SecuritySpy: What cameras are uk users using?

Posted on
Tue Apr 18, 2017 12:44 am
howartp offline
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Location: West Yorkshire, UK

SecuritySpy: What cameras are uk users using?

Howdy.

Following a spate of breakins and car thefts on my street and adjacent areas, including blow-torching the door lock to gain access, I need to look at CCTV.

Just wondering what models folk are using?

Peter


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Posted on
Tue Apr 18, 2017 1:36 am
PeteVis offline
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Joined: Jun 19, 2015

Re: SecuritySpy: What cameras are uk users using?

Hi Peter,
I don't live in the UK, but just accross the pond... I hope my vote counts too :D

I have 7 Hikvision cameras and 1 DLink (btw, all my Hikvision cameras are purchased from the UK, so that should count double :-)

I can recommend the Hikvision cameras. They are solid, image quality is good and they work fine with SecuritySpy.
There's also an excellent Hikvision Indigo plugin, but saddly the author hasn't been on this forum lately. Still the plugin works very well.

I would steer clear from cheaper alternatives such as Foscam. You will save a few pennies, but I always read about issues with foscam.

Posted on
Tue Apr 18, 2017 5:50 am
Busta999 offline
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Location: Wales UK

Re: SecuritySpy: What cameras are uk users using?

I am using 6 Foscam cameras with iCamPro for a Home CCTV. I have been using iCamPro for several years and it has been exceptionally reliable. I use 2 external Foscam covering Drive and Front Door. The four Foscam C1 cameras cover the back door and patio door through windows overlooking them, and the other 2 cover key areas indoors which Indigo turns on when ever we are out or asleep. I have setup iCamPro to save all motion detection movement recordings to a cloud drive, just in case someone steals my Mac Mini. I really like this system, alerts me on my iPhone of any motion, video of which can be reviewed on my phone. The whole system cost less than £300 for a 6 camera system. Also the cameras report motion detection to Indigo using the Foscam HD plugin.


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Posted on
Tue Apr 18, 2017 6:00 am
Busta999 offline
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Re: SecuritySpy: What cameras are uk users using?

A couple more things, they were all purchased and operated in the U.K. When I was having a lot of issues with my Asus Router I setup so that all the cameras are powered through zwave switches. If Indigo loses contact with the camera, it sets off a routine to cycle the power to the camera to force hard reboot. Until the camera is back online. Since moving to the Unifi wifi boxes this routine has not been used.


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Posted on
Tue Apr 18, 2017 10:19 am
Coolcaper offline
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Location: Australia

Re: SecuritySpy: What cameras are uk users using?

PeteVis wrote:
Hi Peter,
I can recommend the Hikvision cameras. They are solid, image quality is good and they work fine with SecuritySpy.


+1

Never had any issues with my Hikvision camera mounted outside my driveway and they work pretty well with SecuritySpy.


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Posted on
Tue Apr 18, 2017 10:37 am
Asconasny offline
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Joined: Jan 16, 2015

Re: SecuritySpy: What cameras are uk users using?

I use Dahua cameras, together with security spy.
All bought from aliexpress.

The new dahua starlight cameras looks great. Will be my next camera

asconasny

Posted on
Wed Apr 19, 2017 5:18 am
PeteVis offline
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Re: SecuritySpy: What cameras are uk users using?

one thing to mention about Hikvision, best is to buy from a legit dealer.

There are many cheap Hikvisions available through Alieexpress/ebay/amazon, but often these are chinese versions. They are exactly the same as the cameras that are sold wordlwide, but are only intended for the local (chinese) market. These cameras are difficult (if at all) to upgrade when a new firmware becomes available. They come loaded with a hacked english firmware.
I've read many posts about people trying to upgrade a chinese camera and bricking their camera. These cameras only accept chinese firmware.

I've bought most of my cameras from useip.co.uk and they have been very solid in after sales support. I had a problem with a POE adapter once and they quickly exchanged the adapter and helped get me set up.

