video surveillance for home please help

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While I have 5442s, I also have some Blink cameras I got for $13 each on sale. Completely wireless, they only record when they detect motion (and even then the motion detection is somewhat limited to horizontal movement) But still, it was $13 and I can cover all my windows in 5 minutes of work because it doesn't use wires. The quality kinda sucks but it serves as a good enough motion alert.
Likewise, I've got 5442 cameras along with Dahua PTZ and -Z12E cameras in my setup, with 16 TB of video storage and an LPR camera setup. But I also have a few Wyze Cams. Cheap, reliable cameras have their place, particularly for people who can't or won't commit to the time or money for a high-end installation.
 
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And keep in mind about something you originally said in your first post. Is your data secure with the app? Since my entire setup is 99.9% local, I cannot speak of the data collection practices or security of any third party app. I'm pretty sure I would trust none of them.
 

sebastiantombs

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If you go to a 2MP camera one of these will work depending on whether you want basic AI and audio capability or not. The 2231 is in the $120USD range and the 3241 is in the $135USD range. Still not $50 bucks but they do work at night and will produce video with enough quality to identify when adjusted to the scene properly.

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mattp

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If you go to a 2MP camera one of these will work depending on whether you want basic AI and audio capability or not. The 2231 is in the $120USD range and the 3241 is in the $135USD range. Still not $50 bucks but they do work at night and will produce video with enough quality to identify when adjusted to the scene properly.

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3241T-ZAS Review

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Andy Wang kingsecurity2014@163.com
It's a little more money, but go with the 3241T-ZAS. Think of person recognition as something you can have, but not use...But, later you may find yourself wanting that functionality and it's just not available on the 2231-ZS...Ask me how I know...

Also worth considering, and I know it's more money, but the 5241E-Z12E has much more zoom. Keep an eye out for that camera when Andy puts it on sale. I've bought a couple and am glad I did. I know a lot of people on here use them for reading license plates, but you can use it to zoom on a portion of your yard where you may expect your neighbor to jump the fence and get a positive ID you can turn over to the police...And you'd be able to place it far enough away that they wouldn't know it's focused on them.
 

Eladin Johans

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Understand you're in an enthusiast forum for cameras. Any place for enthusiasts on the internet is going to skew towards "getting the best" and "everything else is shit" even though plenty of people are happy with the shit.

While I have 5442s, I also have some Blink cameras I got for $13 each on sale. Completely wireless, they only record when they detect motion (and even then the motion detection is somewhat limited to horizontal movement) But still, it was $13 and I can cover all my windows in 5 minutes of work because it doesn't use wires. The quality kinda sucks but it serves as a good enough motion alert.

The deal seems to pop back up every few weeks. Usually limit 3 each time. You also need a blink sync module which I got used off ebay for $20.

Link to previous deal: I would set up a deal alert on slickdeals if you're interested (you'll get a notification next time someone posts about the deal

Huh. looks pretty cheap
 
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Huh. looks pretty cheap
The problem with Blink, Ring, or any other motion-detecting battery-powered camera is that it will inevitably miss important information. Motion detection is not particularly reliable with WiFi cameras.

No matter what camera you choose, my advice is to pick one that supports continuous recording to an SD card if nothing else. The Wyze Cam v3 provides motion alerts, but records continuously. Believe me when I say that you'll appreciate having that if an incident occurs in your back yard. Also avoid battery power. Get a wired camera, mount it outside, and run the power cable under the closed window.
 

Eladin Johans

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And keep in mind about something you originally said in your first post. Is your data secure with the app? Since my entire setup is 99.9% local, I cannot speak of the data collection practices or security of any third party app. I'm pretty sure I would trust none of them.
Yea you can't be sure about data safety when use apps I know...Apple claim they fight for it but you never know who is lie or not. I inspect faceter and alfred websites and terms of use, diging deeper as much as I can but... its so complicated to be honest
 

mat200

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Yea you can't be sure about data safety when use apps I know...Apple claim they fight for it but you never know who is lie or not. I inspect faceter and alfred websites and terms of use, diging deeper as much as I can but... its so complicated to be honest
imho the best is to have cameras you fully control .. thus I like IP PoE cameras ..
 

mattp

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Hi @Eladin Johans

You've been given some great advice so far ..

