Want to install CCTV

[Chris CLK320 0]

I woke up at 11pm Friday night, rock and roll I know an early night, we have small kids so you get your sleep while you can!

 

Anyway to see a group of kids kicking in the back light of my car giving the wing mirror a tug and then going up and over the roof of the neighbours cars they were moving at a fast walking pace so it was like watching a wirlwind of destruction. Typical Police say very sorry not much they can do.

 

This is the 4th time and everytime I have said I am going to put a CCTV camerea up so at least we have something recorded.

 

So I was just about to go to Cost Co and but a 4 camera CCTV system for £300 plus VAT when I found out that my Synology Home server has a surveilance facility that will record from a IP camera, so looking on the internet its a minefield I need a camera that will work well at night with arange of about 10m to where the car is parked under a street lamp in the street over night and then want the image to be as clear as posssible to be of some use to the police otherwise there isnt alot of point other than for me to watch my own car be vadalised over and over again.

 

I dont have a massive budget but was going to spend about £300 on a system so as I just need the IP camera I guess my budget is upto £300. It would be nice to have 3 cameras for that so I can protect the garage and garden etc..

 

Just wondered whether any of the members have installed cameras and what their experiences have been and if any makes of IP cameras are sensible prices when compared to quality.

 

 

 

Thanks

[sinbad 0]

some of us did install cameras once upon a time

but $400 is a little low for what you asking. stick to the crappy costco system, at least you'll be able to buy an analog cam for another 150 to get your car clearly.

[mike_va 0]

Try a used Bosch LTC0355 ebay 5-10 dollars, get a DVR. Skip IP at that price point.

[graphicw 0]

I know how you can do it cheap and still have a decent DVR if you have an old PC on hand with a 5 volt PCI slot. Ok, get ahold of a KMC-8800 via ebay. You will find this for around $100, sometimes less. You can get a decent camera from http://www.gadspot.com for less than $100 with infrared LED lighting. If you opt to use Windows, the Diginet softwate is $99.00 through http://www.dvr-usa.com. If you want free software, install linux and goto http://www.zoneminder.com. Zoneminder is free and it is awesome. Make sure your Linux is a server install as zoneminder runs best on a machine with just a CLI, leave X off the system as you wont need it. You will access your DVR from another machine via it's IP address. You will be able to visit your Zoneminder from your smartphone, tablet, laptop and desktop with ease. Firefox works best as it can directly stream JPEG. If you use IE, you will need to set up Cambazoola as well (Java viewer) for use with Zoneminder.