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I've been toying with the idea of adding some cameras around the outside of the house but when push comes to shove I think it would be a fun project but not necessarily practical.

What's your take on video surveillance as part of home security?

How much would you spend on a camera system? What do you think of those kits sold at costco/fry's?
 
My take is; you can get evidence with a system, you cannot prevent anything. Prices have come down to the point where it is a practical idea to record any threat or nuisance. Harbor Freight has a 300 dollar system that would have cost you 20 grand 15 years ago.
I use a trail camera myself. Caught a car prowler with it, not to mention coons, skunks, deer, possum and the damn neighbors cats.
Check the specs of the systems; the DVR feature is the most important. Make sure that it will record a full frame off one camera not just the split screen.
shop around and drop me a line if you have any questions.
 
I have one, bought a card for my computer and can run up to 8 cameras, there is also a remote view option that lets you see whats going on on-line. My cameras are infared and motion,sound. got a dedicated 600 gig drive for recording. works great.
 
Bad Boys already know to wear their hoodies up and their hat brims down to conceal their faces. Just look at how useless all of those video images on the news of convenience store robberies are---and those are in brightly lit areas. There are now even hats available with infrared LED lights on top to blind cameras! Are there cameras that can actually identify evildoers? I'd spend the money on hardening your doors and windows to prevent entry, period............................elsullo
 
Bad Boys already know to wear their hoodies up and their hat brims down to conceal their faces. Just look at how useless all of those video images on the news of convenience store robberies are---and those are in brightly lit areas. There are now even hats available with infrared LED lights on top to blind cameras! Are there cameras that can actually identify evildoers? I'd spend the money on hardening your doors and windows to prevent entry, period............................elsullo

Not to cause additional concern but a friend's neighbor had a decent alarm system covering all doors and windows with motion sensors in the house - not in the garage as the cats had a door to get to their food. The house was bordered on one side by a park access path. While they were away from the house the home invaders waited until the park landscape crew had just finished mowing / trimming the shrubs, etc. and moved down the park further so they had a distraction / explanation and used a cordless saw to cut through the wall next to the side garage door - they had scoped it out well before the job. The hole was hidden by a garage refrigerator. They waited for the homeowners to pull into the garage and close the door, stepped out from their hiding place and robbed the family for all they had. This was in Sacramento not far from where I lived and was a case of Asian gang home invasion preying on fellow Asians depending on the newcomer families not trusting law enforcement or banks. They did have video setup and captured some fair images of the invaders but had trouble getting the local Asian community to cooperate. I believe they finally found one of the invaders deceased several months later from a drug deal gone wrong.
 
I had a neighbor once. A neighbor with a drinking problem, and a garage that was getting broken into constantly. He was frustrated, because his garage was a big mess and full of all sorts of stuff, but he could tell that somebody had been messing around, digging through his stuff. So one day he went to harbor freight and bought an inxpensive surveillance system, and wired it all in. He did a real nice job, too. Now, just to wait...
His garage was broken into again, and once again the perpetrator didn't seem to find what he was looking for. But this time, the cameras were rolling. My neighbor go home, got a beer, and sat down to review the tape. He fast-forwarded through the scenes of the still, inert garage, until a figure appeared, coming through the door. He played the tape at regular speed, and could clearly see himself, drunk and stumbling at 3am, rooting through his own crap looking for who knows what?
Another SE Portland mystery solved!
 
ok that last one is funnier than ****. and yea if it were me, id use the money to make it harder to steal anything. as a few have said. cameras arent not hard to defete/destroy without anyone seeing anything.. and it doesnt stop anything, neither do alarms. they might detour some people but if you have something someone else wants more than you.. it wont stop them from trying.
 
I had a neighbor once. A neighbor with a drinking problem, and a garage that was getting broken into constantly. He was frustrated, because his garage was a big mess and full of all sorts of stuff, but he could tell that somebody had been messing around, digging through his stuff. So one day he went to harbor freight and bought an inxpensive surveillance system, and wired it all in. He did a real nice job, too. Now, just to wait...
His garage was broken into again, and once again the perpetrator didn't seem to find what he was looking for. But this time, the cameras were rolling. My neighbor go home, got a beer, and sat down to review the tape. He fast-forwarded through the scenes of the still, inert garage, until a figure appeared, coming through the door. He played the tape at regular speed, and could clearly see himself, drunk and stumbling at 3am, rooting through his own crap looking for who knows what?
Another SE Portland mystery solved!

:s0114:
 
I'd be curious to see how well these systems really work. My situation is that my house is on one of the main outlets from our quiet neighborhood. I can think of four instances, just off the top of my head, in the last two years or so of things I'd love to have had 'film' of for the police investigating, including some bored kids with rattle-cans that made the local news a couple months ago and just this weekend person or persons that rifled through the contents of a bunch of cars.

What I'd like to know is whether these cameras can capture the license plate of a (moving?) car at, say, 50-ft throw, under dark/streetLight conditions.

MrB+
 

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