CCTV/Home Security Camera Recommendations?

Adamc

Hi all 

I am about to start researching home security cameras and wondered if anyone had any recommendations on what type to get and what to look out for in terms of features? 

I was hoping to install the set up myself but have no issues with enlisting the help of a professional if needed. 

I'm really turned off at the thought of paying a monthly subscription for cloud services etc. 

Ken68

I had such a few years ago, Adam. Had it set up with a separate monitor next to my main TV. Kept looking .nothing happened, just stressing myself out. Best is with a video recording say a months viewing on automatic, then forget it. Cheapest is a small red light front and back windows doing nothing, just to deter.

withaspritz

Eufycam 2 on amazon have no subscription, store video on a microSD in the base station. Wireless but need charging every 6 months so mount them near a window!  Reviews seem good, price is reasonable too (especially given no subscription fees) considering a set when our house sale completes.

UncleZen

some upload the videos to the cloud (usually requires subscription), some store them on an sd card in the camera or base station (if it has one). Some run on batteries, that require charging (inconvenient),  some require power. some are hardwired, some are wifi.
Personally, I wanted to avoid one that uploaded to the cloud, people on here said that they use a lot of bandwidth. As it turned out, mine is wifi, records 15 sec videos that are about 15mb, and saved to an internal sd card, its cheap, cheerful and chinese (ieGeek). I put in a 128mb sd card and its taken about 1 year to fill it. it does the job, barely.

chiny

Well... this is MSE and this is the techie zone, so make your own ?   You'd learn lots which always seems fun to me.   Exact spec and complexity to suit yourself, oodles of web sites with ideas.

I started about 10 years ago I think, and have acquired all sorts of interesting snippets (neighbour at door scratching his ***, deer destroying a fence, badgers trying to move a car, cat/fox standoff, roof collapse etc).   I added some AI a couple of years back to record only when a person is detected, so I now have videos of a friend's efforts to evade it, best being his small grandson crawling along the ground.   Hours of fun

Adamc

chiny said:

Well... this is MSE and this is the techie zone, so make your own ?   You'd learn lots which always seems fun to me.   Exact spec and complexity to suit yourself, oodles of web sites with ideas.

I started about 10 years ago I think, and have acquired all sorts of interesting snippets (neighbour at door scratching his ***, deer destroying a fence, badgers trying to move a car, cat/fox standoff, roof collapse etc).   I added some AI a couple of years back to record only when a person is detected, so I now have videos of a friend's efforts to evade it, best being his small grandson crawling along the ground.   Hours of fun

I wouldn't know where to start writing the software etc. 

mrmmhf

The Netatmo Presence Floodlight Outdoor Camera is excellent:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Mt1MX94M_w

kirkofski

I recently got a Hikvision NVR system from use ip. They are a genuine Hikvison seller unlike many others in the UK and offer 3yr warranty and excellent technical support.
Being an NVR you only need an Ethernet cable for each camera. The build quality and performance is excellent, even at night 

Thenonameleague2

How much were you wanting to pay ?

Alanp

Not sure if this is for you but we have a blink system, completely WiFi cameras can be used inside or out and give excellent quality, we have three cameras mounted at various points outside, you can turn each camera on or off as required, yes the cameras have batteries but we’ve not changed them yet and we’ve had it for a bit now, there’s no subscription other than your internet provider, 

neilmcl

Alanp said:

Not sure if this is for you but we have a blink system, completely WiFi cameras can be used inside or out and give excellent quality, we have three cameras mounted at various points outside, you can turn each camera on or off as required, yes the cameras have batteries but we’ve not changed them yet and we’ve had it for a bit now, there’s no subscription other than your internet provider, 

Just to be aware, Blink are moving to a subscription model with their new Blink Indoor/Outdoor cameras so if you want one it's best to get in quick and get the Blink XT2 while it's still available as this will still give you free cloud storage. The only option for free local storage on the new ones is with an optional base station.