to pay for this service, I’m not looking for some cheap, janky solution. Would also prefer a web based system to review video, rewind, snip short parts of the videos out etc if such a thing exists.

    - HD cameras that can ideally see a number plate from around 10 meters - my current HD cameras can do what I need here, so at least that, and not a standard or low res offering.

    Not sure if all of this exists and my searching on the web mostly brings up similar systems to what I have that don’t seem to have progressed much over the last few years or things with wireless everything that will chew through countless batteries. Happy to wire the cameras back to something, I don’t need one of these ‘stick them on with double sided tape and you’re done’ type thing, but something reliable and preferable simple to use.

    Don’t need window or door alarms, etc - just the cameras - I’ll probably want to add a couple more at some stage, so something that can cope with say 9 cameras would work.

    Appreciate peoples REAL WORLD input - please don’t just Google some links and post them saying ‘This looks quite good’ - I’ve already done that.

    TIA.
    If you need to contact me please email homestarrunnerau@gmail.com - thanks - Gav.

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    I do work for a security company over here in the Wild West and they only use Uni View cameras as they record audio as well
    5 Mp has more than enough clarity for what you are looking for

    Hik Vision is the other brand with a good rep 8 Mp but no audio from what I’ve been told

    If you want model numbers etc I can ask the question

    Gav
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    Also install a good backup system. Two melon head bull terriers are good.
    URSUSMAJOR

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    I have a couple of WYZE cameras dotted about. They would come close to your requirements & are relatively inexpensive.
    + 2016 D4 TDV6

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    Homestar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bigbjorn View Post
    Also install a good backup system. Two melon head bull terriers are good.
    Given it’s out the front of the house, they’d probably run away and I’d be back to square one... 😆
    If you need to contact me please email homestarrunnerau@gmail.com - thanks - Gav.

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    BradC is offline Super Moderator
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    I'm a bit biassed because CCTV is part of is what I do for a living, so take this with a pinch of salt.

    A good start would be what you currently have to see if you can leverage those on a newer recorder. Start with make and model if you can round it up.

    Quote Originally Posted by Homestar View Post
    - Automatic cloud storage for the video - happy to pay for this service, I’m not looking for some cheap, janky solution. Would also prefer a web based system to review video, rewind, snip short parts of the videos out etc if such a thing exists.
    This pretty much rules out any actual security solution and puts you in back the realm of the IoT vendors and their ecosystems.

    Pelco (a real CCTV company, but somewhat in decline due to some terrible business decisions in the early 2000s) tried this a few years ago now and found rapidly that nobody that values security takes a cloud solution seriously, so there are no really good solutions to that problem.

    If you were willing to compromise on that and have local storage, then a PC based solution like "Blue Iris" would be closer to ticking all your other boxes. Accessed from outside over a VPN closes off most of the gaping security vulnerabilities. I'm personally not a fan of the software, but the price is right.

    If you were going to stop at 8 cameras, then Milestone do a free version of their X-Protect software. That's a "real" CCTV system that would pretty much tick all of your boxes.

    Of course another option is a Chinese NVR (Hikvision, Dahua, whatever). They'll pretty much work with most ONVIF compliant cameras these days, but their user interface is generally bletcherous and sometimes worse. Load them up with a couple of big drives though and they'll shovel footage to disk pretty reliably.

    If you are set on going the "S in IoT stands for Security" route, then the Arlo series gets good reviews as does the eufyCam, but it well and truly ties you into their ecosystem with pretty much no other options. I can't offer any first hand experience on that gear.

    The Chinese stuff is the lower middle ground (above Swann and below Axis/Bosch/Panasonic/Pelco/Sony). Personally I have some Hikvision cameras and for domestic use the cheap ones are pretty ok.

    Friends don't let friends buy CCTV from Bunnings.

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    I looked into the options like Arlo and Ring and if you care to check ProductReview for reviews of any of those sort of systems you'll be quickly disabused of the idea.
    Arapiles
    2014 D4 HSE

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    Hi

    I looked into open source security systems soem time ago. This open source one has is established, maintained and covers lots of camers models ZoneMinder - Home

    For my farm I looked at expensive proprietary systems and cheaper systems like Jaycar have and didn't like any of them. I decided to build my own. I use two Mobotix cameras on my farm (it has audio but its not needed) and I did my own software in Python and web interface. These days I'd use smaller, cheaper Raspberry Pi's with small web cams and a solar panel. More flexible as each is effectively independent.

    PS. Lots of cameras do audio as well as video.

    Mike
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    Quote Originally Posted by Arapiles View Post
    I looked into the options like Arlo and Ring and if you care to check ProductReview for reviews of any of those sort of systems you'll be quickly disabused of the idea.
    Never had a single issue with the Ring set up.

    Their customer service response to queries is very prompt.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Homestar View Post
    Given it’s out the front of the house, they’d probably run away and I’d be back to square one... 😆
    You don't use fences and gates down there in Coronaland?
    URSUSMAJOR

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