Security Cameras, Privacy, and Apartment Living

TetraNitroCubane

For a variety of reasons lately, I've found myself wishing I had some measure of security footage available at my apartment. I'd like to get a camera to help with peace of mind, for when I'm away from home or while I'm sleeping, but at the same time I have a lot of concerns about the Privacy of most readily accessible security camera services. For example Ring being associated with the police.

Beyond that, every security camera I seem to be able to find involves signing up for some service and either storing footage on their servers, or connecting the cameras to their servers via the internet. That makes me a little uncomfortable, thinking that footage might be stored or passing through some entity I have no control over (Particularly if I set up an indoor camera).

I'm wondering if there is anything approaching a Security Camera solution that has the following qualities:

1. Does not require a sign-up for an online, cloud or IoT service.
2. Stores footage locally.
3. Can be installed without needing to modify electrical wiring (As I live in an apartment and can't cut into the walls or rewire anything).
4. Has looped local storage, overwriting the earliest footage when storage fills up.

Does anyone know of anything that might meet those requirements? Or if I want a camera, am I pretty much locked in to signing up for a service and giving them access to my footage AND my home network?

Thanks much.

mRahmani

How tech savvy are you? My father in law installs CCTV cameras for lots of local businesses and the setups are fairly straightforward. Usually he has a used corporate desktop (Dell Optiplex or whatever) with a capture card that takes functions from each camera. The cameras can be powered from an outlet or over Ethernet with the right switch. I’m not sure which software he uses but it records locally and loops over old footage once the hard drive is full.

The obvious flaw in this setup is if somebody breaks in and all the footage is local, it can be destroyed/stolen. You can have it backed up to a cloud device but now you’re back to worrying about compromised access over the internet.

TetraNitroCubane

By my own estimation I'm modestly tech-savvy. Savvy enough to build my own computer, at least?

CCTV with capture card sounds like a pretty decent idea, honestly. I'm wondering if I might be able to rig up a Raspberry Pi to power a camera, so it's a small form factor. The wiring would be tricky, but probably doable.

You bring up a good point about the footage being accessible locally, though. Unless I have some private remote backup solution running, that's going to be an issue to think about for sure.

Thanks for the tips - I was so locked in to looking for "Security Cameras" that all my searches were getting hijacked by the big services trying to push their insecure monthly cloud subscriptions. CCTV is a much better way to think about this!

Aioua

There are camera modules ready-made for raspberry pi, so that's not so hard to set up if you are modestly text savvy.

Phoenix-D

So it doesn't cover 4, but leaving a trail cam in a discreet spot aimed at your front door would take pictures of anything entering or leaving

TetraNitroCubane

Phoenix-D wrote: »

So it doesn't cover 4, but leaving a trail cam in a discreet spot aimed at your front door would take pictures of anything entering or leaving

Oh heck, that's actually a very good idea. I hadn't even considered that, but it makes a ton of sense. Thank you.

Phoenix-D

TetraNitroCubane wrote: »

Phoenix-D wrote: »

So it doesn't cover 4, but leaving a trail cam in a discreet spot aimed at your front door would take pictures of anything entering or leaving

Oh heck, that's actually a very good idea. I hadn't even considered that, but it makes a ton of sense. Thank you.

We have one on the back porch after someone/something was dicking around one night. Bonus: lots of pictures of birds

Artereis

We have some Blink cameras. They push the subscription, but you don't need it for local storage of video.

ArmsForPeace84

One thing to add, and I apologize if this isn't what you were driving at, but it may be helpful to someone else.

If the concern is "who is knocking at my door?", then asking your landlord to install, or allow you to install, a peephole in the door would help, here. They can have a pretty wide range of view, I could see down the hall a ways by shifting around a bit in my old place.

And the landlord is unlikely to refuse, because then if something happened, that could be on them.

A camera can be mounted in the same position, if needed. But it's less necessary if the main concern is personal safety. When you're out of town, if that means the place is vacant, just make sure your insurance policy actually covers the fair market value of your stuff, not the minimum you're required to maintain. Upping the amount of insurance on a bunch of inanimate objects is cheap, it's not like liability or health insurance.

zepherin

Artereis wrote: »

We have some Blink cameras. They push the subscription, but you don't need it for local storage of video.

Yeah we have blink cameras too, and you can store on a usb drive.

Delzhand

I'm in the process of researching home security right now - check out the Wyze V3 camera. It supports recording to a microSD card, is cheap, and is pretty much the darling of the home security world right now. It satisfies all 4 of your criteria.

Edit: Looks like a 128GB card will store 28 days of continuous footage, if you're curious.

SeñorAmor

(disclaimer, I work for a security company)

What is your budget, what types of cameras are you looking for, and just how much access to wiring do you have (being in an apartment)?

I'm a fan of Ubiquiti's cameras. I have several at my house and we install them all the time at work.

You'd need their equivalent of an NVR to manage the cameras and store the footage (all local).

And then you'd need some cameras. They have wireless cameras (doorbell, instant) that connect to your local wifi and wired cameras (everything else) that require network wire run. The wireless cameras are plugged in locally (or through your existing doorbell wiring with the right transformer) and the wired cameras require some sort of power source like an injector or a switch that provides power (power over ethernet).

Their NVR can phone back to their servers if you'd like easy remote access to your cameras with a browser or the mobile app, but it's not necessary if you just want local access.

Entry into a camera system can be pretty front-loaded cost wise which scares people into systems like Ring, Nest or Wyze, but you know the saying - "you get what you pay for" - and you're right back to the cloud-based system you're not too keen about.

I don't frequent H/A all that much but if you have questions, feel free to tag me in a reply or message me privately.

hiraeth

Had a lot of the same questions when looking for one myself, companies want that sub money through obsfucation. Got one for the same reasons, by myself most of the time wanted a bit of peace of mind while I slept and was out.

I ended up getting a Reolink E1 outdoor, it sits high up inside my place with a view of all entrances. Got the outdoor model specifically for the person motion detection, so every time I go out I turn it (notifications) on and the app sends me notifications whenever it detects a person inside my place, which is me coming home, my phone goes off at me until I turn it off. No subscription, can record wherever you want, SD card, pc over wifi, and your phone when watching it through the app (which is free) through wifi or internet. I'm not familiar with NVRs though. It has sound both ways too so you could spook anyone off. Pan Tilt Zoom in real time, IR leds for night vision.

So, no sign up just the free app to control it. Stores locally specs say fits a 256gb card, or you can wifi to wherever you want. Just need a power outlet. Has an overwrite setting in record.

It very much does what I wanted it to do in a simple way so I am happy with it.