|
CopperHound posted:Okay... I didn't realize what a clusterfuck security camera supply chains are. The only direct to consumer vendor I can find that doesn't seem sketchy as gently caress is B&H, but they cost ~$100 more than I was expecting. Legitimately curious: What price point were you hoping for, and what price did you find (expensive)? Not being argumentative, but B&H’s prices seem.. completely normal. Were you envisioning like $30 cameras?
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2017 03:27
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 00:19 |
|
|
Tapedump posted:Legitimately curious: What price point were you hoping for, and what price did you find (expensive)? Interestingly you can buy older smartphones like Galaxy S3 or whatever for $30 and run a security camera app on them and they'll be higher quality and more feature-packed than most purpose-built security cams.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2017 03:40
|
|
|
Zero VGS posted:Interestingly you can buy older smartphones like Galaxy S3 or whatever for $30 and run a security camera app on them and they'll be higher quality and more feature-packed than most purpose-built security cams. What additional features will they have over a dedicated camera? WDR support? DIO support?
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2017 04:06
|
|
|
Tapedump posted:Legitimately curious: What price point were you hoping for, and what price did you find (expensive)? I actually just ordered a couple different varifocal Dahua starlight cameras to demo for my parents. I figure those should have better outdoor image quality than the 3mp HikVisions that I was looking at. After dealing with my dashcam I realize more pixels are no good if the lense is poo poo or if the sensor is noisy in low light situations.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2017 04:52
|
|
|
Thomamelas posted:What additional features will they have over a dedicated camera? WDR support? DIO support? Practical things, such as: - being able to both store the footage locally, and upload it to a Dropbox in case the camera is tampered with, at the same time - can run multiple of them independently, so there's not a central server that could fail - battery backup in case power goes out - many dedicated cameras might not have two-way audio or SD card slot but every older Android will - Android security apps get more active upgrades/attention than some dedicated cameras like say, LevelOne
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2017 05:21
|
|
|
Zero VGS posted:Practical things, such as: Most security cameras have support for SD recording locally. VMS recordings can be set to do backup to dropbox and one drive. And you have options for things like AHVS if you're using Axis cameras. Generally a lot of this stuff was dropped because it turns out that sending 1080p video tends to choke up a lot of residential users connections. This is why purpose built cloud cameras like Dropcam tend to do very different settings for their streaming. Going with aggressive quantization settings and some other tricks to keep bitrate down. And you can do things like point your dropbox or onedrive set up to simply look at the files being generated by a VMS if you want off site. And if you really want to suffer, most cameras have support for FTP in one form or another. I'm not sure that running multiple devices designed with fairly short life spans is a feature over a single server that I can design with better 24/7 use in mind. I mean I loved my S2 and S4s but they were pretty clearly showing their age after two years. Where as stuff like Hikvision and Dahua have three and five year warranties. But if I'm really worried then I can use SD cards in the cameras. The battery back up is nice but a UPS solves that issue pretty easily. And it can give me continued remote access. Generally for camera manufacturers there will be another model in the same series with two way audio and SD support. Those are really very common features. They get more active upgrades and attention because their general feature set is smaller to begin with and the developers are playing catch up. And with a lot more hardware configurations to hit, the odds of them running into a bug on some phone that someone got off of aliexpress and has no name on it isn't uncommon. I would expect to see a lot more updates but with many not providing value to a lot of users. And lets look at what the S3 would be missing: Weather resistance. Mounting it outside is pretty much a no go. You can try to put it under an overhang and hope the wind doesn't blow rain into it. But that limits mounting options pretty badly. Lack of IR. Some of the camera apps will let you turn on the flash light but that requires something to tell it to. At night that means getting very close for motion detection to work. Assuming it can do it via motion detection rather than requiring a user to hit it. Even crappy IR is going to illuminate something further way. Lack of DIO support. Basic DIO support gives me the option to do thing like turn lights on or off. And I can wire in things like doorbells or door contacts. Improved search options. Most VMSes allow for things like limiting search areas for motion. The low end Hikvision stuff is coming with basic analytics for things like left object. Great for knowing that UPS left something at my door.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2017 07:33
|
|
|
Sure but the guy seemed to be complaining about budget/value, if you only have a few cameras to set up and maybe $100, the phones might fit your use case better than some Axis cams.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2017 08:59
|
|
|
I have Google Homes all over my house now, and was wondering how much of a PITA it would be to automate some lights & the front door lock. Is that still something that requires a whole weekend worth of work and setting up multiple accounts and it'll still only sometimes work because 8 things have to chat to each other, or have we figured this out? I have 3 multi-switch circuit lights I'd love to put remote dimmers on and replace the lights with LEDs. I'd also love a real front door lock that I can issue out codes for instead of leaving a key hidden somewhere. Also, when are we going to see hands on reviews of the Nest security system?
