Need Help Looking for an IP Camera to Keep Watch over Nature Strip

scrimshaw on 19/07/2017 - 18:22
Last edited 19/07/2017 - 18:49

Thought some of you might have some experience with camera / surveillence tech…

I'm looking for either an indoor or outdoor camera that can I can use to peep out of my balcony and look down on my nature strip. Quite often, I have neighbours who continually leave trashbags, shopping trolleys and extremely bulky furniture right in front of my house. Despite my initial protests and making noise in strata meetings, nobody seems to know (or rather, fess up), and my Strata management thinks it's me who is doing the dumping.

So, sick of being the boy who cried wolf, I need a slightly more professional IP camera setup, with a max budget of around $150.

I did order a Xiaomi Fang camera, but since it's mostly cloud based and requires 3rd party firmware to even function as a RTSP, I figured it was a little too amateurish for my needs.

My shopping criteria is:

  • Motion detection capable
  • Can be wireless or Wired.
  • If wired, it needs to be operable using just a direct connection to a laptop.
  • 1080p wide angle and good image clarity. I want to be able to make out their faces.
  • Does not require or need a DVR or an NVR to operate. I only need to manage one camera.
  • Would be cool if it can record to a mass storage device (SD card slot)
Electrical & Electronics

Comments

  • oscargamer on 19/07/2017 - 18:31
    +2

    be careful if you are planning to covertly film public places - you could find yourself in trouble very quickly

    • scrimshaw on 19/07/2017 - 18:38
      +1

      am aware. I've actually emailed my Strata to ask them if it was OK to film the nature strip.

      Lifehacker says

      "Nationwide, the general gist is that you can't point a security camera in a location that a reasonable person would expect to be afforded privacy. In other words, it's okay to record the street directly outside your house, but focusing on a residential window or an enclosed backyard usually isn't allowed. "

    • coin saver on 19/07/2017 - 21:37

      No need to be covert place in full view as a further deterrent. "▪ There are no laws preventing an individual taking your photo in a public place and posting it online.
      ▪ There are also no laws preventing an individual from taking photos of you on your private property, as long as they have not entered your property without your permission."
      http://www.lawstuff.org.au/nsw_law/topics/privacy

      • esosite on 20/07/2017 - 22:57

        " There are also no laws preventing an individual from taking photos of you on your private property, as long as they have not entered your property without your permission."

        ??? So if you invite them on your property you can take their photos, if they are trespassing you can't photograph them? I'm i misreading that :/

        • coin saver on 24/07/2017 - 20:42

          No it means that they can take photos of you or anyone else on your land from the road or adjoining property(or even use a drone). This also means that they can take photos of you inside your house as long as you are not performing an indecent act.

  • tsunamisurfer on 19/07/2017 - 18:52
    +1

    I bought one of these cheap dash cams from a deal similar to this one.

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/284702

    As I was testing it, I was pleasantly surprised that it could run off a portal power pack.

    If you wanted a cheap setup with :

    • Good video quality.
    • Thats portable / movable to your needs (not affixed).
    • Records to an SD card and cycles.
    • that you can use as a Dash Cam when you find and crucify the Perp.

    …the above might be worth a shot.

    The only thing I don't know however is how long the dashcam can last with Nnnnm MH Battery packs, but it definitely worked and recorded for the time I hooked it up to a small battery pack.

    I actually considered doing this for my car when it is parked because I don't want to draw down the car battery when car is turned off.

    • scrimshaw on 19/07/2017 - 18:54
      +1

      don't think that's for me, since I only want the camera to record to storage when it detects movement in the target area.

      I don't want to be sifting through hours and hours of footage to catch the perp.

      • No on 19/07/2017 - 19:19
        +1

        That dashcam supports motion detection.

        • scrimshaw on 19/07/2017 - 19:21
          +1

          Motion detection for dashcams is for when the device itself moves, right?

          I own that dashcam in my car already and had to switch it off because it keeps locking all my files.

          I need motion detect via image analysis (i.e something in the image moves and the camera starts recording) or via PIR sensor.

          I also need to target a very specific region of the screen (that is, the lower quadrants of the video, and not the entire field of view).

      • LFO on 20/07/2017 - 17:36

        I don't want to be sifting through hours and hours of footage to catch the perp

        No need.

