Cheap web-cam or security cam?

[jcarter]

When the summer people go home, the baddies come out from under their drugged rocks and start B+E for small things like laptops, iPads, iPhones which people leave in their cars.
And the expensive lovely closed up summer homes get their flat panel TVs and more taken.

All of us here have dogs(Labs with deep barks), but one house on our tiny back road got hit the other night.
With our dogs, and security lights, we are OK, but it would be NICE to have some sort of a security camera. Triggered by motion?  Or just one that you would have the ability to store a few days pictures.

I really know nothing about such systems, but seems like there would be something that would have a wireless/portable camera which would send to my Mac, or a recorder perhaps by USB to the Mac.
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?InvtId=96...-R&cpc=RESX
Looks like a good system, but the camera has to be plugged into house voltage.

I would want it to be weatherproof/outdoor, battery powered, wireless, sort of like the web cams that people set up to look at the osprey nests.
Any suggestions?  Thanks,
Jane

[dakota]

I just got this one.  Works very well. http://www.smarthome.com/75791/Smarthome-W...n-Silver/p.aspx

[Xairbusdriver]

You usually get what you pay for. Read all the reviews. Do some Googling. Check the ratings. Don't believe half of what the manufacturer says/claims. Learn the lingo. Read the Owner's Manuals (they are usually downloadable), if you don't understand the text, you may be getting a real headache/lemon! Check the field of view of the cameras, distance is fine but how wide an area will it cover? Some require a PC (not a Mac) for setup. Some require Internet Exploder because of Active X plugins. Will the system need to be connected to a running computer at all times?

Most importantly, will you be able to recognize the people who are caught in the images? If not, what's the point?

[jcarter]

Im still looking. The one mentioned earlier is HUGE, and it has to be mounted on a building, not a tree.

We would like one that could be mounted on a tree beyond our driveway and have it pointing TOWARDS our house from beyond our driveway.
No wires, want the camera to be wireless/battery powered. Dont need color.
Looked at game-cams, but they dont upload to a computer, they just store the images on a card.

There are so many with bad reviews,,,,,,,maybe I need to look for something more expensive, more like a security cam rather than a motion detection or web cam.

We dont really need anything, as this is a very low crime area, its more curiosity than need. As far as crime goes, its just B+E mostly unlocked cars and summer homes, and 3 of us who live the closest, have large Yellow and Black Labs, with loud barks if they hear anything at night.
Thanks,
Jane

[Xairbusdriver]

They get bad reviews for a reason. Many cheap systems just can't provide what they claim. But you can't find out until you spend the money and, unless you're very lucky, you'll spend a lot of time/effort and eventually money sending it back... assuming they will even allow that... with additional 're-stocking' fees IF you have all the original packing material and no signs of damage. Frankly, a few dummy cameras, with small flashing red led's may serve your purpose. Just make sure they are near enough or on the house so they can be seen. Many of these 'immature' crooks are fairly dumb and can't tell the difference between an empty camera-look-alike box and the real thing.

[jcarter]

Thats what a friend put up, and it does the trick.

There were a few youngsters trying to cut some of my bamboo in the woods beside our house a while ago. I said to them, "Gee, you look busy with this on my Web-cam." The looked at me with open mouths of surprise.  I told them that we have a forest of bamboo and any time they want any, just ask. So my husband cut some huge long ones for them.

[krissel]

I purchased these:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003XTTIIK/ref=pe..._C1_cs_sce_dp_1

and these:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004D8NZ52/ref=pe..._C1_cs_sce_dp_6

They look very real, especially if they are mounted well out of reach.

I also bought this, which is terrific at making it look like someone is home watching TV:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003S5SOLG/ref=pe..._C1_cs_sce_dp_5

You can set the ON/OFF time to whatever you wish depending on your normal expected activity or if you want to make it appear as if you are up very late which I normally am, so when I'm staying at my Dad's it appears as though I'm still home.

[jcarter]

What a great idea!
Actually this was discussed at our users group meeting the other day, since crime is very low in this area, the fake cameras do the trick.
And this TV simulator, what an invention.
Im saving your links for the next meeting.
Thank you,
Jane

[Xairbusdriver]

Saw <this software> and was reminded of this thread. Looks like the hardware is still the expensive part...