Home camera system

[JDR13]

Anyone have any recent experience with home camera/security systems? I'd like to get one, but I know next to nothing about them. I want a set with multiple (2-4?) cameras that I can set up myself and can be easily accessed at any time through my phone remotely. Any name-brand suggestions or general tips would be appreciated.

 

[Qayto]

We have Ring Cameras and I...yes, me!! managed to install them and adjust the settings to my liking. We went for the rechargeable battery ones rather than wired in. They can be motion censor but the dog / visting fox were constantly setting them off. I tend to just check things via my phone, see whose at the door.
I moved a camera inside to watch the dog while I was out, heartbreaking, in between sleeps she goes sadly to sniff her lead as if that will invoke the return of humans.

 

[JDR13]

@Qayto How long does the battery charge last, and how long do they take to recharge? Also, can you toggle the motion sensor on/off remotely or is that something that has to be done on the camera?

 

[Shagnak]

I went for cheap as chips: Xiaomi.
This means the Chinese government is watching me play video games and my dog tearing up and down the main hall. I'm sure they find that interesting. Possibly this brand is banned in the US.
Anyway, they are very good for the price.

Powered by USB - just buy a cheap mini power adapter and do your own USB cabling to wherever you mount them. I have one mounted in the ceiling and a couple on shelves.
No subscription required, if you don't want to use their cloud services.
They're wirelessly connected to my network and I can view live footage from wherever I am in the world.
Two-way communications so you can talk to intruders. Or torment the dog.
Multiple storage options - cloud (for this you have to pay I think), micro SD card, or any server storage that's on your network. Whatever the storage option, it saves video whenever it detects something, and you can download it.
Person detection - the cameras will spookily move and track anything that looks human shaped, if you set them to. Tracking and alerts are fully configurable.

I was impressed enough that I also bought their robo vacuum and smart doorbell (both pretty good IMO), and I can manage them all through the same cellphone app. I wasn't expecting them to be so good, given that they are so much cheaper than Eufy and Ring and all the others.

 

[JDR13]

I went for cheap as chips: Xiaomi.
This means the Chinese government is watching me play video games and my dog tearing up and down the main hall. I'm sure they find that interesting. Possibly this brand is banned in the US.
Anyway, they are very good for the price.

I just checked Amazon, and they're available here.

Two-way communications so you can talk to intruders. Or torment the dog.

That's pretty cool. What the range on what you can hear?

 

[Shagnak]

I just checked Amazon, and they're available here.

You're just not allowed to insult the Chinese leader. Don't be caught watching anything with Winnie-the-Pooh in it, or else they spontaneously self destruct and burn your house down.

That's pretty cool. What the range on what you can hear?

Not sure. When I've talked to my kids through them in the past they've been with 3 or 4 metres, so I haven't really tested the range.

 

[JDR13]

Not sure. When I've talked to my kids through them in the past they've been with 3 or 4 metres, so I haven't really tested the range.

Thanks. I'm going to take a look at them. There are several models.

Should I care if the video capture format is MP4 or MPEG-4? Any significant difference?

 

[Shagnak]

Thanks. I'm going to take a look at them. There are several models.

Should I care if the video capture format is MP4 or MPEG-4? Any significant difference?

No idea. Often they're used interchangeably, even though technically speaking MP4 is a type of MPEG4. I wouldn't be surprised if the MPEG4 is MP4. At worst it'll probably be h264, which is more than good enough.
I'll check my cameras and doorbell to see what they are.

 

[Shagnak]

I have three of these:

Xiaomi Smart Camera C200 - Xiaomi Global

Reasons to choose Xiaomi Smart Camera C200: √1080p high resolution√360° rotation√Infrared night vision√Human tracking

www.mi.com

Apparently they record in h265/HEVC, which is about as good as it gets for this sort of thing. They claim 50% better utilization of storage over cameras that use h264.

A minute of footage at 1920x1080 only takes up 8 megabytes of storage, and the .mp4 file reports as MPEG-H Part2/HEVC (H.265).

