Surveillance camera?

[jakejake]

My house was broken in recently. Is any of you using surveillance camera to catch the thief? I don't mind much about what they take away, but I feel cheated if the thief can get away with this. I'm looking for a wired or wireless system that has capability of uploading video onto a webserver (if not, I'll just have to hide the computer somewhere in the house). Budget is up to $1000. Any suggestions?

 

[navysuede]

www.x10.com
They should be able to help
Good luck.

 

[princemarko]

Originally Posted by jakejake

My house was broken in recently. Is any of you using surveillance camera to catch the thief? I don't mind much about what they take away, but I feel cheated if the thief can get away with this. I'm looking for a wired or wireless system that has capability of uploading video onto a webserver (if not, I'll just have to hide the computer somewhere in the house). Budget is up to $1000. Any suggestions?

X10 is good, there is also some IP network camera's that capture motion and both emails/sms's you and notifies GE's security team in real time.

Brickhouse.com has a ton of stuff for you, really depends on your budget.

 

[RJman]

Originally Posted by princemarko

X10 is good, there is also some IP network camera's that capture motion and both emails/sms's you and notifies GE's security team in real time.

Brickhouse.com has a ton of stuff for you, really depends on your budget.

This is how I caught those North Eyeranians launching their nucular warhead satellite last week.

 

[jakejake]

I think I'm going to buy these....

 

[lawyerdad]

Won't they just steal the camera too?

Sorry about the break-in, though. That's a ****** feeling.

 

[jakejake]

Originally Posted by lawyerdad

Won't they just steal the camera too?

Sorry about the break-in, though. That's a ****** feeling.

Well, they can steal the camera, but their images are captured and uploaded to a webserver. Well, unless they wear a mask.

 

[princemarko]

Originally Posted by jakejake

I think I'm going to buy these....

get something that notifies you of a break in with motion detection and remote monitoring.

 

[unpainted huffheinz]

Get a system that is easy to search for specific times and events. Most software is very poorly designed in this regard. Also, I have installed a few decent sized systems and dealt with break in incidents, and the police kind of just laugh when you hand over some grainy 640x480 image of the perp. It never helps them find the guy and they generally won't use it in court.

 

[turboman808]

Originally Posted by unpainted huffheinz

It never helps them find the guy and they generally won't use it in court.

Glad someone mentioned this. Nothing wrong with setting these systems up. I just hope it doesn't give a false sense of security.

I have 3 locks on all my doors. regular deadbolt and am inside dead bolt along with the door handle. One also has a security pad. It's give the burglars the idea that they should move on to the next apartment.

Unless they know you got the hope diamond in your home they have no reason to try and break in.

I also have a sticker in the door letting them know we are armed. I am not sure whether that's a good idea or not. I know if I was a criminal I wouldn't want to take my chances.

---
I live in an apartment building and have had people try to break into my place many times in the past. Problem is we have parking downstairs with apartment numbers over the cars. You see several beat up old cars then you see 3 cars and 2 of them are nice sports car with my apartment number over them.

I finally took these measures above and no one has tried since.

 

[RJman]

Originally Posted by turboman808

I live in an apartment building and have had people try to break into my place many times in the past. Problem is we have parking downstairs with apartment numbers over the cars. You see several beat up old cars then you see 3 cars and 2 of them are nice sports car with my apartment number over them.

I finally took these measures above and no one has tried since.

Do they just break into your cars instead?

 

[turboman808]

Originally Posted by RJman

Do they just break into your cars instead?

I leave the tops down on my convertibles in the summer so people have gone thru them. No one has smashed a window to get into them. I don't leave anything in them to steal.

Someone did steal my garage remote. Goes to show anything not nailed down will disappear.

 

[dkzzzz]

Originally Posted by turboman808

I also have a sticker in the door letting them know we are armed. I am not sure whether that's a good idea or not. I know if I was a criminal I wouldn't want to take my chances.


Hm, in a states where I reside (NJ/NY) I am not allowed to defend my property with deadly force

I am expected to play dead.
So stickers would be laughed at most likely.

 

[Thomas]

We had a camera for a while but it was pretty well worthless. Between the two dogs, the monitored alarm, and the deadbolts, we're a big freaking hassle to deal with if you want something from us.

and, iirc...we can use deadly force. But in Texas, everyone's armed anyway.

 

[BrettChaotix]

About 4 years ago I was asked to build a low-tech monitoring system for my companies disaster recovery site. We only needed to monitor the front/back entrance and the work-areas (most to monitor the cleaning crew - this office is empty 10 months out of the year)

My budget was under $1000 so I had to think really "DIY" about the project. I purchased 5 of these logitech cameras because they include motion detection and can be remotely controlled (including moving the camera's view around the room). I bought a cheap Dell desktop and two USB2 expansion cards (I had to buy 2 because the cameras suck so much power that one card couldn't handle all of the)

The software I used was JaxCam and it worked very well. I programmed it to record video only during certain periods of time. During the rest of the day it took a JPG image every 10 5 seconds and archived it.

If the motion detection was turned on and it caught something it would immediately send a notice to your email, txt your phone and start recording. It would send a followup email with snippits of the video attached.