Home CCTV system - help needed

mutley74

Hope this is the correct forum to post this…..


Need some advice. Getting some idiots playing stupid tricks on our cars and driveway overnight. Although we notify the police each time there’s little that can be done as we don’t know who it is. Already have security lights in place but now considering a CCTV system.

As the driveway is a long drive with 2 entrances one East and the other one to the west apart by about 20m will probably need 2 cameras. Looking for a system that can record especially at night. I don’t know a lot about CCTV system for home use and hence looking if anyone can offer any advice, recommendations etc.

Prefer a system that is easy to maintain and install.

Many thanks

alanobrien

For easy install and maintenance go for a wireless systrem.

Look for cameras with night vision capability usually LED based.
A night vision distance of 15m or more is preferable depending on the area your trying to cover.

If using more than one camera you will need a channel switcher to
monitor both at intervals or a splitter to watch both at once.

Here is an idea of what is available;
http://www.maplin.co.uk/search.aspx?MenuNo=77855&FromMenu=y&doy=17m4

This is also worth a look given there are legal implications to using CCTV
http://www.cctv-information.co.uk/

mutley74

Yes Wireless sounds good!

Would prefer a system where I can record easily any footage.

Had a look at the range on offer at Argos. One query is does it make much difference between a black &white picture compared to colour? Apart from the obvious and cost differences, can faces be easily recognised with a either system? Any recommendations/advice welcome.

alanobrien

The argos systems are GET products i believe.

Not easy to trace them on the www because of the name but i have bought other products from them so luckily i know they are GET PLC

You can see more info on there systems here;
http://www.getplc.com/smart/cctv/

As i mentioned just be sure whatever you decide on has reasonable night vision distance capability.

shown73

Have a look at https://www.iviewcameras.co.uk Should be a help. For a very cheap and cheerful set-up, Woolies do a single or twin camera system for £40 to £60, with its own dinky monitor, but how good is it? Anyone tried it? Go on, don't be embarassed to admit it!

scbk

You can buy basic colour cameras from £10, and you could just wire it into your tv/vcr (or pc!). It wouldn't turn itself on or off, but if you set the video to long play then you'd get what is it 6/9 hours, but you'd have to sift through all them hours to find the 2min of activity.

Spend more cash and you can get a higher quality picture and it'll turn itself on when activated by movement. IMO if you have decent PIR lighting them it's pointless getting a night vision camera.

jennifernil

I doubt you would be able to recognise faces at night.

mutley74

well last night i fixed all the PIR lights as 2 were not working for over a year, and to be honest never needed them, until we get these jokers playing on our property.
an other option i have is to place the cameras in the glas porch. Hence could use indoor cameras and place this behind the double glazing. Is this a good idea? Will the picture quality be good?
As I read the GET outdoor cameras are only designed to frost protection, so wonder if they will survive in severe cold weather.
Our VCR is very old now and recording quality has decreased, and i would prefer to take digital recordings.
Only thing is the cameras from Argos - is they dont sell a wireless unit with recorder.

ckerrd

If there is a Costco near you (and you or someone you know is a member) they sell a couple of systems. One has two cameras and the other has four I think. To be honest I have not paid that much attention to them as I am not in the market but if I pop in to my local Costco today I'll get details

mrs_baggins

I dont know much this and maybe the teckie board will know but i do know that you can set up a system wherby the wireless cameras can either go to the hard drive of your pc or onto the broadband itself. I dont know the ins and outs but I do know the pc has to be connected but maybe someone else could tell you how to do this. You can also get them to record only when there is a certain amount of movement so i am told

alanobrien

mrs_baggins wrote: »

I dont know much this and maybe the teckie board will know but i do know that you can set up a system wherby the wireless cameras can either go to the hard drive of your pc or onto the broadband itself. I dont know the ins and outs but I do know the pc has to be connected but maybe someone else could tell you how to do this. You can also get them to record only when there is a certain amount of movement so i am told

This is a slightly different method. Not truly CCTV but an IP camera(s) that
stream data (pictures obviously) over a network. It can be connected to a PC and movement detector. I have a similar system for remote viewing not really for security, it was just a fun thing to do while i was setting up a network.

Personally i prefer this type of system but decent IP cameras can be expensive so i guess it will be a while yet before most systems are IP based.