Which home security cameras?

[MrRockliffe]

My fathers house was "broken into" the other evening, between 8 and 10PM while he was there.

The only reason he knows the time frame is because his girlfriend was in the house before 8, when he arrived home, and all doors were locked during this time. When he arrived home, he left the back door unlocked, but locked it at 10 o'clock when he went to bed.

It was only in the morning he had realised someone had been in the house, as stuff in his garage was all over the place. Shelves emptied, stuff on the floor etc, and the door leading from the garage outside was wide open (ordinarily permanently locked).

He thinks they entered the house between this time, and got spooked when they heard him lock up.

Naturally, he's a little spooked, and is now looking at a home security camera system

Here's some basic info:

• Broadband is 60 down/10 up min
• He's using a HH5 router, and old brick wall house, so not great WiFi reception.
• He doesn't have a limit per se, but doesn't want to over spend on useless features. I.e. he's happy to invest in something that'll offer useful features.
• Doesn't need many cameras I don't think, but here's a floor plan (red arrows show where I think cameras should go, red circle is where the router is): http://prntscr.com/kyzrfb

I'm not sure if it's worth going down the cloud route, or saving direct to NAS - I'll leave it up to you to recommend a solution (and why)

As always, I really appreciate any help.

 

[Hyburnate]

Internal cameras make things more costly.

Your expensive part is the cabling, would you be willing to do this yourselves?

I'd go with Dahua or Hikvision for the cameras. You may struggle to buy these as a consumer.

Usual would be NVR in the loft and cables up there, cable from router to NVR to provide network

 

[MrRockliffe]

I should probably rephrase my question, as I wasn't looking for a proper CCTV system, but more a consumer friendly WiFi kind of system etc

 

[Minstadave]

The Yi cameras are very good for the money.

 

[LabR@t]

Blink xt or Arlo look nice

 

[ahar]

I use logicircle, happy with them so far

 

[MrRockliffe]

Not sure on the battery powered aspect of things - how long do they last?

I use logicircle, happy with them so far

Don't get very good reviews - a few people mention poor reliability after a period of time

The Yi cameras are very good for the money.

They seem pretty good, but not sure on the feature set/aesthetics.

I really like the idea that you can install the logitech one to the inside of your window looking out - no risk of it being smashed etc. Just not sure on the reliability aspect, and then you also have to pay for the cloud subscription.

 

[kinetic747]

I have a Reolink and it's been faultless so far.

 

[Rannoch]

Used a Logitech Circle for a year within no issues and free 24hr cloud recording is all I need. Alerts work perfectly.

 

[ahar]

Don't get very good reviews - a few people mention poor reliability after a period of time

Had mine just over a year and they've been fine so far (2 outside, 2 inside) but appreciate that's not that long given your want them to last 5 years at least.

24 hours of cloud footage is free, but you don't get the person detection notifications without subscription .

 

[chaparral]

Not sure on the battery powered aspect of things - how long do they last?

I have four Arlo pro 2 1080p camera's and the batteries don't last more then a few weeks before needing to be charged again..
My four Arlo 720p camera's I was using before I upgraded to the 1080p ones had about the same battery life..
But I do have the motion Detection set to very high on them

I have one setup in the living room which is plugged into the mains 24/7 and I just swap the batteries around using the plugged camera to charge them

 

[Jamauk]

I've always gone for Foscam as they've always served me well over the years, monitored by Blue Iris. I've always used PoE cameras as it just simplifies things, not sold on WiFi cameras because they still need a cable running to them for power.

I'm running an 8 camera Foscam setup at my house with Blue Iris, 80/20 internet so not really comparable. My Auntie & Uncle have a 4 camera Foscam setup also with Blue Iris on an old Dell Optiplex, their internet is terribly slow at 4/1 Mb/Sec and it isn't a problem viewing their cameras. All of which use a variety of PoE switches and I haven't seen any noticeable difference in network speed because of them. Not all wired Foscam cameras are PoE though, so if you go with that make sure it meets your criteria.

 

[darael]

He's using a HH5 router, and old brick wall house, so not great WiFi reception.

I should probably rephrase my question, as I wasn't looking for a proper CCTV system, but more a consumer friendly WiFi kind of system etc

With poor wifi signal in the house, I'd be reluctant to use wireless cameras unless I had to. Besides that, I always thought wired cameras were more reliable than wireless.

 

[Duke]

Might be worth getting some better locks and make sure they are used first?

 

[MrRockliffe]

Might be worth getting some better locks and make sure they are used first?

Was waiting for this comment

 

[bimbleuk]

Already mentioned but Reolink are a well supported brand with kits available via a popular mail order site. They have a large range of cameras and plenty of info on their website including internal wireless etc.

I have a mix of RLC 410/422 cameras connected back to an 8 port Netgear switch (4 PoE enabled). I don't record myself much as that's often only viewed after the event but enable motion detection on the internal camera when I'm out for an instant alert. You can use a smart phone app or PC client to then monitor the cameras and alert the authorities.

Cameras these days can use a P2P server system paid for by manufacturer contributions so you only send data when you actively monitor any camera via the app/client.

 

[MrRockliffe]

The only issue I have with PoE is actually getting the ethernet to the devices.

This won't be an issue when he gets around to renovating, but until then, I'll have to run a lot of Ethernet cables from somewhere.

While I really like the Reolink kit, I don't think the ethernet side of stuff is feasible

After giving it a bit of thought, I think the best solution will be to get some Ubiquiti stuff, as this will still.be used when the house is re done, and will help extend the wireless throughout.

The whole powercable thing won't be an issue, as there are plug sockets by the locations I've pencilled in for the cameras.

The only solution for getting powered ethernet to them would be using powerlines with PoE

At this point I think it's a solid no for battery powered ones - it's too much hassle, and as he's away quite a bit with work, it's quite possible he'll forget to change them before going away for a week.

Update - he rang me while on the phone, and would prefer ethernet based stuff due to how flakey wireless can be. Will continue researching possibilities.


Thanks all for your input, much appreciated