Vandelism finally caught on camera!

[Scruit 0]

All: Don't download the player until I post again.

 

LOL. Unbelievable " title="Applause" />

 

What's so funny? You post an exe that unexpectedly calls out to the internet. Of course we're going to be suspicious. Once I confirmed it *was* calling out I wanted to warn people while I checked it out. After checking it out I determined it was benign.

 

Sorry if I offended you.

[Sawbones 0]

All: Don't download the player until I post again.

 

LOL. Unbelievable " title="Applause" />

 

What's so funny? You post an exe that unexpectedly calls out to the internet. Of course we're going to be suspicious. Once I confirmed it *was* calling out I wanted to warn people while I checked it out. After checking it out I determined it was benign.

 

Sorry if I offended you.

 

I don't see the problem.

 

Scruit took his own time to verify what was going on... it would only be about the zillionth time a trojaned binary was passed around as a legitimate program. Hell... there have been cases of hardware and software coming fresh-from-the-manufacturer with malware pre-installed on the manufacturer's software CD. You can get also get malware in firmware.

 

It pays to be careful.

[Birdman Adam 0]

Buy 2 mailboxes:

 

Make a hole so you can easily switch them out...

 

Leave the 'normal' one in during the day.

Pour concrete in the other, set it out every night after mail comes.

 

Did this when I had problems like this a few years ago. The idiots would drive down street and whack it with a bat from the car (while driving by). When they tried to hit the concrete mailbox, the bat bounced back and hit their car. Never had them back...

[Sawbones 0]

Buy 2 mailboxes:

 

Make a hole so you can easily switch them out...

 

Leave the 'normal' one in during the day.

Pour concrete in the other, set it out every night after mail comes.

 

Did this when I had problems like this a few years ago. The idiots would drive down street and whack it with a bat from the car (while driving by). When they tried to hit the concrete mailbox, the bat bounced back and hit their car. Never had them back...

 

One of my acquaintances years ago had a similar problem... moron teenagers regularly went down the country road where he lived, playing "mailbox baseball." He grew steadily more pissed off every time it happened, and after he'd replaced his third or fourth mailbox, he went a little gonzo.

 

Attached a post-hole digger to the PTO on his tractor, and sank a pre-fab concrete-and-rebar beam down into the ground, deep enough that the top was about mail-box-post height. He took more rebar, put forms around the beam, and poured concrete around a standard sheet-metal mailbox. He then put wood over top of the whole thing, and painted it pink-and-white like a giant birdhouse.

 

Absolutely irresistible to a teenager with a bat.

 

The next time they came down the road to take a swing was only about a month after he built it. They were going pretty fast, and the bat rebounded so hard that it broke the bat, and the teenager's arm.

 

IMO he's lucky he didn't get into any legal trouble over that.

[Birdman Adam 0]

I'll bet they didn't report anything because THEY were the ones whacking mailboxes!

[bpzle 0]

I just can't believe you got the cop to dust for prints... Cops around here would laugh at the idea.

[alpine0000 0]

Hey guys!

 

I have been busy lately, so I haven't been back here in a bit

 

More suspicious people have been hanging out around my house at night. My neighbor alerted me this weekend that he saw a car parked in front of my house "scoping it out" last week (he was busy and couldnt tell me right away). He said his dog started barking around midnight, and he looked out his window and saw a car that he had never seen before parked in front of the house with their lights on, and he could see their faces all looking towards my house (their headlights were shining off of the truck in front of them and back into their car, lighting up their faces). He then ran to grab a piece of paper/pen and came outside to write down the plate number, but as soon as he opened his front door they put the car in gear and raced away.

 

He gave me the approximate time and date, then I sifted through my footage on the DVR and found it. The problem I am finding is that I don't have enough detail in my footage to even see what kind of car it is (as you can tell from the first video that I posted in this thread).

 

This is the result of not only low-light, but the camera that I am using to view this footage is not really setup to monitor the street. It's really to monitor my car in the driveway.

 

With that in mind, I want to install some more lights outside and add another camera that would be zoomed in to monitor the mailbox/street area so I can get a better look at these guys the next time they come back.

 

The lighting is the easy part. The camera I want to use for the job is where I have some decision-making to do. I can either add another Panasonic dome (analog, the same as the other ones) that would hook up to an empty channel on my DVR, which would be the easy route. OR, I am thinking of using this as an opportunity to dabble and get started in IP (and megapixel) cameras, but I would obviously not be able to use my DVR for that, and would then have 2 different methods in my system for recording footage, but I would get to play around with an IP camera and hopefully get a better picture of these fine, young, gentlemen that are vandalizing my home.

 

So, what would you do? Add an IP cam to your analog setup, or just go with another Panasonic analog dome?

 

If you *did* go with an IP cam, which one would it be? I have ZERO IP experience. My budget is no more than $700, and I work in the I.T. field, so setting one up shouldn't be too difficult -- plus I installed my current CCTV system. The mailbox is about 35-45 feet from my house, and I plan to add a bit more lighting outside, too.

