Camera system with quick on/off arming of record function

Hello,

I want to install a system of three outdoor surveillance cameras. A specific goal is to record people who walk up close to the house, and send alarms. In the future, I also want to explore ways to integrate the cameras in home automation systems and IoT-applications.

For now, I am thinking of how to efficiently and effectively avoid false alarms. To do so I plan to 1) install an external PIR to avoid spiders/snow/etc from starting the video recoding. I also want to 2) find a way to schedule and __in a very flexible and easy way__ turn on and off the automatic recording of the cameras, if the PIR detects movement. For example, sometimes I want the camera system to be armed for recoding during daytime and sometimes not, if we are working in the garden. I have not yet found a quick way to turn on and off the recording from, let´s say, a mobile phone. I don’t want scheduling only.

One way to do this could be to turn on and off the power to the external PIR, from an app. The on/off of the power could furthermore easily be integrated in a home automation system, which typically have ways to turn power on/off.

My question is: Do you recommend any other way to quickly turn on/off the recording function of a camera (am currently thinking about hikvision, but other suppliers could work as well), given the uses I have in mind?

Best,

d.

Different thought ; so long as recording capacity is reasonable, who cares if it does record you working in the garden? The objective is to record things that might be of interest later (but probably won't be, and will never be looked at). Allowing a few more not-of-interest recordings shouldn't cause any problem.

I'd focus on the alerting side, and yes a home automation setup might help here. e.g. alert if PIR triggered while front door is locked, with a snapshot from the cam(s).

PIRs have their own false trigger issues; shadows , breezes etc. You may be able to combine PIR alert + video motion alert within a few seconds of each other to produce a reliable alert.

Thanks for the reply, and good thoughts.

It's only so that I have an uneasy feeling about being recorded (or even filmed) -> I want to quickly turn on and off the video and recording.

But I agree, perhaps it is better to focus on the Alert system, and make that work well. And then be less concerned with the recording. The system set-up would probably be easier that way.

Do you know if the "PIR alert + video motion -> send alert" combination is doable within existing systems?

I just started messing around with the Belkin wemo switch you can turn on an off a device plugged into a wall socket with a smart phone app. also works with amazon echo. runs on either cell network or wifi

I have done Video Monitoring for the last 10 years and I can promise you that you will be overwhelmed with the amount of alerts you will receive from a PIR or "video motion" (pixel change) alert.

Install an analytic camera (Checkvideo, Avigilon, Visualint, etc.) for accurate alerts. The CheckVideo camera can be configured to arm/disarm following the alarm panel. If you can arm/disarm from your phone then you can arm/disarm the cameras. I am sure the others can as well, I have not tried them though. Hikvision offers "analytics" on most of their IP cameras but based on my experiences, they do not work very well in outdoor applications.

Another way would be to put a switch in line with the power to the camera. If it is an IP camera, turn off power on the POE port on the switch and power with a transformer. Can't turn it off from your phone though.

I think for the on/off function I will connect my cameras through POE to one shared switch. I will then connect the power of the switch to a "smart plug" that can turn the power on or off through wifi, and that is also compatible with ifttt.

I need to do more research to find the best, yet affordable, solution for avoiding false alarms. I want to see if people have been sneaking around on our property without having to go through tonnes of snow, spider web, shadows etc.

Thanks for the tips willyb.

Ok- so the best(only?) way of avoiding many false alarms is to install an advanced analytics solution? My plan was to use surveillance station in our Qnap, but I think it is fairly basic and doesn´t allow for sophisticated analytics. I initially thought a way forward was to use an extra PIR sensor.

Most of your suggested solutions seem to be quite expensive, and not available in my home country. It is surprising to me that there aren´t any good, and at the same time cheap, solutions on the market. Perhaps I should give up the goal of a system that is fairly accurate in detecting, and alarming/recording, humans? I just want to get noticed when relevant events take place, without going through tones of video manually.