home security cameras
 

I want to put in a few infrared/usual wireless cameras in my house
and monitor them thru the pc. Preferably with a pan tilt unit
attached to each one. Anyone knows something like this that
is available which has a low lumen and is cheap. Any comments
are appreciated,

Thanks,
--j

Is the PC inside the house or do you want to monitor remotely? Quality
equipment is not cheap.

Meanwhile, check out www.x10.com

I would prefer both in house and web access.
But I guess the problem with web access is that
I have a cable connection at home (comcast)
whose upload speed sucks...

Quality equipment: How much are we talking here?
Whatz a good camera for this purpose price/performance wise?

The good ones I've seen run for $150 - 200 a piece.

The cheap ones only send still images and don't work well in the dark.
There's a good one by D-Link, runs about $180, has it's own web server
built in, makes remote access very easy. The other site to look at is
www.smarthome.com. I've been told they are a bit overpriced, but it's a
good place to start.

John wrote:


I want to put in a few infrared/usual wireless cameras in my house
and monitor them thru the pc. Preferably with a pan tilt unit
attached to each one. Anyone knows something like this that
is available which has a low lumen and is cheap. Any comments
are appreciated,

Thanks,
--j

Well, there are hundreds upon hundreds different vendors and models that
you can look at. Give me some idea about your price range: you could waste
(not too much of) your money on X-10 wireless crap (Not to confuse with
X-10 protocol that would be used to control your lights, I'm talking about
the "X-10" company that produces and heavily advertises wireless cameras)
or you can shell out a bit more and build a solid "traditional" (wired for
composite video cameras) system or, with even more green you can get
yourself cutting edge IP-based security system with PC-based DVRs and
software movement detection.

So, the big questions a what is the application and how much money have
you got to implement it?

Oh, by the way, don't get carried away with advertised ease of
installation and lack of running wire for *wireless* surveillance: you
will find that you still have to run at least one cable to power the
suckers (especially PTZ that needs several times the power of a fixed
camera), and chasing sources of electromagnetic interference (EMI) is not
fun at all. So it may very well be so that your wired cameras will cost
less in term of money, time and effort than wireless, and will be both
more reliable and secure.

Good luck!

Cheers!
D.
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I just called X-10 and they told about their van guard camera
and its 44x optical zoom. Never seen a 44x optical zoon in
such a small camera enclosure. Anyone has used this camera before?

I've looked at D-Links. But I thought they dont work at nights.
Is there something that switches between infrared and usual
color depending on light intensity?

So any good wired camera suggestions ? :)

"John" wrote:

I would prefer both in house and web access.
But I guess the problem with web access is that
I have a cable connection at home (comcast)
whose upload speed sucks...


Yep. You can get web server boxes that will interface wih standard security
cameras, but you will be talking several hundred dollars per camera if you want
motorized pan/tilt, infrared and color. Slightly less without color.

Google on 'security cameras'

I have a webserver at home already.
The problem is the choice of cameras. I need 4 but
all capable of pan/tilt + day/night

Whatz the best? What has good price/performance?

Thanks,
--j

John wrote:



So any good wired camera suggestions ? :)

Well, once again: depends on your budget. I could have suggested Pelco or
Hi-def CoVi cameras for a higher end or maybe Matco (matco.com) for a
lower end and home. Check them out, see if it suits your needs/budget


Cheers!
D.
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On 30 Jun 2005 17:27:32 -0700, someone wrote:

The problem is the choice of cameras. I need 4 but
all capable of pan/tilt + day/night

Why do you feel you "need" ANY?


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To watch the vast stretch of land in front of my house, to watch my
back...
watch my car...sitting comfortably on my work desk?

John wrote:


To watch the vast stretch of land in front of my house, to watch my
back...
watch my car...sitting comfortably on my work desk?

Man, that's A LOT OF watching! Don't you have a life to live? No,
seriously: unless you have enough $ to hire a full-time guard
($150,000/year/guard is the industry's average cost in US), you are not
going to be able to make any use of LIVE video from four cameras. What you
probably meant to say you need is to RECORD the pictures (like, 2 frames
per second or 10 at best) and then, if, God forbid, something bad happens,
be able to go back and find the recording that would let you see who the
wrong-doer was.
In a standard suburban residential environment you will also find that in
75% of the cases the cause of the trouble is your neighbor’s kids who you
are not going to go after anyways. Well, maybe at the next barbeque you'll
mention something to the parents, but does that justify the expense of
putting the cameras up and, most importantly, time you spent watching
them? So, don't overdo the design, be reasonable.

A DVR that will record a week worth of video can be had for $500 or less
these days, so do yourself a favor, get one and DON'T waste your time
staring at the monitors. 99.99% of the time there is nothing interesting
there, anyways!

Good luck!



Cheers!
D.
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In article ,
DA wrote:

John wrote:


To watch the vast stretch of land in front of my house, to watch my
back...
watch my car...sitting comfortably on my work desk?

Man, that's A LOT OF watching! Don't you have a life to live? No,
seriously: unless you have enough $ to hire a full-time guard
($150,000/year/guard is the industry's average cost in US), you are not
going to be able to make any use of LIVE video from four cameras. What you
probably meant to say you need is to RECORD the pictures (like, 2 frames
per second or 10 at best) and then, if, God forbid, something bad happens,
be able to go back and find the recording that would let you see who the
wrong-doer was.

There is software available to examine 2 consequitive frames and detect
differences and trigger an alarm. It can be set to ignore squirrels
etc.

--
Rich Greenberg Marietta, GA, USA richgr atsign panix.com + 1 770 321 6507
Eastern time. N6LRT I speak for myself & my dogs only. VM'er since CP-67
Canines:Val, Red & Shasta (RIP),Red, husky Owner:Chinook-L
Atlanta Siberian Husky Rescue. www.panix.com/~richgr/ Asst Owner:Sibernet-L

On 1 Jul 2005 23:02:20 -0700, someone wrote:

To watch the vast stretch of land in front of my house, to watch my
back...
watch my car...sitting comfortably on my work desk?

Oh, I was wondering if it was to watch your Meth Lab or Hydroponic Pot
Farm while you were away.....


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