# Need a camera to watch my driveway.



## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

I've done the search thingy here and have't come up with anything on Surveilance cameras.

I live high on top of a hill, my driveway is 1/4 mile long and curvey.

I want to put a camera, doesnt need to be fancy, or have tons of bells & whistles, on the corner of my front porch, overlooking the driveway .

I do want it to have at least 100 ft of night vision.
I would like to be able to pan with it.

There are a bazillion out there , from $15 to $2000.

Some of the cheap ones have really good reviews.









*I was wondering if someone here may have experience with one and have any advice.
*

Jim


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

1. Are you looking for a wired/wireless camera? Wireless , don't want to run 
cables.

2. If wireless, what wifi spec do you require (801.11b, g, n, etc.)?Dont know

3. Are you looking for something you can view/control with your existing computer, or are you looking for a standalone station? I have a 19" monitor I'd like to use

4. If you're looking for your computer, is there any particular connection you want? For instance, do you want an ethernet connection, USB, etc.? No, cable connections...wifi to my laptop

5. Do you have any requirements on sensor/image quality? Since this is really an open-ended question, here are a bunch of sub-questions. I would like 720p HD quality at least

5a. What size image (pixels wide by pixels tall) are you looking for? 1200x680 , I guess that would do, not fussy here.

5b. What horizontal field (in degrees) of view do you need? Related to this, what optical zoom do you need?Zoom not necessary, just a 120 deg field is plenty just to watch driveway. 

5c. What ground resolution do you need? If you don't know, another way to ask this question is "what things are you trying to see, and how far away are those things"? People and cars , 400 ft away at least in daylight.

5d. Do you need the ability to record the imagery? Not necessary

5e. Assuming 5d is yes, do you want it admissible in the "higher courts" (i.e., more than just common claims court)?

5f. Assuming 5d is yes, are you looking for a series of still images or video?

5g. What frame rate do you need?:dunno:

5h. Do you need any particular file format?:dunno:

5i. What compression rates can you tolerate?:dunno:

6. Are you comfortable with computer technology (installing software, troubleshooting network issues, etc.)?Yes

7. What climate conditions do you normally see? everything from 100+ to 10 deg temps, rain and snow.

8. Do you want the camera to be obvious or discrete? I want 2 cameras , they will be under eve of prch and eve of barn...not very obvious

9. How much money are you willing to spend?Not $2K but up to $500, but the least that will just let me watch my driveway, and notify me of major motion.

10. How much setup time are you willing to invest? Whatever it takes.


I would like night vision(blk and white) of at least 100ft distance, 
I would like to have alert when motion is detected.

Thats about it.

Pan capabilty would be nice but not a must.

Jim


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## RedBeard (May 8, 2017)

Im gonna go ahead and follow this thread, it's good to know Admiral is a guru!


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

I have two different systems, both purchased off of Amazon based on a very high number of positive reviews and installed myself. One is wireless and one is wired (POE), both operate off of a NVR/DVR system and both are web accessible and provide motion alerts. The two brands are Swann and Zmodo. I think I have about $800 total into the two systems. Both work well and do what I need them to do. While I do have a couple cameras outdoors I also have a few looking outside through windows. Both options work well for me.


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

I have seen both of those on Amazon.

Like I said , a lot of the lower priced (2-3 hundred) cameras have high reviews.

All I want , is to watch my driveway for now.

May add more cameras later.




Jim


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## Tweto (Nov 26, 2011)

I currently have a 720P system that's hard wired. It records all cameras all the time. It has motion detection and flagging for even just a programmed small areas of a cameras view.

Excellent day time viewing, but for some reason the cameras have a better viewing at dusk. Night vision (pitch black) is limited to about 50 feet.

This is a cheap system ($150) but so far I'm happy.

But knowing what I know now I would have got a HD system with better night vision.

In time I may get second system with all the bells a whistles.

I would not get 720p, I would get the more expressive full HD system.


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## Flight1630 (Jan 4, 2017)

Would putting a ir (infrared) light say in a strategic place say 75 feet away from camera help?


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## bbqjoe (Feb 10, 2017)

Not that it really means anything, My Dad has a system in two houses, and can view everything, even talk to people at the front door of one house from another, all on his smart phone.


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

A friend of mine, (the retired doctor I speak of often) has the Samsung Smart Cam system, and loves it. What he showed me was 1080 HD and very clear .

He can pan thru his house , watch the dog, gets alerts to his phone, when theres motion, and can control the cameras from his phone.

He did see his 120lb Doberman come out of the bathroom with the toilet seat one time.:rofl:

He is expanding to more camera's.

He is the one that got me started to look into these for my front porch.

I can't see any reason to be looking at my driveway from my phone, when I go to the grocery store.

We just do not travel anymore, but it seems they all have that capability.