 

The main point of this post and all of my rambling is that I want some suggestions for a good, quality IP camera that performs OK in low-light, relatively speaking, (even though I will have some lighting outside), and costs no more than about $700. I thought about posting this in the IP section of the forum, but figured I'd start here in this thread and see where it goes, since you guys already know the scenario and layout of the area I want to cover.

 

Suggestions?

[Birdman Adam 0]

Do you have an alarm system? If you don't, I would get one. Please don't fall for the ADT / CPI crap systems. Make sure you have motion detectors and glass break sensors. I would install it myself, and set system to call me. Also, you need at least one siren inside, and one outside. Hook up a stroke or two with the outdoor siren.

 

Also, I would install PIR motion floodlights around the house to help out the cameras and deter the mailbox whackers.

 

Put up some CCTV warning signs.

 

Keep the .45 loaded.

[ak357 0]

Do you have an alarm system? If you don't, I would get one. Please don't fall for the ADT / CPI crap systems. Make sure you have motion detectors and glass break sensors. I would install it myself, and set system to call me.

 

How do you monitor your own system when u sleeping,

having party or go to see movies ?

[rory 0]

How do you monitor your own system when u sleeping,

having party or go to see movies ?

 

Thats what the siren is for

In movies or party if the CMS calls cant hear them anymore then if the alarm calls them .. if the police go there and nobody home they cant get into see if there is a crook in there anyway. BTW i do work for a couple CMS here but still .. I like to keep it real .. most value is when the client is out of town. But also one of the CMS i work for, they give the alarm free and the user just pays for monitoring for a year, same cost as if they paid for the monitoring only. In fact, they are coming to Canada, well they are there already, but monitoring over IP from here: http://freealarmcompany.com/

[Scruit 0]

How do you monitor your own system when u sleeping,

having party or go to see movies ?

 

Thats what the siren is for

 

Siren won't help you when your nearest neighbor is too far away to hear it...

 

 

Layers... These are all just layers of security. ADT is fine if the sensors are set up correctly. Coupled with PIR detectors around the house sending you text messages and remotely viewable cameras on a battery backup etc. IF ADT calls then you check the cameras. If your PIRs text you then you check the cameras. If ADT calls and says your internal motion detector went off and your perimeter doors are secure and the PIRs are clear and the cameras are all clear then you're a dumbass who forgot to lock the dogs in their crates.

 

Don't rely on any one layer of security. That means the bad guy only has to defeat one layer.

[rory 0]

Siren won't help you when your nearest neighbor is too far away to hear it...

 

Yes it helps .. recall we are talking about when we are home sleeping .. so hear siren get up check cameras get gun or in the other order ... ba da bing! My neighbors never check anyway, dont even know them .. also I have 2 loud sirens and 1 small one outside, and 1 small one inside .. i let everyone and they ma know someone set off my sirens

 

Layers... These are all just layers of security. ADT is fine if the sensors are set up correctly. Coupled with PIR detectors around the house sending you text messages and remotely viewable cameras on a battery backup etc. IF ADT calls then you check the cameras. If your PIRs text you then you check the cameras. If ADT calls and says your internal motion detector went off and your perimeter doors are secure and the PIRs are clear and the cameras are all clear then you're a dumbass who forgot to lock the dogs in their crates.

 

Don't rely on any one layer of security. That means the bad guy only has to defeat one layer.

 

certainly .. in fact physical security is always the first and most important step.

dont have ADT here though .. but i installed alarms for several years myself.

[ak357 0]

How do you monitor your own system when u sleeping,

having party or go to see movies ?

 

Thats what the siren is for

In movies or party if the CMS calls cant hear them anymore then if the alarm calls them .. if the police go there and nobody home they cant get into see if there is a crook in there anyway. BTW i do work for a couple CMS here but still .. I like to keep it real .. most value is when the client is out of town. But also one of the CMS i work for, they give the alarm free and the user just pays for monitoring for a year, same cost as if they paid for the monitoring only. In fact, they are coming to Canada, well they are there already, but monitoring over IP from here: http://freealarmcompany.com/

 

For $6 a month I will let local company monitor my home

As if I need one more headache to monitor my home

[rory 0]

 

For $6 a month I will let local company monitor my home

As if I need one more headache to monitor my home

 

certainly .. but when its $30 a month it can make one question whether it is feasible.

$30 is the going rate in this country.

[ak357 0]

 

For $6 a month I will let local company monitor my home

As if I need one more headache to monitor my home

 

certainly .. but when its $30 a month it can make one question whether it is feasible.

$30 is the going rate in this country.

 

$25-30 is going rate in Canada

I just happen to be special

[rory 0]

$25-30 is going rate in Canada

I just happen to be special

I hear yah bro

[alpine0000 0]

I do have an alarm installed (with a siren, motion sensors, window sensors, and monitoring company), and motion lights in the front and back yard. Oh, and I do keep my .45 loaded and within reach at night time, along with some other security measures in my house that I wont go into

 

Anyways, moving on... Does anybody have any comments on my previous post? I am not worried so much about somebody breaking into my house as I am these young kids that keep vandalizing. I have lived in my house since 1988 and have never had or heard of a break-in in my neighborhood. But we have high school/college kids that get drunk and like to vandalize mailboxes every so often.