CCTV for the elderly.

[pastedavid]

Grandparents had a con-man sniffing around today, but they aren't daft and so he was shoed away, and the police were called. But as they are getting more vulnerable, maybe it is time for some CCTV around the house.

Has anyone any experience with a suitable system for a couple who are technically disinterested, and eyesight is not what it was?

There is no internet access, so no fancy remote access is needed.

I was thinking about a camera by the front door, one next to the floodlight which covers the drive, one for the side passage, and one for the rear of the house.

Nearly bought a 4 camera kit today from Screwfix, but they were out of stock, and subsequently reading reviews of that particular system on Amazon, they weren't terribly favourable.

I'd like to DIY install it.

Any makes to recommend? Types of camera? I'm thinking fixed for the KISS factor.

Not terribly interested in wireless kit.

Thanks in advance,

David Paste.

[Davey]

I would start here. I have two cameras and a PC card from them so far, and no problems.

[Brian Gaff]

I trust you will also have a door phone. These are cheap and do mean one never has to open the door.

Well you know what I mean. Brian

[Martin Brown]

he was shoed away, and the police were called. But as they are getting more vulnerable, maybe it is time for some CCTV around the house.

technically disinterested, and eyesight is not what it was?

which covers the drive, one for the side passage, and one for the rear of the house.

and subsequently reading reviews of that particular system on Amazon, they weren't terribly favourable.

Aldi did one a couple of years back if you don't mind a wired solution. ISTR it came with cable, PSU and provided a monochrome video feed back to a TV. Worked well enough even in low light. My parents have one.

It sits on AV2 and provided the DVD isn't on at the time a switch to AV command from the remote allows them to see who is at the door.

Only snag is that the wires do have go somewhere unless your TV is very close to the front door. Wireless is neater unless you are very good at doing hidden wiring.

[Nightjar]

he was shoed away, and the police were called. But as they are getting more vulnerable, maybe it is time for some CCTV around the house.

technically disinterested, and eyesight is not what it was?

which covers the drive, one for the side passage, and one for the rear of the house.

and subsequently reading reviews of that particular system on Amazon, they weren't terribly favourable.

What do you want the CCTV to do?

If you simply want them as a deterrent, good dummy cameras will do.

If you want them to be useful to the Police, you need evidence quality images, which do not come cheap. The local Crime Prevention Officer would be a good place to start. Don't forget that evidential CCTV needs to be able to track a person from entry to the property right up to where they commit a crime, without gaps or blind spots.

If you just want something that your grandparents can use to look around without going outside, most electrical wholesalers sell complete kits and it is just a case of checking the reviews. I was very happy with the system I bought from Newey & Eyre, for watching visitors arrive at my factory from the office, but that was several years ago.

As Brian says, don't forget a door phone. A good video door phone will allow them to check ID without opening the door.

Colin Bignell

[mogga]

How much are they going to be using it? If it will be you who goes over and saves bits to disc for the police then make sure you either get one that'll record for a very long time - unless you can train them to ring you immediately someone dodgy has been. No point recording stuff if it'll be a case of "Oh yes that dodgy bloke was here three weeks ago"

[Dave Liquorice]

What are you trying to achieve? Some means of seeing who and communicating with some one at the door before opening it or a more sophisticated "security" system.

The former can be dealt with via a video doorphone/entry system. The latter to be of any use needs to be recorded 24/7 and be of a minimum technical spec for the resolution of the cameras and the quality of the recording. Neither come cheap...

IMHO if there is open access to the rear via the side passage it would be better to fit a sturdy, lockable, door sized gate than faff about with technology. Stops the opportunist tea leaf easily getting around the back out of sight to force/break a door/window when grandparents are out.

[pastedavid]

Wiring is not a problem; needing batteries would be. They recently got fair ly flustered by the TV remote batteries going flat. They are not affected b y dementia or any other sort of cognitive disadvantage, but they are for al l intense and purposes, technologically oblivious. Simplicity is the key.

[pastedavid]

More than anything, it will be piece of mind for them both. Being able to point to the screen and say "Look! It was 'im!" is the main thing. This would be so they could tell their neighbours who to watch out for, over anything else.

Of ocurse! Didn't think of that!

Thanks for the rec.

They wouldn't use it. It would be awkwardly placed and generally another thing that they will worry about and then ignore. The are sociable people and will prefer to open the door, albeit on the chain.

