Door checker

Fourier

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We get a ton or door checkers in our neighborhood, either on foot walking down every street or on cars with a more targeted method.


The camera is a IPC-HDW5231R-ZE.
 

PeskyPete

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What do you use for the flood lighting? I'm guessing there is a combo of 'always on' and motion sensitive ones. Interested in wattage etc.
Also, do you have different night & day profiles? What are your night settings in particular. I just got a Dahua IPC-HDW2231RP-ZS, so trying to set it up. Your setup looks great!
Thanks!
 

Fourier

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@PeskyPete yea I use a combination. I have 2x 19w led (150w eqv) lights always on in the driveway and 2x 25w led (250w eqv) on the motion detection top center. Our neighborhood doesn’t have any street lights so it’s really dark at night. When they all are on, it’s casts a wave of light on my neighbors houses across the street. It looks like the grizwalds house.

The only down side is now that I installed the sd49225t ptz up top, it’s picking up glare from the always on lights to the side.

I’ll have to check the camera settings. I think most default. I reduced the time to activate the IR filter to the minimum. I use smart IR but if you see where the SUV, it results in major reflection issues if I don’t have the floodlights on to keep it in color. The camera is recording at 30fps, h265, vbr max quality and max bps.

See post 9. The always on lights are under the soffit corner on the left (not pictured)
Black Friday Plan 23rd.Nov-25th.Nov 2018
 

PeskyPete

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That makes a lot of sense. (Thanks for the reply).
I am thinking along the same lines. Right now I have a very similar setup, except for weak carriage lights on either side of my garage door - I have a similar driveway. My centre motion light is quite powerful, but I need to check the wattage. It's a halogen bulb. I want to rely on regular lighting, not IR, as I find this will give a nicer image and in colour, if done correctly, and avoid washouts.
Edit:
It's a 300W halogen, but I can put in up to 500W. I think I'll do that, plus upgrade my carriage light bulbs.
 
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Fourier

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@fenderman Yea the dude was definitely high. Other cameras in the neighborhood caught him on almost every street. He even left his sandals at the bottom of someone’s driveway.

He did cover his hand with his sweatshirt and in some of the other videos he had his good on. He didn’t even flinch when the lights came on.

Everyone on the neighborhood Facebook page was amazed with the clarity of the camera. It’s mainly rings or like $400 sets, nothing fancy.
 

Parley

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That dude is high.
I agree with that. He was using his shirt as a "glove" so he would not leave fingerprints. He was not as sophisticated as the guys I have seen come through my neighborhood. They wear gloves, have a hat or hood to hide their face plus a bag or something for the goodies.
 

PeskyPete

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I upgraded my flood to 500W and upgraded the side carriage lights to LED equiv. 100W.
The flood is what really makes the difference. The carriage lights at 15 feet or so, are too far away from the target area the Halogen is a much better light source and can be used on it's own.
I am able to use a shutter speed of 1/100 and grade value of 10 to get a pretty good quality video.
 

Fourier

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I looked at all the possible fixtures for led and halogen floodlights. Halogens I ruled out just for costs if I’m leaving them on all night, I couldn’t find any impressive led fixtures. I settled on the par lights because the fixtures and bulbs are relatively cheap. Do you know how many lumens it’s putting out? My big ones are 2650lm each and my always are are like ~1800lm.

I looked at some of the bigger lights but I was getting into stadium lighting. My wife has been pretty easy going so far and my neighbors haven’t said anything, but o don’t want to push it :rofl:
 

PeskyPete

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Well, it's about the size of a sheet of paper, and gives off 9500lm's. Rated for 2000 hrs. It only floods the driveway when there's motion, and only after dark. The old 350W bulb lasted several years. They come in a 2 pack for less than $10.
 

TonyR

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At 04:59:40 did he drop something at his feet or did his foot dredge it up out of the grass? Looks like maybe one eye of white plastic sunglasses, a toy magnifying glass or ????
 

