Security Camera Suggestions

[enisthemenace]

Unpopular opinion. Avoid security cameras. We are becoming a surveillance state locking ourselves into a digital prison.

As I said in the OP...I don’t want to do it. I have reason to believe my home was vandalized, and I want to catch the ******.

As was said in a movie once:

“I wish I could've caught him doing it. I'd have given anything to catch that ******* doing it. It'd been worth him doing it just so I could've caught him doing it.”

 

[iahawkhunter]

I'm one version behind the current and I believe you can, but it's a little tedious. It involves configuring the backup settings to different folders each with its own retention policy. The current version may have a simpler way of handling it.

Thanks!

I run the UniFi software within a Docker container, so I may end up just running a couple instances of UniFi and adopt cameras into one instance or the other based on the "global" policy I set in each instance. I think at least one of my installations will be pushing past the 64-camera limit in BI, anway.

 

[iahawkhunter]

I've been really interested in getting security cameras as well. My sister has Arlo and loves it.

While doing my "research" I came across a few instances where footage from Arlo was not admissible in court because there is no timestamp on the video (as is the case with most of these systems).

Does anyone know of a system that has an embedded timestamp on the video footage itself?

The UniFi cameras I use have an option to display a timestamp in the video. It's simply part of the image. I don't know if that's sufficient, or if there's some sort of embedded metadata that would be required by a court. I'd think that having it "burned in" to the image would be satisfactory, but IANAL.

 

[Dopey]

Anyone know of a system that would allow me to "cast" the live feed from my phone to the TV? I really only want one of these to better keep an eye on my kids when I throw them outside.

 

[casey1973]

I just got a system from Arlo and it works great. I have the Arlo Pro 2. I researched the others here and went with Arlo for a couple of reasons.

1) For up to 5 cameras and 7 days of cloud storage for recordings there is no monthly fee. I have four cameras set up and you can download the clips if you want them for more than 7 days, so that gave me everything I needed.

2) I recently set up a smart home system using SmartThings and the integration into that system is really good with Arlo. The other ones mentioned integrate as well, but the Arlo looked like the simplest to tie in for what I wanted.

Haven't had any issues with the cameras. They motion sense and have good night vision. Also a good wide angle view. Get notifications on my phone and can easily view from anywhere.

Note since they are tied into my SmartThings system I use that for turning cameras on/off and cycling through various modes. (For example the camera that I have inside the house I shut off when I'm home). The Arlo system has the ability to change modes like that, but I don't have experience with it since I have it integrated into SmartThings.

Have this system with 5 cameras and works well. No fees and I get an alert to charge the batteries maybe every 3-4 months depending on activity which takes 30 minutes or so. Happy with it.

 

[GrindingAway]

As I said in the OP...I don’t want to do it. I have reason to believe my home was vandalized, and I want to catch the ******.

As was said in a movie once:

“I wish I could've caught him doing it. I'd have given anything to catch that ******* doing it. It'd been worth him doing it just so I could've caught him doing it.”

So if someone gives advice on an internet forum that helps lead to something bad that he does to someone else, could the person giving the advice be liable?

Cause in that case ignore my advice about Arlo.

 

[GrindingAway]

Anyone know of a system that would allow me to "cast" the live feed from my phone to the TV? I really only want one of these to better keep an eye on my kids when I throw them outside.

There is lots of other software unrelated to the camera that would allow you to cast to a TV.

Also at least in the case of Arlo you can view their feed from the website so if you had a smart TV you could likely do it that way without casting it.