home cctv recommendations

redvision

Following a recent incident, and after a spate of thefts of bicycles in the surrounding area, we have decided to get some security cameras installed on our property and i'm after some suggestions.

Looking for a system which isn't too expensive (up to £200) with weatherproof cameras, although if need be the cameras can be positioned indoors (in the windows). Must have a hdd though to record footage automatically.

Have looked on amazon and this is the type of thing https://www.amazon.co.uk/ANNKE-Security ... 2Bhdd&th=1

Would appreciate any other suggestions.

Thanks

mamba80

If you really think you need cctv, then spend more, more cameras, motion/heat detect, some means of off-site storage (no good if they find your hdd!) and consider a separate remote stand alone unit, as a back up.

buy better quality kit in otherwords., unless you ve little worth stealing, in which case, do as a friend does, a few signs only from ebay?

pilot_pete

From a purely personal point of view...

Please consider your neighbours - don't set your cameras to capture ANY of their personal property, merely your own property.

We have a neighbour who does not consider our privacy to be an issue whatsoever. He even started making comments to my wife about her being out and walking the dog at five in the morning. Fact is that it has nothing to do with him and he is breaching the law with regards to being a Data Protection Officer ( which you need to be if you film any public realm with a fixed camera). Funny old thing, he has just served a three year sentance for being a corrupt solicitor who ripped off three vulnerable old ladies for £385k...

So please, consider you neighbours if you are going to install CCTV around you property.

PP

redvision

Pilot Pete wrote:

From a purely personal point of view...

Please consider your neighbours - don't set your cameras to capture ANY of their personal property, merely your own property.

Yeah know worries about this.
Only decided to install cctv after the police advised all the residents on the estate to consider doing so.
They have provided all the legal guidance regarding the positioning of the cameras, which essentially says it should point inside your property only (including garden).

mamba80 wrote:

If you really think you need cctv, then spend more, more cameras, motion/heat detect, some means of off-site storage (no good if they find your hdd!) and consider a separate remote stand alone unit, as a back up.

buy better quality kit in otherwords., unless you ve little worth stealing, in which case, do as a friend does, a few signs only from ebay?

Well there is always someone at home so the main concern is the shed and the car - again this is coming from police advice.

The one on Amazon gets pretty good reviews but I guess you can't skimp on security these days.

pilot_pete

"Only decided to install cctv after the police advised all the residents on the estate to consider doing so." To be honest that is just lazy policing, which is happening everywhere now due to cutbacks etc. What will the cctv get you? Just some images of a thief in a hoody stealing your property. Most of them are aware of cameras and ensure you can't see their faces, but it doesn't stop them from actually committing the crime and chances are nobody will know who they were.

The better prevention is to just make it harder for the thief to access your property - simple things like locking a garden gate, not leaving windows open or keys in reach of a cat flap etc! Security lighting and things that make it more difficult mean that the thief will tend to just move on to find a more vulnerable property. They want to be able to get in and out quietly and fairly easily with the minimum chance of getting caught in the act.

I know this as several years ago we were that most vulnerable property in our street. Our neighbours also have cctv of a thief trying car doors and nicking a laptop from their car - the doors to which they had left unlocked! He was never caught...

PP

agentorange88

totally agree, likely hood of the culprit being caught from the footage AND your bikes recovered intact are so remote.

Id much rather try and make it hard or too much bother for them to try in the first place

meesterbond

I've just stuck a set of Netgear Arlo cameras on my house, 3 units one over each exterior door. Wireless and battery powered (allegedly 6 months per set of batteries but I expect that's under optimal conditions) and dead easy to set up. You get 7 days worth of footage saved to the cloud, effectively 10 seconds every time a camera is triggered. That also sends you a notification to your phone with the clip or an email.

I'm not sure if it's a great deterrent or if it'll help catch the scum after a break-in but part of the job is to make your house less desirable / more of a hassle to rob than the next one along... If you've already put in alarms and deadlocks and Rottweilers and suchlike then it can't hurt.

redvision

Thanks for the comments.

Tbh I don't think it's lazy police work. From the info they gave I genuinely think they have exhausted their enquiries, not that that's much comfort for those who have had stuff taken.

I think they recommended cctv as an added deterrent, to be used in conjunction with other security methods (secure locks, alarm etc).

Sad days when you seemingly have to secure absolutely everything because of thieving b******s!

navrig2

I am with Pilot Pete on this one. Spend the money on making it harder to get to the stuff they might want to steal. If it looks hard to get into the shed without a lot of noise they will move on to someone else's shed.

Beef up the shed and consider some fake cameras as a further deterrent.

redvision

Navrig2 wrote:

I am with Pilot Pete on this one. Spend the money on making it harder to get to the stuff they might want to steal. If it looks hard to get into the shed without a lot of noise they will move on to someone else's shed.

Beef up the shed and consider some fake cameras as a further deterrent.

As i said in previous post though, its an added deterrent to the existing security measures.

And given that the police have no leads on the recent thefts, i can understand why they have advised all residents to install cameras.

navrig2

redvision wrote:

Navrig2 wrote:

I am with Pilot Pete on this one. Spend the money on making it harder to get to the stuff they might want to steal. If it looks hard to get into the shed without a lot of noise they will move on to someone else's shed.

Beef up the shed and consider some fake cameras as a further deterrent.

As i said in previous post though, its an added deterrent to the existing security measures.

And given that the police have no leads on the recent thefts, i can understand why they have advised all residents to install cameras.

Agreed but you'd be advised to spend your money on protection/deterrent rather than just deterrent.

For example ABS and air bags both protect passengers in a car but you are better off with ABS to avoid an accident than have an airbag to protect you when you have an accident. Obviously both is better.

In this case:

make the shed nearly impenetrable (protect) in an obvious fashion (deterrent) and provide fake cameras (deterrent) in the hope they wont try to get past the shed door and, if they try, they fail to get passed the shed door.

or

provide CCTV as a deterrent in the hope that if they steal your bike you might get it back.

weezyswiss

I have a cheap and cheerful Sricam WiFi that records to SD card on camera and I have also set to record to internal NAS. Internally I run smartthings motion and other detections and tie that into a speaker system alerting the would be ne'er do weller that the authorities have been alerted

My bikes are in an Asgard shed tied into motion sensors and door sensors and a solar powered motion light overlooking.

The whole aim of this is to make my house less desirable than next doors house or some other poor soul's house. If I look like I have security (and I do) then it is far less likely that they'll attempt.

The whole setup is not too expensive. CCTV was £35 and works well. Smartthings as the main expense as a starter kit, but the motion sensors are cheap as chips from gearbest.com. The speakers were there already to integrate with and make noises

mallorcajeff

Any system worth having starts around £500 with a hd. Go for hik vision if you want that route. I have put anti smash film on all house windows making it hard to gain entry. Better to spend your money there. Cameras only show you how they nick yourstuff very little else and even if you found them getting a conviction even with evidence is nearly i possible