CCTV for front door

New_Me

Can anyone recommend a camera which can be used to record any interactions at the front door from inside the porch please? It should be able to be checked remotely, and store up to a week of recordings. I've tried looking at cctv but it seems complicated/expensive and I'm not following what is needed or would be best.

Thanks

RumRat

What budget would you be looking at?
Do you use a smartphone?
Something like THIS?

agrinnall

I think you need to tell us a bit more about what you want to record. If you are recording interactions do you need sound as well as pictures? And what quality do you need?

kwikbreaks

Purpose built entry cameras tend not to record.

Putting a CCTV camera on the door frame is going to look very strange but it would need to be there or thereabouts to record any sound from the "interactions".

Some CCTV cameras include the ability to record to SD but most will also need a DVR for recording.

Something like a trailcam would do the job but that would look downright eccentric.

You need to give more information on exact needs and what sort of budget you have in mind.

bluesnake

you do/did get spy-hole cameras for doors. Some were cameras, some recorded to SD card, others sent to wifi. The last time I looked the could be all found on ebay.

If you want a project, you could possibly turn a Raspberry Pi into a very good door cam. http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/665518/Raspberry-Pi-as-low-cost-HD-surveillance-camera

New_Me

Thanks Rumrat that does look interesting. Budget isn't too important, although this is likely to be a short term/ temporary solution so lower is better. It's for an elderly relative to check that visitors are carers/family/friends and not anyone who would take advantage of her. There have been some unexpected visits to the house (we have a motion based monitoring system) and she can't remember/explain who it was. I was looking at arlo but it has reviews saying it's buggy or alternately a swan cctv system but that's loads of cabling.

moneyman1295

Mostly of the CCTV cameras now a days can be viewed remotely using the IP address of the camera.

S0litaire

Had a quick google and take a look at this :

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/box-opened-a1-swann-ip-camera-swannsmart-ip-day-night-camera-swads-450ipc/version.asp

Wireless CCTV camera that can be mounted inside the hallway. motion detection and remote notification. can upload footage to a cloud server or stream to your phone / PC it's cheap (under £30) but shop around you should be able to find other products like it a bit cheaper.

Johnmcl7

Have you looked into a video doorbell:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ERA-Smartphone-Wi-Fi-Enabled-Motion/dp/B00N2ZDXW2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459347698&sr=8-1&keywords=ring+doorbell

It sounds like exactly what you're needing although not that cheap, I've not used it myself and only know of it because I have a friend who's keen to fit one to his house.

John

Double_V

When it comes to CCTV there is only one name to trust, SWANN.
Swann cameras are great with plug and play feature even when it comes to adding onto your iphones.
Highly recommended.
I bought mine from Maplin they were on offer £199 with 4 cameras, dvr with 1tb storage, cables, manuals, stickers etc.
They are cheaper now as their newer model came out.
Plus if you buy 1 or 2 cameras they are even cheaper.

Good luck.

snae

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

Have you looked into a video doorbell:

amazon.co.uk/ERA-Smartphone-Wi-Fi-Enabled-Motion/dp/B00N2ZDXW2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459347698&sr=8-1&keywords=ring+doorbell

It sounds like exactly what you're needing although not that cheap, I've not used it myself and only know of it because I have a friend who's keen to fit one to his house.

John

I wouldn't recommend Wireless cameras. Not only are they a major security vulnerability, but running as PoE requires laying much less cable. The average user probably might not care too much about security, but the tech savvie criminal will. If you lack it, they will hack it.

Many of these devices are not as secure as they could be, which goes for a lot of industry cameras, including those made by big companies like Swann. Just because a company is well known and has made a name for itself doesn't make it the best there is. Microsoft has the most PC's on the planet, and is the most targeted as result. Even thousand pound cameras often lack encryption.