Eric the Poor

Some naughty SCROTE... Has taken a liking to my car. I live on the 2nd floor in a flat, Fitting outside camera's is not really an option. It/they would be a target, It is not a nice area. I did have the idea of fitting them in the loft which i have access to, But access to the soffits from above is virtually nil. I have bought a couple of old B/W camera's approx 2.5 inches square and 6 inches long, Pointed them out the window at night and they seem to be ideal. Decent quality picture and niced and bright without needing LED's. So the loft/soffit board is on the back burner, So i am thinking i need to have them in a window. But howto hide them so they are not visible from outside? Car is parked below my windows with only a patch of grass between it and the building. Wall opposite which the scrotes climb on top of. UK based if that makes any difference? Also the property is rented so i cannot go around drilling holes everywhere. Thank you in advance.

I think razor wire is illegal over here. Dam do gooder's.... Get convicted too many times and they get bored of smacking you on the wrist saying naughty boy. They send you on a 2 week holiday with your own room, Nice food cooked for you. As many games and gadgets as your human rights say you need. Which includes huge flat screen TV's and games consoles. And the incentive not to be naughty is? I would love to live in the US, Someone breaks into my house they wont break into anyone elses.

i thought i had already asked this but cannot find a post. Currently trying a pair of Panasonic BP130 B/W cameras, Seems i needed auto iris lenses to solve outdoor lighting issues. How do the board cameras and bullet cams cope in that situation? Set the camera up and all good, Had to close the iris slightly as it was a bit bright, Dark cloud passed over and the picture went very grainy, Virtually useless. Sun came out and it was almost a white out. Set the ALC/ELC and thats better, But a compromise. Bought an auto iris lens and hopefully thats sorted. Now i am thinking of getting a board or bullet cam, How do they cope in these lighting conditions? Do they need special auto lenses etc? What do i need to look for when buying one. Needs low light without IR as they will be behind a window. Thanks

Where are my posts going to? I replied to this already but cannot find it? Am i doing something naughty and my posts are being removed? No emails or messages on here that i can see to notify me? Something along the lines of so you get what you pay for... Cheap £5 camera's wont be as good as similar looking £60 one. How do CMOS camera's compare to the CCD ones, Are CMOS really bad or have they got better also? Forgot what else i asked now. Also considering putting a couple of wide angle cameras in the car, Seen a small 4 channel recorder bit basic but it auto records when powered on so no messing with switches like the cheap in car cams/dvr i have seen. And its cheap.. Drive is dodgy buy i have a few 40's and 80's i can use. Maybe something bigger in my pile somewhere. Which should be more than plenty. Thanks again.

Thanks, Yeah the camera's do seem to fit the bill. Just learning as i go. Only paid £10 for the pair. I did wonder about the lenses being compatible. Camera's do DC drive and video drive. The lens i bought is DC drive. Is one better than the other I thought it was not compatible at 1st, said CS mount, So i turned the bracket to CS and no clear picture. I could see the focus working but no clear image. I set the focus midway and then moved the lens back to C very slowly and perfect picture in focus. Very slight clipping on the corners, I presume thats the lens case, Is that normal? The original fixed lens was F1.4 8mm, I was impressed with the night time image, It was only when setting up that i noticed the sunshine wiped the picture out. Checked manual and read about the backlight control and ELC. Switched them on and much better. But i guess the auto iris was a must. Thanks again. Opps forgot to ask, How do the board & bullet cams cope?

Mines a no name one, Nothing at all on the case or in the manual. Small CD came with it, Program called netviewer that can transfer the video to a PC. Saves the files as AVS and nothing i have tried so far can open them. Problem i have noticed is even a minor drive fault and the things stop working, Then all your data is lost. It wont boot and no way to recover the video. Anyone know of a program to convert AVS files? Done a search but it keeps popping up a video converter called AVS which doesnt convert AVS files.

