Looking to setup home security system for under £180?

T37

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Hi Could anybody recommend any good CCTV camera systems for under £180?
Currently have an Arlo pro 2 camera setup inside house but to buy extra cameras its going to cost to much money for extra cameras and for the price i'm not really that impressed.
I would like 4 cameras to cover outside as we have had damage done to our fence on a number of occasions and police wont do anything, people crossing property as shortcut and giving me abuse and kids taking drugs outside our living room window. I have a 10 week old and three year old boy to think about in the household.
We live in a bungalow/ 1 story building and think the arlos could easily be removed if somebody really wanted to and for that price there too expensive to replace
I have no real experience with CCTV cameras but I'm reasonably techie and think i could turn my hands to most system setups.

I've been advised to look at dahua cameras with rtsp onvif?
I'm currently looking at the new imilab Xiaomi Smart Camera 270° 1080P
and possibly the IMILAB Wire-Free Home Security Camera

Does anybody have any advice or recommendations please?
 

mat200

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Hi Could anybody recommend any good CCTV camera systems for under £180?
Currently have an Arlo pro 2 camera setup inside house but to buy extra cameras its going to cost to much money for extra cameras and for the price i'm not really that impressed.
I would like 4 cameras to cover outside as we have had damage done to our fence on a number of occasions and police wont do anything, people crossing property as shortcut and giving me abuse and kids taking drugs outside our living room window. I have a 10 week old and three year old boy to think about in the household.
We live in a bungalow/ 1 story building and think the arlos could easily be removed if somebody really wanted to and for that price there too expensive to replace
I have no real experience with CCTV cameras but I'm reasonably techie and think i could turn my hands to most system setups.

I've been advised to look at dahua cameras with rtsp onvif?
I'm currently looking at the new imilab Xiaomi Smart Camera 270° 1080P
and possibly the IMILAB Wire-Free Home Security Camera

Does anybody have any advice or recommendations please?
Welcome @T37

How much did the Arlo Pro 2 kit cost?

Remember to check out the cliff notes
 

SouthernYankee

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:welcome:
Read study plan before spending money.

IP cameras are for surveillance, not security. Ip cameras tell you what happened after the fact. If you want a security system, get a home alarm system, with door sensors, glass break sensors, motion sensors.

Proivide a layout for your house and what you think the need system needs to have.

For your request price it is nearly impossible to get a good system.

-----------------------------------
My standard welcome to the forum message.

Please read the IP Cam Talk Cliff Notes and other items in the IP Cam Talk Wiki. (read on a real computer, not a phone). The wiki is in the blue bar at the top of the page.

Read How to Secure Your Network (Don't Get Hacked!) in the wiki also.


Quick start
1) If you do not have a wired monitored alarm system, get that first
2) Use Dahua starlight cameras or Hikvision darkfighter cameras if you need good low light cameras.
3) use a VPN to access home network (openVPN)
4) Do not use wifi cameras.
5) Do not use cloud storage
6) Do Not use uPNP, P2P, QR, do not open ports,
7) More megapixel is not necessarily better.
8) Avoid chinese hacked cameras (most ebay, amazon, aliexpress cameras(not all, but most))
9) Do not use reolink, ring, nest, Arlo cameras (they are junk), no cloud cameras
10) If possible use a turret camera , bullet collect spiders, dome collect dirt and reflect light (IR)
11) Use only solid copper, AWG 23 or 24 ethernet wire. , no CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum)
12) use a test mount to verify the camera mount location. My test rig: rev.2
13) (Looney2ns)If you want to be able to ID faces, don't mount cams higher than 7ft. You want to know who did it, not just what happened.
14) Use a router that has openVPN built in (Most ASUS, Some NetGear....)
15) camera placement use the calculator... IPVM Camera Calculator V3
16) POE list PoE Switch Suggestion List
17) Camera Sensor size, bigger is general better Sensor Size Chart


