Affordable Security/Cameras

[LowNFToy]

Hey guys.. I might be getting a small barn to use as a shop soon, so i was looking around for motion sensors/cameras that record to VCR, ect. I found this site and ordered the basic $90 kit with a wireless camera, that comes with a stand thats fully adjustable 240 degrees with a 100 foot wireless remote, with audio/video reciever, VCR commander, motion sensor.

There is also some good priced alarm systems with motion sensing, door/window sensors, sirens, light flashers, remotes, and it automatically calls 4 #s you choose and plays a message that you record. The alarm system can also include cameras and other features... Im just really amazed with gadgets like these and want to protect my tools lol.. Im thinking about buying the flood lights with motion sensor/wireless cam also. All of these can be viewed/controlled through the internet as well.

If anyones interested, heres a link for $15 off.

 

[byrdman]

You don't have a wireless 802.11 network do you? There's some neat options available there. Most are above the $90 range, but there a couple close to that price. There are some (fairly) affordable models that will detect motion and record to your computer's hard drive, and send you an email when motion is detected. You can set them up for monitoring over the internet too.

I've got one of those X10 cameras- it's pretty good if you keep your picture quality expectations realistic. They are a little grainy/fuzzy, and they don't like low light. That 100' range is probably line-of-sight.

 

[SK2003TypeS]

brydman,
Can you post some more info on the 802.11 stuff you're referring too (cameras,sensors, s/w, etc.)? I'm curious.
TIA

 

[byrdman]

Not sure what you want to know, but here's some links and comments-

With 802.11 you aren't tethered to a network cable, all you need is a power outlet for your camera. If that's not a problem, there are internet cameras available that are not wireless. In either case, you give the camera an IP address on your local network, then you can configure your router to make that address visible to the outside world. Unless you want the whole world to see it, you need to set it up with VPN or similar technology to keep it visible only to you. There are also interfaces available to let you remotely view multiple cameras in one window.

As far as the sensor goes, this is usually done in software. You leave a computer monitoring the cameras field of vision, and when it detects motion, it triggers some other event like writing to an event log, capturing video, paging you, or emailing you. I think it'd be neat to have it email you a clip of video when it detected motion, then you could access your camera via the web and check things out. Some even have bidirectional control so you can zoom/tilt/pan from a remote location, or microphones built in to transmit sound as well as video. The upper-end models have low-voltage outputs you can hook to relays to conntrol external devices.

After reading many reviews, it looks as though the image quality and software quality on most of the "consumer level" cameras is questionable. If you only need to know that someone is in your building, but maybe not be able to ID that person, it might be OK. Common complaints seem to include focus problems, auto-exposure problems, wireless transmission issues, motion detection failures, etc.

dlink cameras

Linksys wireless products

Adding a Wireless Internet Camera with Windows XP

reviews

Hope that helps...

 

[byrdman]

I couldn't find this when I posted the above. Click this for a list of unsecured cameras!

 

[zen garage]

check out www.avsforum.com under the home distribution section. I noticed a pretty good thread yesterday on security cameras.

 

[SK2003TypeS]

byrdman, Thx for the info ! This is something I need to start looking into (still doing a lot of work on the house). Ideally I'd like to have a few outdoor PTZs (3 off the top of my head) with web access. Obviously wireless install would be easier, but I'm not counting out a hardwire if need be.

zen garage, I've avoided that site for a few years because I usually "Add to Cart" after doing some reading. Thx for the post !