mpratt 0 Posted January 18, 2007 I’m looking to purchase cameras for the purpose of deterring crime and to let us know who’s coming to the door, driveway and garage and to overlook the backyard. I’ve done a lot of research on cameras, but just don’t know what the best is for are situation since this is a new area for me. I prefer to stay with wired based cameras. Any feed back would be helpful. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
junya 0 Posted January 20, 2007 i guess it depends on what you want to see or obtain i case of a criminal act. infra red cameras are good, but if you want to zoom in more on something then a varifocal-day night camera would be good also. im about to put up some infra red cameras on the sides of the house to get an overall view, but my front door and driveway which i park my vehicles i got a day night varifocal dome(weatherproof of course). if your planned front door camera is low enough for someone to vandalize or steal, trust me, they will if they see it. something covert there may be a good idea for that too. not sure if they make infra red varifocal cameras, if they do , i never worked with them yet. if anyone has, please fill me in. may need to think about decent dvr set up instead of a vcr to get good playback quality. hope this helps. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
securitymonster 0 Posted January 20, 2007 Look into the Wizkid line of cameras from Extreme CCTV. They have both Infrared day/night cameras along with non infrared day/night, color, and b/w. You also have the option of a bullet style camera or a vandal dome. One thing thats nice on the vandal dome is that they have a 5 year unbreakable warranty. I have been dropping them on the ground from 5 feet and they hook right back up and work great! The name of the game for you is going to be camera placement. The front door camera should be easy to setup but the driveway and backyard will be a bit more difficult. Also remember the more wide angle lens you go, the less detail you will see. A good analogy for this is to pick up a disposable camera and look thru the viewfinder. If your taking a picture from somebody 5 ft away, you have a pretty decent picture, but now if your taking a picture from somebody 15ft away, you get less detail. Even though they are only 15ft away, thru the camera they look 25ft.... A good recorder is going to be key too. Figure spending $600 on each camera and around $1500 for a 4 channel recorder. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jisaac 0 Posted January 25, 2007 not to be the negative one but cameras dont deter crime. I am sure the members in here that are dealers/installers can show you tons of video of people doing their criminal activity right in the face of cameras. Sometime to the actual cameras themselves. Might as well get it on good video when they do though! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CollinR 0 Posted January 25, 2007 not to be the negative one but cameras dont deter crime. I am sure the members in here that are dealers/installers can show you tons of video of people doing their criminal activity right in the face of cameras. Sometime to the actual cameras themselves. Might as well get it on good video when they do though! I gotta disagree, I just had a real world example of how well all electronic security works. S. OK had a severe ice storm, broke 400+ poles and killed all 5 of it's feeders into the city I live. Up to about day 3-4 all was well, cold and dark but okay. Day 5 all residential alarms have failed, most commercial ones as well. By day 6 was almost martial law, public cerfews and such. (POTS and even my DSL worked and is why I was abled to post, from generator power. AT&T really came through.) When you see video of someone during a crime where they obviously know the video will survive, you have seen a small percentage of criminal often drugs/alcahol involved as well. Far more people will convert to criminal mode when they know with reasonable certainty that there is no video and most likely no alarm. This too is an example of their real effectiveness, add in Katrina and most other national disasters. Some were stealing food and water... some were stealing plasmas... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
galen 0 Posted January 26, 2007 I have to agree with collinR that cameras operating or not will deter. I know this first hand. Not 100% of the time but it defiantly helps. I don't suggest dummy cams at all, because sooner or later they find out that its not real. I like a monitor right where the customers can see themselves. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thomas 0 Posted January 27, 2007 Dummy cameras can set up all kinds of liability issues. Don't use them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CCTVnub 0 Posted February 4, 2007 Dummy cameras can set up all kinds of liability issues. Don't use them. I'm baffled by this statement. Care to expound? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lolo Wolf 0 Posted February 4, 2007 A dummy Camera is like pointing a gun at someone without any bullets Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thomas 0 Posted February 5, 2007 Dummy cameras can set up all kinds of liability issues. Don't use them. I'm baffled by this statement. Care to expound? If a person belives they are in a safe area (seeing the cameras) and suffers a personal attack, it can create libility for the properity owner if the cameras do not function. A lawyer can explain it better then I. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