Bought this model DVR. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8-CH-H-264-Network-VGA-Audio-DVR-CCTV-Camera-/330574695508?pt=UK_CCTV&hash=item4cf7c98c54 A bit quirky but seems OK, Paid less than £80 for it. Have my Panasonic BP130 B/W camera's. Setup to test it but had issues with cloud and sun. As it got dark the image got very grainy, But as the sun came out the reflection from a building opposite cause the camera to white out. Had a play with the settings and enable the backlight control and ALC/ELC. Better but a bit of a compromise. Had a good search and it seems like i needed auto iris lenses. Also thought a wider view would be better, Chose a 3-8 auto iris lens to replace the fixed 8mm. What is the difference between an F1.4 and an F1.2 lens though? This is 1.4 but they also do a 1.2. I need to order another one so which is best? Wow thats much better. Not connected to the DVR yet but i hope thats all sorted now. Next comes tidy wiring. Cams are 240v so not much i can do about that. But do i run BNC cables from each cam or go for CAT5? From what i have read one cable can run 4 camera's with baluns. But how do you run 4 cams from 4 corners of the flat? Is that unrealistic? Stick with 4 BNC cables or run 4 CAT5 cables? Thanks

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8CH-CCTV-Digital-Video-Recorder-H-264-DVR-4-Camera-CAM-/290580406215?pt=UK_CCTV&hash=item43a7f11fc7 Says 8CH but only shows 4CH on the buttons? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8-CH-H-264-Network-VGA-Audio-DVR-CCTV-Camera-/330574695508?pt=UK_CCTV&hash=item4cf7c98c54 Or this? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CCTV-8-Channel-Security-Cam-DVR-Recorder-H-264-Network-Ready-/230701615076?pt=UK_CCTV&hash=item35b6e347e4 Or this? Is anything in this price range OK? I noticed some recommend hard drive manufacturers, Are they fussy about the HDD make? Will a PC HDD work as a temp measure, HDD prices are a bit steep at the moment. Ideally i want a 2TB drive. My initial thought was a Storage Options 53280. 8CH 2TB. Approx £250. UK Based. Thanks.

Nice puddle of non drying paint might be nice there. Tried the panasonic cam on the window sill, With the net curtain still in place. Surprisingly the image is quite good. Its fairly dark now and not too bad. Got wires trailing the house though and a laptop recording but only 10GB free so not sure how long that will last. Quality in the software is only 352 i think not 700ish. Maybe an option. Proabably get a board cam to see how that fares.

The small bullet camera's look good. Wonder how they compare in the low light conditions to the ones I already have. Certainly gives more options for concealing them. Peeping over the window ledge wont really work in this situation, As the car is parked below the window so the camera needs to be pointing down at a fairly steep angle. Probably only 8 feet from the building. Been playing around and it seems the ideal position is in the bedroom, Gives the widest view of the car and its surroundings. Less issues from light sources also. Not sure about having blinds in the bedroom. But if thats the only way to conceal a camera then it doesn't really leave me with much choice. I had a look from outside and to me the everything inside the window appears very visible during the day. Currently we have nets and having a camera poking through them is so obvious I may as well put a neon sign up saying hidden camera here. Any suggestions? Again, Many Thanks.

Bit more info for you. Camera's are Panasonic WV-BP130/B F1.3 TV Lens, (Manual focus and aperature rings?) Tested with a SWANN 4 channel USB DVR, But looking to buy a storage options 8 channel DVR with 2TB HDD or similar. Do these have de-interlace options? I noticed the picture had lines when movement was detected, De-interlace removed them. Am i allowed to put links? Here is the cams specs or not if its not allowed. http://www.norbain.co.uk/downloads/others/WV-BP130_spec.pdf They mean little to me. I pointed the cam down at my car at night and the picture was clear enough to read the numberplate. Are there any small budget camera's that will work better than the BP130 without adding lighting? I have read posts where its been advised to avoid maplins but i had a look and they all seemed to have infra-red lighting. Asked about genuine low light cameras and was told £££ mate. Hope your all enjoying the holidays. Please think of me any help gratefully received. Thanks.

Thanks, I did think about window tint, But only seemed to find car stuff or one way mirror tint. Miniblind maybe the way to go. Lighting has to be enough for them to see it? Not a clue where to start here? Need to make it dark inside or make the camera dark? Any tips. Many Thanks.