Do check out the DORI section of the cliff notes, as well as the IPVM calculator .. IPVM Designer / Calculator

If you need to ID someone, it will typically take a better camera if you're looking at IDing further away from the camera than 10-15 feet ..
Nah, no need...This looks fine, right @wittaj:
1656532725557.png
You can clearly see this man has no face...He'd be easy to identify in a police line up...
 

wittaj

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@mattp and that is with a better camera than a wyze lol.

Take a look at this thread that shows all the cheap (and not so cheap) cloud based wifi cams people use lol.

If this quality is sufficient for your needs, go for it.


 

Swampledge

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A question for experienced guys. I am looking for an extremely cheap solution for my backyard. I have weird neighbours and can’t trust them. Is there any modern and cheap solutions? I have WiFi all over my house area.
Whatever cameras and system you decide to try, first investigate whether you will be able to view your cameras from within your home without internet service. Most inexpensive systems that use WiFi route the video signal through their server. If your internet goes down, no picture. Maybe you only want to retrieve video from a memory card after something happens, and that is not a concern of yours. I ended up on this forum after someone attempted to break in to my workshop while I was in it. My WiFi cameras showed that a breakin was their intent, but did not have enough info to identify them. What was worse for me was that I could not always bring up a signal that evening when I thought I heard something outside. Thanks to what I learned here, I have a system that always shows me all my cameras, regardless of whether we have internet service or not.
 
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I watched on YT and saw some good examples like Alfred Camera
Several years ago I used Alfred and two iPhones. I had one at my front door and one at my RV in storage. They worked great until someone actually did something at my RV and the resulting video was useless. All the while I thought this was working great. Every time I looked at the cam it seemed just perfect, but there was no movement.

This worked out OK for me to monitor my dogs in the RV when we were at a restaurant or something, but they were not good enough to be a security camera. This is what got me to investigate better cams and pushed me towards IPCAMTALK.
 

Eladin Johans

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Several years ago I used Alfred and two iPhones. I had one at my front door and one at my RV in storage. They worked great until someone actually did something at my RV and the resulting video was useless. All the while I thought this was working great. Every time I looked at the cam it seemed just perfect, but there was no movement.

This worked out OK for me to monitor my dogs in the RV when we were at a restaurant or something, but they were not good enough to be a security camera. This is what got me to investigate better cams and pushed me towards IPCAMTALK.
Sounds not so good for me. I started my tests yesterday what can these apps do and gonna send some research results soon. Still thinking to buy a camera
 
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Nah, no need...This looks fine, right @wittaj:
View attachment 132108
You can clearly see this man has no face...He'd be easy to identify in a police line up...
On the other hand, if the perp is wearing a face mask and hoodie (very often the case), then having a high-quality camera doesn't help at all. I've gotten some great high-quality images of perps wearing masks, which were useless to the police.

What even an inexpensive camera can do is tell you that someone was there and what they did, particularly if it has human-figure detection. Or put it this way: If @Eladin Johans records someone walking out of the house next door, dumping trash in his yard, and going back inside that house, then even a cheap camera is sufficient.

Low-cost cameras have their uses. It all depends on what your needs and expectations are.
 
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I will also add a little tidbit in regards to something wearing a facial mask or hoodie. Though the police could not 100% identify a person from my video we all could clearly see the walking gait, some facial features, body structure, etc that indicated who this person was. In conjunction with later videos where facial ID was identifiable, it was evident of past crimes they got her for.
 
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I will also add a little tidbit in regards to something wearing a facial mask or hoodie. Though the police could not 100% identify a person from my video we all could clearly see the walking gait, some facial features, body structure, etc that indicated who this person was. In conjunction with later videos where facial ID was identifiable, it was evident of past crimes they got her for.
To be sure, any high-resolution image is better than a low-resolution image, even if the perps wore masks. But in most cases I've assisted with, the police were much more interested in the license plate and description of the vehicle that my cameras were able to provide.

Some advice that I provided to residents of a local condominium association was for them to consider putting up a network of cheap AI cameras, then hire a security company to monitor the feeds. If a carload of door-checkers hit their properties, the security company could call the police or dispatch their own vehicle to scare away the thieves. Cheap cameras probably won't let you ID the perps afterwards, but they can give you a means of deterring the crime in the first place.
 

Eladin Johans

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I will also add a little tidbit in regards to something wearing a facial mask or hoodie. Though the police could not 100% identify a person from my video we all could clearly see the walking gait, some facial features, body structure, etc that indicated who this person was. In conjunction with later videos where facial ID was identifiable, it was evident of past crimes they got her for.
is it your real case? So did this person got arrested?
 
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