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2017 15:45
|
|
|
Assuming you have a neutral, I'd budget about 30 mins per switch you want to replace, generously. The multis are a little trickier, and I'm not sure that you can do dimming from multiple locations. (Seems like you should be able to, but I haven't seen switches for it.)
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2017 15:49
|
|
|
I want one camera covering my front porch and one covering my back porch/driveway. Is there anything wrong with waiting to see what the Nest doorbell will be like and to also put a Nest IQ out back 20 feet up? My city will reimburse up to $200 per/$500 total for the cameras only.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2017 16:56
|
|
|
Zero VGS posted:Sure but the guy seemed to be complaining about budget/value, if you only have a few cameras to set up and maybe $100, the phones might fit your use case better than some Axis cams. Foscam has some outdoor rated stuff at $60. That's still a much more reliable option than a repurposed phone.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2017 17:36
|
|
|
Neon Belly posted:I want one camera covering my front porch and one covering my back porch/driveway. Is there anything wrong with waiting to see what the Nest doorbell will be like and to also put a Nest IQ out back 20 feet up? My city will reimburse up to $200 per/$500 total for the cameras only. Ring is pretty good if you don’t want to wait. I didn’t see a real need to have my camera and thermostat in the same app, so had no reason to wait for Nest. Ring also has floodlight cams if that suits your backside needs. I’d obviously have a wider view if I’d mounted on the other side of the door, but I had existing wiring. 
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2017 17:49
|
|
|
eddiewalker posted:Ring is pretty good if you don’t want to wait. I didn’t see a real need to have my camera and thermostat in the same app, so had no reason to wait for Nest. I use the Skybell HD, it is what Google used to recommend as a doorbell before they put out their own. It works the same as Ring and gives you 7 days of motion-trip or doorbell-rung video history with no subscription fees, they don't even offer a subscription. It is also somehow actually Made In USA and has USA-based phone support. Edit: specifically this one, it is barely over an inch wide so it will fit on old-school house trim: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/co...m=Y&sku=1345555
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2017 18:18
|
|
|
FunOne posted:I have 3 multi-switch circuit lights I'd love to put remote dimmers on and replace the lights with LEDs. Speaking for the HomeSeer ones I used: Take your time to really understand how your system works here. I googled several 3 way circuit wiring diagrams to get an idea of what the wires may be doing. I also carefully wirenutted the ends together of each wire and restored power to test the circuit. It took me about 45 minutes to get it working, although I had replaced plenty of single dimmers beforehand. This isn't counting the extra hour I wasted due to a broken dimmer (replacement has just arrived for that). I'm told that dimming from the companion/remote switch is possible and expected. Also, standard advice, if you're in doubt, get an electrician.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2017 18:19
|
|
|
Heners_UK posted:Speaking for the HomeSeer ones I used: Take your time to really understand how your system works here. I googled several 3 way circuit wiring diagrams to get an idea of what the wires may be doing. I also carefully wirenutted the ends together of each wire and restored power to test the circuit. Yeah, I'm not actually worried about doing the wiring. I'm worried about buying the correct dimmers that work on the correct standard that connect to the correct system so that I can use Google Home to issue them commands. I'd love to do that without having to have a seperate hub for my switches connected to an account with HubDevice.com that I link to my Google Home that only works 1/2 the time. My question was, and still is, can I do what I want to do without it being a huge pain in the rear end on the technical side? I know how to do home wiring.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2017 18:22
|
|
|
Is it good enough to make sure you get a Hikvision camera that has a "Western Region" serial number? Or is there even more detail you have to have to make sure it's an upgradeable version? For example on of my cameras has a serial XC-2042WD-I20151019BBWR54xxxxxx, so I thought it was good. But I've never actually tried to update the firmware, I just block all incoming and outgoing traffic to it and use Blue Iris. For the guy looking for cameras, if the serial number "WR" is good enough then you can usually find specific Amazon sellers that say they sell the western region versions, and presumably return it if it turns out they lied to you. If someone chimes in to say that I'm wrong and it's not good enough then ignore this post though.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2017 18:35
|
|
|
eddiewalker posted:Ring is pretty good if you don’t want to wait. I didn’t see a real need to have my camera and thermostat in the same app, so had no reason to wait for Nest. I do already own two indoor Nest cams (currently facing outside from windowsills), but I'd probably stop paying for the indoor recording if I had the doorbell/back camera set up. The Ring option is definitely worth looking into, as we'd eventually like to get a monitored security system (nothing too fancy - monitor 3 doors and motion detectors on two floors), and Ring's upcoming system looks to be significantly cheaper than Nest's. On the other hand, it is quite ugly. Neon Belly fucked around with this message at 19:12 on Nov 14, 2017 |
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2017 19:03
|
|
|
Droo posted:Is it good enough to make sure you get a Hikvision camera that has a "Western Region" serial number? Or is there even more detail you have to have to make sure it's an upgradeable version? For example on of my cameras has a serial XC-2042WD-I20151019BBWR54xxxxxx, so I thought it was good. But I've never actually tried to update the firmware, I just block all incoming and outgoing traffic to it and use Blue Iris. That should be good enough. Worst case is that there are instructions out there for loading western firmware on the grey market Chinese region cameras.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2017 19:09
|
|
|
Are there any doorbell cams that will record to a local NVR or filesystem yet?
