Security with DVR and motion detection

[Cranky Bait]

I am looking at a 200G hardrive for a DVR the person selling says I can store 60 days worth of video 24/7 because the recorder only records when there is motion. Does anyone have experience with this type of system?

[pete f]

I have DVR cards in computers for recording, a big hard drive could hold that many days depending on the number of cams. Yes, they can be set to motion detect so no wasted video, actually AVI files.

[goingtoarizona]

I havn't made the most of my DVR record time yet, I've been fighting the internet connection,but...my system is on motion detect, and the florecent lights flicker and activate the motion sensor, the screen on the arcade game causes it to sense motion.One camera is on the front window area, which catches cars going by, and pedestrians. With eight cameras, I can record for 5 days, like I said, it catches too much motion.These systems have the ability to block out motion that you don't want to affect the sensors, but I want to be able to identify the theif AND their car ,or a window vandal etc.I reccomend internet veiwing, my wife is hooked on it. She has had our attendent(stepdaughter) go to the mat when a customer had a problem with a torn bill in the changer, you can tell if the mat has bounce sheets all over the floor,if the open sign is on etc ,etc.I have about 95% coverage including the backroom in 1500SF and 8 cameras. I have overlapping coverage on my coin machines, and one to catch customers faces on the front and back doors.You could get away with fewer cameras, but I currently live too far from my mat.We made the mistake of buying infrared cameras, and then elected to keep the lights on full blast all night.I also recommend getting cameras with changeable lenses, once I got all the cameras up, I realized I wish I had a wide angle lense here,and a telephoto lense there...have I rambled on for long enough?

[DaveLevenson]

I use a DVR with motion-detection, and 4 cameras covering 1500 sq ft. My hard disk is 40 Gbytes, and stores about 60 days of motion. You can select the areas in each camera's view that trigger motion; I don't trigger on the ceiling fans, the video game screen, or the washer and dryer front windows. I want to watch the people using the machines, not the machines themselves. The camera that looks out the front windows is masked so as to ignore motion in the street, but catch it when the front door is open and someone is walking in or out. The motion-detection, in addition to having a mask for each camera, also has a sensitivity control for each camera. I reduced the sensitivity just below the point where flickering fluorescent lights trigger it, and I'm satisfied with the results.

I recently added another camera, aimed at the water meter. It was my intention to be able to get a remote reading of the business volume. Unfortunately, the camera does not have enough resolution to read the meter, though I can tell if it's moving. I need a longer lens, but that camera doesn't have interchangeable lenses.

[Von Hef]

On my system you can turn the sensitivity down, to allow only the amount of motion that is desired to activiate the camera.

[E&R]

What have you done to keep the camera from being rip off?

[pete f]

What have you done to keep the camera from being rip off?


mount them on high ceilings, and behind the dryers, ie a hole with the lens pointing out ( bullet style work great for this)

One mat I had 4 out of 6 stolen one night, they did not get the ones behind the walls so I learned something.

[kbc747]

Did your video catch them?

[DuboisLaundry]

I have a combination of hidden/disguised cameras and more obvious ones. a suggest not having an obvious visible one right above the front door on the inside. try one hidden in the exit sign or smoke detector at that location so that it can watch a person walking out with any of the visible ones they might try to steal

[anonymous]

Most of what you will catch are crimes of opportunity. I had one last week. A hispanic woman placed her purse on her baby stroller and walked to another part of the store. A black woman and her "man" saw the purse. Not 10 seconds after it was placed you could see them looking around to see if anyone was watching and then the black woman grabbed the purse and walked out of the store. It was really funny watching the video to see how obvious it was that they were going to take the purse and how they neglected to see that there were three visible cameras from different angles that caught them. The police were very happy to get my video and said they knew who the black lady is and would be going after her.

[pete f]

Did your video catch them?
Of course caught them, and the thief had a tatoo on his forearm, very visable as he tore the cam off the ceiling ( low ), but never arrested. I saw him once after, but did not now it was him untill he left. I had a hunt on him, and found out where he lived. He got evicted before the police could get him. Did about $500-$600 in theft.