Help me seem them before they see me (home surveillance)
June 29, 2010 9:16 AM Subscribe
Does anyone have any experience with home surveillance equipment?
My house is set up so I can't see the front porch or the driveway from inside. I'd like a set up that has two cameras (one in each place) and two monitors (one upstairs and one down). Is this something I could feasibly install myself? Do I need professional help? Any recommendations on systems? All I want is to be able to identify who's knocking on the door, and to see cars when they get to the driveway, while I'm in the house. Thanks!
My house is set up so I can't see the front porch or the driveway from inside. I'd like a set up that has two cameras (one in each place) and two monitors (one upstairs and one down). Is this something I could feasibly install myself? Do I need professional help? Any recommendations on systems? All I want is to be able to identify who's knocking on the door, and to see cars when they get to the driveway, while I'm in the house. Thanks!
I've had very good luck with Axis brand cameras-with-builtin-webservers that I inherited from a client many years ago. I have four: two in each of my regular homes, and I can pretty easily check the state of either place from anywhere with a web browser. I also have a script that takes a timestamped snapshot from each every 10 secs and backs it up offsite, too, like a commercial security system would.
And yes, I have used them even when in the same building: just click a favorite in Firefox and wait for the page to load (3 secs or so) to see who is at the front door right now. It's not great quality video, but these are older models and I imagine the new ones are higher resolution and faster.
They're not cheap, but they're industrial-strength and last forever. Mine are almost 10 years old and have been running 24/7.
posted by rokusan at 10:04 AM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]
And yes, I have used them even when in the same building: just click a favorite in Firefox and wait for the page to load (3 secs or so) to see who is at the front door right now. It's not great quality video, but these are older models and I imagine the new ones are higher resolution and faster.
They're not cheap, but they're industrial-strength and last forever. Mine are almost 10 years old and have been running 24/7.
posted by rokusan at 10:04 AM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]
I am in electrician. We have installed several phone / office surveillance systems.
We use this system. It is incredibly easy to set-up. Setting up the computer side of it can be tricky, but we are able to do it, and we are not computer geniuses. You can even set this system up to view on your iPhone.
Just make sure you get enough of the wire. It is specially designed wire, and you only get so much in the main package.
posted by Flood at 11:36 AM on June 29, 2010
We use this system. It is incredibly easy to set-up. Setting up the computer side of it can be tricky, but we are able to do it, and we are not computer geniuses. You can even set this system up to view on your iPhone.
Just make sure you get enough of the wire. It is specially designed wire, and you only get so much in the main package.
posted by Flood at 11:36 AM on June 29, 2010
You can buy cheapo cameras at Sam's Club, but they're terrible quality. You're better off buying from a professional. My fiance used to sell security cameras and he would often encounter customers who were pretty bitter that they had shelled out time and effort on a crappy system, and then ended up needing to buy from a professional company in the end.
posted by radioamy at 11:39 AM on June 29, 2010
posted by radioamy at 11:39 AM on June 29, 2010
I can't recommend a specific system, but cctvwholesalers.com (where radiofiance worked) is a good place to start. You can call them up, explain the situation, and ask for recommendations and a quote.
I do have a history with cctvwholesalers (radiofiance's old employer) and I can't say that I have no bias towards them, but can definitely say that they are very fair and aren't going to price-gouge you or try to upsell you to something that you really don't need.
posted by radioamy at 11:43 AM on June 29, 2010
I do have a history with cctvwholesalers (radiofiance's old employer) and I can't say that I have no bias towards them, but can definitely say that they are very fair and aren't going to price-gouge you or try to upsell you to something that you really don't need.
posted by radioamy at 11:43 AM on June 29, 2010
dpx, you might also want to try HomeCamera. It's a free service, meant for non-technical folks, works with standard USB webcams (which can be extended using cheap active USB extensions from the likes of Monoprice (no affiliation).
Full disclosure: as a co-founder of HomeCamera, I'm biased towards it. But we've been praised by our subscribers, the media, and the industry, so I hope you'll set aside the bias element and try it anyway.
Wifi cameras - if you're willing to put down the cash - are a good alternative even if you're non-technical, IF all you want is in-home access (i.e. you want to access your cameras at home while you too are at home). If you want external access (while you're out of home), you're going to need to familiarize yourself with concepts like DDNS, NAT, portforwarding, etc, and this is not for the faint of heart.
Other "new hardware" based solutions that you may want to take a look at include Vue and Logitech's WiLife.
Hope this helps. :-)
posted by varora at 1:38 AM on July 2, 2010
Full disclosure: as a co-founder of HomeCamera, I'm biased towards it. But we've been praised by our subscribers, the media, and the industry, so I hope you'll set aside the bias element and try it anyway.
Wifi cameras - if you're willing to put down the cash - are a good alternative even if you're non-technical, IF all you want is in-home access (i.e. you want to access your cameras at home while you too are at home). If you want external access (while you're out of home), you're going to need to familiarize yourself with concepts like DDNS, NAT, portforwarding, etc, and this is not for the faint of heart.
Other "new hardware" based solutions that you may want to take a look at include Vue and Logitech's WiLife.
Hope this helps. :-)
posted by varora at 1:38 AM on July 2, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
The EvoCam website might be a good place to start if this sounds like a workable system.
posted by supercres at 9:55 AM on June 29, 2010