has anyone tried any budget chinese home security cameras and recorders
someone stole my flashlights off my front porch and it’s time to get everything that moves recorded on camera.
I have a couple Xiaomi xiaoyi wifi cameras and they work great.
You just set them for motion detection, they record the footage in a microsd card and can be accessed remotey when connected to your home router via wifi. Image quality is crisp and even has night vision.
Install is a breeze as you only need to run a micro USB cable to power it up. They also work when the Internet is down, this is very useful and cloud based storage cameras can’t do this (such as the nest dropcam)
For $30 it’s worth a try specially if you’re not looking for the ultimate security system.
Zmodo dvr’s aren’t bad, we use those at work and I’ve installed a few in homes.
If you have an old android phone or device you no longer use, download a free app like IP Webcam for it, and you can stream your video wherever you want it (Internet or local wifi).
thank you all.
Walk into light, do you mean i use the phone itself as the security cam ??
and connect to the internet via my wifi ??
i would have to camo the phone or even remove the camera and connect it by a long cord .
im not an internet whiz but i can download an app and set up cameras…
i should have done this long ago
When they have gone on sale I have now ordered 3 sets of LaView systems from NewEgg. As I live in the States, all three times I have gotten them delivered to my door the next day. Twice I paid $99 dollars and once I paid $89. This for a DVR and 4 cameras. I can view in real time from anywhere over the internet with their free phone or tablet apps.
What I really like about these units is that the video goes straight from my network onto the internet and to the app. No need to login to their servers. Because they are DVR’s, they record and I can remotely look back in time and save pictures, video etc locally. Night vision too. Many other features too numerous to list.
At this price you have to supply your own hard drive, but I have plenty of extras.
As soon as one goes on sale again I will order another.
This is a wired system, realistically the only way to go.
Another nice feature is that I can monitor more than one house on one screen simultaneously with their app. There are certainly better units, but for the price this is hard to pass up.
This picture is a night shot of 3 houses in 3 different towns on one screen at he same time on my iPhone
I’ve been looking at a few different Harbor Freight units as well as several other options elsewhere. It seems that anything which has decent reviews and decent performance starts at around $200USD on sale for 2-4 wired cams and a recorder that’s good for at least 24hrs.
The Xiomi Yi mentioned earlier is an action cam, and you could use that or even a dashcam, but their recording time is limited. Many don’t have a good ‘motion detect’ setup; those which “pre-buffer” will do well. But none of these is really designed for continuous operation and they all need an outside power source (usually 1.5A@5V USB) as the batteries will get you only a couple hours at best, and the batteries will puff and go bad in a few months or less when ran continuously or in extreme heat. Plus if they see and steal the cam, the memory card and video goes with it. You’re a lot better off with a purpose-built cam setup here.
Plus finding the crook your video shows may not be easy, and even of they do find them the chances that your property will be returned to you in decent shape is minimal. Unless the crook has a criminal record already their sentence will amount to a hand-slap at best and all they will have learned from it is to look for cameras before stealing the next time around.
If I have time I’ll post more later about known good set-ups as there is some info on the DashCam forum I’m on, as well as any results I get when I make my own buy when HF puts the unit I’m looking at on sale the next time.
Phil
I have 3 Foscams at my home. All IP cameras. Only wire is for power. You can buy them from vendors, but I believe if you pay around $10 more per camera and buy directly from Foscam you get a 1 year warranty. I know you asked about Chinese cameras (I’m sure these are made in China), but I’m just giving you an alternative. I’ve had mine running outside nonstop for 3 years now with no issues. Even through some –20 degree nights. The kids can see who’s outside on their iPad and I can view them from anywhere from my phone. You can set it up to email you a pic if there is motion, but I’d be getting 50 emails a day of my dog, so I don’t do that. I believe I paid around $100 per camera.
I was thinking in purchasing this one, anyone have it? apparently is not that bad for indoors and you can control it with your mobile phone or PC
You pay extra for ‘pan/tilt/zoom’ equipped cams. Usually the same cam is made without those functions and it costs a good bit less. Might be fun to play initially with but after that most folks would just point it at the ‘sweet spot’ and leave it there.
Phil
With power from a car battery,
Yup, you just use the front camera on your phone, and it sends the video feed over your home wifi. You could also send it over the Internet, but that would get expensive really fast unless you have an unlimited data plan. Hmmm, maybe not expensive if you disable your cell plan (remove your SIM card), and just use wifi Internet. There’s apps to trigger the video feed and send alerts (text message, etc.) if movement is detected.
There’s a free version of IP Webcam that seems to do most stuff. I guess the only downside compared to buying a security system is that you’d have to leave a light on at night, because phone cameras don’t do infrared night vision.
Since you probably don’t want to charge your phone every day, you probably need a long USB cord to plug it in. I guess you could camo it, or just leave it in a window facing outside.
interesting, I have not managed to get the foscam working properly for days. do have a phone to use for this, thanks
Found a youtube clip that was to nice not to share.
Apparently the majority of webcams have known backdoors or even front doors wide open.
https://www.google.com/search?q=risks+webcam+security
in particular, this cautionary story: “Internet of Things” security is hilariously broken and getting worse | Ars Technica
I keep tape over the lenses on my tablet, it looks awful, but I don’t like the idea of it watching me when I’m scratching or picking something.
Is this to any help?
https://itunes.apple.com/my/app/yi-action-yi-action-camera/id963065779?mt=8
and / or
http://en.miui.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=73032&highlight=smart%2Bhome%2Bapp
Kind regards
hey my cat catches little snakes,also, and does not hurt them but bring them on the porch and watches them. the cutest thing was when a little 7 inch shake was curled up and weaving it’s head like a cobra just 3 inches in front of a hypnotized 7 lb. tiger stripe cat. why did i not take a video, ill never forgive myself.
so this is a great bunch of info and i thank you all for contributing. i have never seen this inquiry on BLF and was hoping for some good ideas.
i did get my flashlights 2 days after the usps said they were delivered, so i am happy not to lose them. many pkgs have been stolen of porches in my area, and there is nothing you can do after it’s gone. i could put out a bounty for the thief if i had a good photo. there’s a local burgler going in houses at night when the people are asleep, and the police don’t seem too interested in catching him. they sure do write a lot of traffic tickets, though.
if anyone else has any info on cheap cameras, please add your voice.
That is a nice looking snake you got there! 
Good topic…
Just recently someone got an unknown intruder on camera testing door locks about 1 mile away from my house…
I really really should be getting this done 
Is there a camera that can:
- be powered from regular wall socket (with USB-power adapter)
- Can take footage from behind single glass (would be located in cold attic facing slightly downwards)
- Wi-Fi is present there and always ON, so would prefer to use that.
- I also would like it to store pics/video somewhere over the net. SD-card is probably not so necessary.
- Check footage or current state over the net would be nice also
- Easy to Use!!
I´m a complete n00b on these. All I have is a car Dashcam 
I don´t know my budget. I think 30USD-100USD