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Aeka 2.0 posted:Do people seek out HOA's? Because paying a massive monthly fee, cant do anything to your house like you're renting, and they can put a lean on your poo poo really turns me off and it is hard to find a place without that poo poo. I live in a small 12 house lot that may have some riff raff, but it's better than dealing with that poo poo. Some people do. Some people like me just have to deal with them. Any sort of subdivision built in the last 20 to 30 years or so is going to have one, especially if there is any sort of shared amenity space. My HOA deals with the common area upkeep, and the community pool facility. There's the standard architectural committee approval BS as well, but that's just part of dealing with it. Ours isn't as bad as some, but can be inconvenient. I don't consider the fee to be massive, though I dislike how much of the fee goes to "management services" which is a total racket (like many things in real estate). Our pool facility is beautiful though and the HOA fee we pay yearly (450) is worth it just for access to the pool. Honestly I'd be fine if all the HOA rules went away and we all just contributed to a maintenance bucket for the common areas and pool. I was surprised though how many people do want a strong HOA and desire to live in those communities. Imagine the sort of person that would care that your trash can was out at 7:15pm when the rules say it has to be put back in by 7pm. Those people like HOA's.
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Aug 24, 2018 15:40
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I'd rather cut my dick off than join a HOA. Actually thats one of the first requirements in the handbook.
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Aug 24, 2018 15:56
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What up thread. I've been jumping into the home automation and security bandwagon and went with a smart things hub and their collection of sensors. I just discovered the Classic App last night and it's so much better than the current version. Are there any other tips or tricks im missing out on? I'm also really interested in getting a smoke/co detector connected but they all have pretty dicey reviews. Is there a goon recommendation?
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Aug 24, 2018 16:10
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Aeka 2.0 posted:Do people seek out HOA's? Because paying a massive monthly fee, cant do anything to your house like you're renting, and they can put a lean on your poo poo really turns me off and it is hard to find a place without that poo poo. I live in a small 12 house lot that may have some riff raff, but it's better than dealing with that poo poo. I was very anti-HOA until my realtor was like "well then good luck!" Turns out nearly every subdivision where we could look, and afford, had them. However ours is $50/year and very relaxed. They just deal with seasonal parties, making sure yards are semi-upkept, neighborhood garage sales and things like that. I'm still torn on them, but now that I own and actively worry about house value and it's decline or growth, sometimes I'm happy they're there. They also are our active representation to the local government and were instrumental in getting our entire neighborhood repaved this year. So there's some good there!
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Aug 24, 2018 16:29
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my HOA is actually not too bad (only going on our 2nd year here) it's a set of 16 Townhouses and the fees are pretty low and just take care of general maintenance and snow removal (which i have to say was really loving good this past winter)
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Aug 25, 2018 03:19
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HOAs should be illegal.
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Aug 25, 2018 14:46
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Hubis posted:HOAs should be illegal. It should be tied in to Right to Work laws: if your state doesn't allow worker unions to have collective bargaining power, then neighborhoods should be similarly declawed.
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Aug 26, 2018 16:16
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I hate HOAs as much as the next guy. But I also hate that the guy next door to me always has 4 cars in various states of dissasembly in his front yard and has an inflatable pool between his house and mine that never gets used and is a nice breeding ground for mosquitoes. Not that I've thought through the intricacies of HOAs but rather than eliminating them it might be better to regulate them.
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Aug 26, 2018 17:03
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Thermopyle posted:I hate HOAs as much as the next guy. That's what town / city ordnances are for, you don't need a HOA.
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Aug 26, 2018 19:27
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An incorporated municipality is just a large HOA.
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Aug 26, 2018 19:29
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Wibla posted:That's what town / city ordnances are for, you don't need a HOA. Yeah that's what I've been thinking during this convo, if you think HOAs are a blessing because they keep hoarders from putting garbage in their yards, your municipal bylaws don't have much teeth
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Aug 26, 2018 19:32
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Wibla posted:That's what town / city ordnances are for, you don't need a HOA. An HOA by another name you mean.  (the vast majority of new subdivisions in my area are not in any city limits, and the county is laughably libertarian and toothless)
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Aug 27, 2018 00:38
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Also our HOAs are essentially just representatives for the municipality. There's an official liason group between the two and any issue bigger than "please keep your lawn somewhat mowed" has to be handed over to them. Essentially the municipality doesn't have time to go patrolling neighborhoods and relies on HOAs to be their eyes and ears.
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Aug 27, 2018 01:16
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Does anyone have any experience with this? https://www.amazon.com/【Expa...system+5mp+16ch We're finally at the point where we're ready to pull the trigger on a new security system and my boss found an analog system for the same price, but I wanted to have a digital alternative, since when I've asked about cameras here in the past when this was in a more theoretical stage, this is what everyone recommended. I thought about trying to put together a piecemeal system as well, but I"m having a hard time picking out what NVRs are actually good (we do need an on-site way to show the camera feed to non-tech people and record some history and this seems the best way). One thing to consider is that we have relatively slow internet (10 up/10 down) and one pro I'm seeing for analog systems is that they are less bandwidth intensive.