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2017 21:35
|
|
|
n.. posted:Are there any doorbell cams that will record to a local NVR or filesystem yet? Unfortunately doorbell cams are a largely consumer-level product where the majority of customers just want to mount a device, connect it to their WiFi, and have everything happen by magic. The market that wants to record locally is businesses (who are fine with putting a normal camera in the doorway area) and nerds (who also largely are less concerned with appearance as opposed to functionality). Not saying the answer is no, but just that the odds are worse because the people those products target generally don't care.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2017 22:44
|
|
|
Yeah I understand all that, but there's a ton of people asking for it if you read the reviews on ring etc. People that already have an NVR aren't going to want to pay for some cloud service and have a separate app just for the doorbell, and replacing a doorbell is immensely easier than running cat5 and mounting a new camera at your front door. Just seems like a no-brainer software feature they could add and sell more units because of it.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2017 23:08
|
|
|
CopperHound posted:I was expecting $100-150 for decent fixed lense cameras of various focal lengths. 
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2017 00:02
|
|
|
Tapedump posted:Each, or total? If the former, we gotta be looking at different B&H.com websites, because that’s about all I see... All the ones I see on B&H are over $200 except like two for just under. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/sear...rt&N=3880127377 For what it's worth I ordered a bunch of cameras from Nelly's Security and got all western region cameras with a theoretical 3 year warranty. I had an issue with 1 camera though and they jerked me around on a warranty replacement so I don't know that I would recommend them. It was a hard to identify issue (camera froze randomly maybe once a week and had to be unplugged to reboot) and I did get them to credit me 75% back, but still - I ordered 9 loving cameras from them and they couldn't just replace the 1 in good faith? Droo fucked around with this message at 00:20 on Nov 15, 2017 |
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2017 00:17
|
|
|
n.. posted:Yeah I understand all that, but there's a ton of people asking for it if you read the reviews on ring etc. People that already have an NVR aren't going to want to pay for some cloud service and have a separate app just for the doorbell, and replacing a doorbell is immensely easier than running cat5 and mounting a new camera at your front door. Just seems like a no-brainer software feature they could add and sell more units because of it. They make money on subscriptions to their cloud service.
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2017 01:46
|
|
|
Thermopyle posted:They make money on subscriptions to their cloud service. Skybell has the same product except they don't charge for their cloud service... yet they still don't let you record locally.
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2017 01:53
|
|
|
Zero VGS posted:Skybell has the same product except they don't charge for their cloud service... yet they still don't let you record locally. They will eventually if they're still in business.
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2017 02:39
|
|
|
Droo posted:All the ones I see on B&H are over $200 except like two for just under. I'd been looking up B&H Photo on Safari on my phone all this time, and for the item B&H# HIDS2CD2132I MFR# DS-2CD2132F-I-2.8MM, 3MP 2.8mm outdoor, my phone shows $106 whereas Chrome on my PC shows $206... the hell? The one you linked, the B&H# HI2CD2142FWD, is $243 on my PC, as you've seen, but on my phone it's $151.07 (below) Same Hikvision and B&H part numbers. This is why I've been confused, perhaps. Anyone else confirm? 
