Outdoor security camera system w/DVR? (1 Viewer)

[Wingnut]

Anyone have or know of a decent 4-camera outdoor system for home use for around $300? I see a ton of them out there (Zmodo, Night Owl, Defender, etc) but reviews are all over the map.

Most of the ones Ive looked at include a 500GB 4-channel DVR and 4 weatherproof day/night cameras with all hookup accessories...thats exactly what Im looking for.

Not looking for excellent quality at this price point obviously, but If I could find something with 600 TVL cameras thatd be a plus. Most systems in this price range have around 480 TVL cameras.

Also Id prefer CCD ocer CMOS but thats not a deal breaker. We have some problem neighbors and want to keep an eye on the perimeter of our property, so its not like we need top of the line.

Whatchya got?

 

[rascal]

 

[Aquaman]

dropcam.com forget the DVR...it'll just get stolen in a break in. These things are dead simple and good quality. They aren't made for outdoor use but it is very easy to put them inside a security light enclosure, etc. from Home Depot.

 

[Wingnut]

Thanks aquaman but I want a DVR system with weatherproof cameras...I dont want to pay monthly for cloud service and don't want added cost of having to buy enclosures for each camera.

 

[Sarnoff]

 

[moleculo]

If you are up for it, its not all that hard to piece together your own system.

I have the nightowl posideon dvr. I bought it for $150 as a newegg special, put on a 500 gb drive and bought a few videosecu cameras from amazon for like $30 ea.

The hard part is running the cable. After that, its making the video work on your smart phone.

If you had more money to spend, spend it on good cameras - that's ultimately what limits the system.

 

[Ned]

We had a break-in on our detached garage and I've been contemplating a system.

Bastards took our kids' dirt bikes.

 

[Aerial Assault]

 

[Wingnut]

http://m.homedepot.com/p/Defender-4-CH-500GB-Hard-Drive-Surveillance-System-with-4-600-TVL-Cameras-21021/203262196/

Found this system, for sale online for $219 til Sept 30th. I've seen this same system listed for $349-$449 a few places. Gonna have to dig for more reviews, but for the price I seriously doubt you could beat it.

4 cameras (600 TVL)

500GB DVR

Motion activated recording option

Remote viewing online & smart phones

I'm starting a short list of complete systems, and this one is on it. Its very entry level but it might be what I need for now, and it won't break the bank...I can always upgrade cameras later.

Here's an amazon link to same system with more in depth specs (with no reviews for whatever reason. The 8 ch version of the same system is listed below this one and has 114 reviews, avg 4 star).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B008R861M8

 

[Tiger Fan]

dot

 

[Wingnut]

...still looking for opinions/recommendations

 

[culdeus]

Foscam stuff is good if you don't mind lots of DIY setup. You can set it up to email you if something comes in view of the camera. That's it's best feature imo.

 

[Wingnut]

Went with a Samsung 8 channel, 4 camera (600 TVL), 500GB system for $295 (shipped) on eBay. I've seen the same system for $380-$500 elsewhere. Felt better with Samsung over other brands ive looked at, and I can add up to 4 more cameras. Will update once its up and running.

 

[Das Boot]

 

[NCCommish]

My recommendation is don't waste your money on a crap system. And in the end all 300.00 systems are crap when you talk picture quality. You know those photos from convenience stores where they ask you to identify the blurry alleged human? That's what you are getting. How much would it cost to replace what you fear being stolen? How much is it worth to provide actionable evidence? I am betting it's more than 300. Don't mean to pick on you but as someone who specs these everyday I hate seeing people waste their money.

 

[Wingnut]

Lol, its a little late, NCC...I looked at reviews of the cameras that come with the system I bought and I think they will be good enough for what I need for now...if not, decent cameras aren't all that expensive, and Ill upgrade if need be. Just having the IR cameras visable along my fence will help keep the idiots in check.

 

[NCCommish]

Lol, its a little late, NCC...I looked at reviews of the cameras that come with the system I bought and I think they will be good enough for what I need for now...if not, decent cameras aren't all that expensive, and Ill upgrade if need be. Just having the IR cameras visable along my fence will help keep the idiots in check.

Oh sure you will definitely get a deterrent effect just for having them up.

 

[Skylord]

My recommendation is don't waste your money on a crap system. And in the end all 300.00 systems are crap when you talk picture quality. You know those photos from convenience stores where they ask you to identify the blurry alleged human? That's what you are getting. How much would it cost to replace what you fear being stolen? How much is it worth to provide actionable evidence? I am betting it's more than 300. Don't mean to pick on you but as someone who specs these everyday I hate seeing people waste their money.

