Post #439,393
6/28/21 5:08:01 PM
6/28/21 5:08:01 PM
|
Home security recommendations?
Want something integrated with doorbell camera, external security cameras and lights, loudspeaker so I can talk to people via the internet if I'm not there etc.
Add in the internal sensors, movement that can handle animals. Are we past window and door sensors if we're using the movement sensors or is that something that works in combination?
Installation? Should I be expecting to install this myself or am I hiring someone for this? If I'm adding flood lights that get turned on when the alarm kicks that means electrical wiring. I try not to do my own electrical wiring.
I don't expect to have a service monitoring it since alerts should go to my phone. I would expect an app on my phone to be polling the system and telling me if there's a communication break. Is that a reasonable expectation?
At that point I see if it's real and I decide if I'm going to warn them while calling the cops.
I believe that the majority of these systems require constant chattering access to servers back at their home base. If that company goes out of business my security system stops working.
So which systems are out there that don't require that type of back end access?
What else should I be thinking about?
|
Post #439,395
6/29/21 1:04:42 AM
6/29/21 1:04:42 AM
|
Make sure you have local storage
Amazon wants you to store everything to the cloud. They've got the option for local storage. All the good systems do.
One thing about exterior lights: A recent local string of burglaries from cars in driveways showed that they don't care if lights come on. They expect to be in and out before anyone notices what's going on. The only thing they're good for is helping the camera capture a face.
|
Post #439,398
6/29/21 1:32:22 PM
6/29/21 1:32:22 PM
|
rottwielers and 12 gauge? oh, electronic
not sure of the value of internal movement sensors vs access points. A lot of floods can be battery these days, no wiring needed. Cameras same. "Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" – Richard Feynman
|
Post #439,404
6/30/21 8:21:44 PM
6/30/21 8:21:44 PM
|
Check Lorex
Not sure if they do the doorbell thing these days but they do have "local" remote access. DynDNS goes through their servers.
That said, while the cameras work fine, the software is something else. The last unit I worked with (model 316 IIRC) was borderline useless with all cameras connected in a busy environment. That was ~2015 so hopefully some improvements have been made.
|
Post #439,408
7/1/21 9:01:55 AM
7/1/21 9:01:55 AM
|
That's a serious assortment of hardware.
|
Post #439,414
7/1/21 8:23:36 PM
7/1/21 8:23:36 PM
|
Know what you want it for
The main distinction of the cameras is the connection: ethernet or coax. The networked cameras take power over ethernet and can be connected via a switch. The coax cameras need power injectors (power cable is molded to the signal cable) and a port each on the DVR Lorex's choice of PSUs used to be poor. (One is supplied per 4 cameras. They degraded within a couple of years and caused signal interference. Luckily, they used the same size power plugs as Linksys did for their SoHo switches - I had a truckload of those.) Decide on that and the rest of the equipment follows suit. IIRC, our unit had 1080p cameras. That was fine for our indoor application. In general, daylight cameras are no good after the lights go out. Even with LEDs in the bezel, it becomes near impossible to make out anything useful. Night vision cameras in turn have their issues in daylight. (Cameras without IR filters have a red cast, amplified light cameras blow out, ...) 4K video takes up 4x the space as 1080 so if you do get 4K cameras, get a correspondingly larger HDD. (16 motion activated 1080 cameras in a place that was active from 5AM to 10PM filled up 500GB in ~ 3 days.) The doorbell cameras have two-way communication but they come with an Alexa tie-in and I can't say if that is a requirement or not. https://www.lorextechnology.com/security-camera-systems/N-y3hmf0Z2o0h5aZ1k4k1skZ9ei7q9Z1wtg35h?Nrpp=50This list narrows things down a bit based on the preferences you listed. (Network cameras as I think the system is more flexible and less bulky than the coax setup.) Most cameras can do 30fps - that also eats storage.
|
Post #439,422
7/2/21 8:29:51 AM
7/2/21 8:29:51 AM
|
Thanks for the education
I'm waffling on local versus cloud-based storage. Can I have both without vendor lockin?
If I'm 100% local then someone can steal my server that's got the storage. So I'd like the cloud backup. On the other hand I'd like it to be a generic cloud-based account type of thing rather than a security vendor specific application.
On the other other hand is this an overthink? I'm not an IT guy anymore. Just get my vendor lock and and take my punishment and move on.
|
Post #439,426
7/2/21 4:01:40 PM
7/2/21 4:01:40 PM
|
Nextcloud
I'm running a Nextcloud instance (which uses WEBDAV for uploads/downloads) on an old fanless PC next to me, attached to a 14tb drive I picked up at a steal. Because I'm too lazy to actually write a backup script and handle Amazon Deep Freeze or whatever the fuck it is, I have a subscription to Crashplan, which backs up everything to their cloud however often I'd like it to. Now, if you want to go simpler, just get a SMB share set up on a Linux box, then do the same thing with Crashplan backing up the targeted folder. Ceterum autem censeo pars Republican esse delendam.
|
Post #439,427
7/2/21 8:01:04 PM
7/2/21 8:01:04 PM
|
I think these can go both ways
i.e. if you're tired of the cloud, get a local controller and rehome the cameras. All you stand to lose is past footage.
I'd be more worried about the cameras hanging out on the internet without knowing if anything can get to them. That's how the Mirai botnet came about. A local network video recorder is small and can be easily concealed (a secondary PoE switch can power+ connect the cameras so the only lead to the NVR is a single Cat5 cable.)
|
Post #439,416
7/1/21 11:02:12 PM
7/1/21 11:02:12 PM
|
NY Times Wirecutter section has a security camera article of interest.
Alex
"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
-- Isaac Asimov
|
Post #439,417
7/2/21 1:23:23 AM
7/2/21 1:23:23 AM
|
I find the Wirecutter's recommendations to be generally reliable...
...for all sorts of things. Their recommendation for kitchen scissors was absolutely spot-on, for example.
|
