Security camera setup needed...suggestions?

[Radium_Angel]

So I have a spare house. Currently vacant. Went to visit for routine maintenance and found at the gate a "KKK has been here" sticker.

I'm white BTW, go figure. But that's neither here nor there.

Time for a security system. I know little about them.

The house has no internet, but I can certainly get it installed and stream/record footage from the cameras.

 

Any suggestions for all-weather gear (I'd like to have several units outside, and perhaps some inside) that has secure applications to stream to PC and Android systems?

 

[Applefreak]

9 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

So I have a spare house. Currently vacant. Went to visit for routine maintenance and found at the gate a "KKK has been here" sticker.

I'm white BTW, go figure. But that's neither here nor there.

Time for a security system. I know little about them.

The house has no internet, but I can certainly get it installed and stream/record footage from the cameras.

 

Any suggestions for all-weather gear (I'd like to have several units outside, and perhaps some inside) that has secure applications to stream to PC and Android systems?

 

I am assuming that house is too far away for you to visit more often. People tend to do ugly things to your property if they notice no one is home. A security system won't do much good other than to make you angry in the middle of the night. You can set one up fairly easily if you have at least decent cell service in the area as well as some power running to it like from a solar system with battery backup. Really comes down to location. If it's open farm land, maybe getting some animals to live there that will scare them away would work. If there is a garage on the property, renting it out might work as well. As long as there is daily commotion, it won't seem empty and abandoned, which solves most of the issues. As for the sticker and other messages left, if memory serves me well the group and many of their offshoots are still wanted by federal law enforcement. So getting them involved is an option as well but it doesn't solve your issues with vandalism. 

 

As for what system you could install, I've tried a couple of over the counter stuff with webcams etc. but without being on site to reboot them every once in a while and my vacation home being a days drive away, I've got a professional involved that setup a system with a perimeter alarm and flood lights as well as a silent alarm to the police. For that requires monthly payments to be made but still cheaper than to replace fencing, windows etc. So far we caught 2 groups while attempting to steal equipment with a third one being deterred by the sudden super bright flood lights. The area is not known for criminal activity but the house is on the edge of town and I only visit 3 to 4 times a year. A recent investment into a lawn mowing robot was probably the right choice as well. Now it looks really well maintained and the robot parks in the back so you would assume someone is taking care of it regularly.  As for animals, goats, sheep, of course dogs but also a ostrich will be worth looking into, they hunt down intruders and you cannot escape them on foot.

[Radium_Angel]

Thank you @Applefreak, this goes in directions I had not thought of yet.

[johnt]

6 hours ago, Applefreak said:

they hunt down intruders and you cannot escape them on foot

How can they tell whose an intruder if they only see you a couple times a year? An ostrich is bat shit crazy lol and I cannot believe they are legal as pets in California. I don't think you should invest in an animal that can hurt others. Repairing the vandalism to your home is probably cheaper than a single injury lawsuit because of your....... ummmm.... guard bird.

 

I've invested into the Logitech Circle cameras in my home. They integrate perfectly with Apple HomeKit, but their night time quality is awful. It's a very limited selection of cameras, and I mean like one, but it serves well. I can trigger lights to come on with motion, it detects specific people, groups of people, animals, etc. And it's surprisingly reliable.

[Radium_Angel]

6 hours ago, johnt said:

Repairing the vandalism to your home is probably cheaper than a single injury lawsuit because of your....... ummmm.... guard bird.

That is a good point. While I hadn't considered getting a guard bird (A large hand scrawled sign taped to the door that says "Martha, don't come in! The Python has escaped again and I can't find it!" should do just fine) it's still a good point about lawsuits

[johnt]

I've heard from most policemen that a simple security sign on your lawn is enough to deter 95% of bad actors. It's shocking how expensive the signs sell for online.

[TubsAlwaysWins]

My current go to is Synology and Reolink Cameras. Pretty cheap and all the footage is stored on your own hardware. Wont do access control or anything like that though. Just recording

 

Edit: BY Access control I mean door badges, etc.

