Home cam

[Bronte Roberts]

Hi there! Could someone share their experience with home cameras? In particular I’m interested to know if it’s better to get one that constantly captures video or one with a motion detector?
Any chance has anyone used the Homam cameras. I want to test it, and curious what others think about it. Please share any suggestions, I'd appreciate that.

 

[ericbphoto]

I haven’t used that brand. I put a camera in my living room so I could check on my dog throughout the day. The one I got works pretty good. I can zoom in and out and pan around the room with it using the phone app. It has motion detection. The picture is good quality. Just check reviews on them before you buy and make sure it has the features you want.

 

[Dirtman]

I have "Blurams" cameras for inside and my porches. They have an app you can use on your phone. You can set them up to constantly record (with a 64gb sd card they go like a week of full loop recording) or you can set them to record only with the motion sensors. They have night vision, my inside one has motion tracking (it moves and follows any movement), they have speakers you can listen and talk through them from your phone. Lots of nifty features.

The cameras outside my house and on my barns/sheds are uniden but they just record constantly and don't have many features. You can still watch video on your phone through an app but thats about it. They are just super rugged outdoor cameras though. If you are putting the camera inside or on a protected porch there are much better options (like the Blurams).

 

[RonD]

You want built-in storage or "local" storage of the video

The cameras that use "cloud storage" can be cheaper but you pay monthly FOREVER if you want to see the videos

You do need electrical power, so keep that in mind, "wireless" just refers to the viewing of the camera, unless its a "game camera" or "go-pro" type


Motion activation is what you want to use, here is why, in motion setting the camera records all the time but its a 5-15second loop
When it detects a change in the image(motion) it saves that loop and continues to save until image is stable again, + 5 to 10seconds
So you get a before and after motion video clip

This saves recording space of course vs full time, it also saves playback viewing time when watching previous recordings

If camera is outdoors then you will get alot of unwanted recordings especially at night if it has infrared because moths are attracted to it, and thats motion
Also if there is any foliage seen the wind causing leaves to move will activate it, or if there is a street in the background, same thing when a car goes by
Also changes in light, i.e. sun setting or coming up

Most motion detection will have a sensitivity adjustment, which you just have to "play with" to eliminate as much unwanted recording as possible, this is TOTALLY dependent on cameras placement, there not a right or wrong setting


There is no real reason for full time recording any more, with digital cameras 1 pixel change is enough to activate and record, in the old days with analog cameras you had to record full time
Sensitivity adjustment is usually a setting for how many pixels changed

How many events will be recorded in 24 hours depends on where camera is located and the sensitivity used
You want to use largest storage available on any outdoor camera
Indoor cameras usually have fewer events

 

[Dirtman]

My experience with using the motion activation, if you set it low enough its recording all the time anyway and if you set it too high it won't record small events like squirrels fighting over a pizza crust.

I enjoy watching squirrels fight over a pizza crust so I just let them record 24-7. My camera still highlights motion events so when you scroll back through the recording you don't have to guess when something happened, you just go to the highlighted sections. Like I said with a 64gb card I get about a week long loop which is plenty of video. Depends how high you set the resolution though, if you set it for full HD recording you get much less time.

But i definitely agree with Ron about using a cloud service. Not only does it cost money but the video is now dependent on wifi signal and internet. It's common to get sketchy sections of video that you simply can't play back because the wifi signal dropped out or something during that recording. I used the cloud service on mine for a couple months and it SUCKED! I'd go to play back a video only to find the signal froze halfway through the recording and I have nothing.

 

[ericbphoto]

I forgot about the infrared night recording mine does that. Plus, i can set a window of space for it to ignore motion in. That way, even though my ceiling fan is in the picture, it doesn’t trigger recording.

 

[sgtsandman]

I have Ring cameras that have motion detection and can be set to less sensitivity so that the neighbor's cat doesn't set it off all the time. You can save any video capture you wish and it notifies you on your phone if you have the app of any motion that sets them off. I have a Ring door bell camera that replaced the peep hole in the door and a spot light camera that replaced my spot light in the back. They also have night vision, so light isn't necessary. I like them so far and plan to get a couple more to cover the blind spots the two don't cover right now. $100 bucks a year allows multiple devices, with no limit on the number of devices that I can see. Neighborhood alert is available and you can share video with the police. The cameras can be a bit pricey but not horrible and the battery life on the ones that run on batteries is pretty good.