Can your recommend a high quality, motion activated camera?

 

[NCCommish]

My recommendation is don't waste your money on a crap system. And in the end all 300.00 systems are crap when you talk picture quality. You know those photos from convenience stores where they ask you to identify the blurry alleged human? That's what you are getting. How much would it cost to replace what you fear being stolen? How much is it worth to provide actionable evidence? I am betting it's more than 300. Don't mean to pick on you but as someone who specs these everyday I hate seeing people waste their money.

Can your recommend a high quality, motion activated camera?

Sure. What kind of lighting conditions are we talking? And what is the furthest distance from the camera you'd like to be able to identify an individual in such a way as police may actually be able to catch them off it? Also do you have a preference as far as bullet style camera, box camera or dome camera? Homeowners tend to look domes because they don't like as prison-ish. Of course you may want one of the other styles as they are more preventative since crooks can see them better.

 

[Skylord]

My recommendation is don't waste your money on a crap system. And in the end all 300.00 systems are crap when you talk picture quality. You know those photos from convenience stores where they ask you to identify the blurry alleged human? That's what you are getting. How much would it cost to replace what you fear being stolen? How much is it worth to provide actionable evidence? I am betting it's more than 300. Don't mean to pick on you but as someone who specs these everyday I hate seeing people waste their money.

Can your recommend a high quality, motion activated camera?

Sure. What kind of lighting conditions are we talking? And what is the furthest distance from the camera you'd like to be able to identify an individual in such a way as police may actually be able to catch them off it? Also do you have a preference as far as bullet style camera, box camera or dome camera? Homeowners tend to look domes because they don't like as prison-ish. Of course you may want one of the other styles as they are more preventative since crooks can see them better.

All outdoors. Will need to be night vision as well as day time. I'm thinking 30ft would be the furthest distance. In a perfect world, they would be motion activated as well. Appearence...I don't really care.

Ultimately I'd like it to feed to a dvr as well as a notification text to my iphone if the camera triggers.

 

[glumpy]

Good timing on this thread! I'll be looking at a four channel system, probably wireless. Two inside cams for point of sale liquor and money exchange; two outside or through glass longer distance for security/safety of a mobile kitchen. Recording to remote DVR not to far plus phones, and need to be clear. And of course budget's nice--whatcha got?!!

 

[Frostillicus]

Can these be used to look at boobs?

 

[Doctor Detroit]

Can these be used to look at boobs?

Wildlife camera better for this

 

[Frostillicus]

Can these be used to look at boobs?

Wildlife camera better for this

Tell me more.

 

[Battles]

Foscam if you want quality and features like text to phone off of a motion sensor....like culdeus said earlier in thr thread.

 

[culdeus]

Foscam if you want quality and features like text to phone off of a motion sensor....like culdeus said earlier in thr thread.

There has to be similar setups on the market for the email feature by now, no?

 

[Wingnut]

Here's a pretty nice setup for those looking for better quality then the $300 price point: a Lorex 8 channel, 6 indoor/outdoor camera system w/DVR and 19" monitor for $549 shipped. I've seen this exact system in action in several restaurants and the video quality is superb.

http://www.lorextechnology.com/Camera+security+surveillance+system+with+4+outdoor+cameras/1731.p

 

[NCCommish]

Here's a pretty nice setup for those looking for better quality then the $300 price point: a Lorex 8 channel, 6 indoor/outdoor camera system w/DVR and 19" monitor for $549 shipped. I've seen this exact system in action in several restaurants and the video quality is superb.

http://www.lorextechnology.com/Camera+security+surveillance+system+with+4+outdoor+cameras/1731.p

They may look good when viewing but 360 x 240 recording resolution is going to give you blobs instead of people when you go back to try to look at something happening. You will have a hard time identifying anyone off that, it is very crappy resolution.

 

[NCCommish]

My recommendation is don't waste your money on a crap system. And in the end all 300.00 systems are crap when you talk picture quality. You know those photos from convenience stores where they ask you to identify the blurry alleged human? That's what you are getting. How much would it cost to replace what you fear being stolen? How much is it worth to provide actionable evidence? I am betting it's more than 300. Don't mean to pick on you but as someone who specs these everyday I hate seeing people waste their money.

Can your recommend a high quality, motion activated camera?

Sure. What kind of lighting conditions are we talking? And what is the furthest distance from the camera you'd like to be able to identify an individual in such a way as police may actually be able to catch them off it? Also do you have a preference as far as bullet style camera, box camera or dome camera? Homeowners tend to look domes because they don't like as prison-ish. Of course you may want one of the other styles as they are more preventative since crooks can see them better.