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Aug 27, 2018 18:53
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The size of a 5 MP stream is more about the complexity of the image and the aggressiveness of compression than the transmission method. I've never heard of Onwote, and the cameras vaguely look like Uniview OEM but they could be something cheaper. Looking over their PDFs it isn't Hikvision or Dauha OEM'd. It doesn't look like anything special, and while it advertises ONVIF support, I would be deeply suspicious of it working. They aren't on the conformant list, and passing that isn't hard or expensive. It honestly looks like your bosses analog solution might be the better option. You'll end up with greater flexibility for swapping out cameras in the future.
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Aug 27, 2018 20:05
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Thermopyle posted:I hate HOAs as much as the next guy. I'm going to take the side of "guy with car on cinder blocks" over NIMBY bullshit any day of the week. I own 5 properties now and I promised myself I'd never turn into one of those kinda jerks. Besides, whatever lowers the value of my house, also lowers my property tax 
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Aug 27, 2018 20:23
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Yes, that's the only two options.
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Aug 27, 2018 22:43
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Any recommendations on security systems such as SimpliSafe vs Nest secure and the likes?
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Aug 27, 2018 22:44
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Thomamelas posted:The size of a 5 MP stream is more about the complexity of the image and the aggressiveness of compression than the transmission method. I've never heard of Onwote, and the cameras vaguely look like Uniview OEM but they could be something cheaper. Looking over their PDFs it isn't Hikvision or Dauha OEM'd. It doesn't look like anything special, and while it advertises ONVIF support, I would be deeply suspicious of it working. They aren't on the conformant list, and passing that isn't hard or expensive. It honestly looks like your bosses analog solution might be the better option. You'll end up with greater flexibility for swapping out cameras in the future. I appreciate this. That makes sense, and it is compatible with the cameras we already own. There has been a general dissatisfaction with those, though, and I worry that we're just creating the same thing. However, I've been having trouble finding a 16CH NVR that has positive ratings, if any ratings at all.
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Aug 27, 2018 22:50
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I really prefer a windows box for a DVR for Hikvision stuff.
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Aug 27, 2018 23:57
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redeyes posted:I really prefer a windows box for a DVR for Hikvision stuff. BlueIris or something else?
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Aug 28, 2018 00:04
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Rick posted:I appreciate this. Most of the embedded units tend to be pretty cheaply made. There is also a tendency to use VCRs as the UI metaphor and that really misunderstands what people did with VCRs. Basically at the price point you're looking at, it's pretty much all poo poo.
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Aug 28, 2018 01:51
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skipdogg posted:BlueIris or something else? No, just the Hikvision software, iVMS 4200. Works well enough for me.
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Aug 28, 2018 02:00
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Cross posting from the Security thread: I’m keen to purchase some sort of internal security camera for my apartment. My thoughts were that it doesn’t need to be internet enabled (I would actually prefer it isn’t for security reasons). I was thinking some kind of cheap IP camera and cheap NAS that saves like a week’s footage. Low FPS is fine. Can anyone recommend something? I’m renting at the moment so it’s really just to keep an eye on unsupervised people in my apartment. I try to be there generally but can’t always. The security thread pointed out that there is the chance of a thief stealing the camera/NAS which is a good point. Keen to hear any idea around that too I guess.
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Aug 31, 2018 11:53
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Red_Fred posted:Cross posting from the Security thread: I'm in a similar situation and just wanting enough knowledge to buy a single camera and know which software (preferably Linux-based) to record from it. If you don't have some off-site storage then it's probably wise to get a VPS up and running if you know how. I'm pretty good on the command-line and if I could work out the best solution to take a feed from a single IP cam and record it to disk when triggered, then it would be quite trivial for me to sync it to a DigitalOcean droplet or a machine at a different site. EDIT: Is ZoneMinder a viable NVR solution for one or two Hikvision cams? I'd really like something I can run in a Linux VM, record to a local fileshare and have recording triggered by motion sensed on the cam. apropos man fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Aug 31, 2018 |
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Aug 31, 2018 21:50
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Generally Hikvision and Dauha are the two low ends I recommend. There is cheaper stuff but you're going to find mixing and matching VMSes is hit or miss with anything cheaper. For Linux based free VMSes, the two leading options are Zoneminder and Shinobi. The issue with both of them is that while they are open source projects, they are basically single developer projects. Both of whom are trying to commercialize support. So updates tend to be sporadic. For instance ZoneMinder was supposed to get H.264 support in December's stable release. You'll want to test to see if they will meet your needs. But if they don't, I wouldn't expect updates anytime soon to fix that.