 

[Qayto]

@Qayto How long does the battery charge last, and how long do they take to recharge? Also, can you toggle the motion sensor on/off remotely or is that something that has to be done on the camera?

The batterys seem to last about 4-5 months, we bought extra batteries so its just a case of swapping in the charged one. I've had them about a year and swapped the batteries twice. My window cleaner man has the solar powered ones and says he's only had to charge the battery up twice in two years.

Everything is done via the app on my phone or chromebook. We have a subscription to "Ring" who keep the footage for about 2 weeks but theres various layers of how much and for how long. I do regret not having one proper night vision one and might change this in the future.

 

[ChaosTheory]

I've got a pretty extensive Ring system, sensors, cameras, etc that I self-installed. It's super easy and works very well. Some battery, some powered. Battery life is acceptable but depends on how much it's tripped and other settings. At least for now, it's only a couple hundred per year for monitoring. Also at least for now, no Prime membership needed.

Like someone said above, it's sad watching your dog stare out the window all day waiting for your return.

 

[JDR13]

At least for now, it's only a couple hundred per year for monitoring.

I'm not sure I understand. You have to pay for a subscription too?

 

[ChaosTheory]

You don't need it for live footage. But if you're not directly watching the cameras, they will record clips (movement, etc) that can only be accessed with their basic subscription. IMO it's useless without those features.

 

[JDR13]

I just ordered the Xiaomi Smart Camera C300 from Amazon. I'll start with 1 to see how I like it.

 

[JDR13]

I can't get this thing to connect to my network. It apparently only works with 2.4G Wi-fi networks and not 5G? Or am I missing something here?

 

[Shagnak]

I can't get this thing to connect to my network. It apparently only works with 2.4G Wi-fi networks and not 5G? Or am I missing something here?

Yep, it's 2.4GHz only. Better range, but lower bandwidth (it doesn't need much bandwidth).
Edit: I presume you can enable 2.4GHz in your router? Most households I know run 2.4 and 5GHz side-by-side.

 

[JDR13]

Yep, it's 2.4GHz only. Better range, but lower bandwidth (it doesn't need much bandwidth).
Edit: I presume you can enable 2.4GHz in your router? Most households I know run 2.4 and 5GHz side-by-side.

I looked up the model I have, and it's labeled as dual-band, so there should be a way to switch it. I couldn't find it in the settings though, and the technical support number for my ISP has been useless so far. (I keep getting routed to people in India, and everyone I've tried to talk to is clueless.) Very frustrating.

*Edit* By "switch" I mean to turn on 2.4GHz as well.

 

[notdart]

I looked up the model I have, and it's labeled as dual-band, so there should be a way to switch it. I couldn't find it in the settings though, and the technical support number for my ISP has been useless so far. (I keep getting routed to people in India, and everyone I've tried to talk to is clueless.) Very frustrating.

*Edit* By "switch" I mean to turn on 2.4GHz as well.

Did you log into your router as admin? Nearly every router i have when you log in - oh wait - you use your isp crap piece of junk router ? If necessary you can insert a personal router after the crap piece of junk (comcast?) router and your other equipment and then setup 2.4 on it.

 

[JDR13]

Did you log into your router as admin? Nearly every router i have when you log in - oh wait - you use your isp crap piece of junk router ? If necessary you can insert a personal router after the crap piece of junk (comcast?) router and your other equipment and then setup 2.4 on it.

Yeah, I just use the one Quantum Fiber gave me. I've never had any issues with it before now. It's WiFi 7, so it should be putting out all bands simultaneously, but the camera only detects it as 5GHz for some reason.

Anyways, I got the camera to connect by using trick I read about on a forum. I activated the mobile hotspot on my phone and changed the name and password to match the name and password of my WiFi. The camera connected to that. After configuring it and turning off the hotspot, it then connected to my WiFi.

I'd still like to know why it wouldn't connect normally though.

 

[notdart]

Yeah, I just use the one Quantum Fiber gave me. I've never had any issues with it before now. It's WiFi 7, so it should be putting out all bands simultaneously, but the camera only detects it as 5GHz for some reason.

If you use your phone or similar device can you see distinct ssid for the different bands ?