Outside security cameras

[Chad Sheets]

Anyone have any knowledge on these things? I have been doing searches on the net for about 6 months. Seems every site says something different. A camera that cost $100 on one site, is $500 on another.



I found one site that had a 4 camera kit. You could run them all into this box that in turn went to your regular TV. Wach the TV just like always, flip the station to a predetermined chanel like 999 and theres your view of the four cameras. I lost the site, and everyplace I have asked says that is not possible??



They also have a digital recorder that is awesome. It records 24/7, and stores 6 months worth of material before it starts re-recording over itself. You can punch in a certaian date and even time and it outomatically goes to that spot and replays the evnts for you.



If any of you have $. 02 to throw in on this, please do. Looking for a 4 camera (outside) set up with the capability of seeing it all on my TV with the flip of a station.

 

[Chris N5CWM]

I have that system and it works!

It's called X10

I have mine set up so I can check my house while

I'm out of town via the internet on my own web

site. Get at least one wide-angle (120 degree)

wireless camera. The regular cameras don't have

a wide field of view for viewing a large area.

I have a garage-cam and a back yard camera. There

is a low-light camera too if you are interested

in monitoring your vehicles outdoors at night,

and there is a way to set the parameters so a

VCR will record if there is movement detected.

Neat stuff.



-Chris

 

[HDH]

As Chris Said www.x10.com Has some good stuff!

There are a Few others out there too. I have two B&W x10 cameras pointed at the Bunghole Neighbors house acrossed the street.

The cameras have caught them doing some very weird things at night .

I also have a IR Illuminator for the front of the house, So the perps think Its ok to screw around.

For the Side of the house, (I have a corner lot) I have one x10 B&W aimed at the mail box and along the side fence. I have caught the Neighbor kids breaking into the Community Mailbox. The post office was pleased after viewing the tape, and the Parents had to pay $2000 for the Mailbox and in fines.

What kills me though, Is that the parents were not even embarassed?



As Hillary Klinton Has Stated, "It does take a village to raise children" Why you ask?, Because the Parents now-a-days dont care what their offspring are doing, So its every neighbors job to take the brunt of Vandalism from their spawn, Just as long as they have peace and quiet in their own house.



Try a search on Yahoo for IR Illuminators, Security Cameras, and Surveilance Cameras.

Doug.

 

[dan_gilson]

I used to work for a security installation company. The old saying, you get what you pay for is true here. I am not knocking X10. They are fine for certain installations provided you can accept their limitations. Typically those camera do not work well at low light levels. They do not have pan/tilt and focus remotely. They are not weather proof.



The price for a professional grade equipment: Camera, weatherproof housing, pan/tilt and focusing lens than can be used in both daylight and night is coming down. For a set of 4 for my home I was still looking at the $10K to $15K range. I would still need to run some RU-59 coax and power through my attic.



My goal was not to have to do this twice. I wanted something that was designed to work from the get go.



If there is interest I can provide you with the name of the company and a contact person. At the time that I was working there we put in security systems for a lot of high profile companies like several of the local television stations, etc.

 

[Chad Sheets]

Well, my house sits in 5 acres of ground with woods and all the country stuff. I am about 2 acres from the road. I want to see the cars that enter the driveway. I have a windmill I can mount a camera on that is a few stories tall, but sits a good 3 acres from the road, but it would encompas the whole compound I would think with the right camera on it.



Now, if I can get this to run into the TV, can it be viewed by all the TV's in the house? That would be my goal. I want to be able to flip to 999, or whatever, and see the grounds if I am in the basement, living room or bedroom.



Would 4 cameras be more exspensive than one good quality color camera mounted up high with pan tit zoom abd all the tricks? That would be fine by me. What would a camera with those capabilitys cost run into my TV (all my TV's)? The recorders are pretty much the same cost accross the board. Its the cameras that fluctuate like crazy.



Camera on the windmill, high power auto focus in and out, with a 360 deg view piped into my TV's. Possible?

 

[Chris N5CWM]

I agree with Dan about the X10 stuff and getting

what you pay for. The image resolution is not

great (hard to distinguish detail of a distant

object) and the regular cameras are useless at

night. I don't need a security system, if I did

I would have spent a lot more money. I just want

a cheap gadget and for less than $400 I have four

cameras monitoring different things (garage, back

yard, hehehe. . fish tank... etc. ) and I can check

them on the internet while I am out of town. The

images are not "streaming video" but only a

"snapshot" picture that is uploaded every minute

or so to my ISP via FTP protocol. I use a program

called SpyCam to capture the images and upload

them. Here is a sample image. The camera is

mounted on a tripod, looking thru an upstairs

window. It is the X10 120-degree-view wireless camera.



-Chris

 

[Briar Hopper]

No fair, Chris, why ain't you showing us the pics with bikini babes in them? It's Texas, ain't it?

 

[Chad Sheets]

Now that is what I am after, actual immages! Outstanding, thank you very much! That picture looks pretty good for what you are after I think. I dont know how well it would work in my situation with alot of ground to cover. I have an option for a couple cameras looking out the front of the house through upstairs dormers built into the attick space. Man, what to do, so many options. Just like everything else, how much do you want to spend$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$



Thanks so much for the picture. I have yet to find a dealer who has immages of what his cameras will do... all talk, no show. Thats what has kept me from getting anything. I dont want to walk in with drool hanging from my mouth, wallet open, begging to get bent over and robbed. I feel like I am dealing with carnies when I talk to people who sell cameras on the net. Its like a big infomercial... "They zoom! They tilt, They are bullet proof, will allow you to see through buildings, all for $19. 95!" But whenever you ask to see the end result... "Please contact our Tokyo office, Thanks for your intrest in home security cameras. " WTF? You guys are helping out a great deal. Keep the information coming.

