Smart outdoor security cameras in SA?

A pity I only found this thread now.

A few weeks ago some stuff was stolen from my yard, happened again 2 weeks after that so I needed to get some sort of alarm or something.

looked into a few alarm systems, Beams and Electric fencing systems but they all work out in excess of R10K - R15K and Im not willing to pay that for someone else's property that Im renting and the owner is not willing to pay for security either.

So I got a IP Cam after checking out a few and their features.

I ended up getting a EZVIZ C3W from takealot. All and All I am really happy with the camera's quality and features as the main idea was to get something that will give me an alarm / warning on my phone when there is movement. For what it is, its a really good buy.

The huge problem is the false triggers, this thing triggers for the smallest friggen fart. Any shadow that moves or anything really even small bugs flying past at night.
I have changed the motion detection area as well as lowered the sensitivity to the second lowest setting but this still triggers on shadows during the day.

Is there any 3rd party software that can do a better job at detecting and alerting without breaking the bank?

Or what are my options here?

I also need to get 2 more cameras, but Im holding out to see what I can get done with the current cam 1st.

I have mailed two local companies that was shared in this thread but seems like these companies no longer exist.

Thanks
 
Deetz said:
The huge problem is the false triggers, this thing triggers for the smallest friggen fart. Any shadow that moves or anything really even small bugs flying past at night.
I have changed the motion detection area as well as lowered the sensitivity to the second lowest setting but this still triggers on shadows during the day.

Is there any 3rd party software that can do a better job at detecting and alerting without breaking the bank?

Or what are my options here?
Click to expand...

I'm in the process of implementing this:

Only cost is Blue Iris, which you can get here for $55 (https://amcrest.com/blue-iris-downloadable-version-5.html)
 
Deetz said:
is the hardware not reliable?

What do you recon would be a good solution?
Click to expand...
No, he meant the hardware required to run it. It needs a ‘beefy‘ setup when you start recording and serving many IP streams. That, and its Windows only. So no Nas based setups will work

As far as reliability, I’ve had my setup running for almost 2 months without missing a beat.
 
gbyleveldt said:
No, he meant the hardware required to run it. It needs a ‘beefy‘ setup when you start recording and serving many IP streams. That, and its Windows only. So no Nas based setups will work

As far as reliability, I’ve had my setup running for almost 2 months without missing a beat.
Click to expand...
What would be minimum setup, you think?


Edit
 
Last edited:
gbyleveldt said:
No, he meant the hardware required to run it. It needs a ‘beefy‘ setup when you start recording and serving many IP streams. That, and its Windows only. So no Nas based setups will work

As far as reliability, I’ve had my setup running for almost 2 months without missing a beat.
Click to expand...
Does it work 24/7? Did you Windows PC reboot this week when the MS updates were installed?

My old PC runs my hass.io setup and once a month like this week (twice), find that have to go and power it up. Reason for this is , I have bitlocker enabled drives without TPM so am forced to enter password when PC reboots.

Reason I am using my PC is that it's an i7, has oodles of RAM and will best any NAS normally in performance terms. Also having windows, means Plex server, and even this software should be easily handled by it.

Maybe i just need to find a way to block windows updates which seems to be impossible I think (haven't done research as yet) - though thinking blacklisting update.microsoft.com (or whatever DNS it uses ) could work?
 
InternetLuddite said:
Does it work 24/7? Did you Windows PC reboot this week when the MS updates were installed?

My old PC runs my hass.io setup and once a month like this week (twice), find that have to go and power it up. Reason for this is , I have bitlocker enabled drives without TPM so am forced to enter password when PC reboots.

Reason I am using my PC is that it's an i7, has oodles of RAM and will best any NAS normally in performance terms. Also having windows, means Plex server, and even this software should be easily handled by it.

Maybe i just need to find a way to block windows updates which seems to be impossible I think (haven't done research as yet) - though thinking blacklisting update.microsoft.com (or whatever DNS it uses ) could work?
Click to expand...

Yessir, 24/7. There’s a process you can follow to disable the updates (I found some resource at the time by Googling) and it’s been running without hiccups.

adielk said:
What would be minimum setup, you think?
Click to expand...


I’m running an i5 8400 with 8Gb ram. Running 8 * 5MP cameras and 2 * 1MP cameras uses just under 40% CPU. Adding multiple viewing streams for display on various tablets around the house pushes cpu use up considerably.

When selecting a PC, it’s a toss up between raw performance and power consumption. Running off batteries at night you have to take these things in consideration; especially for devices that run 24/7. In terms of efficiency, it seems better to go for a newer gen i5 than an older gen i7 for example.
 
gbyleveldt said:
No, he meant the hardware required to run it. It needs a ‘beefy‘ setup when you start recording and serving many IP streams. That, and its Windows only. So no Nas based setups will work

As far as reliability, I’ve had my setup running for almost 2 months without missing a beat.
Click to expand...

Didn't even realise its Windows only, even worse for me - unless running a server edition.

I'm running one of those cheap Banggood NVRs added a few camera's over the weekend - and 3 more on the way, giving me a total of 13 cameras - will see how it holds up. (5MP camera's - but at 5MB its 20FPS - so I'm currently at 1080p at 25FPS)

Also need a new HDD - my harddrive packed up.
 
I tried it - not really a fan of the interface - it also maxed out my servers CPU pretty quick
 
Devo1 said:
Did they call or email you regarding the fees @MongooseMan ?

My tracking on DHL site still only shows "Shipment Information Received", Wednesday, October 14 2020

Nothing else
Click to expand...
Heh that means Reolink booked the shipment with DHL, but the package isn't at their China warehouse yet. Takes about a week for that status to change
 
Eric said:
This is what appeals to me. Does it do AI? I'm keen to have it recognise pets vs people vs cars, etc. like Blue Iris but I'm not sure if that's a feature or not.
Click to expand...
It claims to have some AI functions but honestly I havent looked at those much, I will take a dig into that this evening to see.
It does have the ability to draw a free form shape for motion detection etc though. I use it to isolate some trees that move a lot from detection.

What I really like about it is how motion detection works, it records constantly and then uses machine learning to figure out if there was motion detection to keep a clip. If it doesnt find motion then it deletes that clip and evaluates the next.
This is good because often with motion detection the product only starts recording when the motion is detected and you dont see what lead up to it.
 
Problem with vanilla motion detection is that, no matter how you try and ignore trees, their shadows still move in the areas of interest during certain times of the day. Or how Car headlights illuminate a scene when it drives past. I still need to get proper AI working on my BI system, but it’s for this reason I went with BI. That, and it’s simple to pull streams off it in my automation system to view in various areas of my home
 
Devo1 said:
Did they call or email you regarding the fees @MongooseMan ?

My tracking on DHL site still only shows "Shipment Information Received", Wednesday, October 14 2020

Nothing else
Click to expand...
Yeah, it takes a while to change.
Then you'll get an SMS from DHL saying that they have it, and giving an estimated delivery date (mine was 22 Oct).
Then, a few days later, someone calls you asking for confirmation details.
Then, you get an email with a link to pay the import duties.
Then, your stuff arrives (mine arrived yesterday, 19 Oct)

From DHL actually getting the stuff, to it being on my doorstep, was 5 days.
1603178009533.png
 
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