2 Thieves in 6 months: IP Cam Recommendations

D

Dr Noisewater

Getting the hang of it
Feb 7, 2017
32
39
Hello,

I wanted to share my recent experiences dealing with a series of Thieves/Burglars who have enter my property.

I have (24) Dahua IPC-HDW5231R-ZE inside and out which was based on all the awesome information the members of this site have provided along the way.
I also have 1 SD49225T-HN. 2MP 25x Starlight IR PTZ Network Camera installed. Blue iris is set to record 24/7. The light you see in the video is from the soffit lights which stay illuminated at 30% every night. I have yet to adjust any of the internal quality settings but I will be tweaking them shortly. Andy "Empirecandy," hooked me up with all the hardware, he is an asset to the community a well.

After the first thief hopped the wall in April, I felt so violated that I added 8 Exterior PIR sensors to the existing Concord Alarm. When someone trips one, it hits the Home Automation system which turns on the amps and sends a text to speech message telling me which sensor was just tripped over the ceiling speakers in several rooms. This is probably the coolest setup I have ever had. Its fast and goes along way when wanting to "know" what is happening and feeling secure at night. This is how I was alerted to the 2nd thief. I got my gun in hand and was right on him about the time he hopped the wall heading to their car. He was fast but clearly leaving. I owe it all to the sensors and text to speech.

My intentions are to gain some additional advice on upgrading a few of the exterior cameras to possibly gain better identification on those who continue to hop my walls and access my space. I am truly sick over it. I have 4 kids under the age of 6 and feel violated and yes this is the 2nd time in 6 months.

Considering the distance and light conditions, how can I get a better image of the faces of these guys?
Should I be using better cameras?

Edited: Videos are posted via Youtube later in the thread
 
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You need to spend time in properly adjusting the cameras settings. Leaving them at factory default almost never gets the best results.
You need to zoom in a little more, you need more pixels on the face.
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Park the cars in the garage where they belong. You are hanging a carrot in front of the bad guys leaving the cars out side.
Never leave cars unlocked as the one was.
Razor wire on top of the fence is the only way you might stop the fence hopping.
Leave the lights at 100% instead of 30%, adjust cams accordingly.
 
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Use a camera with audio out connections to a powered amp to a marine speaker mounted nicely under soffit or similar or run from the audio out of the BI pc. When motion is detected by PIR after 12am, have it play a wav file that says get the fuck off my property. Even if you get their faces, the cops will likely do nothing. Also vote republican down the line.
 
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Dr Noisewater said:
Hello,

I wanted to share my recent experiences dealing with a series of Thieves/Burglars who have enter my property.

I have (24) Dahua IPC-HDW5231R-ZE inside and out which was based on all the awesome information the members of this site have provided along the way.
I also have 1 SD49225T-HN. 2MP 25x Starlight IR PTZ Network Camera installed. Blue iris is set to record 24/7. The light you see in the video is from the soffit lights which stay illuminated at 30% every night. I have yet to adjust any of the internal quality settings but I will be tweaking them shortly. Andy "Empirecandy," hooked me up with all the hardware, he is an asset to the community a well.

After the first thief hopped the wall in April, I felt so violated that I added 8 Exterior PIR sensors to the existing Concord Alarm. When someone trips one, it hits the Home Automation system which turns on the amps and sends a text to speech message telling me which sensor was just tripped over the ceiling speakers in several rooms. This is probably the coolest setup I have ever had. Its fast and goes along way when wanting to "know" what is happening and feeling secure at night. This is how I was alerted to the 2nd thief. I got my gun in hand and was right on him about the time he hopped the wall heading to their car. He was fast but clearly leaving. I owe it all to the sensors and text to speech.

My intentions are to gain some additional advice on upgrading a few of the exterior cameras to possibly gain better identification on those who continue to hop my walls and access my space. I am truly sick over it. I have 4 kids under the age of 6 and feel violated and yes this is the 2nd time in 6 months.

Considering the distance and light conditions, how can I get a better image of the faces of these guys?
Should I be using better cameras?
Click to expand...

FYI - would be useful if these were on youtube or other online service as currently we would be required to download them, and then the download system would need the appropriate CODEC to see them in. ( Hint my Windows 10 test system popped up a "download the codec for a 99c" charge .. I'm certain with some work I can figure out a better way.. but not going to take the time atm... )
 
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mat200 said:
FYI - would be useful if these were on youtube or other online service as currently we would be required to download them, and then the download system would need the appropriate CODEC to see them in. ( Hint my Windows 10 test system popped up a "download the codec for a 99c" charge .. I'm certain with some work I can figure out a better way.. but not going to take the time atm... )
Click to expand...
Dahuas smart player works.
But yes, upload to Youtube.
 