All outdoors. Will need to be night vision as well as day time. I'm thinking 30ft would be the furthest distance. In a perfect world, they would be motion activated as well. Appearence...I don't really care.

Ultimately I'd like it to feed to a dvr as well as a notification text to my iphone if the camera triggers.

Ok I am working on a big proposal right now but I'll get something thrown together for you and try to get it posted later tonight or tomorrow.

 

[Wingnut]

Here's a pretty nice setup for those looking for better quality then the $300 price point: a Lorex 8 channel, 6 indoor/outdoor camera system w/DVR and 19" monitor for $549 shipped. I've seen this exact system in action in several restaurants and the video quality is superb.

http://www.lorextechnology.com/Camera+security+surveillance+system+with+4+outdoor+cameras/1731.p

They may look good when viewing but 360 x 240 recording resolution is going to give you blobs instead of people when you go back to try to look at something happening. You will have a hard time identifying anyone off that, it is very crappy resolution.

Good info...I didn't notice the recording resolution and viewing resolution were different

 

[NCCommish]

Here's a pretty nice setup for those looking for better quality then the $300 price point: a Lorex 8 channel, 6 indoor/outdoor camera system w/DVR and 19" monitor for $549 shipped. I've seen this exact system in action in several restaurants and the video quality is superb.

http://www.lorextechnology.com/Camera+security+surveillance+system+with+4+outdoor+cameras/1731.p

They may look good when viewing but 360 x 240 recording resolution is going to give you blobs instead of people when you go back to try to look at something happening. You will have a hard time identifying anyone off that, it is very crappy resolution.

Good info...I didn't notice the recording resolution.

Yeah it is easy to miss. It's something I look for because the complaint we get about analog systems is they look fine but when you need the video or to print a picture they look like crap and low recording resolution is the reason.

 

[Battles]

Foscam if you want quality and features like text to phone off of a motion sensor....like culdeus said earlier in thr thread.

There has to be similar setups on the market for the email feature by now, no?

I used them at my previous job and my f-i-l still uses them around his property. Has a wireless one set up at the gate that he has on motion sensor email.

 

[baymen]

Blackdot

 

[moleculo]

Here's a pretty nice setup for those looking for better quality then the $300 price point: a Lorex 8 channel, 6 indoor/outdoor camera system w/DVR and 19" monitor for $549 shipped. I've seen this exact system in action in several restaurants and the video quality is superb.

http://www.lorextechnology.com/Camera+security+surveillance+system+with+4+outdoor+cameras/1731.p

They may look good when viewing but 360 x 240 recording resolution is going to give you blobs instead of people when you go back to try to look at something happening. You will have a hard time identifying anyone off that, it is very crappy resolution.

Good info...I didn't notice the recording resolution.

Yeah it is easy to miss. It's something I look for because the complaint we get about analog systems is they look fine but when you need the video or to print a picture they look like crap and low recording resolution is the reason.

PM sent.

 

[Skylord]

What is a good TVL to look for?

 

[Sarnoff]

Either 1saleaday.com or woot usually has stuff on sale once every six weeks or so, about due for another batch soon.

 

[NCCommish]

What is a good TVL to look for?

Well I would think you would want at least TV quality so 625 minimum. If you want to stick to analog you should be able to get 700 these days pretty easily.

BTW here is a great graphic that show the difference between analog and megapixel Resolution

 

[T Love]

Blackdot

 

[Fat Nick]

I use Foscam cameras in conjunction with 2 different monitoring systems. Not planned, but that's how it worked out.

I have a Synology Disk Station, which has web-monitorable real-time recording via it's surveillance station. Works with 1 camera, but you can buy licenses for many more. Full-featured, and you get a NAS drive with lots of features as well. I only reference that if needed though, otherwise it just runs behind the scenes.

For day-to-day, I have my Foscam also interfaced through my VERA home automation system. The camera takes still shots when motion is detected and I can check a calendar-style view to see what motion it picked up. 99% of the time it's just a deer, but occasionally there will be odd cars in the driveway or a package delivered or something.

The Foscam cameras are really good. They're cheap. Check woot.com or 1sale.com and they're on there a good bit. You can get decent wireless ones for $70. The night vision feature works well. I've had one mounted under my eaves for ~6 months now without issue, and have another one to mount when I get a chance. They can also work with almost any web-enabled montioring system as they just use a URL for camera access.

Again, that's my hodge-podge system. It's not professional, but it allows me to monitor my house for activity, and if I see activity, I can access the more detailed recording as well. Plus I get the NAS features of media server, picture server, iTunes server, etc, as well as the home automation capability. You wouldn't get any of that with a pure surveillance system.

