Home security cameras

[Notloudenuf]

I want to put up some cameras to keep an eye on things around the house. I'd like a 2 to 4 camera system that dvrs and is basically set and forget.
Monoprice has some systems as does best buy and Lowe's but I don't even know what questions to ask to get started. Anyone have experience with these that can steer me in the right direction?

[Psyko]

The computer store I used to work for sold LTS brand security equipment and it worked well. BNC is kind of the standard video connection used it's just rg59 with a different head. Most of the LTS kits came with 60ft runs of siamese bnc for each camera, but you will most likely want more. The four cam kit with a 500GB DVR was $399. Most cameras are 480 TV line and four would net around 30 days of video. The DVRs record 24/7 and will flag events based on movement or other conditions set in the software. Most DVRs now can be configured to email you video or pictures if something is flagged.

Depending on what kind of area your trying to protect you may want more cameras so you can have cameras watching you cameras.

You can also get kits with more DVR channels to allow future expansion.

[Notloudenuf]

I wound up buying these last night. https://www.amazon.com/Amcrest-Secur...3AAmcrest&th=1

It is expandable in the number of cameras and the hard drive space so for $7.99 I got double the hard drive space and capability for double the amount of cameras than the comparable Lowe's or Best Buy system.

I'll update again when I get them installed.

[Truthunter]

May I ask what triggered you to think about installing security cameras?

[Notloudenuf]

Just piece of mind really. Our neighbors house got broken into about 5 years ago and I should have gotten them then but never did. My wife saw some video on her facebook feed recently that made her want to buy them so here we are.
She is under constant worry that our house is going to catch fire while we are away. (we have indoor pets) This will hopefully put her mind at ease.

[mumbles]

Hey Kendal, let me know how that system works for you, I've been looking into one of them as well...

[Notloudenuf]

I got the cameras installed today. Crawling around in the attic was very time consuming and I'm sore from that.

Here is a picture of the front of the box


I ordered a 100' cable to run my longest run. I really think the 60' that came with it would have made it but I didn't want to come up short.

I found this nice brush wall plate to run the wires through. The house is prewired for cable TV. Cable doesn't run to my house so I just busted out the box and put in a low voltage wall mount and ran the wires through a new hole I drilled in the top plate beside the cable TV wire.



The system comes with a 1TB DVR. It looks just like any other DVR that you are used to. There is space on the back to add a SATA drive for more space and USB ports front and back. One is for the mouse and the other can save image or video to thumb drive.


We have some cabinets up against the wall where the wires come out. So I drilled a hole in the back of one of them and put the DVR inside of it.

Finally here is a picture of the video feed during the day and with the IR feed at night. I have it run to an old computer monitor that we had. The DVR has output for VGA or HDMI. You DO NOT have to have a monitor hooked up to it all the time to use it. You could hide the DVR away somewhere and just access the feed via the internet. You would need to hook up a monitor for initial set up however.





The cameras are 960H. So not HD but still decent quality. If you want to read license plates or recognize faces you'll need to either get a higher resolution camera or place these close enough to be able to do that.

Don't mount the cameras until you have had a chance to move them around and see what you can see through the lens. They have a wide angle so you'll be able to see more than you think. I have mine placed on the three sides of my house that have windows or doors. The side of my house that is facing the woods is "blind" at this point but there are no ways to access the house over there.

You can set this up to alert you via email or text message if there is an "motion event". I do not have this setup currently. You can access the video feed from the monitor, from a computer that is connected to your network, from the internet via remote access, through the amcrestlink web access, or through an iPhone or Android app.

So far I'm satisfied. I did paint the camera housings white to match my siding. They stood out prior to this with their gun metal/black housing. The white helps them disappear a bit.

[BigAl205]

Do the cameras require individual power, or is it powered over the cable?

[Notloudenuf]

Do the cameras require individual power, or is it powered over the cable?

They use a BNC siamese cable. They each need power but you run it all the way back to where the DVR is and they have an octopus cable that all of the cameras plug into.

[slade1274]

I like the POE ones better- one Ethernet cable