        If there was some activity just jump back 3 or 4 hours.
        No action?. Jump forward 2 or 3 hours.
        Too late?. Jump back … and so on.

        Motion detection is not all that perfect. Light conditions and colors at night may delay recording.
        Constant recording and then jumping backwards and forwards is completely faultless.

  • KitchenSink on 19/07/2017 - 19:55
    +2

    Do you have a spare android phone?

    You could download an app like this to your phone as a little test initially, to see if it can work for you (like putting it on the window and walk outside to see if it records you) and if it does, then buy a cheap phone that can record 1080p.

    You can use a powerbank or connect the device to a charger off your window for longer life.

    • scrimshaw on 19/07/2017 - 19:59
      +1

      I'm actually already using a TP-Link NC200 cloud camera, which does stream but has no way of offloading the footage to a computer or SD storage.

      What I'm looking for is an upgrade, with a good way of ensuring I catch the would-be perp trying to dump crap on my nature strip, so something reliable would be great.

      I think the Foscam C2 might be what I'm looking for, It's $149 from MSY.

      • decadent1 on 19/07/2017 - 21:32
        +1

        The nc200 can be used with ispy connect. I have 4 of them doing exactly what you want.
        Takes some initial messing around to setup, but the software will do the motion detection and capture.
        There's a forum post on the ispy site on how to configure them. I used it to catch my neighbour stealing my newspapers.

  • Clivey In Space on 19/07/2017 - 20:15
    +1

    Get yourself an IP camera, power it via POE if there's no power point nearby and then use Milestone (free) to do the recording and motion detection.

    Some cameras also have provision to install an SD card so you can record to it. You can also use the internal motion detection feature, however using software such as milestone is much better. There are wifi versions but I have not used them before.

    Not saying buy the camera I linked to, but I have purchased a few from secure life for various uses.

    Examples

    https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/DS-2CD2342WD-I-Engl…

    https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/DS-2CD2042WD-I-Engl…

    • scrimshaw on 19/07/2017 - 21:17

      interesting. Are those real hikvisions or fake ones?

      • Clivey In Space on 20/07/2017 - 08:17

        As far as I know they are real. Have had no problems whatsoever over the years.

        My understanding is that there are two models where one was for the international market and the other for the chinese market. They were previously advertised online by resellers as HKVision with both the international and local being sold internationally. HKVision cracked down on the resellers hence why they don't mention the brand.

        The chinese versions can be slightly cheaper than the international version however they generally have a 'hacked' version of the firmware to show english and the firmware cannot be upgraded.

        A thread dedicated to IP cameras and with majority of cameras purchased being HKVision from Aliexpress - https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2617093&… - its a good read and a helpful and resourceful thread.

        I've purchased 7 cameras to date from Aliexpress and have not had any problems.

        If you're not comfortable with Aliexpress then there are some resellers on ebay with their price a bit higher. Have a search through the whirlpool thread and you should be able to find a link to a seller someone has used.

  • whooah1979 on 19/07/2017 - 20:17
    +1

    my nature strip.

    council's nature strip. any items left there is the council's problem.

    my Strata management thinks it's me who is doing the dumping.

    is the strata giving you a hard time? tell them to provide evidence or contact the council to have them clean it up.

    • scrimshaw on 19/07/2017 - 21:13
      +1

      threatening letter telling me that a fine is payable if rubbish is dumped there. The person who reported it… is none other than me. I dobbed myself in.. hah…

      Sounds like the ball is in my court (i.e. it's scrimshaw's problem and not the strata's or council) so that's why I have to spend money buying a camera to prove it's not my doing, in case it happens again.

      • whooah1979 on 19/07/2017 - 21:18

        so that's why I have to spend money buying a camera to prove it's not my doing, in case it happens again.

        you don't need to gather evidence that you're the person responsible. they (strata or council) are ones that have to do that.

  • lookatthesizeofthat on 19/07/2017 - 20:25

    Bikies

  • lookatthesizeofthat on 19/07/2017 - 20:33

    All jokes aside, I would just wait for 1 of the continuous drops of rubbish and go down there and follow them, just be really subtle. Now you know who it is and have a plethora of options.

    You could even film/take photos of them from the balcony which would be just as quick once we factor in $150 net spend and the hours of research/set up/viewing of said camera option.