 

[NCCommish]

I use Foscam cameras in conjunction with 2 different monitoring systems. Not planned, but that's how it worked out.

I have a Synology Disk Station, which has web-monitorable real-time recording via it's surveillance station. Works with 1 camera, but you can buy licenses for many more. Full-featured, and you get a NAS drive with lots of features as well. I only reference that if needed though, otherwise it just runs behind the scenes.

For day-to-day, I have my Foscam also interfaced through my VERA home automation system. The camera takes still shots when motion is detected and I can check a calendar-style view to see what motion it picked up. 99% of the time it's just a deer, but occasionally there will be odd cars in the driveway or a package delivered or something.

The Foscam cameras are really good. They're cheap. Check woot.com or 1sale.com and they're on there a good bit. You can get decent wireless ones for $70. The night vision feature works well. I've had one mounted under my eaves for ~6 months now without issue, and have another one to mount when I get a chance. They can also work with almost any web-enabled montioring system as they just use a URL for camera access.

Again, that's my hodge-podge system. It's not professional, but it allows me to monitor my house for activity, and if I see activity, I can access the more detailed recording as well. Plus I get the NAS features of media server, picture server, iTunes server, etc, as well as the home automation capability. You wouldn't get any of that with a pure surveillance system.

Actually a lot of surveillance software does take advantage of NAS connectivity. And again with looking at the Foscam IIRC their 720P model actually records at 4 CIF. Which isn't horrible but it isn't 720P either. It's better than the one above but you are still going to need to get a little lucky to identify someone in anything but perfect lighting. They are going to have to be relatively close and probably looking into the camera for you to get a good enough facial shot to identify someone you don't know. This being based on using the camera to produce evidence after a crime.

 

[Skylord]

What is a good TVL to look for?

Well I would think you would want at least TV quality so 625 minimum. If you want to stick to analog you should be able to get 700 these days pretty easily.

BTW here is a great graphic that show the difference between analog and megapixel Resolution

 

[NCCommish]

What is a good TVL to look for?

Well I would think you would want at least TV quality so 625 minimum. If you want to stick to analog you should be able to get 700 these days pretty easily.

BTW here is a great graphic that show the difference between analog and megapixel Resolution

Remember to check for what resolution they record at. If the recording resolution sucks the evidence will suck.

 

[Skylord]

What is a good TVL to look for?

Well I would think you would want at least TV quality so 625 minimum. If you want to stick to analog you should be able to get 700 these days pretty easily.

BTW here is a great graphic that show the difference between analog and megapixel Resolution

Remember to check for what resolution they record at. If the recording resolution sucks the evidence will suck.

So if I want motion activated that texts/emails, do I need to go with Foscam? Fine if I do.

Costco has this system at a good price. Decent resolution and it comes with an Iphone app. But it doesn't say anything about motion activation

http://www.costco.com/Lorex-8-Channel-Full-960H-Security-System-with-1TB-HDD-and-8-700TVL-Cameras.product.100070208.html

 

[NCCommish]

What is a good TVL to look for?

Well I would think you would want at least TV quality so 625 minimum. If you want to stick to analog you should be able to get 700 these days pretty easily.

BTW here is a great graphic that show the difference between analog and megapixel Resolution

Remember to check for what resolution they record at. If the recording resolution sucks the evidence will suck.

So if I want motion activated that texts/emails, do I need to go with Foscam? Fine if I do.

Costco has this system at a good price. Decent resolution and it comes with an Iphone app. But it doesn't say anything about motion activation

http://www.costco.com/Lorex-8-Channel-Full-960H-Security-System-with-1TB-HDD-and-8-700TVL-Cameras.product.100070208.html

I like that it records at better than D1 so you should get some decent images. I wouldn't count on really getting 90 feet in full darkness on the IR, cameras almost never really live up to that. I don't think it does forensic zooming which I would want. Forensic zooming allows you to zoom on the recorded image. Not sure how much zooming a 3.8 fixed lens is going to give you really. As far as motion recording goes it looks like it records always and they try to play that off by saying you get motion alerts.

With all that said we have to be fair. If I did you a professional 8 camera system with 1 terabyte of storage it would go for many, many times what this is. Heck cameras alone would run you minimum 300 or so a piece. Of course you'd also be getting much higher resolution. All in all this doesn't look terrible though.

 

[Skylord]

What is a good TVL to look for?

Well I would think you would want at least TV quality so 625 minimum. If you want to stick to analog you should be able to get 700 these days pretty easily.

