jdoggg1

Awesome, thank you! I was worried the dome would get a lot of IR reflection, but it looks like a winner.

On what? The 3MP Hikvision - specifically night vision quality

Any update on this?

I'd like to be able to virtually answer the door via my Android phone. The doorbot is about as close as I've come to finding the solution. https://christiestreet.com/products/doorbot The problem is that I'd like it to be motion activated or have the ability to be triggered by my existing doorbell button. Anyone doing something similar?

I'm trying to build a 5 camera setup using blueiris and one of my PCs. I'm trying to stay at/around $1000 for the cameras alone. 3 outdoor and 2 indoor cameras. I've been eying the Acti TCM-1111, but I only see them at $275+. I want decent outdoor visibility up to about 30'; indoor I don't care terribly much about night quality. I know "you gotta spend more to get good stuff" is the general sentiment, but I'm struggling to make this work at $1000. I've been burgled twice since February... never move to vallejo CA.

Is it that hard to say "this one is good overall for the money as are x, y, z"? No one in this thread is looking for a golden unicorn camera. It's about finding the Honda Civic or Craftsman Tools of security cameras. They are a reasonable step up from the bottom-end crap where you get the best value for your money... no bells and whistles, but items that serve their basic purpose reliably. Or, to put it in computer terms: A little over a year ago, if you'd have asked me what the best CPU was for a very reasonable price, I'd have said i5 2500k is the best value for the money. Could it touch the i7? No. Was it even the most powerful i5? No. There were 15 different procs I could recommend but that was my go-to suggestion for anyone building anything from a low to upper-mid range multimedia PC. Ahh, well then this thread accomplished nothing then. Here you go. For a bullet camera, this is good. http://www.hikvision.com/en/products_show.asp?id=7326 For a dome, this is good. http://www.hikvision.com/en/Products_show.asp?id=7330 Firmware updates are available, stable. Replaceable batteries. I've had $800 Toshiba Cameras with buggy network firmware and batteries soldered to the circuit board. These cameras are head and tails above those. THIS is exactly what i'm looking for... as are a lot of people from what I've seen on many forums/boards. Thank you.

Ahh, well then this thread accomplished nothing then.

So, after many tangents, is there a concensus on which are the recommended cameras in this range? Bullet/Dome versions?

Devil's advocate : This is true of all electronics. I've found that middle-of-the-road electronics are the best long term value. On the low end you don't get quality and high end results in diminishing marginal returns. Every PC I build uses upper middle-range parts --or-- top tier parts of the previous generation. I am starting to think that, for residential use, ~$225-300 is the sweet spot for security cameras. This seems to be where you start seeing a worthwhile benefit in quality over a $100 camera. Then, a you soar over $500/camera, you get bells and whistles that are a bit overkill for residential monitoring for ID purposes. It's easy to look at one more feature, then one more feature, then one more feature... but at the end of the day, I think many are like me, bottom line is that I want a reliable camera with good picture quality and decent night performance. Discuss

The swann 2 pack for $350 is back in stock at costco - I just ordered a set.

Looks like i'll go this route for a couple - any suggestions on some cheapies for inside? I missed them... I really hope they come back in stock soon

Any word on camera quality?

For outdoor use?? Might be an option inside using software that'll monitor what would essentially be a webcam. Not a bad option to have inside that'll blend in if you can just sit it on a shelf with a bunch of other stuff. Something like a GoPro for outside maybe? Their picture quality trumps all but the most expensive security cameras

Forgive my ignorance, but at the several hundred+ dollar mark, isn't it starting to approch the point where it's worth looking into frankensteining a piont-n-shoot digital camera (like a canon) into the network?