[voyager_]

Depending on how DIY you want to go Blue Iris is a great program to manage and stream the cameras it supports AI for object recognition, motion alerts, etc... It's very versatile. You can configure it to send you emails or notifications to your phone depending on the alert. It will support just about every network camera or even usb cameras. It does have to run on windows which does get annoying sometimes with updates causing windows to restart and getting hung up sometimes. I have it running on a windows vm on unraid so I can force restarts or shutdowns remotely if needed. Depending on how many and the quality of the cameras you can get away with a pretty basic system but you will want either an intel cpu with the igpu or add a graphics card to help manage the camera feeds or if you want to use the AI functions. All of my cameras are POE and have handled being outside for years without issue and being able to run a single cable for the connection and power makes the install easier. Another benefit is if you do set up another pc to run the camera software on you can also use it as backup storage!

[Radium_Angel]

1 hour ago, voyager_ said:

Depending on how DIY you want to go Blue Iris is a great program to manage and stream the cameras it supports AI for object recognition, motion alerts, etc... It's very versatile. You can configure it to send you emails or notifications to your phone depending on the alert. It will support just about every network camera or even usb cameras. It does have to run on windows which does get annoying sometimes with updates causing windows to restart and getting hung up sometimes. I have it running on a windows vm on unraid so I can force restarts or shutdowns remotely if needed. Depending on how many and the quality of the cameras you can get away with a pretty basic system but you will want either an intel cpu with the igpu or add a graphics card to help manage the camera feeds or if you want to use the AI functions. All of my cameras are POE and have handled being outside for years without issue and being able to run a single cable for the connection and power makes the install easier. Another benefit is if you do set up another pc to run the camera software on you can also use it as backup storage!

Is the purchase of the software outright, or yearly? The website didn't seem to say

[voyager_]

2 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

Is the purchase of the software outright, or yearly? The website didn't seem to say

It's outright for that version plus a year of updates, you can still use it after that point you just can't get the updates. After the expiration you can purchase a maintenance license to get updates for another year, I think it was $20 or $30. I have been using their software for around 6 years and the Facebook group is great if you need help with setup or figuring out what you need it's a very active community.  I know there are free programs that are similar but so far Blue Iris has been very stable and gets frequent bug fixes or updates  

[TubsAlwaysWins]

@voyager_

I havent used Blue Iris much, but we have used it previously and moved to Synology Surveillance. From what I understand its a cleaner UI and you just need to purchase per-camera license keys once you go past 2 cameras. Updates keep rolling. Plus you get a NAS. Total number of cams depends on NAS model but I think most support 40 at once. Super easy to set up as well

 

I have heard decent things about Blue iris though.

 

@Radium_Angel IMO get some Reolink RLC-410-5mp cameras. Ive used dozens of them and they are great. Whether you run Blue Iris or Syology or something else.

[voyager_]

On 8/1/2023 at 10:49 AM, TubsAlwaysWins said:

@voyager_

I havent used Blue Iris much, but we have used it previously and moved to Synology Surveillance. From what I understand its a cleaner UI and you just need to purchase per-camera license keys once you go past 2 cameras. Updates keep rolling. Plus you get a NAS. Total number of cams depends on NAS model but I think most support 40 at once. Super easy to set up as well

 

I have heard decent things about Blue iris though.

 

@Radium_Angel IMO get some Reolink RLC-410-5mp cameras. Ive used dozens of them and they are great. Whether you run Blue Iris or Syology or something else.

There are defiantly simpler ways to setup your cameras it really depends on what features you want to get out of it. I set up cameras years ago at my Grandmas house and wish that the Synology setup would have been an option at the time. For her use case their system would be alot better but for what I want out of it Blue Iris lets you do some cool things it can just be a pain to get everything configured 

[TubsAlwaysWins]

23 hours ago, voyager_ said:

There are defiantly simpler ways to setup your cameras it really depends on what features you want to get out of it. I set up cameras years ago at my Grandmas house and wish that the Synology setup would have been an option at the time. For her use case their system would be alot better but for what I want out of it Blue Iris lets you do some cool things it can just be a pain to get everything configured 

Yeah I bet. Idk if you have experience with Synology yet but IMO it has alot of features. Wish I had a chance to dive into Blue Iris more

[Ahoy Hoy]

I built my parent's security system with blue iris. Its a one time purchase like others said but you get a year's worth of updates and then have to pay for more updates. So Ive bought it once then about five years later paid for the upgrade. Works on any windows computer and can be a little confusing but the online guides and youtube videos are exceptional and you'll easily have any networked camera system up and running. You can also just used a simple 3g USB dongle to provide internet to the computer to allow you to view the footage yourself. You can also set up text and email notifications when blue iris spots something ie car license plate or a person, don't do it on a camera near a footpath or road otherwise enjoy the spam.