Home Security Camera - Reviews (paint, installation, apartment, vent)

[sevendaysworth]

If anyone is interested in a Ring Doorbell Camera - they have a special offer for Houston residents (50 miles of 77004). Use the coupon code 9hou3rdward to save $25.

I have one and love it. Had a few quirks when I first got it (early adopter) but those were all solved by software updates. Works flawless now. Haven't caught any bad guys, heh, but it's interesting to see how poorly USPS treats my packages! Also saves the hassle of running up and down the stairs to see who is at the door. Great for neighborhoods with many solicitors.

Cheers

[supaflyz]

We have the netgear. I have the 4 wireless plus two arlo Q. It is wireless. I love being able to move it anywhere around the house without wires. The only downside is having to replace batteries. The cloud service is free. The picture quality is good.

[Nlambert]

Q-see has a pretty good wired system that can be purchased for around $300-$400. It comes with a 1TB HD, DVR, free phone app, and 4 cameras with the option to expand up to 8.


You need to find one with a high TV Line count (760+) to be able to get a clear picture. Wireless just isn't up to PAR with wired unfortunately. Running the wire is simple since it is only one wire to control power and video. Even those that aren't that handy can install one on a Saturday if they take their time and follow the instructions. Drill a hole in the soffit of the house where you want to mount the camera and then run the wires through the attic and down to the dvr. You can either choose to run them through an interior uninsulated wall or drop them through a small hole in the ceiling and down the face of the wall if the DVR will be in an inconspicuous place such as a closet.

[Nonesuch]

IMHO, a primary consideration when choosing an IP-enabled system is to avoid cloud-tethered systems which rely on the Internet for all features and will stop working if the supplier's websites are inaccessible, or if they decide to shut down their cloud service.

Cloud-tethered IP cameras are cheap for a reason.

Originally Posted by Prey521

I don't think that you will find a truly wireless security camera that stores videos locally, unless they have a built in SD card.

Some of the best IP cameras have a Micro-SD card inside. Doesn't help when the thieves have enough time to steal the cameras also, which is why I like a local NVR along with a mechanism to upload to remote storage when motion is seen.

Originally Posted by Nlambert

You need to find one with a high TV Line count (760+) to be able to get a clear picture. Wireless just isn't up to PAR with wired unfortunately.

This is true for analog, but digital Wireless over Wi-Fi can be very good, all depends on how much you want to invest in cameras. That said, you still need a wire for power, so if you have the opportunity to run cables then it is worth at least considering going with Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) cameras where you just run one skinny ethernet cable to each camera to supply power and data transfer. If you go with PoE make sure the product is using standard PoE and not a proprietary method like sPoE.

Speaking of standards, a major consideration for digital cameras is to ensure they list ONVIF (Profile S) standard compatibility. Even if you go with analog cameras (or cameras with a centralized DVR/NVR), the IP-enabled central surveillance station itself can sometimes relay video out and might also follow the ONVIF Profile S standard -- this ensures that you can access the video from any standard-following client device, avoids the need for proprietary clients.

[mandK]

Google Flir FX. Wireless, cloud based, battery, SD card.

I have one pointed out my window towards the driveway and entrance.

[trb247]

wait about 2-3 more years and the whole industry and technology will have caught up and glitches will have been taken care of......that'll be a great time to buy a home security camera system IMO. Prices will have dropped significantly too.

[Serenity2019]

I have a Night Owl AHD 10 Security System that is very good (from Costco). Excellent video and you can link it to view on an Iphone if you choose. Has a hard drive that saves 6 months of data. It is a wired system, which is the best. Wireless systems have poor picture quality and go out sometimes. Wired is the way to go.

[Nonesuch]

Originally Posted by trb247

wait about 2-3 more years and the whole industry and technology will have caught up and glitches will have been taken care of......that'll be a great time to buy a home security camera system IMO. Prices will have dropped significantly too.

Or if you don't want to be lacking surveillance while you wait, buy an ONVIF compliant IP camera now. You can use it today, and in three years when better cameras are available, move it to the basement or another less critical area, but at least know that a non-cloud-tethered ONVIF Profile S camera is very likely to work with future NVRs and webcam client apps.

Speaking of glitches, have you heard about the Foscam V2 firmware that had DSP issues where the camera would freeze when trying to do motion detection (or maybe image compression) on a suitably complicated scene?

Life imitates fiction.

[Repatriot]

Came here to see if there are any suggestions for an apartment solution.

Only need 1-2 cameras, which is good as I want to keep costs down.

Features that I'd like to have are motion detection, notification so I could watch from my smartphone, no drilling or mounting, and recording.

Also, do any of these have a remote activation/deactivation capability? When someone is at home I wouldn't want it going off but when the house is empty I could activate remotely.

[Nonesuch]

Originally Posted by Repatriot

Came here to see if there are any suggestions for an apartment solution. Only need 1-2 cameras, which is good as I want to keep costs down. Features that I'd like to have are motion detection, notification so I could watch from my smartphone, no drilling or mounting, and recording. Also, do any of these have a remote activation/deactivation capability? When someone is at home I wouldn't want it going off but when the house is empty I could activate remotely.

Given that you only need 1-2 cameras, I would go with self-contained WiFi IP cameras that don't need a central "hub", each one is it's own standalone device. Y-Cam is one of the better consumer-grade products, however all their current offerings are only available under the "HomeMonitor" line which is reliant on their cloud service -- if your internet or their cloud is unreachable (or just cannot be found by name as with the DDoS a few days ago), then the camera will not detect motion, record, or send alerts.

For a little more money you can get cameras which have a MicroSD slot for local storage. They will also send images/videos and write to the cloud, but can store on the card also, including for when they are temporarily unable to reach the Internet. You can also go a lot cheaper, but at the lowest end you get some pretty dodgy products, like the Foscam cameras that constantly phone home to China.


As for "no mounting", I am unsure how you'll get cameras in a good location without any mounting. While many cameras come with their own little stand, most people don't have shelves 3/4 of the way up the wall where you'd want to situate a camera.

Look for a camera with a "Privacy Mode" setting which temporarily disables motion detection and remote viewing access. Keep in mind that this may not actually provide privacy, some cloud-service-based cameras have been shown to still upload even when "Privacy" is turned on. Y-cam offers optional location-based privacy mode, when your smart phone is detected, motion sensing is automatically disabled.