    • whooah1979 on 19/07/2017 - 21:03

      have a plethora of options.

      there are only two options. ignore it or report it. reporting can be done online.
      http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/heytosser/

      • lookatthesizeofthat on 19/07/2017 - 21:05

        There are plenty of options if you are open minded. Speaking of tossers….

        • whooah1979 on 19/07/2017 - 21:10

          There are plenty of options if you are open minded.

          blackmail is an indictable offence. so it's best no to go there.

        • lookatthesizeofthat on 19/07/2017 - 21:11
          -1

          @whooah1979: I didn't mention or condone blackmail, are you on crack bro?

        • whooah1979 on 19/07/2017 - 21:12

          @lookatthesizeofthat:

          you said open minded.

          what did you have in mind?

        • lookatthesizeofthat on 19/07/2017 - 21:14

          @whooah1979: Yes, open minded. I was thinking of watching George Carlin.

          “Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.”

  • altomic on 19/07/2017 - 23:34
    +1

    just buy a fake camera. set it up and make it obvious. and inform the strata that the "camera" is there.

  • furys12 on 20/07/2017 - 08:54

    the xiaofang doesn't actually sound that bad for your needs except on the quality front, you can definitely make out faces but if two similar people were on camera you'd have trouble, based on mine anyway

  • JIMB0 on 20/07/2017 - 09:00
    +2

    I'd just get my grandparents to stay. They don't miss anyone who comes or goes.

  • eXo on 20/07/2017 - 11:07

    depending on the distance your trying to recognise (faces) will depend on what size lense you will need (4,6,8,12mm) that's your first thing to lookup.

    I personally have had no issues with HikVision IP cameras, there are two types, the US models and the chinese models. I've tried both and found that I don't really need all the uber doober features the US models have with integration into an NVR so settled with the chinese models, it paid dividends within weeks (I caught who was dumping oranges on my driveway, turned out to be a 10yr old dumping his school lunch once off the bus after school lol)

  • robertbruce on 20/07/2017 - 13:05

    your going to need dvr function to off-load those images, in fact, a security cam centers around the use of a dvr.
    A lot of people are mystified by Movement Detection. It is handled by software that simply compares one picture to the next flaging any pixel differences and it does this by referencing the images from the dvr.

    Is a pity you didnt have an old pc or lappy laying about. If so grab a Puppy Linux "Watcher" Live Disk ISO (ZoneMinder), throw any cam at it and your set with a professional grade recorder.

    • scrimshaw on 20/07/2017 - 13:13

      Is a pity you didnt have an old pc or lappy laying about

      I do actually, got an old T6600 Core 2 Duo laptop, and also an E8500 3.4ghz, SSD included.. I assume there's enough power in a old dual core to function as a DVR?

      • robertbruce on 20/07/2017 - 17:31

        nahhh, they are too powerfull, they will blaze….

        Visit the Zoneminder Wiki

        The "Wary Watcher Live Disk" is good as an intro
        The "ZMLarch live disk" is best if running a head.
        Headless on a celeron 800 with 1 cam gives no client lag, a cel 1200 for 3+ cams no client lag.
        For me the big benefit of running headless is the reduced power consumption…
        USB cam are fine to use
        BNC cams are fiddly being few lappys have a capture port and the BNC to USB adapters are a little tricky
        IP cams with non-propierty software are great
        IP cams with propriety software are a challenge
        Lens quality is critical, none of the sub $100 cheapies i got can see the wasp nest at the end of my verandah with enough detail to see what the wasp is carrying home for dinner. My next project is to hook my slr up to it…

  • cheepwun on 20/07/2017 - 13:44
    -1

    The dumper is just an individual looking to get the most from his/her exorbitant council rates. I admire them for seeking a better bargain.

  • phocus on 25/07/2017 - 12:21

    We have the netgear arlo going at home. Seems to work well.

    Motion activated, stored in cloud with app access.

    http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Netgear-Arlo-Smart-Home-Wireless-…

    Currently 20% futu so it comes to $188

    • scrimshaw on 25/07/2017 - 14:40

      Thanks. Will look into that, currently my Xiaomi Xiaofang is doing an alright job. The lens is too wide angle though since it's meant to be an indoor camera.

  • [Deactivated] on 25/07/2017 - 22:41

    Plant a lemon tree.

    It should bamboozle them.

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