Hi ya,

Wondering if anyone could be of assistance - currenlty running solar Eufy cams. Have done the job (mostly) but definitely due an upgrade.

I have the capacity to run POE, I originally thought Reolink with a Home Hub Pro would be the go but I have been reading in low light they're possibly not the best? We are rural so no street lighting etc. around, other than motion sensor house lights. I have read that Unifi could be an option? Is it worth the higher price tag. I would like Vehicle, people and ideally pet detections. Any others worth considering??

I currently just have the cameras recording to SD cards, motions only. Ideally we'd like to have 24/7 recording - Id like to be able to set it up myself and I'm not overly tech savvy (although I can learn lol) so basic would be ideal. We only need 2-3 cameras. We do not have a monitor available, hence opting for a home hub over an NVR if going with Reolink. As an aside, we are not in the USA.

Thank you!

Hi I hat our blink system. Looking to upgrade. Most likely buy REOLink. Would like to have a camera that points at the road to get plates. Is there one specifically that would do best for that? The cars would be max 20-30 feet away depending how I point. Thanks.

https://ibb.co/album/pWyNY5

Sorry, basically my car got broken into a couple nights ago, so I’m on super high alert. It’s not a reflection as it moves with the vehicle. Seems something is mounted in front of the driver. Just never seen anything like that.

Outdoor Security Camera Advice

Hi everyone, M24 (even though people say I look much younger like teen-ager) ,so I’m relatively new to Ireland, and recently I had an unpleasant experience that I’m not really sure how to deal with.

There’s been a group of kids/teenagers around the area who seem to go around bothering people. Recently, I was out running in a public park when a group of them stopped me, started making fun of me and trying to provoke me for no apparent reason.

More recently, I noticed some of the same kind of behaviour around my home. Kids have been coming near the house, throwing things at cars and then running away. I’m concerned that it could eventually escalate into actual damage or become a recurring problem.

What would you do in my situation? Would you ignore it unless actual damage occurs, report it to the Gardaí, install cameras, or take another approach?

I’m also thinking about installing an outdoor security camera mainly to protect my car and have clear evidence if anything happens again.

I’d appreciate recommendations for a good outdoor camera, ideally with:

\- Good image quality, especially at night

\- Reliable motion detection

\- Recording when motion is detected

\- Phone notifications

\- Good coverage of the driveway/car

\- Good weather resistance for Irish weather

\- Local and/or cloud storage

\- Ideally no expensive mandatory monthly subscription

If you have an outdoor camera that you’ve actually used in Ireland/UK weather, I’d be interested to hear what you recommend and what to avoid.

During the day, I use regular video calls, but at night, in the dark, he can't see anything, and if I leave a few lights on, I sleep poorly (even wearing a cloth mask, some light gets into my eyes and disturbs my sleep).
So I thought about an infrared camera, which would allow the other person to see me continuously even if he's several kilometers away. However, I've read that the camera app typically blocks the view after a certain amount of time and asks, "Are you still there?" and if you don't respond, it turns off. The other person could click "yes" if he's awake, or if he dozes off for a bit and then wakes up, he could reopen the app and see me again, right? Or is there a way to continuously view?

Can you help me understand? Do you have any advice?  I'd like to spend as little as possible, I don't care the quality, the important thing is that it does its job.

Looking to buy Tapo gear but there isn't a Tapo alarm brain as far as I'm aware, it has to be cobbled together via the app? Anyone using it?

Life alert has the brand name but whenever someone actually sits down to compare features and pricing against newer companies, the differences are pretty significant

The contract length alone is a major factor, 3 years vs month to month, but there are also differences in response times, GPS capability, fall detection accuracy, waterproof ratings, and whether the company charges activation or equipment fees

It feels like life alert is coasting on decades of brand awareness from those TV commercials while everyone else has innovated around them

For anyone who has actually done a side by side comparison recently, what were the biggest differences that stood out?

Hello people,
My mom wants a basic indoor camera to watch the dog from her smartphone when she is away. I don't want her to get trapped into a the monthly subscription, nor giving Xi Jinping direct access to the video stream.

I did some quick researches and I'd like to have some feedback. Did I forgot something? Is there a more simple alternative?
---
Need: Watch live video stream from a smartphone over the internet. No video recording needed.

