Please help. Need advise on a surveillance system for home

[speediq 0]

Hello,

 

I am new to this topic and this forum. Our house was recently vandalized and I am looking to install a simple/economical surveillance system. My goal is to setup 2 infrared cameras connected to a recording device that can run for up to 1 week. Ideally, something connected to a computer in the house would be great but a dvr type device would work too.

 

I am starting from ground zero and looking for spend a nominal dollar amount to set something up (up to $500-600). I am also looking for some reading materials to get my feet wet on this area even though the goal is to get 'something' functional, not fancy and too expensive that is useful and serves as a deterrent.

 

I looked at two products at Costco that are basically two extremes. One is a flood light w/ a 2GB card camera that captures 2 stills or video per activation at $99. The other one is an expensive multi-camera system for $1200. If it wasn't because the flood light system camera has a very low shutter speed, it would have been sufficient. I am looking for something like this that works like it should or an inexpensive 2 camera system that can capture night images at 30-50 ft.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Mike

[Soundy 1]

Costco should have a number of options in between those extremes - if they don't have them in stock at your local store, they should be able to get them in.

 

Checking their website, they show this four-camera Q-See system for $500:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11298383&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=&lang=en-US&s=1

 

And this four-camera Lorex for $800:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11228996&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=&lang=en-US&s=1

 

They also list four-camera systems with a capture card you can add to your own computer:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?ec=BC-EC25149-ProdID11228996&pos=0&whse=BC&topnav=&prodid=11273790&lang=en-US

 

The downside with these is that you need quite a bit of free drive space, and you ideally want to use a computer dedicated to that task.

 

Lots more stuff in their Security & Monitoring section - again, your local store should be able to bring in anything they don't have in stock... worst case, you just need to order it online.

[cachecreekcctv 0]

Just a couple of my personal recommendations here. I do mostly Residential/Small business installs, since my "full-time" job is Industrial Electrician, and CCTV came about only a few years ago. Having tried dozens, and I mean dozens, of different cameras for residential use, I now only install 2 models, both from the same company. One, a mini-dome with IR, and the other a small "bullet style" that I have on my own home. For the last couple of years, I have used only Avermedia DVR's. Only 3 models I use from Avermedia, EB1304,EB1504, and EB1704. Since I don't sell anything, you need to find where you can buy an Avermedia. You won't be disappointed with Avermedia. The cameras I install, both come from USAGINC.COM. Probably 50% of the time, my installs are actually "reinstalls", as I am called to remove a "Big Warehouse" style of DVR/Camera system. One good thing to note, those "big warehouses" will take back their systems, for a refund. Good luck with your home installation.

[Rebco 0]

If your going to waste your money and time on a Costco system you will have a big surprise when it comes to quality.

 

Everyone here has the camera preference but i think we could all agree Costco stuff is crap

[keno 0]

I have to agree with Rebco. If you are looking to see that someone vandalized your property, then the Cosco solution should work fine, but if you are looking to be able to identify the person then you will need a better quality system. Be warned, even with some of the more expensive systems, if you go with too wide of a view, you will still not be able to id the person. What you need is what referred to a a "choke" zone. This is an area where you can zoom a camera into a particular spot, like a walkway, or gate and get a close up view of the person. Hope this helps.

[aaarneson 0]

I am having the same issue as the guy who started this thread. But can you guys give me a little more detail, maybe some brands and model numbers to look into, maybe some sites I kind find some good deals, and so on.

 

Does everyone agree that AverMedia is the way to go? What model would be good for home security use. Also what are the best cameras?

 

Thanks for your help.

[Soundy 1]

Well, it seems most agree... never having used an AverMedia anything, I can't say one way or the other. I know I've installed a lot of really cheap, really lame standalone DVRs for people who didn't want to spend any money, and then were unhappy with the results. One standalone I've used that I do like was a Digital Watchdog (couldn't tell you a specific model offhand).

 

But that aside, I'm a fan of PC-based DVRs in general. IMHO controlling and searching with a point-and-click interface is worlds above navigating a bunch of buttons and maybe a wheel, especially when you have to keep looking back and forth from the screen to the panel.

[aaarneson 0]

With a PC based DVR system can you set the amount of Hard Drive space the DVR can use. Currently my PC has 250GB and I don't want the DVR system using all of that.

[Soundy 1]

Well, that partially depends on the software you're using - I know the latest versions of the Vigil software, you can specify the amount of space to reserve for Alarm and POS Alarm triggers, but aside from that it will record until it fills the designated drives. Capture allows you to specify how much space to use on each of your defined drives, and Video Insight allows you to define how much free space to keep on each drive.

 

But really, drive space is so cheap these days (1TB SATA drives start under $200) and with PCs it's usually easy to add all the space you can afford, whether with additional internal drives, USB/Firewire/eSATA drives, or with a variety of SAN solutions (I just recently set up a system with 3TB storage internally, and an 8TB RAID-5 network array).

[Rebco 0]

If you plan on using ou home PC for a dvr too, get ready to have evryonr in your house kill you that thing will be slow. I suggest you get a pc just for that aver is ok i personally like geo but everone has the preferences, Get yourself a standalone and that will fix the card problem and the computer problem.

[Soundy 1]

If you plan on using ou home PC for a dvr too, get ready to have evryonr in your house kill you that thing will be slow. I suggest you get a pc just for that

 

Yeah, that's the best advice - if you're building a PC-based DVR, you really want it to be a dedicated machine used ONLY for the DVR. DVR activity can significantly slow the machine down for other uses; other activity can also affect the DVR's recording. And of course, if you crash the machine, you're not recording until it reboots; if you get a virus or spyware on it, you could end up with a pooched DVR.

 

New systems can be had around here for $250 or less, and they're more than powerful enough for a basic home DVR. Or upgrade your home machine and turn the old one into a DVR.