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2017 17:33
|
|
|
Same here. Wtf! ~$100 more when it hit request desktop site.  E: it is minimum advertised price fuckery. If I make an account and add to cart it shows mobile price. CopperHound fucked around with this message at 17:51 on Nov 15, 2017 |
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2017 17:46
|
|
|
I feel better now. Kind of.
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2017 17:48
|
|
|
Tapedump posted:I feel better now. Kind of. Me too, I was looking for a couple 2.8mm bullet cameras which are tricky to find, it's nice to know that B&H has good secret prices for those since they have a huge selection of different varieties.
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2017 18:25
|
|
|
Anyone know of a way to group together rooms with Google Home? I got z-wave switches for my balcony and porch and now I'm looking for a way to turn on/off only the lights that are on the inside of the house. Ideally I would group all the inside rooms together into an "Inside Lights" group but I can't seem to find a way to do this. I was thinking about creating a new room called "Inside" and putting all my indoor lights in there, but I like having everything split into their own rooms.
|
|
#
?
Nov 16, 2017 17:46
|
|
|
FunOne posted:I'd love to do that without having to have a seperate hub for my switches connected to an account with HubDevice.com that I link to my Google Home that only works 1/2 the time. Speaking for the Homeseer Switches, you will need a hub/similar in the home to interact with them. I know that SmartThings works for this (because I use it), but you'll need some sort of Z-wave interface to control them. For me, controlling the SmartThings switches through the Google Assistant has been reliable. Hub wise though, SmartThings isn't the only option in Home Automation, as much as I like it. Home Assistant, although not a good fit for the "non pain in arse technical side" requirement, is a good product as well
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2017 00:35
|
|
|
McPhearson posted:Anyone know of a way to group together rooms with Google Home? I got z-wave switches for my balcony and porch and now I'm looking for a way to turn on/off only the lights that are on the inside of the house. Ideally I would group all the inside rooms together into an "Inside Lights" group but I can't seem to find a way to do this. I was thinking about creating a new room called "Inside" and putting all my indoor lights in there, but I like having everything split into their own rooms. I don't know but I do know that you can create custom actions (shortcuts) from the google app under settings. So you can create a shortcut to say "turn off the outside lights" which behind the scenes would say "turn off the porch and balcony light" or whatever.
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2017 02:32
|
|
|
New to this thread but just as a data point I have had the Netgear Arlo Pro system up and running at my house for the past 2 weeks and I could not be any happier with it. If anyone has specific questions on this system let me know.
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2017 21:00
|
|
|
Pro or Pro 2?
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2017 22:41
|
|
|
I’ve been more than pleased with my Arlo Pro as well. Right now they’re inside my house, but I intend to do exterior installation soon.
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2017 00:13
|
|
|
Papa John Misty posted:Pro or Pro 2? Right now I have the Pro (not the Pro 2 that I am aware of but it seems like that just came out like last week or something) with 1 Pro camera and actually added a refurb non-Pro camera to save money and it works great with the system. I wish I had bought another when amazon had the non pro refurb cameras for $85 each. The difference in the non pro camera is no audio and they use cr123 batteries versus the Pro has a rechargeable battery pack. I have read some early grumblings on amazon that the Pro 2 cameras are actually not so hot right now. If you have any specific questions let me know but Arlo has been worth every penny so far (to me).
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2017 03:35
|
|
|
This might not be the exact thread, but I'm looking for a space heater to pair with a smart plug. My favorite "anything that moves air around" brand is Lasko but as far as I can tell, all their models of heaters do not power back on once power is restored after being off (probably a safety feature, but the smart plug I use does not power on after power outtages so I'm not too worried about this coming on in the middle of the day for some reason and burning the apartment down). I have some small units that work the desired way but are small. I would like temperature settings but really just anything that works is fine. I've not had good experiences with Honeywell heaters so maybe not them unless that's the only option. Rick fucked around with this message at 11:26 on Nov 18, 2017 |
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2017 11:19
|
|
|
I personally wouldn't be comfortable with a space heater or any large appliance hooked up to a smart switch that isn't specifically certified for such use. Most of the switches on the market seem like they were designed with lighting in mind.
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2017 20:30
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 00:19 |
|
|
housefly posted:I’ve been more than pleased with my Arlo Pro as well. Right now they’re inside my house, but I intend to do exterior installation soon. Just saw this - mine are both outside and so far no issues. Looking to add 2 more cameras in the next month or two I really love that I can add up to 5 with no “fees”
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2017 22:38
|
|