Forgot if I made a new people thread here. Also need advice

[Coach McGuirk]

I forgot about this site, but want to get more serious with my camera setup. So long story short, I have 2 older 8918w Foscam cameras that do OK to see whats going on but are only 480p. I also have a 1080p winbook POE bullet camera from micro center that I tested but never did anything with.

So i've been wanting to watch the sides of my house instead of just the driveway, we think someone may have tried to break in last week. I was in a hurry and those Arlo Pro cameras were on sale at Best Buy. It was the 4 pack... I knew the reviews looked meh but I just really wanted something quick. After testing them out, they really arent that good for the money lol, only 720p and only record on motion if they detect. Also the Night vision was very poor on the one side of my house thats dark, unless I were to add more lights. I'm also trying to clean my house up to sell it so I thought they'd be a good temporarily solution, but for $600 I feel like its a really bad investment for what I could possibly buy. I already have extra PCs to use with blue iris or whatever is good now so thats not a problem. I've just never ran wires through a house and hung a camera outside, that's why I havent gotten this 1080p bullet cam up.

I'm packing the Arlo stuff up now to take back to Best Buy, i'd assume everyone here is going to tell me I should take them back. Should I do some research and make a new thread under IP cams? Or is there a hot camera right now that I should get. Thanks

 

[fenderman]

see the dahua starlight turret thread...take the arlo crap back..

 

[tangent]

I'm also trying to clean my house up to sell it so I thought they'd be a good temporarily solution

In that context don't over do it and make sure you do a good job on your cabling (good cameras use Ethernet and need power anyways). You don't want to detract from the value of your house or make people think you live in a bad area. You also have to decide if you want to exclude the cameras from the sale of your house.

Starlight turrets are a good option the varifocal runs about $170 and the fixed focus turret is around $120 iirc.
starlight | IP Cam Talk

If you don't have an alarm system do yourself a favor and at least buy a yard sign off of ebay.

 

[mat200]

Arlo / Arlo Pro isn't good if you want a reliable security camera.

AND - the downloaded video you would like to give to the police as evidence does NOT include a time stamp within the video!
( horrible solution imho for a security camera )

For the price you can certainly do much better with a wired solution.

I would return them and invest that $ into something better. As you already have a good PC running windows I take it, Blue Iris is well liked and affordable.

For just a bit more money you can have a far superior system:
Each Arlo Pro was about $150 ( includes base station ) - for $20 more per a better camera + blue iris license + POE injector

 

[Coach McGuirk]

Thanks, I got a bit busy but I did take the Arlo's back! Looking into other cameras now. I'll look into those Starlights

 

[Coach McGuirk]

In that context don't over do it and make sure you do a good job on your cabling (good cameras use Ethernet and need power anyways). You don't want to detract from the value of your house or make people think you live in a bad area. You also have to decide if you want to exclude the cameras from the sale of your house.

Starlight turrets are a good option the varifocal runs about $170 and the fixed focus turret is around $120 iirc.
starlight | IP Cam Talk

If you don't have an alarm system do yourself a favor and at least buy a yard sign off of ebay.

Thanks, I do have an alarm system but I don't have it calling out. I believe it saved me recently and scared someone off. It all works, just doesn't call out. I have a phone line now but I've heard that Brinks can't be programmed to a different number/company for cheaper service. I never actually looked into it very hard.

 

[tangent]

Thanks, I do have an alarm system but I don't have it calling out. I believe it saved me recently and scared someone off. It all works, just doesn't call out. I have a phone line now but I've heard that Brinks can't be programmed to a different number/company for cheaper service. I never actually looked into it very hard.

correct brinks can't be programmed for somebody else. It isn't too hard to swap a brinks panel for a honeywell vista and vista keypads, but I wouldn't bother on a house you're selling.
You can however connect some cellular and internet monitoring modules to a brinks panel that do dialer capture. They will work without changing any panel programming. Look at the ipdatatel module for example.

Cameras a nice when selling a house even just 1 or 2 to have a record of who came in the house and if they're still their so you know when you can go home after a showing.