BTW here is a great graphic that show the difference between analog and megapixel Resolution

Remember to check for what resolution they record at. If the recording resolution sucks the evidence will suck.

So if I want motion activated that texts/emails, do I need to go with Foscam? Fine if I do.

Costco has this system at a good price. Decent resolution and it comes with an Iphone app. But it doesn't say anything about motion activation

http://www.costco.com/Lorex-8-Channel-Full-960H-Security-System-with-1TB-HDD-and-8-700TVL-Cameras.product.100070208.html

I like that it records at better than D1 so you should get some decent images. I wouldn't count on really getting 90 feet in full darkness on the IR, cameras almost never really live up to that. I don't think it does forensic zooming which I would want. Forensic zooming allows you to zoom on the recorded image. Not sure how much zooming a 3.8 fixed lens is going to give you really. As far as motion recording goes it looks like it records always and they try to play that off by saying you get motion alerts.

With all that said we have to be fair. If I did you a professional 8 camera system with 1 terabyte of storage it would go for many, many times what this is. Heck cameras alone would run you minimum 300 or so a piece. Of course you'd also be getting much higher resolution. All in all this doesn't look terrible though.

Sorry for all the dumb questions, I'm a complete newb with these.

How long would it take for the 1tb harddrive to fill up? I assume there is some sort of cron that runs and cannibalizes old data? So how long would data sit on the harddrive before being over written?

 

[NCCommish]

What is a good TVL to look for?

Well I would think you would want at least TV quality so 625 minimum. If you want to stick to analog you should be able to get 700 these days pretty easily.

BTW here is a great graphic that show the difference between analog and megapixel Resolution

Remember to check for what resolution they record at. If the recording resolution sucks the evidence will suck.

So if I want motion activated that texts/emails, do I need to go with Foscam? Fine if I do.

Costco has this system at a good price. Decent resolution and it comes with an Iphone app. But it doesn't say anything about motion activation

http://www.costco.com/Lorex-8-Channel-Full-960H-Security-System-with-1TB-HDD-and-8-700TVL-Cameras.product.100070208.html

I like that it records at better than D1 so you should get some decent images. I wouldn't count on really getting 90 feet in full darkness on the IR, cameras almost never really live up to that. I don't think it does forensic zooming which I would want. Forensic zooming allows you to zoom on the recorded image. Not sure how much zooming a 3.8 fixed lens is going to give you really. As far as motion recording goes it looks like it records always and they try to play that off by saying you get motion alerts.

With all that said we have to be fair. If I did you a professional 8 camera system with 1 terabyte of storage it would go for many, many times what this is. Heck cameras alone would run you minimum 300 or so a piece. Of course you'd also be getting much higher resolution. All in all this doesn't look terrible though.

Sorry for all the dumb questions, I'm a complete newb with these.

How long would it take for the 1tb harddrive to fill up? I assume there is some sort of cron that runs and cannibalizes old data? So how long would data sit on the harddrive before being over written?

I ran some calculations and it looks like to me at full 960h with H.264 running 24/7 at 30 frames per second you'll get 3 days or less. If you turn down the recording resolution to get more time you'll lose the benefit of the higher resolution cameras and be back to blobs when it matters. They have a 2 terabyte system that would get you 5-6 days at full resolution or if you can reduce the frames per second you could up your time. I never record at more than 12 frames per second and usually viewing is done at 6 FPS or less. Record on motion would also help tremendously but it is a low cost system.

 

[Sarnoff]

Is Swann any good? http://www.frys.com/product/7696037?site=frysecampaign1+date:110113+disc:Swann+9-Channel+Digital+Video+Recorder

 

[Fennis]

 

[Fat Nick]

I've never heard of Swann specifically. I think the bigger issue here is wired cameras. If you have an existing house without easy access to the attic or experience fishing wires, hooking up a large wired system like that will be a huge undertaking. If I was building a new house, I'd pre-wire for a system like this, but in an existing house, there's no way I'd go with a wired system.

 

[Wingnut]

I've never heard of Swann specifically. I think the bigger issue here is wired cameras. If you have an existing house without easy access to the attic or experience fishing wires, hooking up a large wired system like that will be a huge undertaking. If I was building a new house, I'd pre-wire for a system like this, but in an existing house, there's no way I'd go with a wired system.

Great point. I didn't consider this when I bought my system. We haven't installed it yet because we are redoing the fence first, but when figuring out how I'm gonna set it up I realized what a PITA its gonna be. My system only came w/60ft of cable for each camera, and one (maybe 2) will be 80-100 feet from the DVR, so I'm gonna have to buy longer cables for those. I'm actually considering selling the system and going with wireless.