QUestion about home security cameras

[Eden305]

SO, I am in a not so great area. Want to put up some cameras, and found this online:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/swann-pro-series-hd-8-channel-8-camera-outdoor-wired-500gb-dvr-surveillance-system-black/5580607.p?skuId=5580607


My question is, if anyone knows about setting up a camera system, do you need separate wires for the power? Or does the cable feed wires just record?

And also, are the quality of these good? decent? I just wanna be able to see if/who is creepin around my house, if need be for police evidence.

 

[slyverine]

i will talk about their quality first. I don't know the company, but the 55 degrees field of view is very narrow. As build quality etc, i still can't help. As for the power, if you can see every camera has 2 cables, one for video and one for power.The box has 2 power splitters as i can see, each feeding 4 cameras. Those cameras are analog. I would go with new digital cameras which can be fed power using POE and so you can run only one cat 5 cable to the camera. They have better field of view also 90-120 degrees.

 

[USAFRet]

I've had a couple of similar systems.

There is really only one wire going to the camera. At each end there are two, power and signal. Out of the camera and out of the DVR. But they merge into one cable for the whole length.

Quality? Meh...so-so during the day, worse at night.
If we take a US license plate as a known readable thing....past 15 feet, you can't read a license plate.

Installation. Here's the tricky part....
You have to somehow feed the wires from inside the house to the outside.
Either through a window that is not quite closed, or drill an actual hole and feed the wires through that.

I did the latter...a hole sized to hold a short length of 2" PVC pipe. Wires fed through that, and then sealed on the outside with caulk to prevent little critters strolling in.

Features:
Do NOT depend on the motion detection to email you or whatever. Yes, it works. Far too much.
It is insanely hard to get it to trigger on a man sized object and not trigger on a passing cloud or bush blowing in the wind.
At night, passing car headlights trigger it.
And of course the everpresent spiders, spinning a web. They apparently like the warmth.


However, I was able to use it to show the cops 2 guys stealing the street sign in front of my house.
No facial recognition, but we could tell that it was an older Chevy or GMC small blue pickup truck.