WiFi security cameras

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Ishisheean

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Hi all, not sure if this is the right forum, but i am not sure where to put this.
I am keen to set up WiFi cameras around my house. I would like if they would meet the following use-cases.
They should be fully WiFi, no cabling other than power.
I would prefer no specific DVR box, would rather run them straight to a PC based recorder. Not a train smash if this is not possible.
They should be accessible (easily for the non techno heads at home) from any smart device on the LAN.
The resolution should be good enough to see faces at say 10 - 15 m
No need for PTZ
I have a tight-ish budget, so would want a solution that comes in around R5k
Bonus points if any one can think of a way to make one of the cameras publicly accessible, to neighbors can also look up and down the street.

What I am hoping to get is
Suggestions on the cameras i need, right now i am not looking for a service provider to do the install. I want to do my research first.

Many Thanks all.
 
I ordered some Xiaomi Yi wifi cameras - really happy with them so far. They take a small SD card and you access them via a smartphone app or app on Windows / Mac desktop.

https://www.yitechnology.com/yi-home-camera

Imported them from China, in SA they are over R1000+ each, I think I paid about R700 each (add to that shipping and customs)

Add: they are the easiest wifi cameras to setup - far easier than anything I've had before. I don't like the fact that you have to access them directly via their cloud service - that is the only negative. I always had my previous cameras on the LAN, then I VPN to home to access them
 
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Ishisheean said:
Hi all, not sure if this is the right forum, but i am not sure where to put this.
I am keen to set up WiFi cameras around my house. I would like if they would meet the following use-cases.
They should be fully WiFi, no cabling other than power.
I would prefer no specific DVR box, would rather run them straight to a PC based recorder. Not a train smash if this is not possible.
They should be accessible (easily for the non techno heads at home) from any smart device on the LAN.
The resolution should be good enough to see faces at say 10 - 15 m
No need for PTZ
I have a tight-ish budget, so would want a solution that comes in around R5k
Bonus points if any one can think of a way to make one of the cameras publicly accessible, to neighbors can also look up and down the street.

What I am hoping to get is
Suggestions on the cameras i need, right now i am not looking for a service provider to do the install. I want to do my research first.

Many Thanks all.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't recommend WiFi cameras, they can cause a headache when it comes to the wireless part, maybe they aren't happy with the signal, and drops it. I would rather go for PoE cameras, with a NVR setup, as the PoE cameras have power and network on one LAN cable.

If you really need to have a wireless camera where the network cable can't reach or too expensive, then you need to connect your wireless network to the NVR on which the wireless camera is connected to. I'm not sure if you can add the wireless camera to the NVR, but highly probable. You can later set up VPN for your network or use the NVR's cloud services to access the cameras.
 
Thanks all.
Should have mentioned that the intention is for these to be external cameras.
Ruhan, i hear you on the wireless dropping. it is a worry of mine.
 
Pleasure, would be keen to know what you are thinking.
what spurred me on is that our local security company is willing to put up cameras, but only if you get a certain number of houses to join.
That is proving impossible.
But with the (relative) availability of fiber, and fairly cheap uncapped data (again, relative)
I got to thinking about doing something similar to earthcam. but for security cameras.
would help with improving neighborhood security, and allow anyone (depending on final set up) to see what is happening.
Of course, i would only want my street side camera to be accessible.
But that was the basis of my thinking, but i lack the technical know how to get it going.
So I thought I would start with the camera's and work outwards from there :)
 
CamiKaze said:
Share please.
Click to expand...
Stay in a crescent, even 3 x 4 cam HD systems will be more than suitable for monitoring almost all the street if placed at the bends, or maybe a few extra covering the veld at the back. People can login on their phone and tablets and such to view what going on if the dogs bark or such, or maybe if someone alerts on whatsapp or radio.

All we need is a small couple of the residents willing to share their fibre connections and I'm sure some will (I know I will).
 
Sounds great, plus the bandwidth overheads on the camera's cannot be that high that they will impact on any Netflixing.
You might even get away with setting up a dedicated Wifi LAN that is not connected to Fiber (assuming you can get good enough coverage).
I am sure there are more than a few old Wifi routers lying around.
 
Not sure on your exact requirements in terms of number of cameras as well as requirements (position, coverage etc)

My opinion: Do not just install for the sake of having cctv, but rather look at your needs and find a solution based on that

Outdoor CCTV- you have a few choices, Analogue/HD/hybrid or IP. IP being the best but also most expensive (think R1100 upwards per decent entry level camera). You might get away without a dvr/nvr but will incur extra costs for POE etc which might be even more. Doubt you will fit your entire place with a R5.5k budget for IP.

How many cameras do you require, and what are the requirements in terms of meters coverage per camera ?

Perhaps
 
Wide, I probably have a need for 3 cameras, (Gate, Front and back yards)
My property is quite long and thin so hard to talk about M2 to be covered.
Any suggestions on which camera's to look at?
 
Has anyone found any type of decent intelligent motion detection solution?
 
Ishisheean said:
Wide, I probably have a need for 3 cameras, (Gate, Front and back yards)
My property is quite long and thin so hard to talk about M2 to be covered.
Any suggestions on which camera's to look at?
Click to expand...

I am generally not in favor of wireless, would prefer wired. Wireless can be less reliable and cost more in the short and long term depending. Remember, CCTV is not like the human eye, it struggles to see through fencing, electric fencing, gates, different light sources and obviously at night. Once you measure up your meters, look at cameras for your needs. If it thin and longer areas you dont need wide angles, but rather longer lenses (look at 40m Infra red plus). Look at 4mp plus cameras. At your price point, you could probably buy 3 IP cameras connected to a POE and router for around 6-7k.

Good brands include Dahua and hikvision.

Decent brands
 
Milano said:
Has anyone found any type of decent intelligent motion detection solution?
Click to expand...

not sure if you referring to "trip wire"detection (acts similar to an outdoor PIR beam), or 3d tracking

Dahua and HIKVISION makes some decent cost effective smart trip wire cameras, as well as some decent PTZ with auto tracking, expect to pay R10k plus per camera for the latter. Speak to the guys from wcctv.co.za for more info.
 
RuhanSA079 said:
I wouldn't recommend WiFi cameras, they can cause a headache when it comes to the wireless part, maybe they aren't happy with the signal, and drops it. I would rather go for PoE cameras, with a NVR setup, as the PoE cameras have power and network on one LAN cable.

If you really need to have a wireless camera where the network cable can't reach or too expensive, then you need to connect your wireless network to the NVR on which the wireless camera is connected to. I'm not sure if you can add the wireless camera to the NVR, but highly probable. You can later set up VPN for your network or use the NVR's cloud services to access the cameras.
Click to expand...

Ditto

Tried wifi, didn't work, now on PoE with NVR.
 
Milano said:
Has anyone found any type of decent intelligent motion detection solution?
Click to expand...
If you looking for something intelligent, lookup Sighthound. It's just rather CPU heavy, but found nothing else that does human detection as well.
 
RuhanSA079 said:
You also make use of iSpy's detection methods?
Click to expand...
Looked it up years ago, but didn't have any human detection at the time. Looks like there are quite a few interesting plugins, might be worth revisiting.
 
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