Cameras to look at
IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED . Review IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED (Full Color, Starlight+) - 4MP starlight
.................... Dahua IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED review
IPC-T5442TM-AS ..... Review-OEM 4mp AI Cam IPC-T5442TM-AS Starlight+ - 4MP starlight+
IPC-B5442E-ZE ...... Review - OEM IPC-B5442E-ZE 4MP AI Varifocal Bullet Camera With Starlight+
IPC-T2347G-LU ...... Review of the Hikvision OEM model IPC-T2347G-LU 'ColorVu' IP CCTV camera. (DS-2CD2347G1-LU)
IPC-HDW2231R-ZS .... Review-Dahua IPC-HDW2231RP-ZS Starlight Camera-Varifocal
IPC-HDW2231T-ZS-S2 . Review-OEM IPC-T2231T-ZS 2mp Varifocal Starlight Camera
IPC-HDW5231R-ZE .... Review-Dahua Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE
IPC-HFW4239T-ASE ... IPC-HFW4239T-ASE
IPCT-HDW5431RE-I ... Review - IP Cam Talk 4 MP IR Fixed Turret Network Camera
IPC-T5241H-AS-PV ... Review-OEM IPC-T5241H-AS-PV 2mp AI active deterrence cam
DS-2CD2325FWD-I
N22AL12 ............ New Dahua N22AL12 Budget Cam w/Starlight -- low cost entry

Other dahua 4MP starlight Dahua 4MP Starlight Lineup

My preferred indoor cameras
DS-2CD2442FWD-IW
IPC-K35A Review-Dahua IPC-K35A 3mp Cube Camera

If interested in Blue Iris and other setup items see the following post

Before asking a question search the forum first...
The best way to search the forum is to use Google
In the google search window enter.. site:ipcamtalk.com ?????? ..where ?????? is the items/terms you are interested in.
Example site:ipcamtalk.com PALE MOON BROWSER

Read,study,plan before spending money ..... plan plan plan
Test do not guess
 
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T37

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Welcome @T37

How much did the Arlo Pro 2 kit cost?

Remember to check out the cliff notes
it was bought as a Christmas gift but they are going for around £182 on Amazon for the Arlo pro 2 with base station. with a single camera.

Thanks for the Welcome and response and heads up regarding the cliff notes will have a read now ;)
 

area651

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Hi Could anybody recommend any good CCTV camera systems for under £180?
Currently have an Arlo pro 2 camera setup inside house but to buy extra cameras its going to cost to much money for extra cameras and for the price i'm not really that impressed.
I would like 4 cameras to cover outside as we have had damage done to our fence on a number of occasions and police wont do anything, people crossing property as shortcut and giving me abuse and kids taking drugs outside our living room window. I have a 10 week old and three year old boy to think about in the household.
We live in a bungalow/ 1 story building and think the arlos could easily be removed if somebody really wanted to and for that price there too expensive to replace
I have no real experience with CCTV cameras but I'm reasonably techie and think i could turn my hands to most system setups.

I've been advised to look at dahua cameras with rtsp onvif?
I'm currently looking at the new imilab Xiaomi Smart Camera 270° 1080P
and possibly the IMILAB Wire-Free Home Security Camera

Does anybody have any advice or recommendations please?

The short answer is........."no". imho there's no way you can assemble a decent 4 camera system and recorder for under $210 USD.


Longer explanation - imho there's no way you can assemble a decent 4 camera system and recorder for under $210 USD. At least in the US anyway. Maybe things are amazingly cheaper there in the UK. I'm not there. I don't know. I'd take a different approach on your problem. Take the budget constraint and any preconceived numbers (like "I need 4 cameras") out of the equation to start with. Start with figuring out "what would it cost to have a decent system that does these Xnumber things?". Focus on your needs/requirements first. Then once you determine what it would take to fulfill those needs, then you can look at trimming it down to reduce costs. If you you determine it can be done with only 4 cameras instead of 6 then you've saved some money. Maybe you don't need the resolution to count wrinkles on someones forehead so you can lower your camera cost. More savings. Maybe you don't need 2 weeks of storage and can be happy with 3 days. The overall cost keeps dropping and hopefully gets to a digestible amount.

SouthernYankee has a great start outline above. My simpler answers are this:
dahua = yes
Xiaomi = no
Wire free anything = lord no. wireless anything isn't going to get any votes on this forum. imho, for good reasons. Yes I do have wifi cams and they work some of the time, a lot of the time. I just wouldn't count on them for anything important.
 

Arjun

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If you want you can go with Sannce / Annke for less than $100, but that's against forum rules. (its a joke, however, you're free to buy whatever fits your budget). However, to be honest, you need to double your budget to get into the real realm of a proper camera surveillance system.
 
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