Hello, noob looking for some advice

[chumpy]

Hello,
I have very little knowledge other than installing a basic swan cctv system a couple of years back. I would like to replace some outside security lights with wireless floodlight cameras using the existing mains power cable if possible, I have read about ring floodlight cam and Netatmo presence, are any of these any good or does anyone have any suggestions for a similar type setup.I prefer the idea of sd card storage or a box rather than cloud storage. Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks

 

[awsum140]

Basic advice...stay away from WiFi security cameras, WiFi does not equal security. Stay away from Nest, Arlo and any "cloud" based system, you're stuck paying a monthly fee, at the mercy of their services and there are major delays due to network and server latency. Wired PoE cameras, like Dahua or Hikivision with either an NVR or a Blue Iris, dedicated, PC are the ONLY way to go. Motion sensing lighting is nice, but if you use good quality cameras, no need for lighting for them since they;ll have good night vision and built in IR lighting. On decent cameras you can also write to SD cards if you don't want to use an NVR or PC or even do both for added security.

Look in the "Wiki" at the top of the page and read the "Cliff Notes".

 

[chumpy]

Thank you for the advice, I shall have a read through that and as you say avoid wifi camera's by the sounds.

 

[awsum140]

WiFi cameras are a security risk, too easily hacked or the video stream gets "intercepted" by miscreants. Wired cameras don't have that risk unless you don;t take simple security measures on your own network. Check the thread "VPN Primer for Noobs". There's more to video surveillance than just putting up some WiFi cameras in spite of the hype that Ring, Arlo, Nest and et al use to suck people in. What they don't show you is the ten, r so, second delay between something happening and you getting the first notification of it, let alone bringing up the app and looking. By then, it's all over with. It all looks good in the videos and "on paper" but in real life, when you actually need it, it's questionable at best. Even an NVR or Blue Iris based system has delays in getting notifications to you, a simple fact of "digital" life, but at least you have the whole thing recorded and available locally.

 

[chumpy]

That's all very helpful advice, thank you, looks like my evening reading is sorted

 

[SouthernYankee]

Read the cliff notes in the wiki. The wiki is in the blue bar at the top of the page.

 

[Francisco73]

Basic advice...stay away from WiFi security cameras, WiFi does not equal security. Stay away from Nest, Arlo and any "cloud" based system, you're stuck paying a monthly fee, at the mercy of their services and there are major delays due to network and server latency. Wired PoE cameras, like Dahua or Hikivision with either an NVR or a Blue Iris, dedicated, PC are the ONLY way to go. Motion sensing lighting is nice, but if you use good quality cameras, no need for lighting for them since they;ll have good night vision and built in IR lighting. On decent cameras you can also write to SD cards if you don't want to use an NVR or PC or even do both for added security.

Look in the "Wiki" at the top of the page and read the "Cliff Notes".

Agree about motion sensing flood lights and good night vision cameras. However motion sensing lights scare people and many bad guys fail to understand that IR works in darkness.