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Sep 1, 2018 05:22
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Cool. I'll check out Shinobi too. I created a VM on my server last night and was able to install ZoneMinder without too much trouble. The only trouble being that I have nothing to feed to it at the moment ;-) It's a bit basic but if it records a decent stream from a Hikvision then that should be good enough. I can VLAN my VM and firewall access to certain other parts of my network, so even if I end up using something that's not updated frequently I might manage on just the basic functions it provides. Thanks. I'll go and check out Shinobi.
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Sep 1, 2018 07:47
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Noob question: The Hikvision DS-2CD2042WD-I comes in three different lens sizes on eBay: 4mm, 6mm and 12mm. In what way does lens size affect the picture that's returned?
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Sep 1, 2018 08:14
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apropos man posted:Noob question: A smaller lens has a bigger field of view. https://www.cctvcamerapros.com/Security-Camera-Lens-Comparison-s/90.htm (ignore the first two comparisons and scroll down to the HD Security Camera Lens Comparison section). You will probably want the 4mm lens. Some Hikvisions are available with a 2.8mm lens also, if you want an even wider field of view. Droo fucked around with this message at 13:22 on Sep 1, 2018 |
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Sep 1, 2018 13:20
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I thought it was something along those lines. Thanks.
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Sep 1, 2018 14:37
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put my Arlo's up, lets see if anyone in the townhouse complex complains
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Sep 1, 2018 17:47
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apropos man posted:Noob question: The smaller the lens size the wider the field of view. With the same resolution imager, a lens with a wider field of view will produce less detail than a lens with a smaller field of view. Each pixel is covering a larger area.
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Sep 1, 2018 21:40
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Are there any A8 sized smart bulbs that are HomeKit compatible? My wife bought 2 bedside lamps that take smaller bulbs that use the normal sized screw in. Preferably something without a hub.
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Sep 3, 2018 18:43
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So is there a basic POE powered IP camera the thread can recommend? Ubiquiti?
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Sep 3, 2018 23:10
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Matt Zerella posted:Are there any A8 sized smart bulbs that are HomeKit compatible? My wife bought 2 bedside lamps that take smaller bulbs that use the normal sized screw in. Preferably something without a hub. In case you haven't thought of it, I mostly use smart receptacles for lamps. If you don't require dimming/colors they're a good option. iHome makes some homekit ones I'm pretty sure.
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Sep 3, 2018 23:23
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Thermopyle posted:In case you haven't thought of it, I mostly use smart receptacles for lamps. If you don't require dimming/colors they're a good option. iHome makes some homekit ones I'm pretty sure. I was hoping to get dimming but yeah, smart switch was my next option. Probably a wemo since I need one for the humidifier too.
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Sep 3, 2018 23:43
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Red_Fred posted:So is there a basic POE powered IP camera the thread can recommend? Ubiquiti? Hikvision seems to be the most recommended as a chinese camera that will just work. I've mostly heard bad things about Ubiquiti cameras although I haven't used them myself. The hikvision stuff I've used seems to hold up well and has decent picture quality. Of 40 or so cameras at three sites there have been issues with two or three of them that were often just an issue with the cabling (security vendor did a really long run with no repeaters or whatever).
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Sep 3, 2018 23:45
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Rexxed posted:Hikvision seems to be the most recommended as a chinese camera that will just work. I've mostly heard bad things about Ubiquiti cameras although I haven't used them myself. The hikvision stuff I've used seems to hold up well and has decent picture quality. Of 40 or so cameras at three sites there have been issues with two or three of them that were often just an issue with the cabling (security vendor did a really long run with no repeaters or whatever). Is there anything cheaper? My apartment is tiny and the cheapest one of these is still pretty expensive. I really thought this setup would be cheaper/easier, silly me.
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Sep 4, 2018 00:34
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Red_Fred posted:Is there anything cheaper? My apartment is tiny and the cheapest one of these is still pretty expensive. What kind of camera are you looking for? One to sit on a table with pan/tilt/zoom? A bullet cam for wall mounting to look at the door? Amcrest is the US division that sells foscam stuff now and they're alright for cheap stuff. I own a couple of foscam units for basic home ip cam stuff. The main thing is to block the camera from getting on the internet at your router because some of them phone home to provide a hosted always online streaming service, which while convenient for people who don't know better is also super insecure.
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Sep 4, 2018 00:39
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Matt Zerella posted:Are there any A8 sized smart bulbs that are HomeKit compatible? My wife bought 2 bedside lamps that take smaller bulbs that use the normal sized screw in. Preferably something without a hub. Is this a common size outside the US? I can’t even find an example of this bulb on Amazon.
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Sep 4, 2018 00:41
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