I'm looking at "hunker down" time and having an alert to give me that sniper time for them Zombies.:wave:

Jim


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## Flight1630 (Jan 4, 2017)

AdmiralD7S said:


> Maybe
> 
> There's another thread where we talked about the IR side of things, but the long and short of it is: 1) pay attention to the bandpass (what wavelength range(s) of light) of both the camera and the emitter, 2) pay attention to the power you'll need to emit to light up the area, and 3) don't shine your emitter into your camera.


Lol now your talking Chinese now.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

Meanwhile at AdmiralD7S's house...


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

Just to give some perspective to where I want a camera for my driveway.

These pics are from the far right end of my front porch,

This is the part of my driveway , that I'd like to monitor, day and night.
There is another 800 ft around that curve, to the hwy.









2nd pic is the driveway coming up the hill and behind the house and to the shop.
I'd like a camera on the shop to monitor the drivewy up the hill and to the shop and rear of house.









Does that help?

Never mind my shooting bench, for perspective, that bench is 3' x 10'.

That little driveway going off to the right, goes up another hill to my rental property.

Jim


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

Like I said , I dont really need bells and whistles, just something to monitor that area.

Alert function would be nice.



Jim


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

Probably an audible alert, as that would be real time happening.

Text would also be real time, as I have a loud "I'm Your Huckleberry" alert when I get a text.

Email would not benefit me ...too late.

I guess I'm looking at this as a perimeter alarm system. 
Large obect motion detected , but not a leaf or squirrel.



Jim


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

I been doing a little reading and research.

I would like to know your opinion on this camera.

https://reolink.com/product/rlc-411ws/

Seems that this one will do everything I want , and is high quaulity.

Jim


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

I am still trying to find out the distance that the motion detector will sense motion and send alerts.

One guy said 100ft, 

I don't know that to be a fact.

Thats a long way to sense motion, I think.




Jim


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

Wow , Admiral...I'm not going to requote both of your replies here, 
I will just say...I just learned a ton ...from your replies, and great info, (some more than I understand , Raleigh and Nyquist)

I totally understand about "guessing" about some of their specs.

I sure understand how the motion sensing works* now.*

I agree that the imagery , reviews seem to be outstanding.

The alerting system , hmmm, I can set all my devices for notification with audible alerts for emails,(which is delayed), and I do recall reading something about instant alerts, I'll reread for that.

I am not too concerned about the pan feature, I guess if I wanted to follow a subject coyote , it would be nice, but I'm assuming you gotta bring up the app, and manually pan. Assuming its not auto pan.

I'm even having second thoughts about how much I will actually , in my application, use the zoom function.

I'm not too interested in recording all video in storage, I'm just wanting an eye watching my driveway and letting me know( always have my phone at arms reach)when something is on my driveway.

I think this camera will do that...unless you have another one in mind that I should look at.

I've looked at 100s. I keep going back to this Reolink , as it has the best reviews, and best info.

*Thanks so much for the info.
*
I may order this ONE camera , just to experiment and try out.

The one with zoom is $115, same camera without zoom is $90. I'm not too fussy about price , just want to try something and learn, then move forward .

Jim


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## zombieresponder (Aug 20, 2012)

Wireless is easily defeated with a cell phone app, and leaves your router vulnerable to attack as well.


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

I would think that someone would need to be close enough to my router to affect my wifi.

I don't have anyone within a mile of me.

Is that what we are talking about.? Hacking my wifi router?



Jim


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

The vast majority of "hacked" wireless camera feeds are actually people who never bothered to change the default username and password when they set up their boxed video surveillance system. Calling that hacking is like me lock picking a door that was never locked.


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

My house is 1/4 mile from the nearest road,

I can't access my wifi past , about 600 ft.

I belive the camera max signal range to router is 300 feet.

So I'm not too concerned.

Sure makes install easier, than running cables from 150 feet away to the house from my shop.


Jim


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

Caribou said:


> While I can't see them, especially in the summer, there are at least four houses within 600' of my place and another two from where the camera might be. I've received Wi-Fi signals from most of them when I've checked.
> 
> I don't want to bug them with another signal and I don't want anyone using my cameras to watch me. A hundred feet should do me for one camera and twice that will certainly do me for the other.
> 
> We have totally different situations.


Yes , I can see where if I had neighbors that close I'd probaly not be doing the wireless thing.

I suppose every install has it's own particular details.

Jim


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

Because of the amount of trees in my area of operation, I have a "remote" camera station near my driveway entrance (about 70 feet in from the gate) that is 12vdc and runs off of battery/solar power. Signal is through a long LAN cable.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

I am just going to employ a fleet of drones that just hover over my house in shifts and attack any other drones that come near them.


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## Tirediron (Jul 12, 2010)

unless they are swarmed by Canada geese


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

Tirediron said:


> unless they are swarmed by Canada geese


Darn foreign invaders!


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

Well, I got my first camera today,
Got it into in my home wifi network,

This one is really HD , clear as a bell, and zooms really nice.

I like it.
I haven't got the motion sensing set yet.

Now I got to fiure out a way to hook it to its own monitor , so I can use my laptop and phone, 
I just want it, on its own monitor , so we can watch the widlife .



