Need help picking out a security camera setup....

gettheclicker · 24 Mar 2023

I have googled to the moon and back but I just can't figure out what I should get.

Recently I woke up to the family wagon's window busted out. It was 50 feet down the driveway no where near the road. Either someone shot a BB, rock, or just drove up and punched it out.

I want a dual camera setup that I can wirelessly connect and save video to my computer. I can setup a dedicated hard drive. Not looking for top of the line, more of an under $100 kind of thing.

Compumind · 25 Mar 2023

Hmm...

What kind of resolution do you need?
The wireless ones usually max out at 1080P.

bro67 · 25 Mar 2023

What do you plan on capturing from a average camera with a narrow field of view that will not capture anything to use as evidence? What you are looking for will show only action if during daylight with no clarity to whomever or whatever caused the action.

Marie SWE · 25 Mar 2023

wifi sucks when it comes to security devices.
Modern thieves uses radio jammers to kill wifi, bluetroth, cellphones, lowjackers and so on. as they know 90% has security devises and they also know people hate ugly cables.
And also have two cameras.. one in plain sight they should see in one angle so they keep their back to it. and another one in another angel hidden they will look in to when they tries to hide from the one they know of.

bro67 · 25 Mar 2023

Marie SWE said:

wifi sucks when it comes to security devices.
Modern thieves uses radio jammers to kill wifi, bluetroth, cellphones, lowjackers and so on. as they know 90% has security devises and they also know people hate ugly cables.
And also have two cameras.. one in plain sight they should see in one angle so they keep their back to it. and another one in another angel hidden they will look in to when they tries to hide from the one they know of.

Which angel do you suggest hiding that makes "they" look into when "whomever" tries to hide from the other ange? No one who is a thief is going to search around for cameras. They look around for a person looking at them doing the deed and just do it without any regard. A camera is not going to stop anyone from doing anything. It is just another way of being able to observe a location that the camera is focused on through its narrow field of vision with limited range at that for what consumers buy.

Marie SWE · 26 Mar 2023

bro67 said:

Which angel do you suggest hiding that makes "they" look into when "whomever" tries to hide from the other ange? No one who is a thief is going to search around for cameras. They look around for a person looking at them doing the deed and just do it without any regard. A camera is not going to stop anyone from doing anything. It is just another way of being able to observe a location that the camera is focused on through its narrow field of vision with limited range at that for what consumers buy.

a person that don't want to be on camera looks down. so the angle is from ground level and up.. camera hidden in a garden gnome or something... to get a picture of who did it can be "useful" for you.. or the police.

as for really cheep wide angel cameras that can see in darkness.. reverse cameras to cars/trucks. they come in 180/105/90/45degree angel lenses.
i use one of those in my garage as they is tiny and easy to hide and some of then comes with IR-led to see in pitch black.
home i use regular security cameras with C-lenses and separate IR-spotlights.. and i have a few tiny needle eye cameras

gettheclicker · 26 Mar 2023

I'm not looking for 4k quality, 1080p is fine. We rent so running cables all over the house is a huge no-no. I was going to mount a camera to the garage looking straight down the driveway and the other on the porch for another angle of the driveway.

The wife wants to have the ability to watch on her phone from anywhere but I need something I can watch on my computer and set a time to automatically record if someone comes too far up the driveway between 1am and 10am.

bro67 · 26 Mar 2023

1080p is not going to do anything for the distance that you want. You would need to be able to watch it 24/7/365 and have rewind capabilities to only see blurry objects at anything over ten feet. By the time that someone comes up the drive at those hours, the camera is only going to catch moving headlights while it is dark, during the morning to early afternoon it will mostly catch people going about their business. I work in the security business and even with cameras recording 24/7, you have to spend hours going through footage at times to find the exact moment and even then the person you are looking for is no more distinguishing than say a Scarecrow.

You would have better luck having a person sitting at your vehicle in catching someone than having video cameras.

Compumind · 26 Mar 2023

bro67 said:

You would have better luck having a person sitting at your vehicle in catching someone than having video cameras.

Lol. However, that is the end result. A sting operation. Creating a North Korean DMZ around your property is the only other way.

meebers · 28 Mar 2023

Why don't you experiment and try one of the Wyze V3 cameras. ~$36 @ amazon. .[search, many places have them] Magnetic mount so you can try various positions etc. Use the Wyze app [FREE] to view on your cell phone. You will get an idea and can go from there. I use one about 2 ft from a bird feeder and get close ups on nature. This one requires 120 vac power, using a power bug and a very small wire. They do have wireless one's also, never tried.

Forgot to mention, you can talk thru the camera and listen as well.