Posted on
Wed Apr 19, 2017 6:56 am
howartp offline
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Location: West Yorkshire, UK

Re: SecuritySpy: What cameras are uk users using?

Thanks all.

I don't like Hikvision website - far too many products with huge model numbers!

Vivotek seem on a par with Hikvision and well supported by SecuritySpy, but interested in Busta's mention of Foscam plugin so I'll consider those as well. Vesternet sell them which is a bonus.


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Posted on
Wed Apr 19, 2017 10:15 am
neilk offline
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Joined: Jul 13, 2015
Location: Reading, UK

Re: SecuritySpy: What cameras are uk users using?

Peter,
Hikvision works well for me (I don't use Security Spy though) and I have had no issues with the ones of Amazon (if you stick to Amazon fulfilled you should be clear of clones or grey market imports). I had a number of Foscam's and they are OK but not as robust and with lower image quality, and over the years I have had the IR Cut filters fail on a few. Trendnet also do the same job and are the same camera but with different software, again available on Amazon.
Thanks,
Neil

Posted on
Wed Apr 19, 2017 10:45 am
autolog offline
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Location: West Sussex, UK [GMT aka UTC]

Re: SecuritySpy: What cameras are uk users using?

A benefit of using Foscam HD cameras (this may also apply to other cameras) is that the motion detection is done on the camera and therefore you don't need to use a lot of CPU cycles on your Mac to monitor them.

With my Foscam HD plugin polling the cameras at 5 second intervals, you get fairly quick notification of any motion. The plugin defines one Indigo device per camera and Indigo sees it as a motion sensor. The plugin can be configured to automatically download images and you can use my Dynamic Viewer plugin to view and page through the images. :)

There are of course other plugins available which may be more suitable. :wink:

Posted on
Wed Apr 19, 2017 2:58 pm
howartp offline
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Re: SecuritySpy: What cameras are uk users using?

Thanks Jon - very helpful response.

Posted on
Wed Apr 19, 2017 4:02 pm
Colly offline
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Location: Ireland

Re: SecuritySpy: What cameras are uk users using?

Peter,
I'm at a similar stage where I'm considering installing a number of camera's. Hope you don't mind me jumping in on this thread. My house is pre-wired with coax shotgun cable (coax and 2 power cores). Should I look at using Cat 6 and PoE - is it worth the cost/effort? I can reasonably easily replace 7 out of 8 but one location is now inaccessible. What is the general view of the best up to date solution?

Posted on
Wed Apr 19, 2017 4:09 pm
howartp offline
Posts: 4559
Joined: Jan 09, 2014
Location: West Yorkshire, UK

Re: SecuritySpy: What cameras are uk users using?

Hi Colly.

If you can easily access the cabling, I'd say swap it.

Any coax cabled solution is going to need a.n.other hardware interface (DVR or video capture card) to convert and record.

Whereas we've had three software solutions presented on this thread already that work out of the box with the majority of popular IP cameras and ONVIF protocol support even if the particular camera isn't yet supported.

I reckon I'm going Foscam with Autolog's two plugins and iCamPro - pretty much Busta999's setup!


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Posted on
Wed Apr 19, 2017 4:16 pm
Colly offline
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Location: Ireland

Re: SecuritySpy: What cameras are uk users using?

Yes I kind of assumed that would be the answer but just threw it out for good measure. I might revisit the awkward location and see what I can do! Thanks for the feedback.

Posted on
Wed Apr 19, 2017 4:29 pm
howartp offline
Posts: 4559
Joined: Jan 09, 2014
Location: West Yorkshire, UK

Re: SecuritySpy: What cameras are uk users using?

Does anyone here know if FI9853EP or FI9903P work with Foscam plugin and/or iCamPro?

Should I go 1mp or 2mp? I prefer dome cameras :-p


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