Jim


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

This is a zoom in pic.



Jim


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

AdmiralD7S said:


> Just in time for me to post the first couple articles on selecting a camera
> 
> I was going to do it earlier today, but was waiting for the picture problems to be solved


Be sure to post those articles here...

http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f99/

Jim


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

Thanks Admiral,
I am very happy with this camera so far, (only had it 1 day).
I have looked at setting the motion detection(MD) , and it's easy to define an area to monitor and also to set the sensitivity and set it for times of day , and days of week.

I'll get it.

I have a nice 19" monitor that I'm going to hook up to my laptop and try to configure it to monitor 24/7.

My TV is easy to cast the camera to, because its a Samsung smart with bluetooth. ,

My next move will be to get another camera, same camera without the Zoom, I don't need it, and will save money.

The Reolink app will support 8 cameras.

Thanks for the help.

Aliasing...???? ITDGLs...???



Jim


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## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

Lots of great info on this thread ,thanks all who participated. 

I have motion detector lights, alarm system inside but would to add later. Also have a couple hidden cameras. But would like to improve on them later.:wave:


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

Caribou , thats true,

The cost difference is $89 vs $115, 
No big deal, 

And yes I will get at least one more with Zoom.

I will probably end up with 4 cameras . 

North , South, East and West...

I'm looking into another one that has Zoom, Pan up/down, left/right. 

Too much to go wrong, I think, maybe, :dunno:


btw, I was not overly excited with the night vision last night, I do believe I would detect movement to the end of the driveway.

The big maple tree was lit up good, but past that was very gray area, , about 100ft night vision. May look into more IR lighting .

Jim


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

Yeah, I'll get teh wife to walk down the hill tonight and see how far I get a signature from her little beautiful body.

Then I'll take the MTV down, and let her watch.



Jim


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

Well so far, the best I could do was catch her coming in tonight with some snack food.









I finally got the alerts working....driving me nuts, 
So now I got to tune the sensitivity in .

Its hard at night with bugs flying all over in front of the camera.

Jim


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## terri9630 (Jun 2, 2016)

phideaux said:


> Well so far, the best I could do was catch her coming in tonight with some snack food.
> 
> View attachment 19589
> 
> ...


It's like my game camera. Hundred pictures and most are of the trees blowing in the wind.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

AdmiralD7S said:


> For those interested, second chapter is up -
> http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f99/intro-remote-sensing-camera-selection-31824/#post469907


None of us "normal" people can read any of it.


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## TheLazyL (Jun 5, 2012)

AdmiralD7S said:


> For those interested, second chapter is up -
> http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f99/intro-remote-sensing-camera-selection-31824/#post469907


I don't have forum permission to access that link...


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

That section is for Admin to look over a submitted article for publishing on PS home page.

When it gets looked at by "whoever looks at em" it will be published , for all to read.
I have read Admirals submited article... very in depth and technical aspects of security suveillance.

Be glad when its released.




btw , If you want to write an article fro PS home page, let me know.


Jim
.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

AdmiralD7S said:


> For those interested in my series of articles on how to select a camera, the first bit has been posted at: http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f99/intro-remote-sensing-camera-selection-31824/. Expect weekly-ish updates.


Please post a link when it becomes available for all to read. Thanks!


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

AdmiralD7S said:


> So, back on topic, have you gotten the motion detection sensitivity set where you want it? Any other thoughts on your camera now that you've had it for a week or so?


Pretty much ,

I got the sensitivity set up good,

But, you got to get the *windows of detection* set up also with the sensitivity .
And different sensitivities for different time periods of the day.

Got all that really close now.

Day sensitivity and night sensitivity are totally different.

Took me a while to figure that one out, and get it set.

My biggest problem is ......trying to figure out a way to set up a monitor , for viewing , without tieing up my TV, Laptop, or cell phone.

I have a great PC Monitor , but need something to feed it video from my wifi.

Jim


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

Caribou said:


> Depending on the location of the monitor and Wifi it might be easier to just run a hard wire.


Yeah, thought about that....
But the router is on one end of house, and the area I want the monitor is other end.
The monitor only has a standard VGA port.

If it had a Ethernet port I might move the router.

:scratch:dunno:

I even dug out my Roku box to see if it had some connection I could adapt to the monitor.

Jim
Jim


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

AdmiralD7S said:


> Assuming that you're streaming it on your computer now, what about using a Chromecast, Roku, or FireStick to stream that to your TV?


I can do that.

Then I cant watch TV.

I want a seperate monitor to watch 24/7 (well at least when Im awake)

Right now I have it streamin to my little 8" ASUS tablet, but its too small, and I can't find an adapter from the tablet to VGA.

Jim


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

Any idea on when this will be accessible to read?

http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/showthread.php?p=469907#post469907


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

Just discussed this with Austin this morning.

He wants to do few changes to it ,(pic size , window dressing) , to make it LOOK a little better I think.
So he is waiting for a response from Admiral.

Things sometime move slowl, getting back and forth.



Jim


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