Home security cameras - Tapo, Eufy, AOSU

B0bbyEwing

and others too I suppose but I'm specifically asking about these - and no this isn't a what should I buy thread as I've already bought.

Ideally I would have all one brand & then it's just the one app for everything but for cost reasons I've ended up with cameras from all 3 brands.

We started out with indoor Tapo cameras for my wife's pets. 
We got an outdoor Tapo camera with solar panel because we have hedgehogs. The detection on this I would say is actually quite poor & the Ceyomur camera (detection) we have is miles better .... it just runs off 8x AA batteries & they run out fast.

Around January I got an outdoor Eufy camera with solar panel because it was on a good offer on Amazon & reviews said it was decent, as did YouTube videos of the image quality. I'm still yet to fit this though because I'm a do it tomorrow person, much to my own annoyance.

We were done for cameras then but there was a lot of talk on local facebook groups about the dregs of society breaking in to sheds & just trying front doors, back doors - so I wanted a camera for the rear of the house to cover back doors & shed with solar panel (because I can't do electrics) & didn't want to spend a lot - which is where I chanced it on a £55 AOSU camera.

There's quite a wide range in cost on these yet I find there's very little in it with the image quality (ok I haven't yet tried the Eufy). The AOSU was £55 as I said, the Eufy was £150 in the sale I think & I'm sure the outdoor Tapo was nearly £100.

So for those who know more about these cameras than what I clearly do - why such a wide range in pricing when my eyes at least can't tell a huge difference in image quality?

Mnoee

I only have budget cameras, but I think people pay more for reliability and features, image quality isn't a major factor as even the budget ones are 1080p now which is good enough. 

The better the image quality, the more storage space you need, so even those with 4k cameras might be dialing back the quality as they'd prefer more days of footage stored vs higher quality video.

Edited to add: If you're watching the camera from a phone, as many do, you're limited by whatever that phone can display! You need to view a 4K video on a 4K monitor etc, anything else will be downgraded. 

B0bbyEwing

Mnoee said:

I only have budget cameras, but I think people pay more for reliability and features, image quality isn't a major factor as even the budget ones are 1080p now which is good enough. 

The better the image quality, the more storage space you need, so even those with 4k cameras might be dialing back the quality as they'd prefer more days of footage stored vs higher quality video.

Edited to add: If you're watching the camera from a phone, as many do, you're limited by whatever that phone can display! You need to view a 4K video on a 4K monitor etc, anything else will be downgraded. 

Thanks. Yeah I'm aware of your edit. I prefer something with good quality with the idea that should I unfortunately need to call on the image for anything serious then it can be run through something that can make full use of the quality.

I haven't yet tried the Eufy app but the Tapo and AOSU I can view live through their apps. 

The AOSU especially I like because I can mute the camera for a set duration, which is great for when my wife is at home doing gardening & I'm getting notifications every 5 seconds that someone is "loitering". 

I could of course turn notifications off but then I'd forget to turn them back on.

twopenny

I can't give you a make but when the police said I should have security cameras I was told they had to produce high quality pictures or it wouldn't hold up in court.
So that would be an important consideration if you might need to use the film as evidence.

moneysaver1978

I wonder if the cameras needing integration with Alexa/AppleKit ecosystem would maybe cost more?

Like you, I purchased Blink when they were on offer which I then integrated with Alexa - works well because I use local storage (and avoiding subscription) but now with more choices and wider price ranges, I am not so sure!

B0bbyEwing

moneysaver1978 said:

I wonder if the cameras needing integration with Alexa/AppleKit ecosystem would maybe cost more?

Like you, I purchased Blink when they were on offer which I then integrated with Alexa - works well because I use local storage (and avoiding subscription) but now with more choices and wider price ranges, I am not so sure!

Yes that was actually the #1 thing for me, even above image quality - no subscription. 

They offer it but I go with local storage every time. 

Exodi

Mnoee said:

I only have budget cameras, but I think people pay more for reliability and features, image quality isn't a major factor as even the budget ones are 1080p now which is good enough. 

The better the image quality, the more storage space you need, so even those with 4k cameras might be dialing back the quality as they'd prefer more days of footage stored vs higher quality video.

Edited to add: If you're watching the camera from a phone, as many do, you're limited by whatever that phone can display! You need to view a 4K video on a 4K monitor etc, anything else will be downgraded. 

It doesn't sound like the OP is using hardwired cameras with local storage - I suspect most do not and may be content with cloud storage.

I think by the far the biggest problem with higher resolution cameras is that cameras upload a considerable amount of data (my 1080p outdoor cameras upload about ~12GB per day each) - this works out to just over 1Mbps per camera. 4K could be 5x times that, meaning 3 cameras could be passively using 15Mbps of upload bandwidth.

People don't usually pay attention to the upload rates on their broadband deals, but a 75Mbps package might only have an upload rate of 18Mbps, 150Mbps might have an upload rate of 27 Mpbs, 500Mbps might have an upload rate of 68 Mbps.

You can see in this scenario that having a 'standard' 75Mbps package (which I expect is the most common and is referred to as 'superfast' by Sky) would likely not be sufficient for 3x 4k Wifi Cameras streaming in HD. In fact, even if you had a 'Full Fibre 150Mbps' package, you could not realistically run more than 4x 4K cameras.

Realistically (as my stepfather has unfortunately experienced on two occasions) if someone plans on burgling you, they are unlikely to stand still at stare at the camera. In my stepfathers case, they had scarves over their faces and the police said there was nothing that could be done.

The only time I would consider 4k cameras would be if I had more money than I knew what to do with and I could hardwire the power and data lines to each camera.

Mnoee

You might want to read the comment above yours, where the OP says they use local storage! They have sd card slots (even outdoor solar powered ones), many people prefer this to a subscription. 

Exodi

Mnoee said:

You might want to read the comment above yours, where the OP says they use local storage! They have sd card slots (even outdoor solar powered ones), many people prefer this to a subscription. 

You're totally right, my apologies!