Home Security

[TeaLeaf]

I'm looking for advice on a home cctv system and as I have never had one I am hoping there are people out there who have experience and can provide some helpful guidance.  

Why?
There seems to be a gang of scrawny toe-rags who are going around my estate and stealing things from cars.  It's just happened for the third time this year and they appear to be doing the rounds and getting back to my estate every four months.   About a two weeks ago it was my neighbour's turn and his cctv caught the brainless pair at about 4am, but it was a relatively poor quality 720p system and even though it was IR (night vision) it was not really that clear.  

I say brainless, as the pair on camera wore no gloves and left prints everywhere.   The only problem was that the Police never bothered to show up, despite them having been told that there is video (which with their knowledge of local gangs probably would have allowed them to ID the tickturds) and the opportunity to pull a full set of prints from the driver side glass.  Apologies if you are in the police, but this kind of apathy left me speechless.

Anyway, the cctv showed the pair prowling around the close and checking several driveways, so I want to have something that will nail the buggers when they show up again on my drive.   I've had my home broken into before, so whilst I already have a fairly decent alarm system for the doors, windows and inside of the house, adding a cctv system for the exterior would go some way to assuaging my fears that it is a relatively small criminal step from breaking into a car to then checking the doors and windows of the house.  

The System
I love the idea of a system that I can watch from a browser anywhere when I want to do so.  This tends to mean that people look at  'complete systems' and the 'app' that the company makes to go with it, but I know three people who have bought these systems and two of them stopped receiving software updates after a couple of years (so the functionality is now gone) and one of them had the company go bust, so no functionality.   So I am quite keen on looking at something which is possibly open source and I could perhaps run from e.g. an HP microserver.  I have one HP microserver currently running Nas4free which has multiple TB of spare storage and am happy to provision another one if such software is out there or use a Nas4free cctv plugin for Nas4free if one is available.  (I'm no Linux expert, so it needs to be relatively straight forward).

Wish list:

• Decent quality, which is I presume 1080p these days?
• Night vision (IR)
• Probably not motion activated - not sure about this one, I guess it is to do with volume of data stored, but I have TB's of storage available.   I'd like the system to pretty much record all the time, but then have some control system to flag when motion is detected so you can review it later.   Advice needed here as to what is 'normal' or 'possible'!  
  
• Streaming facility - I'd like to be able to log in from a browser and see a the video feeds (I'm not looking to have a constant live stream, just the ability to login and see it when I want to do so).
• Handle multiple cameras - I am thinking I probably 4-5 cameras to get good coverage around the property.
• A wireless option for the cameras.   I can hardwire to my network from some locations, but realistically I might need to just get power to them and then use a wireless connection back to the 'black box'.
• If I manage to get an open source solution which I can run on 'a box of my choice', then how much processing power and disk speed do I need to store that number of feeds and what are the scaling issues?

So that's the unrealistic wishlist for the system.   Has anyone got any experience in this field who can offer some help or advice please?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

[smilodon]

I've a couple of friends who work in the CCTV business, one is an installer and one a salesman. I also think Jas works in the security trade as well?


I'll ask for some recommendations and get back to you.

Also worth a thought:


I know the installer friend often recommends that people think about just getting a set of £10 dummy CCTV cameras. They have motion detectors in them and just light up when someone walks onto your drive. Apparently CCTV is 90% about deterrent and only 10% about evidence capture.

Dummy CCTV
[ATTACH=CONFIG]3470[/ATTACH]

[Gorion]

• A wireless option for the cameras. I can hardwire to my network from some locations, but realistically I might need to just get power to them and then use a wireless connection back to the 'black box'.

I'd say PoE IP Cameras would solve that problem.

You might need an NVR too.  I'm not that technical, but I've seen entire racks of them at work and was curious.

[JonnyAppleSeed]

I know the installer friend often recommends that people think about just getting a set of £10 dummy CCTV cameras. They have motion detectors in them and just light up when someone walks onto your drive. Apparently CCTV is 90% about deterrent and only 10% about evidence capture.

Totally agree ... The problem with cams + dvr's they are expensive,noisy,temperamental and cant see through a baseball cap!

I stay away from cctv for the reasons above but when forced I use http://overseas.hikvision.com/europe/index.html resonable prices for HD quality and we dont have many problems
 

Things to watch out for--

1 Dont go for a housed cams like the pic above (on an arm) Throw a rope over pull knock out the position or sell on ebay. Yes people do steal cams. Always go for a dome type, They look better anyway and can be fitted lower if needed
 
2 Some systems require a static ip or a subscription to a networking service

3 Dvr placement they are a pc they have fans so make sure its well out of the way .. The loft is usually good it helps with hiding cables

4 Don't spend extra cash getting it piped up to your TV's after a month you will never look. Just look on your phone

5 Don't use a PC as the DVR unless that's its only job (hard drives get hammered).. Even then a dedicated DVR is better

6 Some Dvr's only work with specific cams

7 Stay away from PTZ (moving cams)

Ill ask around about any open source stuff.. I know we have done some in the past but its not something I like

Recording time is not usually an issue with the size of drives now so it can record 24/7 for a number of weeks no need for motion sensing

That's all i can think of at the mo

[Snokio]

FYI regarding HDD's, there are models out there that specialise/manufactured to video capture multitasking, so although HDD's can do the job, some are better than others and it's not obvious when looking at it spec wise (i.e. RPM). So I think it is better to get a dedicated CCTV DVR unit.

Having CCTV installed at work, I find it best to record all the time rather than motion detection external wise, maybe it is the gear installed but spiders and random stuff triggers it and end up with lots of files.

We now have hikvision CCTV system installed, the software is slow and can only go x4 forward (or skipping to specific time frames), I find this painful (think sky at x12 / 30 is ideal!)

Just my opinions

[Blunt]

Following this with interest.

Thanks for all the input so far.

[TeaLeaf]

Likewise!

[smilodon]

I was advised about a very good wholesale company based in Croydon that are well known for being really helpful with this sort of thing. Which I have gone and forgotten! Waiting for my friend to text me back with the name and address.

[sulky_uk]

bought one of these, actually recommended by local anti crime chap, set it on a plug timer as i didnt want to rely on the one built in, set it for 1800-0100 everyday i was away, my neighbour who was looking after the house said it was very realistic, you would have thought someone was in. i know not its what your after but it may be good for others

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001R4NXZC?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00

[Penfold]

Thought I'd bump this thread.

Technology has improved so much in the last few years and that, coupled with my improved internetz, means I can now look at these.

So anyone got any recommendations for a wireless based system which I can do a set and forget on?