Re: Looking into home CCTV
A couple of quick thoughts.
Deterrent? Not so sure. As soon as those likely to be bothered see cameras, they'll cover faces.
Professional install? Good idea, but at a price. I assume the budget is decent.
Third - you tend to get what you pay for. I'm not a fan of mass-market 'home' devices. Lorex is decent (IMHO) without being stupid prices.
If you want poluce to be able to use footage as evidence, be careful what you buy, as the footage has to meet standards for evidential use. Even if it doesn't, it might still be useful for intelligence, and maybe to identify individuals but they'll need to get proof another way.
Consider stragetically located indoor cameras too, but I'd go for hidden, not deterrent, for indoors. And be sure of access security if you want to cloud-store or access remotely.
Re: Looking into home CCTV
With my GDPR hat on:
You don't need any kind of policy, permission or signage if the cameras are purely for private use and only record your own property. This is easy to do with the video footage (just make sure the road/pavement/next doors garden is out of shot,) but if you're thinking of doing audio that is much harder to prevent. I'm not sure audio provides enough benefit to be worth the hassle anyway tbh.
Re: Looking into home CCTV
Thanks for the replies.
The cameras will only be used on our property which is a detached house with a small private road access way at the front.
My budget is around £1000. But there seems to be an awful lot of choice and not many reviews (outside of the cloud devices like RIng/Arlo etc which I don't want).
I want to be able to access them anywhere but I do want the videos etc stored here on the premises. Not the cloud.
I do hope to add some indoor cameras later. I aim to start with 4-5 outdoor cameras. I will hope to add 2-3 indoor cameras at a later date.
Re: Looking into home CCTV
Are you recording to some kind of PC/NAS device, or to a dedicated recorder? My preference for bigger installations is the latter.
If you're planning on adding later, make sure any sich recorder has sufficient channels. Sorry, that's a but obvious I guess. slightly less so is my preference is to not fully load a recorder. If you intend 4/5 now, plus 2/3 later, I'd be inclined to go one up from the 8-ch recorder that would just cope. It gives more scope for later.
Also, where possible and practical, I try to have one camera covering access to another, for each. Maybe, a couple in each location in rear-access propertues, one covering the back wsll, another pointed out into the gtounds. Or, better yet, too high up to be accessible. That's hard in, for instance, a bungalow. but either way, plan locations and coverage quite carefully. Avoid blindspots.
Re: Looking into home CCTV
GDPR-wise, the advice I was given was that the line is a bit grey, not black and white. I am not an expert. Spacein might have better advice.
For instance, front cameras can incidentally cover public areas like footpaths/roads but should primarily cover your own property. There's no realistic expectation of privacy on public thoroughfares.
For cameras that mignt include some of your neighbours property, minimise it, but it's not entirely a no-no providing it is minimised and the coverage doesn't include personal areas. Covering mainly your rear or side garden, and a few feet wide strip of your neighbours, probably okay.
Cameras pointed in the direction of your neeighbours windows, especially bedroom windows, are an utter non-starter.
The best bet is to consult neighbours in advance, and get them onside, if possible. It's far better than letting them get steamed over what you might be doing, especially about that incidental coverage.
Re: Looking into home CCTV
One thing I can definitely recommend is a Ring doorbell, if you don't already have such a thing. They also do a lot of other devices that I see get decent reviews but I can't vouch for them personally.
We got the 1st Gen. Ring doorbell about 3 months ago after about £3000 worth of kit that I returned to a manufacturer went "missing" with UPS, causing all kinds of problems. The quality is decent, the battery life is easily 40-50 days and if you can wire it in, even better, and they only charge £1.99 per month for their subscription fee which is optional.
The doorbell was £60 on one of Amazon's sale days, but you'll probably want to factor in another £20-£25 for their Ring Chime because it's not really useful as a doorbell otherwise.
On a side-note: Saracen999, were you a burglar in a previous life? :vacant:
Re: Looking into home CCTV
I already have a Ring Pro at the front door. However, while I love it, I had to move my router to the front door to get decent enough signal in a rural area with little interference. I wouldn't want any of their cameras around my house. I imagine I'd then need a router per wall just to get good enough WiFi for it to work. Similarly, I want local storage.cloud is fine for my doorbell but for my home cctv I don't want to use cloud storage. At least not until upload speeds improve.
Re: Looking into home CCTV
Have you done a risk assessment? How likely is an attack on your property? Have there been other attacks nearby? Are you known for being wealthy or is an attack likely to just be opportunistic?
Can you deter an attack with notices/ dummy cameras? Would you be better investing in better locks/physical deterrence?
Given attacks may be at night you may need some infra-red lighting and cameras which put the price up.
Have you spoken to your local crime prevention team for advice?
Re: Looking into home CCTV
Thanks for the replies all.
In terms of storage: I have my Synology NAS. I am currently weighing up using it or a Hikvision NVR (For example). The Synology means I would already have the recording hardware. I'd just need to get some licences and another HDD. However, I am unsure which features I would miss out by using my Synology with Hikvision cameras, over a Hikvision NVR and Hikvision cameras.
I have already spoken to the neighbours and they are happy enough. We get on quite well. It is only really the right side of the house (where our neighbours are) that we could perhaps infringe on their land. The other parts of the house are all ours as we are at the end of the row.
I am also keen on cameras to overlap. Thank you for the advice so far all!
In terms of risk assessment @perterb. No we haven't. Part of this is for peace of mind SHOULD anything ever happen. The other reason is the geek in me just wants it....
There haven't been any attacks on our estate but further down from us is a bit rougher.
Re: Looking into home CCTV
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Hoonigan
....
On a side-note: Saracen999, were you a burglar in a previous life? :vacant:
LOL. No, just a few contacts, friends and family on the other side of the fence.
Re: Looking into home CCTV
Quote:
Originally Posted by
neonplanet40
Thanks for the replies all.
In terms of risk assessment @perterb. No we haven't. Part of this is for peace of mind SHOULD anything ever happen. The other reason is the geek in me just wants it....
There haven't been any attacks on our estate but further down from us is a bit rougher.
And they are perfectly good reasons in my book! :p
Re: Looking into home CCTV
Quote:
Originally Posted by
peterb
And they are perfectly good reasons in my book! :p
Haha! :P
So currently I have the following list:
CCTV Buy list
D-Link 8-Port Gigabit PoE Smart Managed Switch DGS-1100-08P
Synology Surveillance Licence x2
4x Hikvision DS-2CD2385G1-I IP camera 8MP (still deciding on lenses)
DS-1273ZJ-140 - Bracket for cameras – x3
WD Purple 6TB
Now for external cable. Is there any kind of special exterior Cat5e cable I need for PoE etc?
Re: Looking into home CCTV
There is an exterior grade cat5e cable available - has better UV resistance than ‘normal’ cable and well worth it unless you are running the cable in conduit.
Re: Looking into home CCTV
Re: Looking into home CCTV
+1 for Hikvision cameras
Been recommended them by a few friends and family, just got our alarm system installed recently and next I'm getting Hikvision cameras installed externally with a 2TB DVR box.
Also if at any point you are looking for an alarm system (or anyone) I can recommend Verisure. Complete wireless kit and not tied to any contracts.