CCTV for the home

Pete.g

Hi, I am thinking of having security cameras on the outside of my house as it's in a quiet location and well, better safe than sorry is what i'm thinking. The size of the house I think probably 2 cameras should be ok. Is anyone up to speed on these things would I need a video/dvd recorder on a "recording loop" which is set to come on when the house alarm is set? Also how do I go about setting something up to record at night?

Can anyone offer any help or advice?

Cheers,

Pete.

micko2602

Not sure how much you want to spend but heres a link to woolworths site where they have a set reduced.
http://www.woolworths.co.uk/ww_p2/product/index.jhtml?pid=50310749

Malestrom

Loads of CCTV stuff on Ebay and usually far cheaper than anywhere else. Just be careful as much of it comes from abroad and you might get clobbered with customs duty. Seems to be everything there from the pinhole spy cameras to proper outdoor moving cameras as well as the recording equipment and cabling.

star1_2

If you're a member of Makro they also do some good CCTV deals. If you are purchasing from overseas make sure the TV Standard is compatable with the UK (PAL-G) otherwise you might end up with a black&white picture from a colour system, or no sound.

GOod Luck.

m00nie

b+q have some micromark set ups, you can buy individual or sets, they also have a gadget that when movement is detected via pir on the camera it starts the video recorder recording. they also have one called vigilantern, which is an outside lantern with a small camera at the bottom of it, hardly noticable, this used with the video recorder could be good as if movement is detected the light will come on, the video will record, and the camera should see ok with the lantern coming on.

zincoxide

Be careful with this, a lot of people have got themselves into a lot of trouble installing home CCTV systems.

I work within the security industry - pm me directly for some advice.

rafi_2

Doesn't record, but for anyone wanting a camera at the door which connects to your tv, we got an excellent one from Makro. It has a very small camera which we put under the lantern light by the door, and it looks just like a pir on the light. If your door bell goes while you have the tv on you can immediately switch to its channel and you get a clear view of your doorstep and round about. It also has sound (external only) and was under £30 from what I remember - about 3 years ago. They probably have a much better system now, but if you are in on your own in the dark evenings and the doorbell goes, its handy to be able to see who is there.

Off the subject - but does Martin know the clocks went back at the weekend!! The site is still on BST.

Lady_E

Sounds like a really good idea to me , but I seem to remember that there can be Data Protection Act issues. Basically if the cameras pick up anything which is not on your property I.E on the road in front of the house or next doors gardens, you can face prosecution. I also seem to recall something about registering CCTVs but for the life of me cannot think with who. I will do some asking and get back asap X

hamaradam

I got a great set from City Electrical Factors. It records when I am not here, with time and date stamp, and voices, and you can have colour or black and white cameras which are easy to install. There can be 4 cameras run from it if need be, on on each corner of the house for example. It is 'plumbed' into my normal tv and video, some can be daunting as a DIY, but if you can get peace and quiet and someone to help, you don't need to pay someone a lot to set it up. It depends whether you want basic or something more advanced. Basic are good macromark ones from NO FRILLS which just plug to your telly, I have them as well. I think they are peace of mind.

ianian99

i'd recommend getting a video pci card for your pc, I had one by trust that had 4 phono type inputs so you could connect any type of cctv cameras. The trust model is about £60 and has software with motion detection so it will only record when there is movement, the software also allows remote internet access so you can check cctv from work etc. cameras can cost from £15 upwards. The trust is a bit limited to what type of software you can use but there are lots of pci cctv cards on ebay from around £25 that you can use all kinds of software with.
The problem with cctv of any kind is that if your house get robbed then the first thing they are going to take is the pc, vcr or dvd recorder that you are using to record with so i'd recommend getting a pci card with some software that will do movement detection, remote access but more importantly software that allows realtime uploading of images to a remote server so if you do get broken into you will at least have some evidence saved online. You can even set it up to text you or even send a picture or even video to your mobile phone.
So for a card 2 cameras and some sioftware your looking at under £100. Then again you could get an ip camera for about £60+ that plugs into your router which you can set up on a remote pc to record any movement.
Quite a few options there, if you need any further hepl ie with which software etc pm me and i'll scan through my hdd as i've got a load of info on it somewere