ggrace

uniquenamehere

You might want to look at Nest... they're pricy but very nice. Not affiliated... my brother in law uses these around his house.

Indoor:
https://nest.com/ca/cameras/nest-cam-indoor/overview/

Outdoor:
https://nest.com/ca/cameras/nest-cam-outdoor/overview/

JimV8

The choices are almost endless. Start with what do you want to do with the images? If the answer to that is identification of a person or read a license plate then you'll want pixel density. Consider that Hi Def is 1080P so you'll want at least that, but considering that commercial grade go up to 36 Meg the choices are considerable. Why is pixel density important? It allows a small area of the screen to be magnified to a large size while retaining definition, otherwise with low pixel density a persons face on magnification might consist of a dozen pixels and all you'd know is its a face. If you have several cameras covering an area then you can get away with lower density as the magnification wouldn't be as extreme. Distance from the camera to an object is also very important and the wider the lens the further away the image will appear. 16 mm is closest to human depth perception but the image will be narrow, much like looking down a tube. An 8 mm lens will provide almost 180 degrees but the depth will be 1/2 of the 16 mm so everything will appear twice as far away. Most over the counter cameras are 8 mm so don't expect to see much detail beyond 30 ft from the camera. Ideally 15ft would be better but accordingly the image will appear twice as far away.

If you want to view the images in the future you can store it on a hard drive, and analogue or digital cameras would be fine. Although you'll be hard pressed to still find analogue cameras. The emerging standard for video is internet protocol (IP) and each camera is given an IP address and the image is carried to a server, either at home, or to a third party or to a cloud based service. Video especially high density uses up a fair bit of data so full time all the time will get expensive real fast. But if you set the refresh rate at 10 frames per second it will appear jerky but uses 1/3 of full time data. It's also a good idea to use cameras that activate upon motion so you don't have to review dead time, though if there's not change in the image then there's no data flow either.

Once you have image capture you decide whats' next and the current methods are email, or text notification upon alarm and logging on to a file server to view the image, either by replay or in real time.

Having said all that, NEST is a really good choice for consumers. Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

Adamant1971

I would go with a wired set up with a DVR hidden away. I have a 10 camera Night Owl system at our office and it works very well and everything is contained locally vs using wifi like the nest cams. Also with a wired cam you can have the DVR on a UPC backup so your cams still work and record during a power outage.

I have a nest cam at home and it's ok, but if you want to able to record and review you need to pay for the service. And the outdoor cam is pretty useless for security since all a thief has to do is unplug it.

One outdoor nest cam will run you $250
A lorex 4 cam system from Costco is $350

Allot more work to install but well worth it if you want serious security.

wc11

For outside lights, have a look at KUNA.
Not just a hard wired motion activated wi-fi light & camera, but also audio & video recording and intercom.

https://getkuna.com/

breljohn

I have the Arlo system at home. Works great.
Don't know about the other ones.
PM me if you want more info/specifics

cpt_slow

Don't waste your time or money on analog cameras. We own a Security company in Niagara Falls, PM me if you want some help.

BIG smoke

Here are your questions.
Wired, or unwired?
Battery or powered.
WiFi?
And what are you going to do with this information? Are you going to go Porschilanty on them?

Wife wants cameras at the house?
Doors busted in, perp is laying on the floor, after tripping and hurting himself of piles of discarded LEGO.
See, I have my own system.

SToronto

Good info here.

For industrial building we have UTC IP Network cameras throughout on battery backup w/remote and mobile access.

Arlo and Nest are both decent consumer grade units. One thing to watch for their outdoor models is the operating temps, usually not suited to our cold winters. Also relies on your wifi and internet connection being available.

ggrace

SToronto

Spend more time and budget hardening your garage on the exterior. If you can deter, delay and prevent them from entering then you're doing well. You have a problem if they can get in, not once they are in.

Lighting, doors, locks, alarm, camera, glass security film, signage, vegetation, visibility to others. Consider all those aspects from the exterior.

JimV8

For sure, my conclusion too. After some 20 years in the electronic side of the security business I realized that hardening was the most important and started a business doing just that. Most of my work was referrals from Alarm people, whose customers were mad because the only thing those alarms did was tell them they were robbed/burgled.

Video is good for verification of an alarm and if you personally verify and call 911 to report an intrusion you will get a better response from authorities than if the call comes from a monitoring station. Other than that remember the best defence to a video system is a ski mask.

SToronto

CPTED is the approach I'm speaking about. Video would also be good for catching vehicle plates, descriptions, number of people, tools used etc. Response rates will vary based on availability and whether a person is under threat, so ultimately hardening is the best route to prevent property from being compromised.

JimV8

Every nickel spent on hardening is worth 95 cents of alarms and there's no ongoing monitoring charge either. CPTED is the correct approach and usually applies to pre-build situations, but it can benefit existing households and business' alike. A great example of poor CPTED I've seen was multiple roads out of a commercial park. Thieves had all kinds of escape opportunities and could be onto a 400 series ramp inside of a minute.

For everybody else, CPTED simply means security through environmental designs.

theiceman

...get a dog ...