Thread: More stuff disappeared... Anyone use a webcam for security?

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Tally is up to six things now but nothing has been taken since the camera went up!

Originally Posted by rxnb90

I will be using this:
http://www.amazon.com/Stealth-Prowle...9207543&sr=8-8

...but I can't tell you how well it works or does not work because this will be my first year trying it. On the good side, it's come down $100 in cost since I bought mine, and you can also use this as a nanny cam or to record inside the house if you go on vacation; it's small enough to hide and record any robberies.

But the best way to prevent theft or vandalism is, unfortunately, not to put out your "good stuff" until the day of

How did the stealth prowler work for you ? How do you view the images?

It worked well. I spent zero time positioning it, so don't let the poor framing fool you. I got it too close to a tree branch, so there is a huge reflection on the right side. Tried to put it inside originally, but my "low e" windows block IR, and it wouldn't trigger the motion detector on the camera. Moved it outside to a tree, and it worked fine.

Here is a video from that night. A dad is trying to get his kid to pose next to a prop, the kid won't do it! Pretty funny....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5507115...in/photostream

To give you an idea how it takes stills and videos under different conditions:

Here is a still it took mounted higher up in the tree, keeping an eye on my Christmas decorations.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5507115...in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5507115...in/photostream

It takes color video in daylight, B&W at night. But everything in high def.

Here is a daytime video, this would be the kind of quality you would see if you set it up inside the house as a nanny cam.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5507115...in/photostream

I bought a cheaper game cam at Walmart for $50 and it works great. Nothing was taken after it went up. The camera has a SD card that you just plug in your puter! The hardest thing for me is finding a place to put it. I had it on a telephone pole. There just not any good places to put it on my stuff to get everything. So I will be probably buying another this year. Since I replaced alot of the stuff that was stolen including my devil!

We were lucky not to have anything taken this year. We had a day/night camera from Harbor Freight. It is about 30 bucks but works better/equal than any other I have seen. Just make sure you buy the color/sound/night version, not just the day version. If we had kept our footage from Halloween I would post it but it was positioned on the props and my hubby (who was scaring people in the plant/bush costume I made) was off camera! So we only got a few people's reaction - though we could still hear them. I'll have more than one camera up this year to catch inside the haunt as well BTW we were able to hook up our camera to our currently unsued Tivo unit and record that way so we could just play the live feed from outside into the house and see ToT coming to the door. It was a pretty sweet setup! Good thing my Hubby is handy because I'm technilogically inept!

I really want a DVR system but it costs too much right now. Plus I really don't know how much good having someone on tape stealing something with my small town police. They are worthless. I set up driveway alarm aimed at a package on my neighbors porchto catch someone who was stealing packages and decorations in my neighborhood. It went off and I watched them take a package off my neighbors porch (it has chime unit you can put in your house). It turned out to be the paper delivery person. I called the police and they got the guy but nothing was done and he is still delivering papers! But hopefully he thinks there is a camera watching the area and won't be back!

Originally Posted by rxnb90

To give you an idea how it takes stills and videos under different conditions:

Here is a still it took mounted higher up in the tree, keeping an eye on my Christmas decorations.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5507115...in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5507115...in/photostream

It takes color video in daylight, B&W at night. But everything in high def.

Here is a daytime video, this would be the kind of quality you would see if you set it up inside the house as a nanny cam.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5507115...in/photostream

Thanks for the videos! So this unit has an SD card you plug into computer right?
It saddens me to think I have to buy this stuff so people wont steall stuff I put out for others' enjoyment.
My baby Jesus was stolen from my nativity scene at Christmas this year- and I couldn't believe it. So I guess I have to go this route and buy a cam. I want to position more towards the ground near the end driveway to get their license plates too.

Originally Posted by matrixmom

So this unit has an SD card you plug into computer right?
.

Yes, correct, it takes an SD card. I have an 8Gb in there now, and I've never run out of room for one use even taking HD video.

If you've not bought already, I'd almost suggest not. Set a reminder for next year to see what's on the market in August. Prices seem to be going down, not up. Plus you may decide you'd rather get a full security set of cameras instead of just one.

Aside from keeping an eye on the display, it can also be fun too! It took some work and some money, but I don't know how I did without a real camera system all these years.