 

[Doc Tinker]

Darn! - Looks like I won't be able to get any more fuel at Chad's place



Doc

 

[JConley]

Here are some other options. Since you have a PC, you can use any digital camera via USB or serial port to take a picture every minute and download the picture to a web site. You can use cheap microwave technology to beam the data back and forth from remote locations, as long as you have line of sight.



You can get software from companies that detect motion in the field of view, and update the picture immediately to the web, based on activity and not time. I tried this out, and it worked pretty good. I cant remember the name of the software off hand, but it was less than $100. 00 for the software, and this is the cheap route for what you want. As I remember, it supports multiple cameras.



Here is a digital camera that is set up as a web cam in the town that I grew up in. This is a $300. 00 digital camera connected to a PC that updates the image every minute. http://webcam.macomb.com For some reason, it looks kinda blurry now. It might be due to a rain storm or something. Usually it is crystal clear.



Hope this helps.

 

[Chad Sheets]

So, now I know why my diesel equipment seems to leak half the tank away every weekend!

 

[mongoose]

you might check out http://www.supercircuits.com/, i've bought a couple of small color board cameras from them and have had good service. they have a little of everything.

 

[QRTRHRS]

I got this system a little cheaper at BJ's. Mine is black and white but color is available. As far as the basic system, you can see all four camera's at once or scan one at a time with adjustable viewing times. You can also scan one at a time then all four. The system comes with four 60' cables. Programming is user friendly.



Where they get you though is upgrading. You can multiplex in as many as 16 cameras. Cables are available in different lengths and an amplifier is available for long runs. I could not figure out what coax they use and have not sacraficed one to look inside yet.



The image is very good in good lighting. Three of my cameras are in my barn inside of housings to keep fly crap off of them. I don't know if the housing limits infared or not but they need help at night. I have black lights set up that work well. The single camera I have on my driveway is useless at night as I keep my property dark.



I first got a $100 900mhz system from Kmart to use in my barn. My need for the camera was to observe my horses when they start to give birth. The wireless had to many problems with interferrance.





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[Bill Lins]

Originally posted by Chad Sheets

one good quality color camera mounted up high with pan tit zoom abd all the tricks?

Wouldn't it be cheaper to just buy the porn video?



Chris- the next LSTDR meeting is at your place!

 

[Chris N5CWM]

Hey good idea..but my yard won't fit 100 CTD Rams!

Originally posted by Bill Lins

Chris- the next LSTDR meeting is at your place!

Hey that'll work! There is an awesome RV park with

cabins and tent camping too just down the road

from my house! Here is the link:

Havens Landing. Maybe next year?



-Chris

 

[Chad Sheets]

Porn video



Funny you mention that. The last place I called, was in up state NY, and had this real jewl of a charector. I told him what I was looking for. His responce. "what the fu** you need 4 cameras on your house for... you makin coke in the basement?".



I had to laugh at him and explained it all again, then I asked about resolution. His reply... "What the fu** you know about resolution, huh?... You going to be broadcasting porn out of your bedroom or something?... If not, you dont need no resolution!".



I was starting to get tickled with this guy. So I said you sure know your cameras. "You bet your a** I do! I've been in the camera business for 17 years, I own this place. I'm the best!". I just said thanks in a laughing tone and hung up. Good entertainment none the less.



I will check these other links out. Thanks for the tips guys.

 

[Bud Fox]

funny post

I just read the above post 3 times by Chad!! p*** my pants laughing. It must be the way you tell it; but man ,it is funny (I can just picture the conversation in my head)

 

[Dkevdog]

Chad- I was an installer for an access control company and we did a great deal of security cameras to compliment the access control. We did the Arco towers in LA, LAX and Ontario airports- their system has more cameras than I can remember, hundreds. And BTW- Just an opinion, but I bought some of the x-10 stuff and took it back the same day. Absolute garbage. About the same quality as I get off the free webcam that I got for signing up for something. Sony, Panasonic, and Samsung make interior dome units that can easily be mounted in exterior housings. You get what you pay for, no doubt, but there are varying levels and quality of professional units as well. I can get you some Color units starting in the area of $300 that will give you good resolution. If distance is what you want, you won't get it from a fixed lense camera- they are not designed for it. If you really must have the ability to see distance, than you need a PTZ camera. They are not cheap at $2k or more- but we had some mounted on top of high rise (30 stories) and we could zoom in to capture license plates on vehicles to fill an entire screen no problem. Very convenient for checking out unsuspecting young women as well .



You might also try CamerasI have ordered some of their cameras and had pretty good success- they also sell package deals.



Good luck.

Kev ;D

 

[dan_gilson]

Dkevdog, Your comment about picking up the license plate (and other) reminded me of a camera that we had on top of a 7 story build. It could pick up a persons name/ID# from their badge at the west gate ~1/2 mile away. The zoom was just incredible. It must have cost a bunch.

 

[Bill Lins]

Originally posted by Chad Sheets

Porn video

Hey, don't blame me! I just read what YOU typed!