cctv

[Surf01]

Duplicated info!

[Albannach]

As with all threads of this nature, there is some good advice here. There's also some bad advice and some complete shite.

You pay your money and take your choice. Remember to keep yourself on the right side of the law though.

[Apache]

and some complete shite.

So don't comment then!

[Growler]

Hello, looking for a bit of advice on cctv cameras.

Due to there being a large population of feral children in our neighborhood, and their predisposition for damaging anything that looks shiny, we'd like to set up a cctv camera or twelve.
I've seen one on ebay that has 8 cameras, a hard drive, and is accessible through the pc monitor or a smartphone. It's 260 pounds including delivery but it's from America. Dies anyone know if there will be compatibility issues with it over here, or does anyone have any recommendations for different systems?
Fanks very much.

Personally I',m looking at getting this system in the very near future
CCTV

[Ambobeer]

Something like the above will suffice for most domestic installations. You can easily get carried away and end up spending thousands but the above link will give an all in one box plug and play system; looks like they're infra red lit too so ought to work at night. Just remember it will be very much a visual deterant. You might well catch an image of someone doing what they're doing and be able to play it back for all time but the chances of identifying anyone are slim.

Re night vision cameras you shouldn't have any problem if you focus them at night. That's the time when the camera's depth of field is at its minimum. Reverting to day time use will then be fine. You can buy a filter kit which enables you to do it in the day but one of these will probably cost you the price of another camera and unless you use the right filter you will be no better off.

You can have a look here http://www.videcon.co.uk/ for all sorts of toys and playthings. Not the best but reasonable quality gear well priced. I think they're a bit selective to who they sell to mind.

[Vultch]

Agree..CCTV only shows them in the act not who they are, one device I'v been looking at is a ornate looking PIR courtesy/security lamp it senses movement and switches on the sort of thing you would use to light a dark driveway so its not as threatening to the local scum so they may come closer but hidden inside is a 5-8MP camera taking stills every 2-10 sec roughly, these might be of more use for identification

example

[Dodge]

... but hidden inside is a 5-8MP camera taking stills every 2-10 sec roughly, these might be of more use for identification

2 seconds is a long time and 10 is an eternity, unless they're standing still until you say cheese you'll have to rely on a lot of luck to catch a decent identifiable image of a face. Much better with a decent video camera, and as already been said set them up right.

But that said... for night images I'd not rely on it as a security measure, shine a torch into a camera at night and the flare will cover anything going on in it's field of view.

A couple of dogs, steel doors and locks (the best you can afford) will do a better job.

[Rustinho]

2 seconds is a long time and 10 is an eternity, unless they're standing still until you say cheese you'll have to rely on a lot of luck to catch a decent identifiable image of a face. Much better with a decent video camera, and as already been said set them up right.

But that said... for night images I'd not rely on it as a security measure, shine a torch into a camera at night and the flare will cover anything going on in it's field of view.

A couple of dogs, steel doors and locks (the best you can afford) will do a better job.

Dunno if these are still legal or not but I certainly used to know people that used them...

http://www.airpistol.co.uk/alarm_gun..._activated.htm

[kamaangir]

Many thanks for the replies I'm not so good at multi quoting so I'll try and answer everything I can here.

Judwak, is the debut capture thing a computer program, I don't mind hooking cameras up to the PC especially if they are able to record onto a hard drive (I have a 1tb hard drive that can be used for it)? Does it slow the PC down any?

I'll scrub the American one then if it's likely to be more hassle than its worth and I'll have a go at finding a cheap second hand system or putting one together myself, thanks Popeye and Apache.

To Ambobeer, I may well just sit outside tonight although I knew I shouldn't have sold my nightvision rifle scope
Identification isn't terribly important (sort of lol). It tends to be the same lot of yoofs that do most of the annoying stuff, and they are very easily identifiable to us. I realise it would be unlikely that it could be used as evidence, but I'd be happy if they could just identify them to us.

To Kamaangir, rather than me explain the way our houses are laid out it might be easier to go to google maps and have a look at our postcode: NG19 0BH. The picture is a bit old as our yard is now covered and sealed as a garage There's a car access road at the front and a small footpath at the back and ideally we'd like to cover both sides of the house as we get trouble front and back.
You can see the areas are fairly small and we don't mind getting several cameras to cover different angles.
The purpose of the system is to (hopefully) deter, but primarily to identify to us, who causes the most problems. Cameras covering the garden would most likely be for night viewing and the garage for day viewing. We'd like to to cover in front of the garage doors and the top of the garage roof.
From garden to PC it would run about 6metres and from front of garage to PC it would be about 7 metres (roughly).
I would like to install it myself.
I would say the house is fairly secure, we don't really need the cameras to deter break ins, but instead to record anti-social behaviour.

Again many thanks for the replies, it's only low level stuff, nothing serious but it starts to get a bit annoying after a while, and I don't fancy spending another 3 hours cleaning egg off the house.
At least the surf is safe and secure

Right have had a bit of a think, and without being there and doing a proper site survey I would make the following recommendations:

1, at the rear of the property (if not already fitted) install a motion activated floodlight, you can get energy saving ones now so won't use up lots of electricity. This is the single most useful thing you can do to deter crime and antisocial activities, as they hate to be seen when they are at it.
Make sure that this only looks onto your property and not other peoples as the light coming on will annoy your neighbours. Also see if you can get a pet tolerant one.

