Doorbell location - potential problem

[SecuritySeeker]

Hi,

We'll be getting the keys to our new home soon. It wasn't until today that I realized that the location of the doorbell CAT6 connection point is far from ideal. I thought our front door was going to look like this with the doorbell really close to the door itself:

However it turns out this is what our door looks like with the CAT6 connection for the doorbell much further to the side:

This seems far from ideal, viewed from the top this is what it looks like in terms of viewing angles (diagonal viewing angle of the YooSee doorbell is 150 degrees diagonally which equates to 145.8 degrees horizontally):

Someone standing at 87cm / 34.2 inches looking straight at the door will be viewd from a 45 degree angle instead of a good frontal shot. How much should I worry about this? People need to walk to the door first so initially the viewing angle will be a bit better plus it's quite possible that people (including burglars) will at least glance at the doorbell itself.

One simple solution to improve the situation slightly is to put up a nameplate like this, but it's not going to make to much of a difference:

A much more involved solution would be to route a horizontal channel through the mortar between the bricks to lay some CAT cable (perhaps stranded to make the sharp corners easier to navigate) and place the doorbell on the first or second column of bricks next to the door or perhaps even on the wooden door post:

What do you all think? Are the viewing angles in the original situation that much of a problem that I should go through all the trouble of digging out mortar, laying cable and then covering it with fresh mortar again? Like I said it's a new home (freshly built) and as such I already will have a ton of work to do.

 

[J Sigmo]

Some of the doorbell/cameras come with a set of angled mounting plates so you can get the camera aimed to the left or right to various degrees. If the one you've got doesn't come with such angled plates, you could fabricate one to get the camera aimed over toward the door better.

But digging out the mortar and relocating the doorbell would also be good. You might even do both to get the best possible doorbell position and aim. I think people would find the doorbell being closer to the door more "natural".

 

[SecuritySeeker]

Some of the doorbell/cameras come with a set of angled mounting plates so you can get the camera aimed to the left or right to various degrees. If the one you've got doesn't come with such angled plates, you could fabricate one to get the camera aimed over toward the door better.

The YooSee I'm thinking of getting (because it's PoE, Onvif, high WAF) doesn't allow changing the camera or mounting angle, but even if it did it wouldn't really help. The face would still be viewed from a 45° angle if someone is standing 34 inches from the door. Pointing the camera in that direction will get the subject into the center of the fov but it will still be from a 45° angle which is not ideal for identification. Angling the cam would help to cover the 17° area which is outside the (yellow colored) field of view entirely but then the face would be viewed from a >83° (90-17) angle.

But digging out the mortar and relocating the doorbell would also be good. You might even do both to get the best possible doorbell position and aim.

Aiming it would help to cover the entire front facade including the kitchen windows but of course at an almost 90° angle. On the other hand the inner bricks and doorpost are recessed so from that position the view to the side of the then also recessed doorbell would be partially obscured by the front most bricks.

I think people would find the doorbell being closer to the door more "natural".

Yeah, I was really surprised they did it like this. I was really expecting it to be similar to the first homes that were built in this neighborhood (first image in this post).