Fourier

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@TonyR i just watched it a bunch of times zoomed in from clip I saved on the idmss app, I still can’t figure it out. I don’t recall anything when I went out there the next day. I think I was too caught up in being pissed and feeling violated, especially given the fact you can’t really do much even if see and confront the person. I’d most likely end up being the one going to jail. :facepalm: :rofl:

A little background, when we first moved in (less then a year), every 1-2 weeks someone was having their car rifled through (typically a few cars each time and almost always unlocked). I’ve caught quite a few cars on camera driving around 2-4am clearly scoping out cars on nights people had break-ins. Most of them are door checkers, I think only like two house break-ins in the last 3 years from what I’ve heard. I may set my ptz to capture licenplates at night as we live on a dead end, but my cameras are too far from the street to get tags at night.
 

Fourier

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Here’s a picture from the video someone posted of the same kid that night 2 streets down with their ADT camera.
57C76900-AC18-4DEF-AAB5-BC3449DA6CE7.png
 

TonyR

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He appears to be wearing only socks in the first video....could it be the skinny little turd lives in the immediate area or was visiting someone nearby?
 

Fourier

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Someone suggested their kid might know who it was. Mainly around my area our single family home neighborhoods, retirement villas, but then there is a trailer park to the backside of our neighborhood. If you check the crime map, it’s always a hot spot back there. Separated by canals but there’s a crossing. Someone found his sandals at the bottom of their driveway

I sent the police my video to an open report someone had two houses down. Her 17yr old son had his backpack with ice skates stolen. I sent the cop the raw .dav files and he wrote back “I can’t play the files”. I linked him to the Lorex player, offered to convert them to mp4, explained the file format all in my original email. Clearly it’s not the most important issue, but don’t most security systems use .dav? Was I expecting too much to think they could convert it or have some type of player given how many times they request homeowner’s videos?
 

TonyR

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I use Blue Iris so I'll let someone who knows answer re: the .dav files.

Unfortunately, more and more local law enforcements agencies seem to have a decreasing concern for "victimless" crimes like theft, vandalism, etc. because of overwhelming requirements upon dwindling resources. I believe that is especially true in the inner cities where illegal drug-related crimes consume most of their time.

Heck, in 1982 I couldn't even get cops in San Jose, CA to come out when someone broke into my '75 F-250 outside a bowling alley, took a fire extinguisher behind the seat (no biggie), popped the hood and took a like-new 800 amp battery. And that was over 35 years ago...I cannot imagine what merits a report now.

The good news (for me) was that it was a Camper Special with dual batteries and an isolator, so I was able to start the truck and drive home. I think the thief was in such a hurry they only saw the battery on the normal side and left the one on the auxiliary side.
 

TonyR

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@fenderman ....He even left his sandals at the bottom of someone’s driveway.
Well, that explains the stocking feet in #1 video.
Probably ran out of them due to a close call but failed to count his losses and call it a night.
No one has ever accused a tweaker of being the sharpest tool in the shed. :screwy:
 

bigredfish

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Someone suggested their kid might know who it was. Mainly around my area our single family home neighborhoods, retirement villas, but then there is a trailer park to the backside of our neighborhood. If you check the crime map, it’s always a hot spot back there. Separated by canals but there’s a crossing. Someone found his sandals at the bottom of their driveway

I sent the police my video to an open report someone had two houses down. Her 17yr old son had his backpack with ice skates stolen. I sent the cop the raw .dav files and he wrote back “I can’t play the files”. I linked him to the Lorex player, offered to convert them to mp4, explained the file format all in my original email. Clearly it’s not the most important issue, but don’t most security systems use .dav? Was I expecting too much to think they could convert it or have some type of player given how many times they request homeowner’s videos?
I've learned to just go ahead and convert them to .mp4 before handing over to LE on a thumb drive. As Tony suggests, they just dont have the time or inclination to mess with it so I try and make it as easy as possible for them.
 

Parley

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I've learned to just go ahead and convert them to .mp4 before handing over to LE on a thumb drive. As Tony suggests, they just dont have the time or inclination to mess with it so I try and make it as easy as possible for them.
This is what I do. Heck I even do editing along with giving them the whole file. I want to make it as easy as possible for them. As a matter of fact I have a package of USB "memory sticks" on my computer shelf just for them or my neighbors if they need some video.
 

cuz

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I've learned to just go ahead and convert them to .mp4 before handing over to LE on a thumb drive. As Tony suggests, they just dont have the time or inclination to mess with it so I try and make it as easy as possible for them.
What’s the best/easiest way to convert them from .dav to mp4 these days?
 
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