[pastedavid]

Actually, the side passage is secure - it's enclosed, with a locking door at either end. I suppose I was getting carried away with having a spy in any sort of possible hiding place!

[Martin Brown]

There is wireless and wireless... some have local wired PSU connections to a wallwart and wireless transmission of video signal back to base.

That is a serious level of technophobia.

but they are for all intense and purposes, technologically oblivious. Simplicity is the key.

My parents fell foul of Panasonics and TDTVs great retuning fallout that produced endless retune now messages that did nothing useful. Something very odd about Manchester seeing "wrong" signals from Wales when they upped the power resulting in Welsh Channel 4 sat on top of where "CountDown" should be.

My local telly mender friend eventually put me onto the idea of unplugging the aerial until the unwanted Welsh channels had gone past! Annoying that they make you put the postcode in and then ignore it...

[The Natural Philosopher]

yerrs. I had several copies of each station for a while courtesy of a not particularly directional antenna and sitting on the border between Sudbury and sandy heath. and not being out of range of other transmitters either.

But a new aerial and better tvs and boxes that allow you to select the best mux has fixced that,

yes, that can work, as also can 'manual tuning' if you know the frequencies

[dennis]

that they will worry about and then ignore. The are sociable people and will prefer to open the door, albeit on the chain.

A window in the door with an inner "door" on it.

Maybe even one that opens so that things can be passed through without having to open the door.

[Owain]

More professional DVRs have an alarm input with pre- and post-event protection, so you could wire up a Big Red Button to the alarm input such that when pressed it automatically protects the preceding and following (say) 20 minutes of footage against periodic overwriting and making it easier to locate the incident later.

I get about 16 days' motion-sensitive recording on a 300GB Dedicated Micros, one camera but on a busy main road. Cost £50 off ebay. Built like a tank once I vacuumed out 10 years' of security office fluff and changed the fans.

The main constraint on image quality is the camera field of view - wide angle are okay for general observation but useless for head-and- shoulders identification.

Owain

[Gazz]

make the big red button the door bell.... ? ? on my DVR it can be set to record on motion, times, continuous or alarm inputs, and the panic input can be set to over ride all other settings and record all camera's at max resolution for a certain time, i believe it flags them as needing to be manually deleted too, not automatically overwritten.

So you could put a cam with a wide angle lens pointing so it gets the scammer walking up the drive, at a lower res/fps on motion detection so it dosent fill the HD up with empty views of the drive, when he rings the bell, that triggers the panic input, which switches to high res/max fps, Another cam with a narrower lens positioned to get a good view of the person at the door is also set to record on panic input, this one with sound.

on my DVR a motion detection trigger adds the previous 30 seconds of footage to the recording, then records for the time you want after no more motion is detected, I don't think the panic input trigger can change the previous 30 seconds to higher res/fps tho, not something i've played with much, might be possible, it's just a 30 second continuously overwriting buffer that all inputs go through, so it has to be capable of taking the full fps/res if you set it to record at that.

[Jim K]

What DVR make/model is that please?

Jim K

[ARW]

Well the simplest CCTV I have fitted is

And the customer (he fitted it at his elderly Mums) did send me some photos and videos from it. email me if you want to see them and judge the quality.

[dennis]

You will find that hidef IP cameras are better than a DVR. Just set them to send emails and use gmail and ISP or similar to store the pictures.

Then they can't destroy the recordings when they take the DVR.

Alos IP cameras are cheaper than hidef cameras and a hidef DVR.

By hidef I don't mean 650 TV lines like some security camera retailers do, I mean 1080p or better. You can get 5 Megapixel cameras that will do wide field and still let you read number plates, etc.

[Gazz]

"Jim K" wrote

Concept pro, VXH something or other,

I am really impressed by my unit, even tho i mostly use it to keep an eye on my aviary (i have a cam out front, and a couple on the way to the aviary, but the PTZ's and other cams are inside to watch the birds),

I do like the way it is easy to find interesting footage either from the logs of movement, or displaying a channel in 3 hour segments at once.. i.e.

24 hours worth, in 8 windows each starting 3 hours ahead of the last window, Was easy to find out what was happening to one pair of song thrushes eggs after i got suspicious of there being none produced despite seeing the c*ck treading the hen on many occasions, turned out not long after the hen laid an egg, the bastard c*ck ate it,

and being able to change about the way it displays the channels on one screen in live view, the one window larger than the rest, and just a button press on the keypad to change one of the smaller views to the larger window is my most used format,

Miles better than the swann POS i had before.