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More cams covering the driveway, lower and zoomed in to where the cars are. More lighting, turn it to 100%. Work on the settings for night movement.

That nice PTZ, not doing auto tracking?

Each one of those guys had a getaway on the street. Some cams covering the street and sidewalk would get you more info. Thief 2 had at least one accomplice in the car. Cams covering the street would give you that info and may be even plates.
 
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Good Early Morning All

I read everyone's replies and I am going to get to those shortly but first I wanted to get the videos uploaded to YouTube as recommended.
I can see how its a pain without this step in place.

Thief 1


Thief 1


Thief 1 - PTZ


Thief 2


Thief 2b
 
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@ Looney2ns: Thank you for the links. I will see what can be gained with some adjustments. To your point about the car being unlocked, that was a total "face palm" moment. I don't even know how that happened. I agree about the cars being in the garage but I am at capacity. I to put a lift in inside to make some room. That was always the plan but now It just got moved up my list. I still find it ridiculous that I/we have to change our life style in a nice community because of some POS thugs who lack life skills.

Apart from all of that, what was interesting was when the thief got in the car and grabbed the garage door remote and then opened the garage door. That tripped the Alarm which throws all lights to 100% in the entire house. I have 3 exterior sirens so its loud, you can see him trying to get out of the yard and struggled to get the gate open. He made off with my multi channel remote which was in his hand in the video. I found it down the road actually. Until this happened, I never even thought about the garage door remote and how that's a golden ticket to access. We don't use them in the cars any longer.
 
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@fenderman: I mentioned earlier about the PIR sensors I installed and how they play a message in certain audio zones which use text to speech to play a prerecorded message naming the sensor that was just tripped, super helpful. I have 4 outdoor speakers right around the driveway and gates hidden in the bushes. I will set them to play a new message like you suggested with the volume on 85 or 90. I know the neighbors will hear it so Ill have to test it out. That should change the dynamic a bit.

@samplenhold: You mentioned Auto Tracking. I would love to set that up. I dont know much about it but Ill add it to my list.
 
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Wauw, impressive videos. That's the disadvantage of Corona, people (also bad people) are wearing masks!!!

My suggestion: fiddle with your settings, some areas are over exposed, some are under exposed. Best way to test if your images are crisp & clear: put your face mask on, crawl like those perks, and watch how the image comes along. What also may help, the left side (part of the gates) is bit darker than the rest, you could opt for additional lights there, or, if you don't want ugly flood lights, install additional IR lightning to improve the image quality, you may even be capable of having color mode for your night imagery.

Auto Tracking might be good, but the moment they come in pairs, you are screwed anyway, plus if you park your car differently each day, they might block important "patrol" patterns.

Take care!
CC
 
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Dr Noisewater said:
Good Early Morning All

I read everyone's replies and I am going to get to those shortly but first I wanted to get the videos uploaded to YouTube as recommended.
I can see how its a pain without this step in place.

Thief 1


Thief 1


Thief 1 - PTZ


Thief 2


Thief 2b
Click to expand...


Excellent, this really helps us a lot @Dr Noisewater

You've got a very nice place, and a very nice fence.

From what I see, and from what I would do:
1) Need to get a better straight on close up for potential facial ID images. Find ways to mount a few cameras to get potential shots.
2) Corona and face masks are making it much harder, so need more cameras.
3) Thus more cameras, lower angles on faces are needed. Plan for more cameras and alarms.
4) Nice fence / wall - add cameras and alarm sensors to the wall / fence area.
5) Cover both gates.
6) attacker used "open gate button" - alarms and cameras for that area.
7) Guard dogs, trained
8) I would mount enough cameras in ways to get good potential IDs from the street and sideway.
 
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@bigredfish: I emailed Andy to see if he has the 2 cameras you suggested in stock. Ill do some upgrading and also lowering the mounting points to get a more direct shot. Thanks for the suggestions!
Thanks for the feedback guys!
 
Don’t know your distances so hard to tell how much zoom you’re using. Recommend getting one of the 5442-NI versions 3.6mm and one of the regular 5442 variable focus so you can see the difference.

The NI fixed lens is clearly brighter (fixed lens almost always is) but you may need the variable focus for distance on any given location.
 
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Looks like you need a LPR cam too if people are going to drive up and hop fences.

Why could I see bigredfish camp out in the car and blow them away when they open the door!

Sucks to see you violated like that. As above, look for some audio deterrent as well. Won't stop them all, but may stop some.
 
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