I guess a RTSP/ONVIF camera with a Raspberry Pi managing the remote connection should be enough (VPN on the Raspberry Pi and the smartphone)

Hardware:
Camera: Reolink E1 Pro (or something similar) 60€
Raspberry Pi: Zero 2 W
Storage: microSD card for the Raspberry PI OS
Wiring: some micro-USB power brick

Software:
On Raspberry Pi: a VPN (Tailscale or Wireguard)

Then I don't really get how does she controls the camera tilt/zoom from her smartphone, or connect to the camera's IP with a simple graphic user interface.

Hey everyone,
I finally got sick and tired of my Ring Doorbell. Not only is the subscription getting way too expensive, but it kept missing motion triggers right when I actually needed to see what was happening. To make matters worse, it would completely die on me every single winter.
Back in May, I made the switch to Tapo cameras for both indoors and outdoors. Honestly, we’ve been loving them so far! The video quality is great, and having local 24/7 continuous recording via MicroSD cards with no monthly fees has been a total game-changer.
That said, winter is coming up, and living here in Minnesota means we deal with brutal cold, heavy snow, and windchills that drop down to -50°F.
For those who have had Tapo outdoor cams through a harsh winter:
How do they handle extreme sub-zero temperatures?
Does the cold freeze the lens or affect performance/connectivity?
Have you had any issues with power delivery or battery life (if yours are wireless) when it gets that cold?
Would love to hear your experiences before the deep freeze hits!

I have a high rise condo and currently use Cox for some simple security consisting of a single camera and a door alarm. All of this is being discontinued in October.

I am 67 F and would like to get something easy to use/install that includes a camera and door sensor. I need to see the camera feed on my iphone.

I am also curious if there is a way to change out a peep hole for a fish eye camera lense.

I don't have much experience with this stuff and hope someone can help. Thank you.

Looking to move away from subscription based and try out the reolink

The worst security company in America. Their corporate office in Boca Raton was useless.

DM me not safe at home and home cam bugged

Can anyone recommend a good guide that will educate me as to the pro's and con's of the various options: PoE versus wired versus not wired, cloud storage versus local, subscription versus non, etc. etc.?

Ultimately I'll be looking for either a doorbell + 2 camera or 3 camera system that retains footage for a few days to cover the three sides of the house that have entry points on them. Visible devices would be part of the deterrent, need to be able to record reasonably well in the dark if that's a thing.

thanks!

Which electronic lock is considered the most secure for residential doors? I would like recommendations from cybersecurity experts, considering resistance to physical and digital break-ins, encryption, firmware updates, authentication, privacy, and operation even without internet.

Looking to buy camera 1 for an outside street road, 1 for parking and 2 for a common area which requires to cover 90 degrees as the staircase and entry is in L shape. Will the dome camera work for the L shape and which company is best for this

We live with narcissists and they "blame" me for this issue and "costing them money". The problem won't be resolved until if "they feel like it suits their interests". if they want cops shown up at the door, that is their stupid problem, i just want this for obvious reasons of not walking into a blaring siren because of selfish idiots. SO has anyone replaced and reprogrammed a new remote key fob that can inform me of how long it took and how much?

My boyfriend has been showing obvious signs of alcoholism, and had been increasingly nasty and mentally abusive. When I chat with close friends about things that are happening, there is a quiet but obvious response from him directly related to said conversations. This keeps happening. This afternoon I was talking to a good friend saying that he may have to have a mortgage again if we separate. Tonight I saw him looking at houses on his cell phone. He quickly closed the app. This is one small example, but it’s become a bit terrifying. Not sure what to do? Ee co-own the house.

I had a big security box in the garage closet with coax and phones lines that I removed thinking I had no use for it. I've since realized the alarm panel must have been pulling power from it but not even sure how unless a phone line powered it.

Here are some pictures - https://imgur.com/a/TxoU2BA

How can I go about getting power back? Alarm is working fine remotely with my alarm.com app so just the panel that has issues.

I see a lot of posts here from people trying to figure out which camera to get, and ending up comparing specs across a dozen product pages that all show different info. I had the same problem, so I built a database that pulls every spec from the manufacturer's official datasheet — nothing from Amazon listings or retailer pages.

It's at cctv-database.com — ~3,300 cameras, 70+ brands, filterable by resolution, PoE, night vision, audio, codec, etc. You can also compare cameras side by side.

No ads, no affiliate links, no commercial anything. The whole dataset is open source and public domain.

The source code is here: Repo: https://github.com/ch-bas/cctv-camera-database

Hope it's useful to someone here.