2, install at least one low light camera at the rear over looking the garage area (you would probably know best where it has to go)

3, Install another at the side of your property covering the walkway.

4 optional, but I would have one covering the entrance to the property.

5 Give some thoughts to the location of the control equipment. they are noisy and are always running, remember that you can have extra monitors in a diffrent location to the recorder.

6 make sure that you also run a cat 5 cable from the recorder to your router. This would enable you to remotely view the system and also you can use a computer on your LAN to play back images.

7, make sure your cabling is done properly i.e do not run cables near mains cables or water pipes. Attach cables to surfaces using the correct fittings, internally you can use clips with nails (I hate them), screw on clips (I like them), trunking (a bit expensive but very tidey), or the best option under floor boards and behind plaster boards etc (quite tricky but does not ruin your decor). Also make holes to get cable through structures, dont run cables around and under door frames etc..
Externally I would have some sort of containment like plastic conduit. The least you will need is some IP rated plastic connection boxes to contain all the cable connectors near the cameras.

8, use decent quality coax cable. If cabling using coax will be difficult you can use cat5 with special connectors called baluns.

9, make sure the cameras and cables are out of reach of any passer by. They will just yank them off otherwise.

10, A decent installation will work correctly for 10 years or more, components may fail but the installation will operate, a badly installed system will never work right and last a few months.

The most important thing to remember is to make sure You do all of this safely I cannot be held responsible for any one getting pregnant or being kidnapped by aliens following my advice!

Now once you have read all that and not died of boredom let me know what your budget is and I will try and find a local trade supplier to buy your stuff from.
Feel free to ask more questions if you have a really high boredom threshold!

P.s the swann system is a pile of crap don't bother with it.

[Vultch]

2 seconds is a long time and 10 is an eternity, unless they're standing still until you say cheese you'll have to rely on a lot of luck to catch a decent identifiable image of a face. Much better with a decent video camera, and as already been said set them up right.

But that said... for night images I'd not rely on it as a security measure, shine a torch into a camera at night and the flare will cover anything going on in it's field of view.

A couple of dogs, steel doors and locks (the best you can afford) will do a better job.

pros and cons with both, the stealth stills camera will not be as threatening you have a much better chance of them getting closer and a much much better resolution image of the scrotes maybe even a face... unless your spending big money on expensive CCTV HD and good glass etc, some do burst of shots , 10 pics one after the other every time its triggered

[Albannach]

Agree..CCTV only shows them in the act not who they are, one device I'v been looking at is a ornate looking PIR courtesy/security lamp it senses movement and switches on the sort of thing you would use to light a dark driveway so its not as threatening to the local scum so they may come closer but hidden inside is a 5-8MP camera taking stills every 2-10 sec roughly, these might be of more use for identification

example

That's what our local CPO advised us to get.

He also advised us to be very, very, careful if we got cameras. If our cameras are recording part of someone elses property; we're breaking the law (especially so if the part of the property contains a window, door or access path).

[Bogus]

A couple of dogs, steel doors and locks (the best you can afford) will do a better job.

Not for what he wants. None of these will stop kids chucking eggs at your house or uprooting your azaleas. Not saying a BBC outside camera unit will either but it may at least deter them, and if it doesnt, and they are not too hooded and masked up you might ID the culprits and somehow come up with a different deterrent, now that you know who exactly to deter.

Its all very depressing I know, but locks only keep honest people out.

[Ambobeer]

Re the law I think it's just a case of common sense.

I've been fitting CCTV for about eight years now and I've never once had an issue. There's a lot of debate over sign requirements. As in if you don't post signs and catch someone up to no good you cannot use the footage as evidence.

I have always been led to believe if you are out to capture some one then you need signs. If you are monitoring indiscriminately you don't.

[kamaangir]

Re the law I think it's just a case of common sense.

I've been fitting CCTV for about eight years now and I've never once had an issue. There's a lot of debate over sign requirements. As in if you don't post signs and catch someone up to no good you cannot use the footage as evidence.

I have always been led to believe if you are out to capture some one then you need signs. If you are monitoring indiscriminately you don't.

The DPA does not apply to private property in a domestic setting. As long as the system only captures images from the confines of your own property and does not look into other peoples gardens or bedroom windows than no signage or dpa compliance is necessary.
Over looking public walkways near your property where an incident has previously occurred will probably not get hassle from the council.

[Dodge]

Not for what he wants. None of these will stop kids chucking eggs at your house or uprooting your azaleas. Not saying a BBC outside camera unit will either but it may at least deter them, and if it doesnt, and they are not too hooded and masked up you might ID the culprits and somehow come up with a different deterrent, now that you know who exactly to deter.

Its all very depressing I know, but locks only keep honest people out.

If it's kids fukcing about outside, take one, if they're still fukcing about the next night, take another... eventually they'll stop or run out of kids, win win!