Self contained recording WebCam (window, lighting, remove, cement)

[blktoptrvl]

So, my neighbor tells me today that there is a truck that has been sitting near his property twice now for a few minutes. The second time, they actually opened the door to their truck and walked toward his property and were surprised to see him in the yard - he was in a corner working on something.

He thinks they were after his dog.

My house is directly across the street and my office window is around 15 feet above his roof. From my window I can see his whole property. I am thinking about getting a webcam that can record 48 hours to a memory card and over-record - sort of like a dash cam.

Does anyone have a cam they would recommend for such a job? I'd like to find one that would run off a USB port of my computer (which is always on), but also record to a memory card instead of to the computer.

I'll check the web, but if anyone had experience with this, I'd like to hear.

[Nonesuch]

Plenty of IP surveillance cameras have a MicroSD slot. There are also WiFi cameras that will upload to a cloud service, so they don't need a PC to be turned on to work, instead they go directly through your router. For example, the $150 Y-Cam Evo. Personally I strongly dislike products that depend on a cloud service to work, and would get a model that can accept SD or MicroSD for local storage.

If you're going to put the camera inside your window, look for one that does not have IR illuminator LEDs (or at least with LEDs that can be turned off). You might also need to provide shielding so it doesn't pick up glare from lighting inside the room.

Even a really good camera may not get the details you want from across the road. You'd need very high resolution, a low camera angle, and some luck to catch their license plate or otherwise identify them.

[Nonesuch]

Originally Posted by Nonesuch

For example, the $150 Y-Cam Evo. Personally I strongly dislike products that depend on a cloud service to work, and would get a model that can accept SD or MicroSD for local storage.

I withdraw everything nice I've ever said about Y-Cam, in light of this announcement.

[JonahWicky]

There are plenty of cheap(ish) security cameras available, but you won't get any kind of useable details from across the street. Your choices are IP cameras that record to the cloud and/or SD cards, or CCTV cameras that record to a stand-alone hard drive recorder. I have Netgear Arlo cameras, but they have a lot of issues and I can't recommend them.