Home & Vehicle Surveillance Setup

[newmy51]

Hi DCT,

I just experienced a robbery in which a package was stolen off our porch in the middle of the night. That sent me searching for a discreet surveillance solution which would have captured footage of the perpetrator. In so doing, I've also realized that my FalconZero is not really intended for use in surveillance (nor are most dashcams?), since a thief could just take the camera and all the footage stored on its SD card. My ideal system would look something like this:

1. Stationary, hidden, motion activated porch camera with low power draw, good low light performance, and long-lasting, rechargeable battery. This camera records locally to a microsd, but also has option to transmit "events" in real time to some kind of network attached storage inside the home.

2. Dashcam with a "parking mode" triggered by sound, force, or movement. Ideally wide angle forward facing *and* rear facing to record interior of vehicle (could be useful for ridesharing incidents, to the extent that it is legal to record passengers). Transmits "events" in real time to some kind of DVR located elsewhere in the vehicle (ie: under the spare tire) as a back up in case the camera itself is stolen. Also has the option to transmit to said NAS when parked at my home and connected to my wifi.

Is a setup like this realistic for less than a ridiculous sum of money?

Many thanks in advance,

-newmy51

 

[tabetha]

I have recently installed at my parents a 4 camera set up, not discreet at all, it confuses me why people want discreet cameras, surely they are more effective as a detterrant ?

 

[DashcamDPR]

While people customise their cams where they can for surveillance (super-large memory cards and powerbanks and what-not), dashcams were never meant as surveillance, the intended concept of dashcams is recording driving and being able to prove who is responsible for any occurrence involving the vehicle it's fitted in, or witness to incidents involving other vehicles that happen to be in view of the cam.

there's endless CCTV choices out there that would fit what you want

 

[kamkar]

Hi newmy51 welcome to the forum.
The way you guys have parcels dropped off at the door have always freaked the hell out of me, making me think there got to be a entire industry going around steeling the stuff people have sent.
Some places here there are now a huge parcel "postbox" at the bottom of the stairwell where the post boxes for the people living there also there ( Danish postmen are now too weak to walk up stairs for most things )
So the post can just put parcels in that bin and lock it and then the people living there can check to see if its something for them or not ( most know if they have something inbound )
This parcel box are also used at individual houses, for parcels but also the growing market of grocery shopping online.

Anyways back to the question at hand.
There are a range of CCTV options, ranging from small single cameras with a memory card in them and or cloud storage, or you could go all the way and get a "true" CCTV system based on IP cameras, or any of the other formats that also support HD resolutions but still via a antenna cable just like old analog CCTV cameras with the low resolution.
A 4 channel recorder ( NVR - Network Video Recorder ) you can get for 100 - 150 dollars i would think, and a single camera for mounting on the porch will be 50 dollars i recon, and then you need a Hard drive to put in the recorder, and a 1 - 2 Tb harddrive are not that expensive.

I have just been forced to upgrade my NVR as the old one died, so i got this one from Italy sent up to me in the frigid north.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172372331637
ATM i use that with 3 cameras connected, one that's on my car parked in the back yard ( a pan,tilt,zoom camera i can swing around and have 20 X optical zoom + ir light )
I then have a camera in the peephole of my apartment door, and i have a camera in the kitchen filming the back door as its a old building so a back entrance are a must in case of fire.
And i have a third camera in my living room window ( inside of it ) aimed down at the street blow, i use this to see when the post is here as i am retired and always home when i expect a parcel.

It is only the PTZ camera on my car that record all the time, the peephole camera is on motion detect and record a little video and snap a fea pics of people walking by my door.
and the street camera dont record as the door down there are locked 24/7 and besides i have a 2 floor downwards angle so really its just tops of heads i see moving around down there.

Most important to me are the camera on my car as i had those vandalized 1 times just after i moved to this town.

I can control / view my cameras from the NVR box connected to my living room TV, or i can do the same via WIFI and my tablet, or over the internet on my smart phone, and as you can see here from my computer too.

 

[kamkar]

I i forgot if anything, dont go for the cheapest cameras out there, cameras from same brand as recorder do have advantages in how they can play ball together.
And even with Brands like my Dahua or Hikvision you can still get regular cameras for a decent price, but they do get expensive like my PTZ camera if i was to buy a Dahua with same features ( 20 X optical zoom ) i would have to pay 3X more then i paid for my Sunba camera from China.
And you can get the newest Dahua PTZ cameras with same 20 X zoom and the latest tech and features, but then you have to fork over 1000 - 1500 dollars at least.
New cameras / systems have features like "new items", meaning then the post drop off a parcel you will get a heads up on the phone from your CCTV system as there are now a new thing on your porch that wasent there before, and same if something in the footage suddenly are missing you can get a warning too.
Plus you have the old simple things like motion detect and so on.

Like with dashcams i do think spending a little extra is well worth it, and just like this forum there are fine forums out there for CCTV gear so you can do a little researching before reaching for the wallet.
I am by no means a hardcore CCTV user, i wish i dident have to spend money on such things, but sadly the moral of my fellow countrymen are on the retreat, and cops well dont bother about those.

 

[Deleted member 46308]

Welcome to DCT @newmy51

 

[Moon]

I'd rather not put my 'Captain Obvious' Hat on .... so I won't.

Welcome ;D

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